I'm out of my mind.

okay it's 4pm and i'm dying for this (work)day to END!!! i'm busting outta here as soon as the whistle blows because i have BIG plans for tonight but i'm too superstitious to discuss.

biting my nails off!

~courtney

ps - ray lamontange rocked last night.

"But I won't be your concubine - I'm a puppet not a whore.
I just need this stage to be seen.
Won't you be a friend of mine to remind me what is real?
Hold my heart and see that it bleeds."
~james blunt


(i'm in a james blunt phase right now, can ya tell?)

i saw your face in a crowded place...

a silly little love song for myself:

monday night i went to see martha wainwright (rufus' sister) play at a place called the scala (same place i saw ray lamontange in last month). i meet up with vikki, and we totally get in for free b/c i'm just that clever. vikki and i get right up front and manage to sit comfortably on stage throughout the entire show because we're just that much of super-fans... the show ROCKED. martha is wholly different from rufus but just as amazing. i hate to say this, but Xtina has some definite competition as my all-time favorite female, because martha is sooooooo confident and has such a powerful voice, and has the street cred that Xtina will never get, just because she's a former mickey mouse-er. (and yes, i just *actually* compared martha to xtina... yes, i went there!)

so then after the show, some random dude walked up and asked us if we wanted passes to the after-party. after we picked our jaws up off the floor, i believe our exact response was: *blink, blink* "uhhh, yes, please!"

god, i LOVE being a cute girl! hahahaha. (i also love being full of myself, can you tell?)

so we go back to the after-party... chill out, talk to martha and the band, and jonathan rice (he opened for her)... and i keep seeing this shorter dude walking around that looks really familiar but i can't figure out why.

as we're leaving the random dude who got us back there walked up and was like 'are you guys having a good time?' and we say 'yes of course'... and he's like, oh did you see the celebrities here? .... and goes on to point out harper simon (the shorter familiar looking guy walking around, aka paul simon's son) and ringo starr's son... so weird!

chillin with martha and her crew and rock royalty.. ahh, too crazy!!! :) didn't get home til 3AM (damn tube closes at midnight and the nightbuses SUCK!) but it was totally worth it!!! :)

so, yeah, basically... to put in in the *most* basic sense, i am probably the coolest person in the world. basically. ;)

in other news, bought the martha cd, and the new ben folds, but i still can't force the james blunt CD out of my cd player. it's like, has everyone bought it yet? good lord! buy it!

~courtney

"You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you."
~james blunt

'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,

happy monday!

where to begin? went to the alanis show last thursday with brian & crew. nicola nearly gave herself a heart attack when Ryan Reynolds (aka Van Wilder/the future Mr. Alanis Morisette) walked by and shook her hand. i think he's a little cheesy for alanis, myself, but judging from the huge ROCK on her hand, he's at least able to pick out quality jewelry. :)

but yes, the show was amazing, love the brixton academy. huge venue with a small club feel... well, kinda. she played stuff from every album, which was a nice surprise b/c i thought it'd be really heavy on the newer stuff. only 2 songs from 'under rug swept', which is my favorite album, but oh well. she changed the "ironic" lyrics slightly to be "it's like meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful husband..." i was like, is she singing the song of my life?? haha, amazing. despite the fact that brixton is the scariest place on earth, i actually walked home from the show and made myself deaf (-er than i already am) by blasting the Alanis on my ipod.

spent saturday-day with rebecca on portobello road. went to the Seven Diner for burgers, fries and shakes... typcial americans!!! it was sooooooooooooo good though, i refuse to feel guilty!!!
spent saturday night with the amazing vikki, raising all sorts of trouble first at a really cool & really cheap bar then at some random house party, where we proceeded to turn the evening into courtney & vikki's rockin' dance party, hahaha. the rufus wainwright songs actually went over really well. vikki refused to allow me to give my number to a cute south african at the bar (vikki swore he was not actually that cute and given my track record i can only assume she was correct and be glad she was so insistant) however there was a nice english bloke at the party everyone approved of but sadly he lives in north england and i can't be bothered for LDRs right now, i'm only after LTRs. after painfully manuvering both the bus and tube home sunday morning i collapsed into bed and came close to sleeping the entire day away. tried to clean up the flat a bit as eventually i will have to share it again and my room's kind of exploded recently.

i'm in love with the james blunt cd. i have this eerie feeling that i heard him play somewhere or something a while ago but i can't put my finger on it. either way, vikki was kind enough to lend it to me as we'll be seeing him in june and possibly this week as well. it's so amazing. :) go buy it!

~cfc

"I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be"
~james blunt

And the magic's elemental and the right words can heal

beautiful day in LONDON!!!! :) sunny and warm and lovely! perfect day for an alanis concert!! :)

it's such a great day that i've even managed to forget out completely exhausted i am after (a) the amazing weekend of rufus!, (b) wild pub-hopping with vikki tuesday night, and (c) the paddy casey show last night!!!!

the rufus weekend was out of control amazing. indeed, the main problem with paddy casey last night was that he wasn't half the performer rufus is! vikki and i got a great spot right up front (as usual) for mr. casey and about halfway through she looked at me and said, 'i keep thinking rufus is coming out after this!!' and i said 'i know!' and then we both just sighed. there were tons of crazy irish people in the audience, but they're a little too rowdy for my tastes. well, they were a little to rowdy and a little too young - paddy casey definitely attracts a teeny-bopper bunch of girls. which i might have easily fit in with if i hadn't just found out about him two weeks ago and haven't hardly had a chance to learn all his songs. he closed with cover of 'when doves cry'... i wouldn't call it "bad" but irish prince is just weird!

i really loved the opening artist, nedina pallot. (which was the total opposite of rufus' opener, joan as policewoman.... snore!) she's a little tori amos, a little fiona apple, but happier and with a british accent. listen to 'demascus' or 'idaho' if you're so inclined. bought her CD after the show and she signed it for me. said she's had one show in the states, at the hotel cafe in LA, and got a really good turnout - largely due (she believes) to myspace. hahaha, ooooooh myspace, bringing people together!

vikki and i have come up with a SCANDALOUS plan for may. *sigh* oh, the horror. more details on that if/when the plan comes to fruition.

the entire world over here is abuzz about the new pope. it's really interesting to hear what everyone's saying, definitely eye-opening.

N-E-Wayz, off to alanis tonight!! haven't seen her in about 3 years so i am loooooooong over due! :) some portobello road shopping on saturday with rebecca. popstarz with vikki on friday? who knows?

LOVE warm weather!
~courtney


"Let's become that dignity
Become that grace
It's time to light your candles in a dark and lonely place"
~p.casey

huh?

cnn.com has a live video feed called 'vatican smoke cam' on their website.

am i the only one a little bothered by this?

always traveling...

i had this big fat post all written up yesterday then i got sucked into doing actual work so i saved it and i was going to post it today but i'm just way too distracted. saw the AMAZING mr. wainwright last night.... *sigh*!!! probably the best show of his i've ever seen, save the UVA acoustic show and the front row show at wolf trap.

he had a big band with him, and just for london, invited a four piece horn/sax section to join him. needless to say, i was blown away. got a killer spot with vikki about 4 feet from the stage, just right of center. SIGH. and best part of all, GOING BACK TONIGHT!!!!

one year ago today i was on my way to NYC to see mr. damien rice. april 16th RULES! :)

i'm going to have to run now to get showered so i can get to the venue early to get a killer spot in line. :) so excited!

when he played 'oh what a world' last night, i had to smile... i don't think a song has ever hit me as so true to life as it did last night:

"Why am I always on a plane or a fast train?
Oh what a world my parents gave me,
Always travelin' ---- but not in love...
Still I think I'm doin' fine..."
~rufus wainwright

ps -i put some pics up from last nights show on my yahoo photo page but it's being weird and telling me there's an error so who knows?

You know I wish we had more time

WOW am i totally not in the mood to work today!!! so tired. have i mentioned that i completely hate the climate here? a good couple days in the sun would do me wonders. the glamour of "living in london" has worn off to the point where it's painfully clear that i'm in an okay job in a city with crappy weather.... if it weren't for all the british accents i might be fooled into thinking i was still in DC. well, the accents and Big Ben... that's kind of a reality check in itself. haha.

i've basically resigned myself to being sick the entire time i'm here. when i'm not coughing up gross stuff then my nose won't stop running and vice versa. it's so great. one of my london friends has been here for six years and said she spent most of the first year being sick, thought it had something to do with getting used to the new climate/germs.

spent a crazy weekend in dublin with tina and gordon and the extended mitchell crew. saw lots of pubs and many ATMs (had to get euros - no pounds in ireland!) and talked to approx 1 billion friendly irish people. lots of drama ensued, a weekend for the recordbooks, no doubt. i could probably write for three hours about all the drama an still only manage to skim the surface, but i'm contractually obligated and morally obliged to keep my thoughts to a minimum. suffice it to say, my faith in humankind has a big, fat, seething bulletwound right in the middle, and will take some major surgery to be restored. i think it's amazing that anyone manages to trust anyone else, given all the vast amounts of deception people inflict upon one another every day. *sigh*

found a 2nd favorite irish artist (behind d.rice)... paddy casey! i forced davey mitchell to play 'saints & sinners' approx. 1 billion times over the weekend, and we bought the CD at the airport on our way back. he's playing next week here in london... and you KNOW i've already bought my ticket!

so i've found a new favorite UK television show... tuesday nights on the BBC1 (i think?) called 'Hustle' ... it's about a bunch of con-artists and it's hilarious! many thanks to stuart and gail bringing us our new illegal TV set and it's wonderful 4 different channels. love it. i was able to watch 'top of the pops' when hanson was on the weekend after i saw them at the Mean Fiddler.

got really excited to see that there's a live keane CD available in stores here... they rocked out the show last week at the Royal Albert Hall, can't wait for them to release a live DVD. although i still think they should have opened for Rufus on this last tour, and not vice-versa.

i'm so excited about the new DMB cd i'm about to go crazy.

keep on rockin' in the free world,
courtney


"You know I wish we had more time
You know I think it was a crime
The things we waste trying to not waste our time"
~p.casey

but all I ever really wanted....

quickly approaching things that make me smile:
rachel yamagata
rufus (once, twice, three times for this lady?)
ray lamontange
alanis morissette
jude (a la francais????)
martha wainwright
loudon wainwright
gavin degraw
starsailor
paddy casey
keane
ben folds
coldplay
the zutons
tori amos


"Everything's falling, and I am included in that
Oh, how I try to be just okay
Yeah, but all I ever really wanted
Was a little piece of you"
~r. yamagata

oh, this is the start of something good...

for all the non-believers out there, just click here.




"don't you agree?"
~g.d.

it's a link, click on it

where the cool kids are... or just the really insecure ones desperate to prove they have friends