So, the new Mandy Moore song is co-written by Ryan Adams.  I wasn’t sure.  She said she had written it with a friend, but she didn’t mention his name and I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask.

For those of you anxious for new Ryan Adams material, there’s a video of her singing it last Friday here.  According to this blog from one of Mandy’s band members, they first performed it last year, so I wouldn’t read too much into the lyrics.  I like it a lot, though.

Because I feel the need to keep the tumbl-verse (or at least those following me, out of which I know at least 4 or 5 of you care) updated on all things related to Ryan Adams, I would like to announce that his official site has been taken down and replaced with this.   

No more spaceship.  In its place we have the promise of a new album, book of poetry, and art show.  These promises are made all the more believable because they are being made on his official site and not by the somewhat unreliable Foggy (who I very much miss).

Suspiciously absent from his list of tour dates, however, is the August 26th show in Seattle for which I have tickets.  I hope this is just an oversight. 

This entire post is beautiful, and a near perfect reflection of some of the things currently occupying my mind. 

fairlyoddmuse:

i find myself reflecting far too hard on life lately, reflecting on how i maybe 27 but drug n mental addictions leave me at 17, maybe a little older. i am far behind most. i am enjoying this, maybe too much. i have many faults, many failures. all of which i would gladly repeat, maybe hurry but truly love to repeat. this blogging, this opening journaling, mind to mind tunnel is just a perfect reflecting of oneness with others. not one of us is feeling an emotion that is totally unique. possibly we are reflecting it in an individual manner, we are so far from alone. thankfully this is such a newborn thought. we feel refreshed, re-surged. i miss those who i can no longer follow. tis not mine to question on the reason why some gorgeous purging of words must cease to be, i must only be left with the scraps of expansion. follow the explosions, toss yourself in the mix. oh, but never erase. never never let go of the depths that make us vulnerable and open individuals. never not open up. even if it becomes far far more personal then you can handle. that is when you grow. that is when you question those things that make you far more content with the thing you seemingly cannot ever handle. emotional, personal spiritual growth is far more darling, make far more of a ripple then changing your music, your clothes, your manners. far bless you all for reading, indulging in voyeuristic manners that open spaces in mind of lethargy. if i could not open, if i could not share. i would do so much of death, so much of falling apart i would forget my own name. if you cannot share the utterly profound importance of your intellectual mind, is that not more impactful then physical death??

“oh, there’s the door. gotta go. bye robot foggy and carol anne-esque t.v. people- you are very much like loud orange and blue angel type beings with word fetish and strange patterns

you remind me of puddles

which i love

they are their own thing

and reflect as they damn well choose

dirty

and

sky

all at the same time

recurring

if seasons were counted by cloudy days

and

staring down at your feet

for the looking up

and

the others

and

eyes

that look like they want to steal you from yourself

whatever that is

or

ever was

to begin with”

Oh, and I’m including this from an earlier post, because I like it:

“I listen and read all of these people who come here

so inspiring

so dedicated

i see so much change

it makes me want to work harder” 

Thank you, as always.  I’ve gotten a lot out of this little experiment of yours and I’m glad that you’re a part of this place.  I hope you continue to check back here, as well as on your official site.  

I’m really looking forward to the new album, poetry book, art show and whatever else you decide to put out there.  It’s been said a million times in here, but your obvious work ethic and continuous creative output is very inspiring.  Thank you for sharing.

I started the Philip K. Dick novel after finishing my last midterm this morning.  I’m only on the third chapter and I’ve yet to fully understand where Foggy fits in (there are hints, but that’s all at this point), but I now know where Darryl Hannah the Robotic Cat comes from.  And just the opening scene between Rick, his wife, and their mood organ was enough to keep my mind happily racing through the dull points of my lectures this afternoon.   I’m really looking forward to reading the rest.  I’ll wait to watch Bladerunner until after I’m done.  It’s always better that way.

Oh, and Carl Sagan is one of my heroes as well.  I missed having him as a professor by three years, unfortunately.  The first book I read by him was “The Demon-Haunted World,” and it’s really stuck with me.  I love his devotion to critical thinking and reason, and how he can make those things seem exciting, liberating and full of possibility, as opposed to dry, stuffy and static. 

I completely understand what you’re saying and I love this post.  I have the  same quandaries about reblogging Ryan, and about reblogging stuff in general.  If I see something’s been reblogged 33 times, I’ll probably ignore it on the assumption everyone’s seen it already, even if it has personal significance.

I think there’s a pull between creating something that’s interesting for other people to read and carving out and maintaining our own personal little web spaces to fill with pictures, sound, and writing that we want to save and comment on for ourselves.

There are some people on here who do nothing but reblog Ryan.  My first impression is always just to roll my eyes, because something about that seems desperate to me.  But then I read their pages and I realize they are carrying on their own conversations with each other.  They are forming friendships and finding meaning in a way that is, like you said, “going to a museum with a friend.”  And that’s pretty neat, actually. 

And my favorite, after Love is Hell, is probably Cold Roses, although I really love all the 2005 albums.  I’m curious to hear the new album, whenever it gets made.  I wonder if we’ll recognize any of foggy in the writing.  I mean, how could we not?  I wonder if any artist has ever been this open about their inner worlds while writing an album before?  Not that Ryan is straightforward all the time, if ever.  I imagine there’s a certain amount of mythologizing going on, but it’ll still be interesting to see what comes of all this.

taylorswaimphotography:

I’ve been feeling the same way.  People are making connections.  I think people who have a connection to something (art, music, an object, book, place, whatever) often connect to that thing because if makes them feel a certain way about something thats happened to them, or it reminds them of a part of their life.  I know that I have not had the prettiest childhood, or the greatest hand in the game of relationships… Ryan’s music helps me deal with that. I listen to the words in the songs, and it’s like going to a therapist.  I think a lot of people use music in that way… which is kind of amazing.  You get to pick who’s helping you (does that make sense?) 

I think that we (Amanda and I) were able to connect because we’ve had similar things happen to us regarding our family and we 1) opened up about it on our page, therefore allowing others to see how we really feel and also allowing them to give their input  2) we reached out to each other and 3) we use the same thing to help us (ryan’s music, specifically ‘love is hell’).  The music may or may not be about what we’re specifically upset about, but there’s something about it that just makes things OK.  I get the same way when I listen to JCN or 29.  Something I think about those albums thats a little more personal (in the way they make me feel) than the others. 

I always get to torn when I re-post something from his blog.  I feel like this is my blog, and I should be posting my own things instead of reblogging his, but when I see some of the poetry he writes or some of the paintings he creates, I can’t help but not.  It’s like listening to his music. Whenever I re-post  something of his, there is a quality about it that fits into a part of my life.  I really shouldn’t care if it frustrates people that I’m constantly re-posting his stuff. I’ve done it for a reason.  I get caught up sometimes in the fact that people do follow and read what I post… it makes me feel like I have to be original. When I created this damn thing it wasn’t for anyone but me. I didn’t have followers (yet) and my post’s were a lot more open (really, you can go through my archives and see… the more followers I get the more pictures and little things I start posting instead of writing about my life and how I feel) I’m not sure why… this isn’t a popularity contest… I don’t particularly care if something I post ends up on the front page or not, this THING that I’ve created is supposed to be strictly about me and the things that I come across in my life that mean something to ME.  Who the fuck cares if I do repost 3 things from Ryan in one day.  People do not have to follow me. I re-posted whatever it was because it MEANT something to me.  That’s why people are connecting.  We’re talking about things that mean something to us, and we’re finding out that they mean something to someone else.  Really, thank God people are sharing.  It makes this whole thing seem more real. I think more people should talk about themselves…. that’s how we make the connections to each other.

I think that if any recognizable musician, painter, poet, or author had a blog people would talk about it and share how it made them felt.  I guess it’s sort of like going to a museum with a friend.  You walk from exhibit to exhibit and you talk about how each one moves you, or makes you feel inside. That’s what this is, except it’s online… and most of us don’t know each other.  We see something, we re post it, we write how we feel about it, and it turns out people out there are feeling the same thing.

I don’t know if any of this makes any sort of sense.  It’s 6 a.m. and I’m tired. I’m ending with this because I think I’m starting to repeat myself. I hope someone out there understands.

I’m glad people are opening up and sharing.  I feel really awkward about this whole post but I have faith that people will understand where I’m coming from.

I’m going back to bed. 

melanyouth:

I’m feeling hearts touching each other, gentle hands reaching towards one another. Like how I offered Amanda a guided tour to Seattle and now whether he’s [Ryan Adams] around or not I read her blog and think about her feelings and then yesterday realize she is in the same business as me and being interested in what she is saying, but not wanting to be too familiar or anything (always fearing rejection, right?) but there it is, a connection in some way via a person who may not even realize that this is going on with the people following him. But the other beautiful thing is that he himself is totally helping people, some people, just be ok with acting like themselves, by setting that example of being real and true to your feelings even if sometimes that means making some stuff up because that’s how you feel right then. And how great is that, how profound in an accidentally on purpose kind of way. 

Tumblr is so weird.  I mean, when I first started, I treated it like a traditional blog, but then there’s also this social networking aspect to it that makes this place so unique, but also a bit confusing.  A lot of the time I want to comment on something someone says, but without reblogging the post, especially if it’s a photo, because then the same photo shows up multiple times on your page, and it looks out of place to those people who may read your blog who are not part of tumblr.  I also don’t like to take up people’s dashboards with multiple copies of the same post.  I think there should be a way to reblog a post so that only you and the person you’re reblogging can see it.  Is this possible?

And yes, I know what you mean about the connections people make in this place.  It’s comforting and gratifying, in some way.  And also strange.  I love how open/random Ryan is with his posts, and I think he is aware of the effect he’s had to a certain extent.  Although I don’t think he is necessarily unique in inspiring these connections.  I think the social aspects of tumblr are intrinsic to the platform, which is why I like it so much.  We have our own little community here, you know?

Oh, and I want to see the pretty picture!  Can you post it? 

Seeing this on my dashboard, right after what I just posted, I find very amusing.

I really need to get back to studying.  Midterm tomorrow.

(werewolph)