Last week, I cleverly weaseled my way into tickets to see the Alabama Shakes tonight! To say I am stoked, would be an understatement. I freaking love this awkward band with their soulful hipstery southern rock and roll/honky tonk sound and I know that they are one of those bands that seeing in them in concert is going to be even better than hearing a recording (how often is that not the case though, really?). To be perfectly honest, when I first heard them, the lead voice seemed a bit androgynous and so I looked it up. This is their lead singer:
This chick, Brittany Howard, is a TOTAL BAD ASS. I mean, she kills it!
My music taste is pretty specific, however (I tend to only dabble in songs recorded after 1992) and my knowledge of what's "hot" or popular is fairly surface-deep, so... I actually have no pulse on how well known this band is, but I'm guessing most of you have at least heard the song "Hold On."
One complaint I wish to formally file on this blog is that my favorite Alabama Shakes song, "Always Alright" cannot be purchased on iTunes as a single song. I Shazamed it in the movie theater during the credits for "Silver Linings Playbook" (a fave movie of mine) but was unable to purchase it. Maybe you can have a listen and then we can bombard the authority for this with angry emails so I don't have to go to YouTube on my phone every time I want to listen to it.
Here's to hoping they play it at the concert tonight!
This band is so cool. They are from Alabama (I bet you didn't guess that). The lead singer-guitarist Brittany Howard and bassist Zac Cockrell attended the same high school and have been performing together ever since. Although they had been working on original material when they first started as a full band, they performed cover songs by Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Otis Redding, AC/DC (it's no wonder why I like them) to fill a "one show only" 45-minute set, under the name The Shakes. The band later added Alabama to their name to differentiate themselves from other bands called The Shakes. I don't know why I love hearing the stories behind the evolution of band names. I can just imagine that conversation in the back of the recording studio or their manager's office and one of the band members is just super hard to convince to change the name and then FINALLY he gives in and they go on to make it big (haha, maybe that didn't happen at all but I like to think it did).
Oh and here are some pictures from the races yesterday! I had a TOTAL BLAST!
I am on the end on the left. Do you like the hat and dress I wore? My hat made quite the statement but was hitting everyone in the face and even knocked someone's drink out of their hand! Oops!
Unluckily, all of my bets resulted in losses, but the track and the horses were gorgeous! Del Mar Opening Day = Two Thumbs Up!
HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!
