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Day Three Hundred Twenty Three (Year Two)

I love summer.  It's such a fantastic time for music.  Between concerts and festivals and new CD releases, there's always something cool right around the corner.  Take, for example, last week, this week, and two weeks from now.  Last week, it was the new Brandi Carlile record.  This week, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals follow up their superb selftitled record from two years ago.  And on June 26th, a brilliant friend of mine from high school, Cory Chisel, will release his latest disc with his band, The Wandering Sons.  That record is called Old Believers, and it may well be the record I'm the most excited to hear this summer.

Finished up the new Beach Boys record, too.  It's incredibly solid.  Does it measure up to any of their early work?  Not entirely, but it seems like one of those records to file under the "late period masterpiece" headline.

Listening to the new Grace Potter I mentioned above as I type tonight.  She's one of those, like both Brandi and Cory, that need to be listened to all the way through.  Their entire discographies show a consistent, steady artistic growth, and always keep you coming back for more.

Grace Potter and Brandi Carlile write the kind of music I sometimes wish B. and I could write, if hard rock hadn't been the jumping off point for our musical partnership.  I know full-well that this statement casts hard rock in a not so flattering light, and I'm okay with that tonight.

Nevertheless, I'm still extremely pumped to be heading home next week for a couple of days, one of which will hopefully be spent rocking out.  Need to get in touch with B. in the next couple of days.

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