The Butch Walker Ameliorative Effect--Proof Positive

Now that I have your attention (ha, ha), Bibi will once again tout the fabulously positive Butch Walker Ameliorative Effect.  You might say:  proof, please.  OK.  The "year" for Bibi and her fellow staff members begins at the end of August.  Although the fog of memory makes it less than pristinely clear, it seems that Bibi watched Episode 54 of Live From Daryl's House in mid or end of August.  While in many respects the flow of life did not change for Bibi, some did, in a significant way, from that point in time.  She began blogging about the wondrous Butch Walker and keeping track of the views of Say It Isn't So from that episode of LFDH at the end of August.  Began buying his cds, his dvd, his book with no thought of:  should I listen to Butch on YouTube or buy just a few mp3s before investing in him so heavily? For Bibi to invest in anything from a fiscal or emotional pov is a huge, involved decision process with lots and lots of research, time spent thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons, and FINALLY deciding yes or no.  When it came to Butch Walker, though, almost immediately, snagged a stock of blank cds to make mixtape cds to distribute to (even vaguely) interested parties, started mentioning Butch on Facebook.  Sure, there was some backlash, accusations of deserting Angus, etc., but Bibi was totally ensorcellee (enchanted, bewitched).  Started listening to Say It Isn't So (here's your chance to do so) 
The Butch version of Say It Isn't So: fab-u-lous!

daily, or more, along with Butch's cds and the BW Mixtapes.  What Bibi noted and passed on was that listening to Butch Walker music was a wonderfully effective way to get past negatives--people, situations, unavoidable tasks, that energy draining ennui--throughout the day.  You feel better, you're singing along, whatever you're working on is more fun, more satisfying and your output is just so much better.

Bibi's job is not so bad as "working at American Apparel, selling women's clothes to guys," but it could rank right up there.  The point is, Bibi's work performance is evaluated annually and review time was this past week.  Bibi's eval always comes out ok, pretty good and the number assigned to that performance is well within the keeper range.  This year, the number for this year's eval was significantly higher than last year's!  What other explanation could there be besides the Butch Walker Ameliorative Effect? 

Oh, Butch!  If you only knew how valuable you and your music are!  Thanks again, guy, for being such a great talent and being there!

Love you!

 

Butch Walker: Such a Pretty Melody

Bibi's readers know how much she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Say It Isn't So from episode 54 of Live From Daryl's House--had to listen to it this morning to resolve some Monday family blues.  It worked, too! 

Since December 30, though, have been experiencing a huge crush on Pretty Melody.  "Oh baby we don't have to be like the rest of them....there's not a single part of me that would ever let you go.....ooooooh, oooooooh....." 

Got I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart the other day, so discovering that part of Butch's work.  Very, very interesting to Bibi.  It's Butch, but a different shade of Butch from the other albums.  Not sure how much I liked it at first, but you know how it is with Butch:  just listen, pay attention, let the words and melody flow over you.

One of my fan-tasies runs like this:  what if, I got to meet Butch and had the opportunity to get his autograph on Drinking With Strangers?   ha, ha, ha on the readers--they were thinking:  okay, a fantasy involving Butch, HOT!  Well, maybe, er, sure, just LOOK at these pictures

Butch Walker channeling hot male model

Butch Walker, spokesperson of the year for whatever--I will buy it!



Lost in thought about ... who cares?


but not for sharing on the world wide web. Please.  On this blog, the R rating is due to use of foul language, okay?  Anyway, in Bibi's fantasies, as it's playing out, I'm wearing whatever I'm wearing at the moment, so for this one at this moment, asking for the autograph in my office clothes.  Including the Ralph Lauren pumps.  Kinda funny.  Under what circumstances would Bibi be standing around Butch in her office-appropriate attire?  He'd actually be on this campus?  Happened right after work?  OMG! But anyway, in the book signing fantasy, the really big question is, what would I ask him to write?  My best ideas are lyrics from his songs, but there are so many great ones, tough.  And, admit it, a lot of the lyrics from Pretty Melody would raise eyebrows (and scorch 'em off) when you showed off the autograph.  Dilemna.

Off to a book reading and signing now.  Not Butch (sigh).  Michael Chabon, though, almost as good, right?

We will see.

Love ya, Butch!

Butch Walker: Set List for December 30 and 31

Butch tweeted today that he was rehearsing the set list for the upcoming shows!!!!  Bon Scott scream here!  Such welcome, highly anticipated news!   Completely unsolicited, here are my suggestions:

Bodegas and Blood
Sweethearts--still think a duet with a lucky fan would be a great idea and huge crowd pleaser
Summer of '89
Synthesizers
Closest Thing
Sucker Punched
Maybe It's Just Me
Don't Move
Canyons
Hot Girls in Good Moods
Bethamphetamine
Ships in a Bottle
The Weight of Her
Ponce de Leon Ave.
Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car
She Likes Hair Bands
Say It Isn't So
Even the Losers

Not sure how long the show will be, one constraint limiting the number of songs to make the cut. However, AC/DC's set list was 18 songs, including the two encores and my more astute readers may note, the list above has 18 suggestions.  And, no, didn't include some of Butch's standards, like The Best Thing You Never Had, Joan, 3 Kids from Brooklyn, Pretty Melody.  Hope some of the new album will be heard and that would also cut down possibilities from my suggestions. We will see, but hope a good number of these make it.  Paws crossed!

The winter holidays for a university employee are such that it's tough to remember what day it is. Trying to stay current, though, since I leave for Chicago on Friday.  (another Bon Scott scream here!)  In some ways, though, there's a regularity to the daily activities.  Early in the holidays, breakfast at the House of Pies one day was enriched by T, the assistant manager, coming by to let me know he's really been enjoying the Butch Walker Mixtape II.2 that Bibi gave him a couple of weeks ago.  Makes a fan's work all worth it to hear those words.

Once Sarita got here on the 23rd, the holiday craziness faded into the background, where it belonged, and the holidays truly began for Bibi.  Bibi evinces a cynical, seen-it-all façade, 

but is actually a sentimental mess, especially with the Neartown events so recent.  Have even been unexpectedly indulgent toward families with rowdy children in restaurants!  Christmas Eve at Raul's and Christmas Day at Nana's were really enjoyable with all the kids around.  Nana's was particularly memorable--we played a few rounds of Loteria.  Bibi came out the big winner in the last round--so surprizing!

 Lots of fun and the kids were a big part of it, all the kids from age 4 to 85!  Hope your Christmas was a great one!

Butch Walker: Say It Isn't So and Drinking With Strangers in Paris

As the faithful know, Bibi LOVES Live From Daryl's House, Episode 54.  Episode 54



It brought about a seismic change in Bibi's already full life, introducing her to the great, the wonderful Butch Walker.  My favorite cut from that show is Say It Isn't So. Posted this so many times, here it is again.

 Once Bibi heard this, life changed!

I know set lists for performances are set in stone in advance of shows--at least that's how AC/DC and Bruce do it--but SO hope Butch will include it on December 30. 

Just so you get an even better taste of Episode 54, here's one of Bibi's other faves, Bodegas and Blood. 

Butch n Daryl's band rock it!

Of course, every song Butch does on the show is also one of my favorites:  Sweethearts, Mixtape, Closest Thing, Why Was It So Easy...so, there it is.  You may ask, what was the reason for this post?  While Bibi is not prepared to go into the existential why of blog posts at this time, today, the reason is that I had a chance to talk Butch up to someone who immediately got on the web to look Butch up!!!  So exciting when you get through to someone!!  Once I'd talked to D for awhile, thought, why don't I listen to Say It Isn't So and once I did that, well, slippery slope. Had to watch the other songs, too.  As a special treat (Bibi loves cat treats and this clip is a really great treat for you) here's the opening of Episode 54.  How Bibi met Butch the first time!!!!!!  You get a feel for Butch the person, what's important to him as an artist, a shortened form of what you would read in his book, Drinking With Strangers.  A very good read!  Plan to re-read it before the trip.  Why doesn't the book have an index?  Needs one.  AC/DC's Maximum Rock & Roll has one, although it could be better.

Introducing: Butch Walker


If you began reading these posts after my AC/DC phase, you (regrettably) don't know that during slow times within AC/DC's last tour, Bibi would fill in the gaps by blogging about individual AC/DC albums, songs, why they were great and should be in the rock pantheon of all time.  Wondered if I might do that about Butch Walker's music before December 30.  It's almost here (Bon Scott scream!) and even though Christmas is already exciting, knowing that I'll get to see Butch so soon, well, the excitement around Bibi is just palpable.  Feel like there's a slight buzz in the air around me, the sky is bluer, the air crisper.  Or maybe it's the cold front that came in last night, hard to distinguish.  Tough to concentrate on the day-to-day since I have the Chicago guidebook and see that the few days Bibi has up there are too short to fit everything in. 

Just so you know:  there will be no time for "hoping to spot Butch somewhere in Chicago" as occurred in Paris with AC/DC.  Bibi did enjoy meeting the fans outside AC/DC's hotel and Bibi was richly rewarded for sitting around in the bar, since I got to talk to Brian and Cliff--such sweeties--but really, Paris deserved more of Bibi out and about instead of hanging in a really expensive bar.  I read in one of Butch's tweets about an elite, pricey bar in Nashville.  Ha, ha, ha.  What a bunch of fiscal lightweights!  If they thought that place was rich for their (financial) blood, they would never be able to drink in Paris. 

Oh, and btw, the Ernest Hemingway house was sold this year to private owners. 

Bibi is checking now to see if visits are still allowed.  It could work out that I'll only get to take a picture of the residence and maybe think of a way to bring a dirt sample back to the ex.  Bit of a family story:  the ex always wanted to visit Graceland; Elvis was his hero.  The only time his family went to Memphis, though, Graceland was closed for the day.  So, the ex gathered some dirt from the property and kept it for years.  That is now lost to the ages, so I thought I would bring some dirt back from the Hemingway (also one of his heroes) house for him.  Bibi's thoughtful like that.

We'll see.

Butch Walker and Catching Up for the Holidays

Just heard from an old friend across campus; she asked Bibi what she had been doing lately.  In the recent past, anyone who asked Bibi about her life, they got a version of this:

In August I discovered a singer/songwriter/musician, Butch Walker and now blog about him, talk about him on fb, going to see his show in Chicago on December 30--in the same neighborhood as the largest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the US and the birthplace, boyhood home of Ernest Hemingway. If it hadn't been for Butch Walker, Bibi would never have gotten a chance to do this!!! 

Here’s a recent picture of Butch, although, really, he’s not just a pretty face:

Fabulous, beautiful voice, talented musician, successful record producer (Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Avril Lavigne, Pink (his close friend), Gin Wigmore—Butch co-wrote A Man Like That with her, now the video for Heineken/the new Bond movie, Taylor Swift). I know, I know:  recognize these names, but have never listened to their music and realize I probably won't get to them.  (In a previous post, I alluded to Bibi's very full daily schedule.)

He’s all over the web, in a very good way; an excellent showcase for him is Live From Daryl’s House, episode 54. He sings a few songs from his latest album (The Spade) with Daryl Hall (yes, from Hall and Oates). AND, he sings Say It Isn't So with Daryl--a version that is SO beautiful, SO Butch, and yet, such a great collaboration with Daryl.  Well.  This is where I first saw Butch and fell completely in love, totally enthralled, besotted, beguiled.  Also, if you want to see his videos, try the YouTube video for Mixtape, Here Comes the…, Summer of ’89, Synthesizers (two versions—one on the David Letterman show (excellent) and the YouTube video with Matthew McConaughey (Butch is the bartender).  I've put together a few mixtape cds of Butch's stuff from four of his albums:  The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites, Letters, Sycamore Meadows, and The Spade, so let me know if you want one.  Each album has a different feel and sound to it: amazing!  He rocks, he croons, and all in between, he can do it all, believe me! 

I usually end with some personalized questions--how's it going for you at work,  how are the kids, how about those___ (fill in the name of the person's football/baseball/soccer team preference, as appropriate).
Since they know me, it doesn't throw them off, really, but I guess they do wonder how Bibi does it all.  lol

This usually fires Bibi up about Butch, how great his music is, etc.  And it worked again this time.  Think I'll take a few moments and watch Say It Isn't So. 

Thanks, Butch!  See you in two weeks!

Butch Walker in Chicago, December 30, 2012

Make it quick as a kitten jumping on and off the dining table:  PLEASE, Butch--play Sweethearts at the show on December 30!  PLEASE!  As part of "gettin' into it" this morning, listened to the fave (Say It Isn't So, now up to 6829 views) and it went down so easy, the office seemed very light  and airy, none of that usual oppressive Monday gloom--the Butch Walker Ameliorative Effect at work.  I thought, well, why not go through the entire Episode 54 (Live From Daryl's House) and update the stats while you're at it?  Multi-tasking, right?  Always try to play the cuts in order of appearance, otherwise, it's just chaos in Bibi's otherwise oh-so-ordered world (HAH!), but somehow, got stuck on Sweethearts.  Such an underrrated gem!  So adorably likable (like Bibi) and ineffably sweet in all the positive ways.

Bibi loves this one! 

Wouldn't it be the coolest if Butch played this song at the show AND made it one of those fan participation things that he's done in the past where a deleriously lucky fan gets to sing with him?  Total "fan"tasy, right?    Seen a couple of those videos and the poor girls were so Butch-struck that they could barely stand, so maybe Butch doesn't do that anymore.  But, still, what a concept!  What a song!  Hold me to your chest 'cause I can feel your heart jumping!  Tell me about it!

Love you, Butch! 

Butch Walker Stats Updated

As my legions of faithful readers know, Bibi has many, many talents and skills, but understanding how YouTube gathers data is NOT one of them.  For a few days last week, the counter on Say It Isn't So was stuck on 4688.  Maybe someone reported this, or, as computer things do, fixed itself, because today, October 29, the count is up to 5145.  Whew--what a relief!  My excel spreadsheet rejoices!  Just love seeing Butch's so-happy face before and after on that one.  And, of course, to hear his beautiful voice with Daryl Hall.  Such a wonderful version!

Butch tweeted last night that he had cried and now felt great.  hmmmm.  I tried to cajole him out of any funk by joking about it.  (Important note to Bibi:  no more stupid tweet responses. Please.) Being the ever so sensitive Bibi, though, I've been concerned for him.  (Fans are SO symbiotic with no encouragement at all.) Maybe he was worried about something, got great news and cried--I've done that.  That's the way I want to think about it.  After all, if he's really sad about something, for all my wonderful abilities, there's nothing I can do to help.  It's too helplessly true, isn't it?  Some of our most painful emotional experiences, we have to endure alone.  At least for me, in those tough times, whenever someone offered their totally useless sympathy or advice, the first comment that came to mind were those immortal 3 little words from the Terminator:  Fuck off, asshole.   And today, been watching the  different numbers from LFDH, Episode 54 to reassure myself that Butch is okay.

So, for what it's worth, love ya, Butch!  Hang in there!

Had to listen to Say It Isn't So again before signing off--the count is up to 5151!