I meant to post this about 3 weeks ago…

2009 was a great year for music.  I discovered a few great breakout artists, as well as stellar albums from main staples in my library.  As always, I’m all about supporting the artists, so I would recommend purchasing their music from eMusic or Amazon.mp3, or even better, catching a live show!

Neko Case: Middle Cyclone
Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone may perhaps be the best album of her career.  It certainly did the best in sales. I’m happy to see her showing up on NPR, Amazon, Spin Magazine and others’ Top Album of the Year lists.  I cannot say this enough – Neko Case truly is the best female vocalist on the planet.  She’s just that good.

Telekinesis: Telekinesis
I saw this band open a Ra Ra Riot show at the El Rey.  I was absolutely blown away.  The lead singer is also the drummer, which made the show exciting to watch.  Subsequently, I saw the band, actually it’s a moniker for Michael Benjamin Lerner, play two more shows.  I chatted with Michael for a bit and he’s extremely modest and down to earth.  I think Telekinesis might get big within the next couple of years.  You can hear part of their song, “ Coast of Carolina” on a Ford Commercial.

Gregory Alan Isakov: This Empty Northern Hemisphere
My friend Tony introduced me to this artist, and what can I say – another guy that just blew me away.  Beautiful voice, catchy lyrics, and just overall well-crafted folk/country/indie.   Both his albums out are worth a listen.  He’s great live, too.  I saw him with about 50 people at a small club in Brooklyn.  Amazing.

Lily Allen: It’s Not Me, It’s You
What a great pop album.  Very catchy, bouncy, and most importantly she writes about what she knows best – herself. In fact, NPR’s All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen got so obsessed with her first-person lyrics, he counted 195 references to “me” and  186 to “you” over the course of the album!

Metric: Fantasies
Wow.  Emily Haines and her Toronto friends put together this album and it is incredible.  It was in my rotation for about a month.  I did not listen to anything else!!  Gimme Sympathy just might be the best single of the year for me.

Say Anything: Say Anything
Say Anything.  Oh, Max Bemis, I love you.  I was feeling a little depressed, a little down, lethargic…and then I got this album.  Don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but I have been upbeat ever since!  “You can do better!  You can do better!  You can be the greatest man in the world!”

Other Great Albums:

The Noisettes: Wild Young Hearts
Cursive: Mama, I’m Swollen
David Gray: Draw the Line
Pearl Jam: Backspacer
Sea Wolf: White Water, White Bloom
Dark Was the Night Compilation

Came out in 2008 but I discovered them this year and they are awesome:
Rural Alberta Advantage: Hometowns.

Well there ya have it, my favorite albums of 2009.  Notably missing from this list are Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear.  The rest of the ‘indie’ world is going goo-goo all over these albums, but I just don’t hear it.  Also, the most disappointing album – Davy by Coconut Records.  Couldn’t even get through it.

On the radar:  2010 is looking at some new albums from Frightened Rabbit, Alkaline Trio, Bayside/Anthony Raneri solo?, Spoon, among many others.  Not to mention SOMETHING CORPORATE’S first show in 5 years at Bamboozle Left.  See you there!

Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom

Say Anything – Say Anything

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Alkaline Trio – Crimson, From Here to Infirmary, Good Mourning, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire

Middle East – The Recordings of The Middle East

NPR All Songs Considered – Decade in Music

Hi Friends,

I just spent the last few hours looking through my photo library.  I’ve selected 20 that are my favorites from this year.  Most involve in some way or another baseball, the outdoors, coffee, and big cities.  Makes perfect sense, eh!?

Follow the link to check them out.  Enjoy!!

www.ashleyrath.com/gallery

It’s been so long since I’ve written in this darn thing.  There is just too much to write about, so it’s time for a list.  Lists = Love.

End of August

• Finished up my job as an assistant Post-Coordinator with NBC’s The Great American Road Trip
• Overall, I felt the show’s concept was good and it has room to grow.  Don’t know if it will get picked up for another season.
• My coworkers were amazing.  I really enjoyed spending time with them.  I love being around talented, hard-working, and overall fun people.
• I blew out the tire on my car.  It cost about $200 to get new tires, but I was feeling so good I didn’t even care.
• In my spare time, I rode my new bicycle as often as possible.
• Then the fires came and I couldn’t go outside because I couldn’t breathe the air.
• I’m not kidding.  I would wake up and step outside my apartment and it smelled like campfire.
• I attended a concert at The Wiltern.  It was amazing.  The National are an incredible band.

September

• Had about a week of to chill.  Wanted to ride my bike but the smoke from the fires ruined that plan.
• Started working on my next TV Show.
• Had to inventory and pack up about 4000 tapes from previous seasons and throw them in storage.
• Drove to Utah/Arizona with three people I didn’t know.
• Camped in the desert with no running water or bathrooms.
• Saw the most stars I have ever seen in my life.
• Hiked three miles in the desert to find “The Wave”
• Also saw the Horseshoe Bend and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
• Came back to LA and counted down the days until NYC.
• Left for NYC.
• Arrived in NYC.
• Set up our post-production office.

October

• First 5 nights in NYC  – arrived / Yankees Game / Bayside Show / Mets game / Nabe Housewarming party
• Worked hard on location and played just as hard at night
• Caught up with old friends
• My parents and brother came to visit
• My brother and I went to game two of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium
• The game lasted over five hours and was freezing.  The Yankees won.  (!)
• I became totally engulfed in the MLB playoff season.
• Spent time with one of my best friends from high school.
• Enjoyed a delicious beer sampler at the Heartland Brewery.
• Missed game one of the World Series for a small small show with Gregory Alan Isakov.
• The show was bomb; the Yankees got bombed.  Glad I went to the show.
• Watched the Yankees beat Pedro for game 2.  (Ah, the memories)
• Watched Andy Pettitte throw a gutty performance to win game 3.
• Had to work on Halloween night for the second straight year.
• Which made this my third miserable Halloween in a row.
• Halloween is my favorite holiday.

November

• Went to the Prospect Park Zoo to visit with the aminals.
• Watched Johnny Damon steal two bases on one pitch to pretty much win game 4.
• Seriously.  How amazing was that?  One of the greatest plays I have ever seen…
• Went to a bar, drank a lot, and celebrated the Yankees’ 27th World Series Championship.
• Had a rough day at work the following day…
• Rented a bicycle and rode the circumference of lower Manhattan.
• And then the perimeter of Central Park.
• Had a delicious meal in Little Italy.  Was accompanied by some really great people.

Which brings me to today.  Nothing else too exciting going on.  Less than a week left here in NYC.  There’s a lot I want to do, but I’m also getting tired and ready to return to LA.  Oh, and I have spent a lot of money.  This place is expensive!

I can’t believe it’s mid-November already.  I’m going to start working on a year-end music review.  It’s been a really great year for music; it’ll be tough to determine my favorites!

I bought a new bike last weekend…

More to come soon.

More about the bike.

More about the adventures with said bike.

More about everything.

Much love,

Ashley

Word to the wise – do not take breathing for granted.  I am coming off my first experience with the respiratory condition known as bronchitis.  If you’re thinking about getting bronchitis, I strongly recommend against it.  For the past few weeks I have been waking up in the middle of the night to cough for 30 minutes, I have been sleeping for at least 12-14 hours a day, and haven’t been able to so much as walk up a flight of stairs without being devastatingly winded.  I am also very stubborn, so after taking pointless over-counter-meds for six days with no change in my health, I finally went to an urgent care center.  I don’t have insurance.  I don’t have a doctor.  This recent experience has hit too close to home when it comes to the debate in Washington about our nation’s healthcare reform.  I’ve researched insurance plans/companies.  They are absurd, outrageous, and downright malicious.

At any rate, the urgent care center really took care of me.  If you are in the LA area, and have a minor emergency, I highly recommend the Lakeside Community Healthcare Center in Burbank.  The doctor diagnosed me and then gave me an inhaler and some antibiotics – amoxicillin.  When I first arrived, they said a doctor visit would cost $104.  After, they gave me a discount and it only cost $58.  I guess hospitals reward people who pay in cash because they don’t want to deal with insurance companies!  Unfortunately two days later I discovered that I am allergic to amoxicillin and had to go back to my friends at the care center for a shot and different drugs.

And now for some brief thoughts about America’s healthcare.   Private insurance companies are not affordable.  The plans I look at have a $100/month premium and a $5000 deductible.  What is the point!!  Or, my dad researched the cost of adding me back on his plan – $350/month.  No thank you.  I don’t understand why the single-payer option is off the table. (A lot of people seem to say how great Medicare is…which happens to be a single-payer system).  I don’t understand why the right is freaking out and throwing around ridiculous fears that we are going to become a socialized nation.  So many countries are ahead of us – they have working programs.  It’s not like we are trying to re-invent the wheel.  We have many options and models that are already in use; it shouldn’t be too difficult to research what works and what doesn’t.  Like everything in Washington, I don’t understand (well, I do, but I don’t like it) how everything has become political.  We are talking about people’s health.   The well being of our country’s citizens.  And sadly, we have an all democratic house, senate, and White House.  If it doesn’t happen now, nothing will ever happen.  Don’t get me wrong; I completely acknowledge that despite our flaws, the quality of our healthcare is among the best, if not the best.  However, it is borderline immoral that only a select few can take advantage of it.

One person tried to make a point that now, if someone is on a list for a heart or something like that, they have to wait quite sometime.  If there are more people getting healthcare, that person is going to have to wait even longer!  For a moment, I sympathized…but then said, “Wait a minute.”  Yes, that person might have to wait a little longer, but at least there are more people in line to get the medicine/medical procedures they need.

Not everything in America has to make a profit. You know, if conservatives get to call universal healthcare ’socialized medicine,’ I get to call private, for-profit healthcare ’soulless, vampire bastards making money off human pain.’”

But, like everything else that’s good and noble in life, some bean-counter decided that hospitals could also be big business. So, now they’re not hospitals anymore. They’re Jiffy Lube’s with bedpans. The more people who get sick and stay sick, the higher their profit margins. Which is why they’re always pushing the Jell-O.

Did you know that the United States is ranked 50th in the world in life-expectancy? And the 49 loser countries where they live longer than us, oh, it’s hardly worth it; they may live longer, but they live shackled to the tyranny of non-profit healthcare. Here in America, you’re not coughing up blood, little Bobby; you’re coughing up freedom.

The problem with President Obama’s healthcare plan isn’t socialism. It’s capitalism. When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? “Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what’s in it for Blue Cross-Blue Shield.”   – Bill Maher

Today I listened to the latest podcast from NPR’s All Songs Considered. First of all, if you love indie rock you need to listen to this podcast. Every week. Well, not last week because Bjork was the guest DJ. This week’s episode was particularly great. The whole gang was there, making fun of each other’s musical tastes and discussing the importance (or non-importance) of record labels.

Being a music snob that I am, I certainly pay attention to record labels. When I was younger, I completely identified with Drive-Thru Records. New Found Glory, Finch, The Starting Line, Something Corporate, Senses Fail, Hidden in Plain View, Midtown, and even Dashboard Confessional. Virtually all the bands I listened to in High School were on that label. Now, I’ve moved on since the punk/emo/pop days…actually no I haven’t, but anyway, I’ve moved onto more folk/indie/female rock artists. Some labels I like to stick with are Victory (Bayside, Taking Back Sunday), Barsuk (Death Cab for Cutie), Merge (Telekinesis, Arcade Fire) ARTS AND CRAFTS! (Feist, Broken Social Scene, Amy Millan, Metric, Stars) Saddle Creek (Bright Eyes, Cursive, Tokyo Police Club, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Epitaph (punk rock, currently NFG and hopefully Bayside soon), Anti- (Neko Case) just to name a few.

Anyway, I was gonna go more into record labels, but I think the podcast and contributor Carrie Brownstein’s blog Monitor Mix pretty much covers it. I just wanted to share my favorite labels with all of you

I’m sitting in my (now old) West LA apartment at about 11:43pm. My eyes hurt, I don’t feel like watching TV, and I don’t feel like reading either. I spent most of the day cleaning my new apartment. I go a little overboard when I clean. Yes, if there were a “Scrubaholics Anonymous” meeting, I would be there. My tools of the trade involved a sponge (classic!), red bucket, bathroom cleaner, COMET, a grout brush, and a toothbrush. Oh, and a different sponge, paper towels, and glass cleaner for the mirrors. With Rise Against, The Sounds, and Bayside blaring, I scrubbed, scraped, disinfected, and cleaned like a professional. Simultaneously frustrated that the previous inhabitant was so dirty, but secretly delighted that I would have any opportunity, to well, shine, three hours passed by and there was now a sparkling bathroom where grunge and mildew had once lived. A glorious victory.

Sorry guys, another music related post.  What can I say, I’m obsessed and am still job hunting, so…yea…New Music Tuesday treated me pretty well yesterday.  I swung by Amoeba Records to pick up Dirty King, the highly anticipated follow-up album from The Cliks.  My former supervisor with the Red Wings introduced me to their music, and I have been following them ever since.  His buddy produced their breakout album, Snakehouse.  Along with that disc, I finally purchased Dark Was The Night – The Red Hot compilation which benefits AIDS research and survivors.  A stellar lineup – The National, Feist, Bon Iver, Ben Gibbard, and Grizzly Bear just to name a few, got together and created some beautiful music all to support one great cause.

Along with those, my friend introduced me to Gregory Alan Isakov’s new record, and I haven’t been able to put it down.  It’s one of those albums that paralyzes you – you can’t do anything besides close your eyes and listen.

Onto today…to keep myself from spending money, I ventured off to Venice Beach and attempted to bike to Redondo.  I made it!  I barely made it back, though.  It was round trip 30 miles.  For what it’s worth, Telekinesis makes for great beach bike riding music.

Hopefully my legs will be able to function tomorrow!

Taking Back Sunday - New Again
Rise Against - Appeal to Reason
The Sounds - Crossing the Rubicon
Great Lakes Swimmers - Lost Channels
Good Old War - Only Way To Be Alone
Rainer Maria - Look Now Look Again
Cursive - Mama, I’m Swollen
NPR All Songs Considered - Neko Case Live; Fleet Foxes Live