Her Rock & Roll World.

35. My annual Birthday Mix Tape.

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:40:14 -0700

35.

My annual Birthday Mix Tape.

“A year that trembled and reel’d beneath me! Your summer wind was warm enough, yet the...

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:51:45 -0600

“A year that trembled and reel’d beneath me!

Your summer wind was warm enough, yet the air I breathed froze in me,

A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken’d me,

Must I change my triumphant songs? I said to myself,

Must I indeed learn to chant the cold dirges of the baffled?

And sullen hymns of defeat?” walt.

Your Love Is An Impossible Dream.

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 23:39:06 -0600

…and I just want to wake up.

PBS & me. Me & PBS.

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:46:08 -0600

PBS & me. Me & PBS. :

The Charm and myself were recently featured on Colorado PBS’ amazing show, Sounds on 29th. Please take twenty minutes out of your day and give us a peeksy. If you don’t like it, I promise you Baby Jesus will give you those twenty minutes back at some point in your life.

But I’m pretty sure you’re gonna like it.

The Charm on the lil' screen

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:06:53 -0600

The Charm on the lil' screen:

Me & The Charm were fortunate enough to play Colorado Public Television’s Sounds on 29th last week. The link to the full performance will be available and on the Tumblr soon.

Try not to chew your fingernails off in anticipation.

I'm not okay, you're not okay.

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:59:15 -0600

Collective thought.

Can it become collective being? Collective state of being? What if we all want to change the thought pattern but we all stay in collective being?

2012 was not the year I intended it to be. And I’m guessing it’s turned out the same for You.

As the Universe heaps piles and piles of things we wished would just go away upon us, I KNOW we all want it to change. But the piles keep coming. And with the yucky stuff in the pile is insanely good stuff; the things we actually asked for.

So then the question gets raised: How do You reach out into the hurricane and grab the things you want while letting the things that are weird/awkward/harmful swirl around You without affecting You?

This is an actual question I’d like an answer to, Anonymous You.

Please inform.

Because I am actually swept away.

I have a hard time catching my breath most of the time.

It’s the End of the Summer. Denver, 2012.

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:53:30 -0600

It’s the End of the Summer.

Denver, 2012.

This MAN matters.

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:22:25 -0600

This MAN matters.

Ryan Adams Matters.

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:58:57 -0600

Ryan Adams Matters.:

On this episode of These Things Matter Podcast, I talk Ryan Adams, impossibly high music standards in modern-day romance and authenticity.

Listen up, buttercup.

My New Anthem, Summer 2012

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:12:28 -0600

My New Anthem, Summer 2012:

fuck yeah, Big Star.

Something is Buzzing in My Brain.

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:09:01 -0600

I’ve found peace in the permanence and life is starting to make sense again.

Is it the possibility/nervous excitement of a new love?

Is it the realization that I am surrounded by the greatest people in the world?

Is it that I am finally coming into my own as a performer and producing the work I was meant to make my entire life?

Is it the recognition of my peers/press/citizens of my lovely city, Denver?

Is it that I can now say, with full confidence, that everything does happen for a reason?

The last year of my life has been so dark. I had resigned myself to the idea that from great pain comes great art and, if I’m great at anything, it’s attracting pain. Little did I know that the darkness and what I became as a direct result of it was only temporary.

Thank God.

As the fog lifts and I come closer and closer to remembering myself every day, I am so grateful for those that have stuck with me and those that have fallen away.

I am so grateful.

julieklausner: Get the new episode of my podcast from iTunes or...

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 02:31:00 -0600

julieklausner:

Get the new episode of my podcast from iTunes or download/stream it directly here!

How Was Your Week: Episode 69
“Is This Jazz? Rob Sheffield, Michael McMillian”

Hello, Summerinos! How’s your summer going?

On this week’s show, the marvelous ROB SHEFFIELD is here to discuss the three Rod Stewart-based stages of a man’s life, his experience seeing Neil Diamond two nights in a row, and the magnificent Dollyness of Dollywood.

Then, MICHAEL MCMILLIAN, who plays Steve Newlin on True Blood, joins Julie to talk about how E.T. changed his life, what glamoring is exactly, and shares an awesome and terrifying ghost story that will curl your toes and straighten your lashes!

Also—Julie reviews the new Fiona Apple album and discusses what it really means to eat your feelings! Britny Fox liberates women of their confining shirts! Pencil erasers are considered as substitute chocolate chips! And Julie learns something about Star Wars that she would have preferred not to know.

A spooky, heartfelt, heartening and interesting show, all at once!

A super awesome How Was Your Week featuring my secret boyfriend, Rob Sheffield, some unattainable vampire guy and a shout out from the most bestest, Julie Klausner, to me. Yeah, I fucking said to me.

BOOM.

louieapplesauce: You are gonna need a Starter Jacket. This...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:24:54 -0600

louieapplesauce:

You are gonna need a Starter Jacket.

This makes a million and two rainbows in my soul.

Are you playing anywhere in Denver tonight (June 2)?

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:29:43 -0600

Yes I am!
Prickly Pete’s at 630, weather permitting. 8, if it keeps raining. Come on out!

Now, we have a song.

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:48:13 -0600

There is one song and one song only that epitomizes what I believe “true love” is.

Is it because I am a product of my generation?

Is this song just the most romantic example of “quiet/loud” ever recorded?

Is it because it had a kick-ass video?

I don’t know.

What I am fully (and nearly painfully) aware of is this: no man I’ve ever been in love with has made me a mix tape with this song on it. Nor has it come on at a bar or over a car radio and the man I’m with turned to me and smiled in recognition.

But I know that someday someone will.

And I am waiting patiently.

I’m waiting…patiently.

These I Singing in Spring. Denver, I love you.

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:42:36 -0600

These I Singing in Spring.

Denver, I love you.

It's Ian & Henry on NPR!!!!!

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:24:35 -0600

It's Ian & Henry on NPR!!!!! :

So, this is one of the most entertaining things to happen in awhile.

Be still, my teenage heart.

Seriously.

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:52:35 -0600

Seriously. :

This song…it just says it all, huh?

Where are you? Who knows.

Holy Fuck.

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:41:00 -0600

Oh my God, Anonymous You.

I went to do another insightful and entertaining installment of my journal project and, upon finding April 27th over the years, one thing became terrifyingly clear. One thing was the thread that wove the years together. One thing has been the sole narrative of my life story. One thing has made every decision for me for, at least, the last 24 years.

I bet You know what it is already, huh?

You’re so smart, Anonymous You.

Yep.

Love.

Every single entry was about a boy.

In one instance, the same boy written one year apart.

And, yeah, a lot changed in that one year.

I don’t really understand my dependence on the idea of LOVE. Where did I get this steadfast thought that love needs to be difficult in order to make it true. Why am I constantly dating or longing after the same guy? He looks different every time but there’s a familiarity that attracts me to him. And also, why is Tom Waits, like, the best ever??!!

Anyway.

Three times, I’ve had men that truly loved me and three times I made it impossible for them to do so.

I think that’s the first time I’ve really understood that. Heavy.

So, let’s talk about this, me and You.

In 1996, I wrote this:

“I know that I have stated that my interest in him is fading but I may have been too quick to say that. Also, I keep thinking about Saturday and I have made up my mind that I am going to get my shot.”

First off, I wrote that in Algebra. In fact, most of my journaling in high school was done in Algebra classes. Is that the product of my inability to understand math or a symptom? I don’t know.

Second, the “Him” is my much, much older guitar teacher. See, I picked up the guitar because I had a crush on him (yep, I’m admitting that I play my instrument because of a boy) and I didn’t much care for it except that the guitar allowed me time alone with Greg (that’s his real name and I feel it’s okay to use it because none of you will ever met this man and I seriously doubt he’d ever find this blog. The people I think You might know, well, there names will be changed to protect their…names).

Third, he knew he was messing with an 18 year-old girl’s feelings and he took full advantage of it. Well, not full advantage. Still…

Fourth, what happened Saturday??!!! I think I was in a play at this time and I was for sure singing back-up for Greg’s band at the time. My guess is, he told me I looked nice and smiled at me a couple times. I, of course, took that for deep love. I still have that problem. I assume that the looks men give me carry as much weight as the looks I give them. Doesn’t work like that.

Fifth, I really wish I had been paying attention in Algebra class more often.

In 1992, at the end of 8th grade and carrying quite a bit of clout following an amazing performance at 8th Grade Graduation, I wrote this:

“I love Corey Mason now.”

Okay, let me tell you about Corey Mason.

Corey Mason was a skateboarder. He smoked. He drank. He listened to bands like Social Distortion, Screeching Weasel, and Metallica. He had the blondest hair I’ve ever seen to this day. He also had amazing bucked teeth. Did I mention he was a skateboarder? He was.

He was trouble. And I couldn’t get enough.

I spent the rest of the school year and well into the summer chasing that boy. Sitting outside in the sun, watching him skate along the riverside, pretending to know who Green Day was. Hell, I even busted up my knee in a horrific go-cart accident, the scars of which I bare to this very day.

Corey Mason never did fall in love with me.

He enjoyed my company and my blatant adoration. But he never did fall in love with me.

And this perpetuated the “What’s wrong with me?” cycle I deal with even as an adult.

But he told me I looked nice and smiled at me a couple of times so…

Corey fucking Mason.

I know for a fact that he is still roaming around my hometown with, like, a billion illegitimate kids.

And also, that he is still a skateboarder.

Next on the list of memorable April 27ths: 2009 & 2010.

Alright, so there’s this guy and we’ve been friends for many years now. He is still an active part of my life and he is still someone that I totally adore. When talking about him, I must proceed with caution. Because I care for him so deeply.

In 2009, I was in year three of writing about him. And we were moving out of being friends and into deeper, denser territory.

You should know that this guy is the male version of me, I’m sure of it. Both born in the same town a few years apart, both intensely and passionately involved with music, both weird and quiet, both vibrant and personable. Similar in nearly every way.

Nearly.

Hometown, as he shall be known from now on, was so much like me and yet just outside of me that I couldn’t help but be completely enamoured upon first look. Oh, and he looks just like Help!-era McCartney. Impossible to resist.

Oh, and, of course, he told me I looked nice and smiled at me a couple of times.

Truthfully, it was more than that.

Long talks, inside jokes, mix tapes, late nights, and La Crosse…romantically, it was all too much.

But, things were different in 2009. We were on the verge of actually trying together. Sort of.

“He’s the guy. He doesn’t make me feel inadequate or embarrassed or small or too big. He makes me feel like me…but more nervous. All excited. He’s the guy. I think I’ve had long enough to think about it and my conclusion is not only clear but accurate.”

Accurate.

Nope.

I was so excited to tell him, in a few months, how much I cared for him and how I was ready to take the next step with him. How much I trusted him.

Well, I did. And he agreed. And he came to visit and I showed him my town. And, a few weeks after he got back to Minneapolis, Hometown told me I was getting ahead of myself. He couldn’t be with me. We’d just have to exist in the ether, neither one of us crossing state lines for the other. Because our friendship is the most important thing ever.

And I was so mad.

Exactly one year later, I wrote…

“Hometown and I are just what we are and, while there is a connection, I doubt it will ever go beyond just being friends and I really don’t think it should anyway. We’re better off as friends. We only work as friends.”

I still feel like that.

And he is one of my best friends, if only because he’s stuck with me through my irrationality, our romantic flames and fadings, our remarkable taste in music, the distance.

Going on six years now, Hometown and I have been friends. And, really, that’s better than lovers though that was pretty nice, too.

I guess You have to realize where the wonderful is in Your life and accept it for what it is when it happens.

And he still tells me I look nice and smiles at me at couple of times a year.

And I can’t wait to go home and listen to records with him.

Oh, and just so You don’t start thinking I’m totally a hapless romantic, here’s a journal entry from April 27th, 2008.

“Oh, I got a new hairdo and it makes me feel so cool.”

This was when I got bangs and a shag haircut thereby bidding farewell to the last eight years of Colorado and last seven of my indentured servitude to the jam band scene.

Hello, Chella Negro.

So, what does it all mean?

I think, perhaps, I’ve realized that the energy I’ve put into finding love, cultivating it, making it work, doing whatever it takes, and telling myself whatever I need to hear to keep it alive has been severely misdirected.

Can I take a stand and say, “No More!” right here and now on Tumblr?

Nah, dude.

I can try and try but there will always been some impossible boy who tells me I look nice and smiles at me a couple of times.

And my pupils will dilate and my brain will buzz and I will set to dreamin’.

All Chella, All the Time.

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:23:56 -0600

All Chella, All the Time.