Ampersand

Category: Music-ing

  • South Canterbury

    April went by the way some—a lot—of months do: going to work, going to the gym, going to dinner, going to movie night, going to the Bait House. First it’s the first and then it’s the fifteenth and every Thursday is recycle day and Sunday morning is the veggie market and on and on. There…

  • What Are You Doing Musically At The Moment?

    It’s been over a year since I sang in public. It was last Easter for my bandmate’s leaving gig, at what used to be Medusa but is now something else. I sang two songs I wrote and one cover, wearing a Def Leppard t-shirt and some heavy eyeliner my bandmate applied to my face while…

  • Shows: Bullet Points

    Some excellent things about tonight’s Morcheeba show • My new friend at work asked me yesterday if I wanted to go and I didn’t even have to pay full price for the ticket so we went shopping and for dinner and the show was early and we got to sit in chairs and only stand…

  • It Was So Clear To Me That It Was Almost Invisible

    I went to see Neko Case last night, right around the corner from my house. It was my birthday present—I turn thirty-nine on Wednesday—and at first I was a little ambivalent about going. Not because I don’t love Neko Case, but because it’d been a long day at work and it was sort of chilly…

  • We Will Have Band Practice Again

    Saturday night my good friend and bandmate Jez had his last Wellington gig. It was easily the best one I’ve ever been to: I got to Bar Medusa early for soundcheck and he did my makeup in the bar toilet and the place was as packed as I’ve ever seen it and for his final…

  • Finally, The Winter Boyfriend Video

    Last year I wrote a song. I sang it to myself a lot and talked about a lot and practicing it a lot with my friend Jez. At first I used to say ‘band practice’ in quotes because I reasoned that thirty-six year old public servants with no musical ability don’t really go to band…

  • Band Tension

    [Chiara and her bandmate Jez are working on their new song at their friend Rachel’s flat. From behind a closed door some indications of band tension begin to emanate…] Chiara: But it goes: the verse about the whiskers, then the pre-chorus with the abalone, then the Pacific Ocean pre-chorus, then the chorus. Jez: What I’m…

  • Creative Collaboration

    Since I’ve got back from my trip it’s been all go re: the video for the the song. Did I mention? (Um, yes, I believe I’ve mentioned I wrote a song). My bandmate has done several videos for his own fantastic self so I knew it could be done—I certainly wasn’t going to let something…

  • Wellyversary

    Last night I celebrated my five years in Wellington with a gig at the limiest-green dive bar in Wellington, where the owner happens to be a friend of a friend and where I see shows all the time. I’ve been planning this for months, referring to it as my Wellyversary: two friends’ bands played, some…

  • I Wrote A Song

    My big new thing is that I wrote a song. I’m thinking a lot lately about my family, and feminism (a LOT about feminism), and social media and its discontents, and circus, and money, and how I want to knit a lot of scarves all of a sudden, but underneath and around and on top…

  • Heaven’s Hammer

    Right before I left for Malaysia this past Christmas I sat down on the floor of my bedroom and made a mix CD for my dear friend who lives just down the hill from me here in Mt. Vic. Little did I know that on the very same night she was making me a mix…

  • St. Swithin’s Day

    Thinking back now I suppose you were just stating your views What was it all for For the weather or the battle of Agincourt And the times that we all hoped would last Like a train they have gone by so fast And though we stood together at the edge of the platform We were…

  • Psychic iPod

    Rama, my beautiful friend from high school whom I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen since the mid-nineties, is not only a stunning artist but also a person with big ideas, like big ideas. I go through all the illustrations in his portfolio every couple of months to see what he’s been thinking about lately, and…

  • I Could Fall In Love Again

    This morning I went to Sunday Tribal Jam, which would be my first dance class since, like, August. Everything I thought would happen did happen: I forgot how to stand in angled formation: I remembered how to three-quarter shimmy: I got sore arms merely from holding them up, let alone doing anything with them: I…

  • Right Now Playlist

    I have a Right Now playlist on my iPod, for the songs I can’t get out of my head. I feel guilty, sometimes, about not putting it on Shuffle more often and only listening to like eight songs, all day every day, but such is life. Here’s what I’m listening to a lot right now.…

  • The First Really Warm Day

    Two of my three interviews in the last two days have been held at cafés—that’s Wellington for you–and as I walked down Cuba Street after my last one this morning the sun decided to come out. Interview wear for this would-be social worker usually means Nice Shirt And Not-Jeans, and all of a sudden I…

  • Nod-Head Bouncy-Dancing

    Friday night I went to see Fat Freddy’s Drop, and then, sort of by accident, Katchafire, both of which are NZ dub bands. I didn’t even know what dub was until I got here, but over the summer I randomly saw Ladi 6 and liked her a lot. When a bunch of friends invited me…

  • Kia Ora, Y’all

    People! I am in! New Zealand! I am writing this to you, if you are in North America, which most of you are…from THE FUTURE! Actually I’m writing from a rather overpriced internet cafe, because that’s how I roll now, in lovely Rotorua, where I’ve arrived after a couple of rather blurry days in Auckland.…

  • Singing

    The other day driving home from something I was having particularly good luck with the iPod on Shuffle. Sometimes I think that this iPod…actually, this iteration of this iPod, as I just switched it out again, for the fifth time since I dropped it and it broke last summer. I promise you, as I promised…

  • Monkey Brain Labor Day

    It was a really good weekend, this Labor Day, maybe even because I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to be. Before the hurricane I was all concerned because I didn’t have plans and I felt like a big loser. I’d really been in the mood for someone to invite me to their fabulous beach cabin or…

  • Heavy Rotation

    Well, when tells you to do something, you do it, regardless of your personal stance on memes. And actually I don’t have a personal stance on memes, now that I think about it. I just don’t tend to do them very often. This one’s pretty easy: just to list the ten songs you’ve been thinking…

  • My Secret

    Wake up a little later than usual because it’s the weekend and at least have breakfast before you listen to the song, before you go out for the day. You don’t know all the lyrics by heart yet but let the melody settle in you while you get in the car and go to the…

  • I Won’t Let You Down, I Will Not Give You Up

    I was not too excited about Hippie Woo Woo the other day. I was kind of rolling my eyes at the whole thing and thinking, “Okay, let’s get this over with,” when for some very exciting reason, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder himself came on and we did a bunch of kicks and punches to that.…

  • Whatever Happened To That Breakup Mix?

    It’s been what, five months since I talked a big game about how I was going to create the The Greatest Breakup CD The World Has Ever Known, right? Sorry for taking so long with that. Don’t laugh at me, but it’s been a way more involved and personal process than I originally anticipated. I…

  • Songs On My Walk Home

    I get off the bus at the library and stand patiently in the checkout line with my holds. It’s so pink and gold and gorgeous outside…and light! Light at 5:00!..that I decide to walk home instead of catch another bus. My bag feels pleasantly heavy on my shoulder and I fish the iPod out of…

  • Tell Her This

    A Music For The Masses collaboration.All lyrics are the property and copyright of their respective owners. All lyrics are provided for educational purposes and personal use only. Tell her not to go I ain’t holding on no more It’s not the Friday nights watching movies you know he’d love, or the emails you used to…

  • The Greatest Breakup CD The World Has Ever Known

    It’s weird, you know, like I’m doing basically fine in re:breakup woes, but there isn’t much going on for me besides the near constant scanning of my internal emotional state. I must be a bucket of fun to be around lately, let me tell you, because even though I’m sipping my cranberry juice thoughtfully and…

  • Some Songs You Have To Be Careful

    I’d had the song “You Are My Joy” from this album in my head since I heard it on the radio about a week ago. I am playing it right now as I begin this entry. It’s by some sort of Scottish indie supergroup, which I’m all for, and it came out about two years…

  • Mystery Mix CD

    I found a CD in my CD box labeled “Chiara’s Birthday Megamix 2004” when I was unpacking the other day. I’ve been packing and/or unpacking every day for the past two weeks and I’ve been finding the most surprising things. Anyway, I’d never seen or heard this CD before, the fact that it has my…

  • Liam and Me. And Carl.

    A conversation with Carl on the way to work this morning. Chiara: Oh, man. I can’t believe I watched all those Liam Lynch movies. I am so tired today. So tired. Carl: I can’t believe you did either. Chiara: I couldn’t help it. I am desperately in love. Carl: I know. I’m kind of in…

  • Under The Milky Way–collab entry

    All lyrics are the property of their respective owners. All lyrics are provided for educational purposes and personal use only Under the Milky Way – The Church Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty Sound of their breath fades with the light I think about the loveless fascination Under the Milky Way tonight Lower…

  • Smells Like Teen Spirit–collab entry

    All lyrics are the property of their respective owners. All lyrics are provided for educational purposes and personal use only I got to Seattle waaaaaaaay after grunge. I even got to Seattle waaaay after Singles. By the time I moved here it was right after the swing dance ska thing and we were moving, slowly…