I believe introductions are in order..

Hey there, thanks for checking this out! I'm really excited for this new project, and hope you enjoy discovering some new music with me along the way.

Schubas - my most favorite place

A little background: I'm a 25-year old, East coast native, who moved to Chicago a little over a year ago. Sadly, I work in one of the most notoriously boring fields out there (I won't say what, but take a wild guess and you're probably right). But I've always loved music. I grew up playing the piano - I took lessons for about 7 or 8 years, then started playing the flute in 6th grade (after a brief stint on the violin), and played in band throughout high school. Let me just say that my high school band experience was awesome and not super nerdy like everyone thinks it is. I guess I was lucky that a lot of really smart and really cool kids were into music, so I didn't feel (or maybe I just didn't notice) too much of that negative social stigma usually associated with band - I've definitely come to appreciate that. I even continued to play in the University Concert band in college, which was really relaxed and a nice way to keep up with music.

Anyway, I've dabbled in random instruments along the way - for example, I was in a steel drum band in high school. I'm self-taught on the acoustic guitar..which means I can follow tabs pretty well, but sadly lack the talent and musical ingenuity to actually write my own music. But still, it is fun to pick up once in a while and pretend like I'm T-Swift.

I'd say that I love 99.99% of the music out there. Early favorites? Country music actually - my first love was Randy Travis, for sure. But I'm biased to say that the 90's and early 00's had the best music: N'Sync, Britney Spears, Pearl Jam, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Matchbox20, Third Eye Blind..you get the picture. The turning point for my music soul was probably the Linkin Park Hybrid Theory album (you might be laughing, but I think it was a pretty ingenious album for its time). Nowadays I tend to gravitate towards anything with a blues/folk rock/acoustic sound. Hence my addiction to You Me and Apollo and Shakey Graves. But I love Jason Mraz (love.), Ellie Goulding, Drake, Jon McLaughlin, Skrillex, Kina Grannis, Twin Atlantic, etc. etc. I've always said that I'm a sucker for anything acoustic, but really I'm a sucker for anyone with talent.

So you're probably getting bored, since I haven't actually gotten to the point yet. Bottom line: I love going to live shows. Lucky for me, I chose to move to a city with an incredible music scene (and a destination city for many artists), and on top of that, I live extremely close to one of the best local music venues in Chicago - Schubas. It might sound a bit hipster and pretentious, but I've started to prefer going to smaller, more intimate shows, with lesser known artists who (at least in my opinion) possess actual talent. Something about that just gets me..maybe because they do it for one simple reason: they love it. They might not get played on the radio, or live in million-dollar mansions, but they tour around the country in old vans and work hard and appreciate their fans who support them by word of mouth. It's almost tangible, the passion that they have, and I'll admit to being jealous of that.

But don't get me wrong, I am still a close follower of the Billboard 100, and I have a secret stash of Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift CDs scattered around my apartment..in all honesty, you name it, and I've probably heard of it. As long as its got a catchy beat and I can sing along with it, I'll like it - I am always open to new music. Actually, that might be one of my favorite things: finding new music to fall in love with. Since the move to Chicago, I've been to a handful of shows throughout the city, and I think this will be a cool outlet to share those shows (and other random music thoughts) through pictures and videos and posts. Hopefully you'll trust my music soul's taste in music and help me to spread the word about some of these lesser-known but hardest-working artists out there.

Stick around!

-FYMS-