Out of Control

I was driving to school this morning when "Little Girls" by Oingo Boingo came on. Anyone who knows anything about my musical loves should know that "Little Girls" is probably one of my most favourite songs ever, by one of my most favourite bands ever. I was ecstatic.

I got to my parking spot, pulled out my headphones (for the first time in, well, a very long time), and walked to class listening to Oingo Boingo. I was in heaven. I hadn't listened to Oingo Boingo in I don't even know how long. Boy, do I love me some Oingo Boingo!

But that's not the point of this post. See, Oingo Boingo has this song called "Out of Control." This is better than "Little Girls," though not as hilariously creepy. This song, as most don't know, is where the title of Without Direction came from.

It's a not-so-well-known tradition of mine to use lyrics from songs as titles for things like plays. There's a line that says, "You're out of control, and you move without direction, and people look right through your soul." The song's always touched me, but I really felt, after writing Without Direction, that it was the right song to get the title from.

Oingo Boingo's songs tend to be pretty funny, but underneath the wit and charm, there's this small hint of profound messages in a lot of their music. I felt like Without Direction took a similar approach: it was pretty much entirely a comedy, every dramatic moment was so overdramatised that it became parody rather than a serious representation of life. But underneath all the comedy, the characters, to me, all fought horrifying internal battles.

And so "Out of Control" became this sort of unspoken theme of Without Direction to me. There's a "theme song" for Where the Wild Berries Grow too, and a whole story behind it, but I'll save that for after the show is first performed and then closed.

To me, the "theme songs" are just this really personal thing between me and the play, between me and the characters. It's not the driving force behind it or anything, but more of a something that months, maybe years, later will bring me right back to the play and the characters. Like an "our song" almost.

Yeah, I think my characters are real. So what? :P

P.S. Two good writer friends of mine just started blogging too, apparently influenced in part by me! Way super cool. Check them out: Aimee and Jeremiah.

Monday and a Half

Third week of school already! Wow. Also, have a good first day of school tomorrow, PHS kiddos! I am wonderfully NOT sick this week. Hurrah!

Another PHS play update: Yep, I went on Wednesday, talked with Mr. VL, and confirmed what I already knew: the only person who will make sure this program happens the way I want it to is me. I returned on Friday with new resolve: to talk with the new principal and make this happen myself. He wasn't there, but his secretary had me email him, to which I got a positive, "Yes, let's meet and talk more!" sort of response.

Band stuff is band-y. We did record, and my bandmates have been emailing with quite frequency with song ideas while I quietly don't respond much because I'm very focused on this play right now. I will have to pay attention to them again soon. Not that I don't want to, of course. But the play is quite the time-sensitive matter, whilst band things have not yet reached any sort of "OH MY GOD TICKING CLOCK" sort of phase.

I've been reading Hyperbole and a Half, so I feel like my writing for this post has taken on a very sarcastic and ridiculous tone in comparison. Is this good? Do we like the sarcasm and ridiculousness? I'm sure I'll be embarassed by my lack of maturity when I re-read this later.

Godspell was amazing, by the way. I think I shall post about it this week. Maybe. I'll be seeing my friend Daniel perform once again this Tuesday, so it's probable that I'll blog about him again. Then again, I may not have anything new to say. We'll see.

Have a very splendid Monday and a super splendid week!

P.S. If you haven't seen yet, I'm giving away stuff for free. Yes. Do it. Enter. There's going to be a wonderful surprise for everyone who enters. I'm quite sure you'll like it. :)

Harry Potter

I love Harry Potter. There. I admitted it. It's out there. No more hiding in the cupboard under the stairs about it. I am a Potterhead. I don't just like Harry Potter, I love Harry Potter.

Now that I've lost all the non-Harry Potter fan readers, I'd like to lose all the Harry Potter fans by saying this: I don't think J. K. Rowling is the greatest writer ever. In fact, I don't think her writing really is all that particularly amazing.

At this point, my mother is the only person still reading. Mom, let me tell you why I love Harry Potter, despite my above statement about the very woman who made Harry Potter happen's writing. I love Harry Potter for the fans. Though I tried to lose 'em all, I know they're all still reading. After all, this post is titled, "Harry Potter," and if it has to do with Harry Potter, a Harry Potter fan will keep reading whether they like what's being said or not. (If not, they're getting ready to pull a Gryffindor and heroically prove why Harry Potter is the best thing ever.)

"Wizard rock fans are the sweetest bunch of fans." Thank you, Matt Maggiacomo (The Whomping Willows)! It's true. And I don't mean to sound arrogant; I'm not really including myself in the legions of amazing Harry Potter fans. See, there are these people who make music about Harry Potter called wizard rock, or wrock, and they are so ridiculously passionate and talented alike, that it's hard not to love them. They are true fans.

And then there's fanfiction. Comics. Stories. Quidditch matches. Huge festivals. Theme parks. Gatherings of all sorts. And no matter how uncool and nerdy it is to love Harry Potter to the extent that many fans do past the age of fourteen, they do. And they don't care one single bit if anyone thinks they're nerdy or uncool; they're too busy having fun. That's why I love Harry Potter fans. And that's where my respect, adoration, and awe for J. K. Rowling comes in.

I wish I could create something which could inspire so much love, so much passion, so much good. These fans donate time, money, and energy to causes all the time, trying to spread the love and joy that they've found in Harry Potter. It's just . . . crazy.

I was listening to some Ministry of Magic today, and I couldn't help hearing how much the music relates to everyday life. It's like this way of communication for fans. "A Pheonix Lament" is among one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard, and it's Harry Potter music. But that's exactly where it gets it's power from. Harry Potter fans have journeyed with these characters, have literally grown up with them, and it becomes such an integral part of their very existence, that when you write words like, "In the sacred space behind the lids of my eyes, Mad-Eye darkly holds my gaze, and I can still see Fredrick's laughing face" it reaches into that deep core and does something no other song can: it speaks directly to you personally.

If J. K. Rowling had written exceptionally, if she had used elaborately poetic prose like, say Nabokov, this would not have happened. The beauty in Harry Potter is not its complexity, but its simplicity. Despite the many elaborate plot details which made it so realistic, the story boils down to one simple idea: love conquers. That is the idea which possesses fans, which fills wizard rock, which makes me love Harry Potter.

People like Luke Conard, Alex Hinksman, Jason Munday, Kristina Horner, Matt Maggiacomo, Alex Carpenter, Jace "Catchlove", Joe and Paul DeGeorge, and so many others give Harry Potter fans so much incredible music to come together under. And that's not even to mention all the Harry Potter sites like Mugglenet, Leaky, and HPLexicon, and then all the visual artists and writers and so many other people who all make being a Harry Potter fan such an amazing experience.

"This is your chance to see with your own eyes that justice can be done, that good triumphs over evil, that bravery, courage, loyalty, friendship, hope, and love make us all wizards and witches!" - "The Flaw in the Plan" by The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Alex Hinksman

The Rescues

I promised to write an artist or two this week on Monday, didn't I? Well, lucky you, I don't like to break my promises! So, without further ado, let's talk about The Rescues: Kyler England, Rob Giles, Adrianne Gonzalez, and Gabriel Mann.

It's no wonder I like The Rescues: piano-driven rock, vocal harmonies, ukulele, creative lyrics, and musicians who play multiple instruments. And they're L.A.-based. Their debut album, Let Loose the Horses, was released only a few months ago, so they're (hopefully) just getting started; I am definitely looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

Besides fitting the musical generalisations I find cool, The Rescues stand out to me because they have a unique sound. Each one of them came from a different musical background, and it's obvious in their music that they're not four identical people with all of the same ideas. No, instead of clinging to similarities, they have somehow managed to blend their differences beautifully.

In a way, The Rescues sort of represent my own hopes and beliefs about our society. The idea that four very different people could come together, embrace their differences, and create something beautiful is perhaps one of the most uplifting ideas for me. Losing yourself in order to make peace with others or worse, eliminating differences by eliminating those different from an arbitrarily determined norm is so very far from ideal, but there are times when it seems like our differences could never be reconciled to create something as beautiful as The Rescues. But The Rescues prove it's possible.

Philosophical ideas aside, the music of The Rescues is incredible. Their lyrics are great, their voices beautiful (just listen to their acapella track, "My Heart with You"), and each instrumental note intertwined pleasantly with every other. I'm proud to recommend Kyler, Rob, Adrianne, and Gabriel to anyone cool enough to read my blog. Yeah, that means YOU. I like you; you read my blog! And you're not just my mother.