Taking a bullet for Britney

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine called my taste in music “questionable” because I love pop music.

I wrote a long – really long – defense. I went on and on about how comforting it is to hear a song you know and love. I talked about how you always need a little sugar in a world full of vegetables.

It was this long tirade, taking bullet after bullet for Britney, Rihanna, Christina, Lady Gaga and George Michael.

Then, said friend and I went on a roadtrip this weekend, and along the way, I realized I didn’t have to defend myself. As I’ve said thousands of times before, I like what I like. I know some people want to scratch their heads when they scroll through my music and see the aforementioned artists next to the likes of Fanfarlo, St. Vincent, Let’s Wrestle and The Kills. But I like what I like. I will always love stupid, vapid pop music as much as I love my thoughtful indie rock. Simple as that.

Gah, you still want reasons, though, don’t you?  OK.

Warm temps, sunshine mean end of friendship – for now

This column originally ran in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

 BY SHEENA BARNETT

Now that spring’s almost here, I’m slowly saying good bye to a dear friend: My bright yellow jacket.

Like Little Red Riding Hood’s, well, little red riding hood, or Adam Sandler’s red-hooded sweatshirt, my yellow jacket is almost an extension of my personality. OK, so it’s really bright and happy-looking, something I don’t think I am. And it was cheap – $50 but on sale for $7, and I can’t say I’m cheap. Nevertheless, I happen to love this jacket. 

Why? Well, this jacket saved my life once.

Cowboy ready to light up Oxford stage

This story originally ran in the Feb. 2008 Scene section of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

BY SHEENA BARNETT

Scene

Ryan Bingham and band

OXFORD – “I’ve been a desperado in West Texas so long, I need a change,” sings Ryan Bingham, his voice full of the dirt and grit he’s swallowed during his years as a bull rider and son of a ranching family.

 

Seems like these days, anyone can throw on a cowboy hat, add a little twang to their voice and sing about lovin’ and leavin’ and be called a country music singer. Few of them have lived the wandering lifestyle, actually roped cows or rode bulls – but Bingham has.

Bingham, 25, grew up with his ranching family in West Texas and New Mexico, sings his blend of country and rock ‘n’ roll with a voice that sounds as twice as old as it is. His voice and lyrics all come naturally, he said.

“I was living down in Laredo, Texas. I was about 16 or 17, and my mama bought me a guitar,” he said in a phone interview. “I was still going to rodeos, and then I’d sit in the backseat and make up songs with my buddies…we’d have parties in parking lots and then we’d go to bars and stuff and come in and play the songs we’d been making up. The people in the bars started asking me to come back.”

A few rules mean better time at concerts

This column originally ran in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

BY SHEENA BARNETT

Daily Journal

I admit, I’m a concert nazi.

I’ve been to many shows, and I’ve hit the major genres, from rap to metal to country to pop. I’ve been in all kinds of venues, from smoky honky tonks to pulsating clubs to huge, airy amphitheaters.

Concerts are my favorite thing; they are where I’m most comfortable and where I feel most myself.

But if I’m near someone who has no idea how to go to a concert, it all but ruins the show for me.

So, to ensure that I and other concert-goers have a good time, here are some ground rules for attending a concert.

Catch up on some Girl Talk

This story orginally ran in the Scene section of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal  in February 2009.

BY SHEENA BARNETT

Scene

OXFORD – These days, it’s hard to impress music fans who have heard it all before.

That is, until Girl Talk arrived on the scene.

Girl Talk

Gregg Gillis, better known in the music world as Girl Talk, has the music world buzzing with his albums created almost entirely from samples. To say his records are simply mash-ups made from other artists’ music is to sell it short, though; Gillis meticulously pieces other songs together to craft cohesive dance music, which usually sounds nothing like the samples used to craft his songs. 

Girl Talk’s latest record, “Feed the Animals,” uses more than 300 samples in about 50 minutes.

‘I Saw the Light’

Been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, but it actually hit me as an Actual Topic the other day.

Our online editor asked me if it was OK by me if he asked a Christian music DJ to blog on our Web site. He said he thought I could write about Christian music, but that someone who actually works for an Actual Christian Station would have a better perspective on it.

I agreed. My relationship with contemporary Christian music isn’t exactly great, and it’s not a genre I’m itching to get to know it better.

the white trash appeal of kings of leon

Oh, you Followill kids, how dirty you make me feel.

If you listen to Kings of Leon, maybe you feel the same way…

Sonic Radio – what’s up with that?

In my quest to become more healthful, I’ve cut out plenty of fast food.

It’s hard to do that, though, on Mondays, when I’ve got my regular entertainment beat as well as cops/breaking news to cover, too. So Mondays are usually the days I run by a place like Sonic to grab some food before heading off to the sheriff’s department.

So, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Sonic Radio – the radio station Sonic plays over its speakers. And I’m hearing increasingly unusual things…

A movie or a measure?

I dream. A lot.

Some nights, it’s quality entertainment. Some nights, there are never-ending nightmares. But most nights, it’s purely a nuisance. It’s like my brain never turns off, and that’s such an exhausting thing.

I know. This has nothing to do with pop culture or entertainment, but since those things are my passions, they usually end up in my dreams in one way or another.

I’ve been trying to come up with ways to keep a kind of dream journal (as lame as that sounds) because some of them are so funny/weird I have to relate them (though I’ve a policy that I’m not ever going to talk about the nightmares, because trust me, you don’t want to know them). So I thought, hey, I can use this space to share the pop culture-related ones. 

Trust me when I say this isn’t necessary reading – mostly doing this for myself. But if you want to read about four of my weirdest, pop culture-y-est dreams, read on, Pony Boy.

120 trucks just seems a bit much.

That’s a scan from the recent issue of Rolling Stone about U2’s new set, dubbed “The Claw.”

See that sucker? You can read more in the photo, but here are the highlights:
It’s 164 feet tall.
There’s a 360 degree screen.
It’s the largest stadium stage set ever, even beating out the Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang” tour set.
And, to top it off, it will take 120 trucks to haul “The Claw” from show to show.

Rolling Stone doesn’t elaborate, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that they mean 120 18-wheelers. One hundred and twenty. Let me repeat: One-twenty. Did you hear me? One hundred, and then twenty more.

Can I get a WTF?