For a little sexy, dirty hard-core cool I’ve been loving Louis XIV (Finding Out True Love is Blind – sex-Y). On the opposite end of the scale, for some great girly music, Keri Noble. Teddy Thompson is awesome, too. (All available on iTunes) And, personally, I can never get enough of Seal. (Apparently, neither can Hiedi Klum.)

(Okay, I won’t ask if I’m first, cuz that will guarantee that I ain’t!)

I’m in the process of sending out my summer mix for the year — drop me an email with a mailing address and I’ll hook you up with a copy. I promise it’s awesome. (I also promise not to use your mailing address for evil purposes.)

Wow.

Ahem, well….

My current iPod faves, so many to choose from:

(not new, but SO worth it regardless)

Blind Melon (Soup)
Bran Van 3000 (Discosis) (trust me)
The Decemberists (Picaresque)
Foo Fighters (In Your Honour – play Miracle first)
Joe Grass
The New Pornographers (New Cinema)
Nine Inch Nails (With Teeth)
The Pretenders (Greatest Hits)
The Shins (Oh, Inverted World)
Stars (Set Yourself on Fire), and
Weezer (Make Believe)

Ta-Da

A commuter-train rider’s saviour.

Oh, and did I mention that everytime I see a picture of your rugrat I ovulate?

Check out Devotchka. It’s goooooooood. Badly Drawn Boy, Cat Power. I’m super addicted to Iron and Wine right now, and probably shouldn’t be. But! Devotchka! I promise.

Try http://www.pandora.com/ to discover new music. It’s very interesting and I came across some artists I never would have heard of otherwise.

I don’t know about up there in Seattle, but down here in Austin, Whole Foods is known as Whole Paycheck. That’s why I shop at Wal-Farts.

Pandora is a pretty cool site, although be prepared to get some funky/unlikely recommendations. I am personally in love with the Old 97’s (any and all of their albums) and the OC Mixes. I might not be a fan of the show, but they do pick some damn fine music.

The Grates (indie rockish)
Cansei de Ser Sexy (fun pop stuff, Brazilian band, so hilarious)
Tigarah (Japanese in baile funk style. amazing)
Gnarls Barkeley (get the whole album.)
Panic! at the Disco

Those my current favorites.

Ooo, music requests! My current faves are:
Sufjan Stevens (Greetings from Michigan and Come On Feel the Illinoise!)
Stars
Bell Orchestre
Broken Social Scene
Feist (especially Open Season since I just bought it)
Four Tet
Gomez (In Our Gun is their newest, but for a bluesier feel check out Bring It On and Liquid Skin)
Danny Michel (Valhalla)
Cuff the Duke (Cuff the Duke)
Carolyn Mark
Sarah Harmer (I Am a Mountain)
I’ve also been listening to a lot of music from the 20’s and 30’s – Fred Astaire is always awesome

and I also recommend Pandora, although I haven’t been in awhile.

Granite is nearly indestructible. We inlayed 2 granite pieces into our concrete kitchen countertops, on each side of the stove, so to use it for hot pots. They are great, withstand heat and doesn’t stain. (You can cut on them, though not good for knives). Only downside, do not drop any glasses or plates onto it because they will end up broken, unless you are into throwing plates like Greeks do.

Can’t really suggest much new music wise, but about the granite – the only thing that will crack the granite is dropping it or dropping something heavy (ceiling beam, engine block, other granite) on it. I’ve never heard of it breaking from heat, and I used to install it in kitchens for a living. Also, if you’re worried about it staining, just seal it with mineral oil (they should have specific products just for sealing granite at the home improvement venue of your choice) and that should prevent any stain issues. Light granites are more porous than dark and tend to stain a little easier, so they really should be sealed properly. The biggest thing about granite is that it is very very very heavy. I wouldn’t suggest it if you are a chronic furniture re-arranger. Otherwise, it’s gorgeous and nearly indestructable. Hope you get lots of good music recommendations!

Ok, so…..

Snowpatrol
The Stone Roses
Kaiser Chiefs
David Gray
Janes Addiction
Razorlight
Crowded House – good ol’ NZ music
The Datsuns – good ol’ NZ music also
Any Cuban ditties – always good when it’s hot outside and the sun is shining

Good Seattle radio… No, spectacular radio, located in Seattle:

KEXP 90.3 (non profit listener supported)
http://www.kexp.org

It could save your life.

Hi Sundry! If I remember correctly, you’re a Juliana Hatfield fan? I work for her and if you’re at all interested in hearing her side project, Some Girls, the record company sent me way more copies than I need of their latest release. Drop me a line if you’d like me to drop a CD in the mail.

OK, I have to second the Louis XIV. Hot Stuff. Also, how about Sons and Daughters… I came across them when I was catching up on Weeds, they’re in the soundtrack. Ummm… what is in my ipod right now?
Robbers on High Street
Spoon
Pitty Sing
The Postal Service
…I guess that’s it. I’m off to Pandora now!

Cowboy Junkies’ “Lay It Down” is probably my favorite of their CDs. Cyndi Lauper’s newest (“At Last”) is also good times. I’m currently re-discovering Joni Mitchell, and trying to wean myself off of Michael Buble. Lola’s favorite (she’s 8 mo, such taste) seems to be Kenny Loggins’ “Back to Pooh Corner” and whatever Daddy sings. Happy music-ing!

Have you heard Iron and Wine’s rendition of Such Great Heights? (It was on an M&M commercial a bit ago)

Also, doubtful anyone else on Earth enjoys this stuff, but:
The New Pornographers
The Delgados
Rilo Kiley
Tegan and Sara

Musically I recommend:
Panic! At The Disco
Rilo Kiley [lovelovelove]
Regina Spektor
The Decemberists
Philip Glass [anything you choose will be wonderful]
Guster
New Order
Lumidee [that song from the Almost Famous soundtrack – awesome!]

And the song I always sing very loudly in my car – “Vicinity of Obscenity” by System Of A Down.

By the way, you have the cutest child I have ever seen. Probably cuter than my sister was as a baby although I’d never admit it to her face. Anyway, adorable!

Oh Elizabeth I am SO feeling the System Of A Down with you!
Sundry I wish I could offer you some good music choices, but in this household (with the exception of S.O.A.D.) the choices are bad, not tasteful and metal, metal, buttrock, metal, 80’s hairbands, metal……you get my drift. I listen to a little bit of everything. I do not own an Ipod. My current favorite CD is Dana Fuchs Band. Saw them live in New York a couple summers ago and fell madly in love on the spot. Metallica, Sublime, Dana Fuchs Band, Rob Zombie, Linkin Park are all on heavy rotation here and in my car. And I LOOK so preppy sitting here typing in my pink polo…. OH! A good recommendation is available at http://www.phatphuque.com, it’s my neighbor and good friend. Funny as hell mix of social commentary, snark and jazz. You can hear some of the music at the site.

Breaks Co-op – The Sound Inside is possibly the sexiest album I’ve heard for I don’t know how long.

Sorry, no granite advice.

I highly recommend Alice Donut for your listening pleasure. Please don’t doubt me. Also, I keep my iPod well stocked with comedy stuff (Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan, Dane Cook, your nemesis Sarah Silverman, for example) for those days when no music can satisfy me.

And speaking of Sarah Silverman, we have a Depp Clause in our marriage — if ever Johnny Depp appears and wants to whisk me off to France with him, Husband must let him, with no anger. It’s a good thing.

I second Anna on Snowpatrol, David Gray and Crowded House.

Other faves of mine at the moment are Anna Nalick, KT Tunstall, Split Enz (there’s that NZ music again!), Foo Fighters-In Your Honour and Bernard Fanning (his album Tea & Sympathy is fab)

As always Riley is just too damn cute, that shot of him in the paddling pool is great :)

If you have not yet heard of the Canadian group Stars, run do not walk to iTunes and check out the song “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” or “Don’t Be Afraid to Sing” or “What I’m Trying to Say”. Then buy everything that you can find from them. Plus, they played at Lollapalooza, so they’re what all the cool kids are listening to these days. They aren’t too ashamed to cover Morrissey, so you have to respect that.

I have been listening to and highly recommend Anthony Hamilton. I saw him live this summer and he sounds the same. LOVE HIM.

I second Emily on the Jim Gaffigan. For some reason, I can’t actually WATCH him do standup, but in my car I nearly wreck every time I hear his manatee bit.

Also, “top secret military kissing operatives” is classic. I work for the military and I wish I were assigned to THAT task force.

I will third Snow Patrol. And my husband seconds your husbands Sarah Silverman love.

I’m not much help on the music front, what with being tragically unhip, but as for the granite – my parents have a coffee table with a granite inset and they have had it since they were married 39 years ago. It still looks brand new, and believe me – it has taken abuse over the years.

I visited a family member for ONE WEEKEND this year. They had granite countertops. In that ONE WEEKEND I broke THREE OF THEIR GLASSES. Now, I wasn’t even in the kitchen that much. And even though one was a drop? The other two were simply “taps” in my opinion. And the owner of the house said in the two years they’ve had them? They’ve gone through TWO 8-piece wine glass sets and are down to 6 in the third set.

So – that’s my experience. Amen. I’m a klutz so I doubt I’ll own anything granite. Can you get tables made of feathers?

Granite will last until you drop dead.

In music, gah, I really haven’t moved beyond 1987 myself, and my iPod contains the usual mix of New Order, The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, Sinead O’Connor and Peter Gabriel. And I’m not sure what it says about me that I never get tired of it. Ooh ooh – or The Samples. Yes, I am hung up on my high school and college years, why do you ask?

In new(ish), I’d go with the Postal Service and Snow Patrol too (though they aren’t that new and have been beaten into oblivion by Grey’s Anatomy), and if you’re ever looking for a folksy change (which I do on rare occasions), Brandi Carlile is darling, and I always find I can feel at home with a little Dar Williams, with or without Bela Fleck. And if I feel like re-living the college angst with apropos lyrics, I pop in a little Carbon Leaf, and when I’m in the mood for recent Brit Pop, Keane or Travis suits me nicely.

I have a lot of music on my ipod, as I too like nearly every genre out there. My suggestions for some good listening are the following (if you don’t already have these artists):

– John Mayer (all of his songs are relaxing)
– Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions (Download this one song called “On the Low”- great song!)
– The Stills (my personal favs. from them are “Of Montreal” and “Changes Are No Good”)
– The Vines (any of the songs off of their Winning Days album are great)
– Try downloading classics and favorites from the 80s, 70s and so on. They always make for great listening.
– Garden State the Soundtrack (this is one of the best soundtracks ever. I also really love the movie)
– Any music by Nick Drake is wonderful.
– The Shins
– Dido (best songs in my opinion are “Don’t Leave Home” and “White Flag”)
– Mum (“We Have A Map of the Piano” and “Green Grass of Tunnel”)
– Death Cab For Cutie (all of their songs are awesome, but my fav. is “Soul Meets Body”)
– Iron and Wine
– Frou Frou
– Badly Drawn Boy (listen to “Silent Sigh”)
– The Caesars (their most popular song that was used for an ipod commercial is “Jerk It Out”. This song will have you dancing all over the place!)
– Polaris
– Gorillaz
– Black Eyed Peas (best songs: “Don’t Lie,” “Don’t Mess With My Heart,” “My Humps”)
– Blue Oyster Cult
– Michael Buble (he sings Sinatra classics and others)
– Coldplay
– Eisley
– Fatboy Slim (for dancey-hype-you-up kinda music)

Whooo! I gave you a lot. I have about 1600 songs so far on my ipod (one of my best friends!), so if you enjoy any of the artists I provided, I’d be happy to suggest more. =)

Granite is very hard and very heat resistant (because it is igneous – sorry, I am a geologist and I cannot help myself).

I don’t keep up much with new music either, so I have some great friends that are kind enough to burn music for me that they think I might like. Recent awesome scores are: some girl named Mirah who has a gorgeous voice and some of the most poetic lyrics I have ever heard, and the new Willie Nelson CD, which I thought I wouldn’t like but actually turned out to be quite lovely. If you are into World music at all, Putumayo (http://www.putumayo.com/) puts out some great stuff, especially the Brazillian Lounge, Brazillian Groove and Bosa Nova CDs. That music makes for nice drive to work, especially if you are fortunate enough to drive along the waterfront.

You have probably said this at some point, but what kind of camera do you use? I’m looking for a good camera that takes video clips also. I don’t know if yours does video, but the stills are breathtaking.

Oh, and also, my fiance glanced at what I was looking at and then said about eighty million times, “Sarah Silverman IS hot. She’s HOT. She’s hot cause she says horrible things. HOT.”

We bought 3 Doors Down’s new one Seventeen Days at the same time as the new Tom Petty. I can’t decide which I like better.

The newest Gorillaz, definitely. That album turned me on to amazing British hip-hop artist Roots Manuva (he did the guest rapping on the track “All Alone,” which is pretty much my favorite track on the album.) His albums “Run Come Save Me” and “Awfully Deep” are definitely worth checking out. I’ve been listening a lot lately to the new Psalm One, a female rapper from Chicago who doesn’t have to trade on her tits & ass to make awesome music. You can check out a couple of tracks on her MySpace Page. I’ve been liking a lot of underground hip-hop lately, like the new Jurassic 5 album, “Feedback,” is pretty fun. I also like Atmosphere’s new one, and whoa, definitely check out Brother Ali for some amazing hip-hop. If you never heard the self-titled first album by Ozomatli, check it out, it’s really butt-shaking, salsa-fied, funky fun music. Hope that helps!

I recommend Blink-182. They’ve broken up, but Tom DeLonge was my favorite singer anyway, and he’s now in a group called Angels and Airways.

I totally agree about George Clooney.

You might enjoy Pizzicato 5: http://www.matadorrecords.com/pizzicato_five/

I second the Sufjan Stevens recommendation. Not only is he a great musician, he is my imaginary boyfriend. And also, I think someone up there said Spoon. I was listening to Gimme Fiction this morning and almost started a bar fight in my car. With the, um, carseat. It was awesome.

Ooh. The Isles, if you like that Morrissey sound.

Ooh Ooh! And the Arctic Monkeys! Talk about a bar fight! Except in THIS bar fight, you have to wiggle your hips a little.

You probably already know about 3hive — you can find lotsa good music there.

My latest audio acqusition is Red Hot Chili Peppers “Stadium Arcadium” but then again I loves me some Anthony Kiedis. As for granite, no clue. Also: HAHAHAHAHAHA! That’ll learn ya to toss the baby after dinner. Not that that’s ever happened to US, no sir…

I’ve been listening to a lot of Girlyman, Melissa Ferrick, Erin McKeown, and Lucy Kaplansky lately, all of whom are pretty new to me. (A friend of mine in college described the music I listened to as “lesbian folk rock,” and that’s probably a pretty accurate description of these guys too.)

Pandora’s fun. But sometimes the choices are weird. I didn’t expect The Clash to come on when I had based my station on Paul Simon. Not that I minded; it just seemed strange.

We have granite countertops and for the past few years, no problems… no stains, no burns, they look good, etc.

Somebody told me you can actually use them as a cutting-board, which we haven’t tried, but wow!

Gnarls. Barkley’s. “Crazy”. ROCKS HUGE.
JB’s white socks & shorts??? Not so much. Honestly!!!???
Riley in pool? Beyond adorable.

‘Aight – you got yer music recommendations. Here’s what brings me to the table (yuck, yuck, granite-topic pun): Marital crushes. Mine all resemble my husband at least a little (skinny but toned, dark hair, a little dorky in the right light); his look nothing like me – particularly since the birth of his baby and the ongoing expansion of my hips. Fantasy life is a good thing, so why do I get a little – erm – snarky when he starts droolin’? (Damn my Scorpio blood)

I know nothing about granite (too rich for my blood) although I would love to find out.

Keaton: You aren’t the only one into Tegan and Sara and Rilo Kiley – my husband LOVES them. I’m kinda “eh” myself and have just learned that it isn’t Ryle O’Kiley. Yeah, I’m a dork.

Further proof of my “dorkatude” – my music suggestion: Bruce Springsteen’s new album (yes, I still call them albums even though I’m *only* 33) The Seeger Sessions. They are a bunch of old folky/protest/spiritual songs put together by a bunch of musicians with no rehersals or dubbing. The liner notes say something about listening to music not being “played” but being “MADE” – and that captures it perfectly. It’s very lively and great fun and has the added bonus of being kid-friendly w/o being kid-music, KWIM?

I’m going to suggest pandora.com – put in something that you’re grooving on and it’ll suggest things that sound like it. I’ve found a lot of random music I’ve never before heard of because of them. And you can have multiple stations by-god. Right now, I’ve been enjoying one based on Dar Williams. Try it…you’ll become an adict. :)

Panic! at the Disco

Second the Garden State soundtrack suggestion, and other songs by those artists. And Alexi Murdoch, esp the album Time Without Consequence. And John Gorka. And on a completely different note (you *did* say you like almost any genre) how about Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: the Pete Seeger Sessions? Oh man, you gotta shake what ya mama gave ya to that.

There is no way I will make any music suggestions because in ipod time I’m 1,245 years old – I still love stuff from the 80s and 90s – shameful. I am posting only to note the “Clooney Clause” I’m considering trying to force my husband to include in our marital agreement. I may have to acceed to a “Selma Hayek clause” in return, but I can’t complain because if I was a man or if I played for the other team I’m absoutely find Selma Hayek hot as hell too…

No advice for the granite, but for music you should check out The Sounds…they’re a poppy-rock-indie band from Sweden, with a female lead singer whose voice makes me wanna play for the other team. Their first album “Living in America” sounds like an updated Blondie, and their second album “Dying To Say This To You” reminds me of the Strokes or Ramones. Good singles to download would be “Rock’n’Roll”, “Painted By Numbers”, “Queen of Apology”, and “Ego”.

We just bought a house with granite countertops, and the previous owner warned us not to get tomato on them. Apparently acidic things might be able to pock the surface. (But then, some people think the pocks give it character.) This might all depend on how well the granite is sealed (I mean, how in the hell can a TOMATO hurt a piece of ROCK?), but you might want to search online about granite stains first. Another website mentioned:
“Stains become permanent when the liquid can’t leave the granite.Oils are one such liquid. They can be very difficult to lift from a granite surface. This is one reason pizza boxes should never be placed on a granite top. Oil can soak into the cardboard box and then pass into the granite.” (http://www.askthebuilder.com/N8_Granite_Countertop_Stains.shtml)

It stresses me out that rock can be so damn finicky, so now I’m paranoid about spilling anything on it. Must do more research!