summer of '98

it has been SO LONG! I am already 2 months into my summer vacation, and I finally found a job that I've been busy with. It's nothing special, but at least I'm finally making some money. How have all of you been? I really miss writing on this thing. I could bore all of you with the things that I've been doing this summer, but instead I will tell you about a great song. It's called Summer of '98 by a band that I saw live last year, The Secret Handshake. This guy is amazing..at the show that I went to he started all of his songs off by dj'ing and mixing these well known songs, and then led them into his own songs. That sounds confusing- but anyway, just listen to his songs and let me know what you think. I will start writing regularly again I promise. I have many songs to recommend for the sunny weather :)
http://www.myspace.com/thesecrethandshake

shannon

fools

wow what a weekend! so many exciting things happened...where do I start? I was born in Montreal and all of my relatives still live there, so on Friday my cousin and I took a little road trip to visit them. We got there around dinner time, and after spending some time with my aunt and uncle we went to a big birthday party for my cousin Mark. After meeting a bunch of people, everyone was heading downtown to the James Morrison concert at Club Soda. My cousin was able to get us some tickets last minute, so we tagged along. This artist called Diane Birch opened for him and she was amazing. You should definitely give her song Fools a listen. But anyway, not only did we get to watch the concert from the very front, but we even met James Morrison's band after the show! We were all standing around outside of the venue taking our time before leaving, and the band came outside for a smoke. We starting chatting with them, and they told us that they were all heading to a club around the corner, so we got to hang out with them! It was so exciting. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. We did a little shopping and went to my cousin Patrick's cottage up North. We drove back home on Sunday, and that was that!

It felt really great to get out and experience a change of scenery for a weekend. My cousin and I already started planning out next road trip, and I can't wait. I need to get back to study, but I'll talk more about my summer plans soon!!
http://www.myspace.com/dianebirch

shannon

baker lake

I cannot wait for my exams to be finished. I only have two left, and I am officially done May 5th. On the Friday following that day I am leaving for Wakefield in Quebec, near my cottage. It's my uncle's birthday and my cousin is throwing him a huge surprise party. Wakefield is literally the tiniest town I have ever visited. It only runs about 8 blocks long, and lines a small river. The houses are hidden behind a main street that is made up of little shops and ice cream parlors, and it is the most perfect summer destination you could imagine. It has one little white church and a bed and breakfast that we plan on sleeping at. I cannot wait. It's the perfect way to start my vacation, and I am so excited to see my family. I have already started to update my ipod with all of my summer music to listen to (it's a 6 hour drive away), and I decided to share a song with you. It's called Baker Lake by Sera Cahoone. It's really good, and the perfect type of song to listen to on the road. Listen away, and let me know what you think!
http://www.myspace.com/seracahoone

shannon

australia

still studying...but here's a song for the start of your week.

Australia by The Shins. More later I swear!
http://www.myspace.com/theshins

shannon

asking for flowers

With the weather getting warmer and my exams slowwwwly coming to an end, I have started to take out my summer cds that I haven't listened to in a while. I guess I'm wierd, but there are some artists that I only listen to during specific times of year, depending on the way that their music make me feel. For example, Matt Pond PA is my winter band, probably because I became obsessed with them around Christmas time a few years ago. Another artist, Kathleen Edwards, has a folky feel to her that makes me think of the time spent at my cottage during the summer. I first heard this artist in high school when my friend, also named Kathleen Edwards, googled her name to see what would come up. I instantly fell in love with the artist, and surprisingly enjoy every one of her 3 cds. Her song Asking for Flowers off of her newest cd is my favourite right now. Give it a listen, and I promise that I will be writing on here more frequently once school is done (only about 3 weeks to go)!! I also have some exciting news that I will write about eventually. You can hear the song on the website...so there you go! http://www.kathleenedwards.com/

shannon

waiting for my real life to begin

I always understood that Mondays were crappy, but today was the WORST way to start my week. First of all, I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night which is extremely short for me. I am used to getting 9 or 10 hours of sleep a night, so I woke up very tired. After showering and eating a quick breakfast, I rushed to the bus stop and waited about 15 minutes before realizing that it was not going to show. Where I live, it is common for this to happen. I guess sometimes the bus drivers just don't feel like moving their asses.

Anyway, because I missed my bus I ended up missing my train. I was late for my class and spent 13 hours at school in total. My night class finished later than usual, so around 8:15 I had to rush to the train station in hopes of catching it. I didn't miss it this time, because it had been delayed 40 minutes. I finally got home at 10:15pm.

How come whenever something bad happens, it is followed by a million other unlucky little things? Why can't we escape these bad days? Is it just a case of bad luck? And what does it take to turn a bad day back into a good one? The only answer that I can think of right now is birthday cake, so I'm off to get a piece. I turned 20 years old recently...and it's not something I felt like celebrating. I'll miss being a teenager- so many great things happened once I turned 16. But that's all in the past now. I feel like I need to grow up, and I hate that.

Anyways, I recently became obsessed with this song called Waiting for My Real Life to Begin by Colin Hay. It's really great, and I strongly recommend that you take a listen if you've liked any of the songs that I've posted so far. It just has something soothing about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tcRlHY-3Q

S
this is montreal

come to me

wow...too much homework. I spent last weekend in the city with my cousins and had an amazing time, but got seriously behind on my school work. I've got a huge paper that I am trying to finish by tomorrow...so I need to get to work. I just thought that I'd recommend a song, however. It's called Come to Me by Koop. It's super catchy, and has a fun jazz type feel to it. It will make you happy. TGIF everyone...thank god. http://www.myspace.com/koop

S
this is montreal