Tuesday Tunage; The Absentees

This is my friend’s amazing band that is well worth a listen. Lots of folky goodness and best of all, this song is an original.

Voting Day

I am so very stoked because I just got back from my first presidential election! What an exciting day!

Back Again!

Oh, hey. Long time no see…

I could tell you that I have been too busy with work, school, friends, etc; but there is really no excuse with why I haven’t been keeping up with this blog.  I am back now though, and I have some fun things to share (that are hopefully of interest to anyone other than myself).

Pretty much, what I am about to do now is overwhelm you with an onslaught of things in just one post.  I will try my hardest to keep it to just pictures with brief explanations.  Also, I promise you that there is going to be no cohesive quality to any of this other than that they’re cool things that I thought might be worth sharing.

One more promise:

I will give my very best attempt to keep  up with my blog so that this madness will never happen again.

Alright? Well then, let the madness begin!

Here, we have a photo that I took from a concert during Bangor’s Cool Sounds Concert Series.  Stesha Cano played some sweet tunes including a couple of new songs that she is working on for her next album.  This is just one of the many shots that I got. You can click on this lovely link to see more from the concert and to learn more about Stesha.

Back in August, I went to see my friend’s band play a backyard concert in Farmington. The music was incredible and the stage was just as nice.  Check ’em out on Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook, you should probably click here so that you can like Folkin’ Around with Alley and Lena’s page.  We put on a funk, folk, reggae show every Monday night from 10-12.  You can listen anywhere in the world on wmeb.fm as long as you are sure to hit ‘listen’.  If you have some original music of your own that you think would go nicely with our show, please share it with us on Facebook! We really love to play original/local stuff.

I am currently taking the coolest class at UMaine right now.  It is the Camden International Film Class.  I highly recommend that everyone takes this class. I am taking it for 3 credits as a 400-level English class. You learn all sorts of different ways to go about interpreting not only the contents of documentaries, but also the choices that the filmmakers made.  The best part is that you get a VIP pass to CIFF, which if you did not know, is internationally known and full of incredible films.  We even got to talk with a lot of the filmmakers at private discussions that were set up for just the class. It was all way too cool.  Did I mention there are parties?  To sum up how awesome it was, I will leave you with the catch phrase of the weekend: “Are we really getting college credits for this?”

These are just a bunch of pictures from the last couple of times I went sailing in Brooklin.  The first bunch came from a beautiful day spent out with awesome friends.  It was all just a little too perfect.  The camera was being passed around between the four of us, so it is hard to say who took what photos.

So, there we go. Back in action! I cannot promise dramatic spikes in the consistency of my posting, but I can promise that I will try for at least once a week.

I am very lucky to experience so many fantastic places, tastes, sounds, and words, and I want to share them with everyone!

Climb a New Mountain (or two!)

9. Climb a new mountain (literally)

 

Last week, I was able to cross yet another thing off of my “20 Before 20” list. I hiked up not one, but two mountains!  I had never previously climbed both mountains.  They were little, but none the less, it was a great time.  I would have liked to cross off number nine with an even bigger climb, but it is already August and it is questionable as to when I will have time to hike again.

We went to Acadia National Park and climbed up Mansell and Bernard. We went up Mansell first which was 949 ft.  Then, we took the Great Notch trail to Bernard Mountain which was 1071 ft.  Mansell had a pretty nice lookout spot, but there wasn’t much to see from Bernard.

The whole hike was beautiful though.  There were a lot of fairy-tale looking, grassy spots along the trail.  We kept saying that they would be the perfect spots for a deer to live in, and what do you know, we saw a deer in a nice, grassy spot right at the end of our hike.

The best part was that we only saw a handful of people while on the trail.  The mountains are the most western in the Mount Desert range.  They aren’t visited by tourists as often, so they’re ideal for locals.  It was a nice, peaceful hike.  It could easily be done even if you’re not in the best of shape.  I’m not saying that you won’t feel the burn, but I am saying that you won’t feel like you’re dying.

There weren’t any technical spots on the hike.  Most of the trail’s incline consists of stone steps.  Again, it was a workout, but it was do-able.  I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a quiet day hike.

Tuesday Tunage: Sia

Pretty much, this song has been stuck in my head because I am exhausted. “I go to Sleep” is the title of the song and it’s the catchy line that’s been going through my head all day.  I would elaborate, but I’m going to sleep.

Maria and Billy

I would just like to give a huge congratulations to my gorgeous cousin, Maria, and her husband, Billy.  These cute kids tied the knot this past Friday and I couldn’t be happier for them.

Tuesday Tunage: Mumford & Sons

Last night, my roommate, Lena, camped out outside of Bull Moose in Bangor.  This crazy kid stayed out there all night in hopes of getting a five dollar ticket to see Mumford & Sons.  We were all pretty skeptical about her chances of getting these tickets.  There were eighteen to give away at this price, each person in line could buy up to two tickets, and there were already nine people outside the store when she decided to get in line. Realistically, we thought her chances were slim.

Flash forward to the next morning.  It was about 8:00 a.m. when I woke up and saw that Lena had yet to return home.  I fell back asleep and started having a really weird dream.

In this dream, a group of friends were hanging out in my room with me.  Lena entered the scene with a look of defeat on her face.  In this dream, she did not get the tickets. We all sat around and started discussing our favorite Mumford & Sons songs (or something along those lines). Everyone was drinking Blue Moon forties. At one point, I turned to my other roommate, Tag, and referred to the band as “Mother & Sons.”  In the dream, this was the funniest thing that we had ever heard.  We started laughing hysterically.  Then, Tag’s boyfriend came in and took all of the nail polishes off of my nightstand.

Next thing I knew, I was wide awake and Lena was in the room.  Did she get the tickets? Yes, she did!  Looks like her parking lot camping trip paid off.

It’s only fitting that today, on this Tuesday Tunage, I post a Mumford & Sons song. In the dream, I probably told the room that my favorite song of theirs is “Awake My Soul”, because it is. So, here you go:

Also, are Blue Moon forties even real?  If not, they should be.

Tuesday Tunage: GPGDS

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad’s “Far Away” off their album, Country.

Tuesday Tunage: Stesha Cano

This Tuesday Tunage is all about the beautiful, soulful Stesha Cano and her album “Like a Bee”.

Stesha has got some awesome pipes.  The whole album will have you nodding your head, saying things like “mhmmm” and “I can dig that”.  Her lyrics are all her own, yet there seems to be a little bit of something in every song that listeners can relate to.

Ms. Cano’s style can’t be defined by just one genre.  There’s a little bit of soul, a dash of blues, hint of (acid) jazz, and a pinch of funk.  Stir ’em all together, bake until golden, let cool and there you have it: Stesha Cano.

She’s a cool, local lady with big hair and the voice to match it.  She is mysterious and fabulous and has superstar potential.  Stesha is the type of girl that would inspire a Tom Robbin’s novel.  She is an original and well worth a listen.

If you click here you can listen to all of “Like a Bee.”

If you click on this one, you should then click “Like” so that you can keep up to date with the happenings of Stesha and Juicebox, the funk/soul cover band that she’s in.

You can also go to this site to find out where to buy “Like a Bee” and to see some rockin’ photos.

Island Camping

I don’t think it is a secret that I am in love with the Maine coast.  Brooklin has easily become one of my favorite coastal towns (probably because it’s the one I visit the most).

I spent last weekend camping on a privately owned island right off the coast of Brooklin.  It was a weekend full of exploring, sailing, grilling, and even a little bit of swimming.  Camping in Maine is really a fantastic thing, especially when you get creative with your choice of location.

I will let the photos speak for themselves.