Hi, I'm Vincent Blackwood. I am a junkie.

(Hi, Vincent!)

Yep. I've got a monkey on my back. It could climb the empire state and knock a train off its track. This addiction started so simply -- so innocently.

This is a blog about music and questions. I cover my ass that way when I get off topic -- I always get off topic. I write about music that you probably don't know but should. I write about music that moves me deeply and I can't wait to tell everyone. The world is missing something and what a shame. I may have something else planned, but screw it. I just heard this song and I'm am crazy about it and must tell the world. Or the few people that read my blog.

A lot of people are arguing the merits of the real "I Kissed A Girl" by Jill Sobule verses the other, recent version.  Well let me say it, again, Jill is the best songwriter working today.  I never miss an opportunity to prove that.  Now seems like a grand time to celebrate a hero to nerdy girls and guys everywhere.

And We Laughed at the World

Jill Sobule is simply my favorite songwriter. Her songs are witty, emotionally complicated and very personal. Only she could write them; they are handcrafted by someone who cares and is having a blast -- it shows. Real emotions, all natural, no fillers or additives. Can you say that of most of today's wienie whistle music? Look at the label of the cheap hot dogs before you buy them: mechanically separated chicken. OMG. R2D2 tearing a hen to bits as it screams. Nope, Give me my Jill!

Oh, October in Paris. The title promises so much; love, wine and lights. Yes, the city of lights. This has to be a romantic, happy song. No. Not so much.  Someone was SUPPOSED to be there but he or she has bailed, leaving the songwriter grappling with the tragedy of being in the most romantic city in the world -- alone.

Kids are so lucky, not a care in the world. Just thinking about it causes nostalgia for a less complicated time to rush over us like a Norman Rockwell painted drug. I guess you have it with your turkey and kindly, grinning Grandma. It's a hallucinogen. 

My favorite time to listen to music is late at might. I put on a CD or mp3s, turn off the lights and lay in bed. The music washes over me and I feel so happy. Particularly if the song is really sad. “Houdini’s Box” by Jill Sobule is made to be listened to way past midnight when you are alone in bed. Hmmm, me in bed listening to a song about a woman lying in bed. Funny.

Jill’s guitar sounds like rippling water and that gives the song a hypnotic, dream like feel. It also features two of Jill’s strengths as a writer; vivid, impressionistic imagery and a stream of consciousness way of writing that can unfold in surprising ways.

01 Watch Me Sleep (3:02)
02 Empty Glass (2:50)
03 Talkin’ Platy (3:05)
04 Gotta Get Me Some (3:46)
05 Jitters & Creeps (2:27)
06 Tell Me I’ve Won (3:01)
07 Evolution (2:42)
08 Skyhook (2:28)
09 Deep Blue (2:28)
10 Nothing I Can Do (3:12)
11 Dreamtime (3:20)

Isn’t Love Amazing?

I was putting together my new Yahoo Music Group dedicated to my hero, Jill Sobule.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Jillsobule/

When it comes to writing, I also like to think of her as a mentor. Her blogs and journals are amazing -- I began to really understand how to be myself and make serious points with humor. 

Tony (Jill's webmaster extraordinaire and man of many talents) mention that the recent Joe's Pub dates were recorded with an eye to releasing at lest some of them. 

My buddy, Nicole, was luck enough to be at the Sunday show and here's what she told me;

One of the nice things about MySpace is how you can get to know new musicians. They might go to Jill Sobule's MySpace site and start sending messages to all her MySpace friends to the effect; "I noticed you like Jill Sobule. She is a major influence on my music. Please add me." Sure. I'll add you. At least you have good taste in music. And you haven't sent me a picture of your backside. Thank you. Please don't. Not until I've gotten to know you better. Really.

I ran across a blog for singer/songwriter Hope Roth (http://www.hoperoth.com/). It was titled "Because, Together, We Can Raise All Of Seventy-five Cents". Hope, who was about to record her first full length CD, was clearly frustrated at how much it was going to cost. She had noticed that Jill Sobule (www.jillsobule.com) had just asked her fans for help and quickly raised over $80,000. Hope wondered how that happened. What did a girl have to do to get that kind of big time cash money -- kiss a girl?

Okay. Here we go. I finally did it. Here's my damn blog. Are you happy now? Really? Huh, how do you do that? I mean that "being happy" part? And why did I start up a blog? A number of people have asked me to do it. Either they think I'm funny or, more likely, want me to document my journey to hell. (Hey look, that guy is ass up in a pit of fire. Forget Bob Fosse -- that's entertainment.) But what is my reason for doing this emotional strip tease for the two of you reading this? I blame Jill Sobule, And I blame my local crows. Huh? Oh -- a bit of explanation is in order. Right, here we go.