The Summer of Adele

I was first introduced to Adele, probably the same way that we all were - with "Chasing Pavements".  I have always remotely liked her music, but this Spring Break, when I visited my best friend, Alissa, did I really get introduced to her.  "Introduced" meaning Adele was played breakfast, lunch, dinner, in the car, Happy Hour, and after the kids went to bed.

I tend to have almost "crushes" on certain entertainers or musicians each summer.  Some of my favorites include:  Zac Brown, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, Coldplay, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, and now Adele.

I identify various periods of my life with the CD I was into at the time.  There was Sheryl Crow and the Counting Crows, when we lived in Boulder.  I loved Sting's "The Dream of the Blue Turtle" before that.  I was really into John Mayer last summer.  It was Coldplay, the summer before that.  We saw Coldplay at Polaris, with Koz, our Japanese house guest, one summer.  (See Lost in Translation post).  He just stood there while I gyrated around him.

Once, I even took off early from work, to meet Sheryl Crow, at a record store in Boulder before she became a "musical icon," but was too embarrassed to go up and talk to her.  I had literally listened to "Tuesday Night Music Club" eight million times before that day, and could recite every word of it, and I found myself dumbstruck right there in the middle of Pearl Street Mall, when there were only probably thirty people in the record store along with me, for her impromptu concert.  I have always been guilty of star fuckin' and hero worship, but when it comes to actually meeting someone I admire, there are no words.  All I can manage to do is observe, which I am better at, anyway.

My friend, Alissa, and I were talking about summer and CD's one day, not long ago.  With the onset of ITunes, the entire way we listen to music has changed.  No one buys entire CD's anymore, and then plays them in their car until they can no longer stomach them.  Unless you are Brad and the band is Zac Brown, that is.  It is a lost art, I tell you, and I feel like there is something to be said for reminiscing about a certain time in your life and it's corresponding "soundtrack".

I think anyone from my generation or any generation before Napster came along, can identify with that.  Everyone now has playlists, and just cherry picks from all different genres of music.  There is an argument to be made for that, but then these people have just GOT to be disappointed when they go to see an artist LIVE in concert, and they only know two of their songs.  Maybe I am just OLD, and I don't like change, but I refuse to cave, and instead will just continue to place the needle on my favorite LP and hit "Repeat" so I can learn all the words to Adele's 21 or decipher the story that Zac Brown is trying to tell in the song, "Jolene".

By the way, "Jolene" is about the protagonist's Mother in the song, not his girlfriend.  That, my friends, can only be learned by repetition, and I am PROUD OF IT!

Anyway, the kids and I were coming back from Apple Valley today, and our favorite songs of the summer were played back to back on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, and we were ECSTATIC!  Hallie's was Katy Perry's "Friday Night,"  Mills' was J.Lo's "On the Floor," and mine was Adele's "Someone like you".  We were all dancing wildly in the car, (well, as wild as you can get with your seat belt on while sitting in a booster seat, right Eves?) and suddenly and unexpectedly, I got tears in my eyes.  I will always remember this as "The Summer of Adele" and it is by far, the best summer I have ever had.

I don't know if I was weeping because of the end of Summer, itself, or because I cannot sleep in anymore, or because I will miss yelling at my kids, or what.  I just know that I am at my best when they are all around me, and they are growing up so fast that I just have to hold on to moments like this, and write about them so that they are immortalized.

My pediatrician gave me great advice, once, when I was lamenting some milestone, one of my children had just reached, and she said, "Just feel it...and move on.  There really is nothing you can do about it, so there is no use wallowing."  This post is my way of "feeling it,"  I guess.

The video above is of really high quality.  I don't know what is more disturbing, my 7-year-old's club moves, or my husband's feet and fingers that compete for the frame, as well.  I'll let you decide if we should invest in a Mac video class!

Anyway, you get the idea.  This summer was filled with moments like this, which I am sure all of yours' were.  The moments were sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant, oftentimes lazy, and always fleeting. 

The video below is live of Adele, and she is singing "Someone Like You".  One of the best lyrics I have ever heard are in it, and it describes exactly how I am feeling right now. She writes, "Who would have known how bittersweet...this... would...taste."

My recommendation today is to check out Adele's 21, and 19.  Yes, that is the age she was when she produced each of the albums, and they are both fabulous!  Just promise me that you will download the album in it's entirety, or buy the CD, because EVERY SINGLE SONG on 21 is Grammy-worthy. 

Oh, and while I am thinking about it, you need to hook up your ITunes to Paypal or just use Itunes gift cards to download music.  When I was at my friend, Alissa's house over Spring Break, and the kids downloaded some app to their ITouches that kept giving them an "error message".  When they pressed continue or whatever, where they had to use their Itunes password, someone hacked in and charged them insane amounts of money, each time they did so.

It is some sort of scam that is happening on ITunes.  The only thing that saved ME was that my account went through Paypal.  Just to be safe, I have disconnected my Paypal account from ITunes, and we only use ITunes gift cards now.  I think it is the safest bet.  I am not kidding, the scammer managed to expunge  about a thousand dollars that weekend.  Alissa got her money back, but not without a lot of drama and phone calls.