have love. will travel.

As you know, music festival season is already in full swing, and I have somehow landed the coolest job ever, and I am able to go to almost any of them. So here's my current first world problem: how do I pick the best festivals with the least amount of overlap? And also, who is going with me?

Beale Street Music Festival (May 2-4)

So, a mediocre line up at best, but it's at home, and I have tons of people I can (and will) go with. It's also inexpensive as far as three-day festivals go. It's a for sure for me, though I will skip out on any day in a heartbeat if there's a home playoff game for the Grizz. 

Artist Highlights: Alabama Shakes, Foster the People, Pretty Lights, Snoop Dogg (Lion?), Juicy J (it's a Memphis thing), Grouplove, Third Eye Blind, Blues Traveler, Fitz and the Tantrums, Wolfmother

Hangout (May 16-18)

This is also a for sure for me. Of all the festival lineups, it's my favorite, because it has the most acts I want to see in one place. Downside to that is that I have many scheduling conflicts, (which can be remedied by going to multiple festivals with overlapping acts). Also, my brother and some of his friends are going, and they're a fun group to hang with, and we all have similar music tastes.

Artist Highlights: The Black Keys, MODEST FREAKING MOUSE, Outkast, Jack Johnson (It IS a beach afterall), Childish Gambino, Avett Brothers, Portugal. The Man, Bastille, Amos Lee, pretty much every other act on the list

NYC Governor's Ball (June 6-8)

This is where I'm trying to find a reason NOT to go. I can get there easily. I know of at least one person going, and potentially a few others. I know the layout and I really like it. My previous worry was that there would be too much overlap, but upon further dissection of the line up, I think I'm good. 

Artist Highlights: Outkast (again), JACK WHITE (!!!), Vampire Weekend, Broken Bells, Sleigh Bells, Childish Gambino (again, but I really don't care; I'll always go see him), Tyler the Creator, Skrillex, The Head and the Heart

Firefly (June 19-22)

So, really I'd rather skip Gov Ball and Lolla to go to this one. It combines the biggest acts I want to see from both, but it's in Dover, DE. So, um, if anyone wants to go to Delaware with me, please let me know, because as easily as I can make friends, I really don't want to go to a music festival solo. Also, this festival is four days, and it could cause a bit of a scheduling conflict. 

Artist Highlights: Foo Fighters, Outkast (good grief), Weezer, Arctic Monkeys, Childish, Cage the Elephant, RAC, Band of Horses, Young the Giant, Beck, Local Natives

Lollapalooza (August 1-3)

I love Chicago, and I've always wanted to go during Lollapalooza. It's also a pretty decent line-up, and I wouldn't be going alone. So, actually I've just decided to go while typing out the acts coming. I apparently only half read the list before. 

Artist Highlights: Kings of Leon, Outkast (FOR REAL), Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, Avett Brothers, Spoon, Childsh, Lykke Li, Chvrches, MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA, Iggy Azalea, Glen Hansard 

Okay, to recap, I just need help deciding between Gov Ball and Firefly, but really I think Gov Ball is the clear winner. What do you guys think? And where are you headed this summer? 

Red, white, blues in the skies. Summer's in the air, and baby heaven's in your eyes.

it feels like home to me

So, I have been traveling for work of late, and for the next 6 months, such will be my life. And while my bed is missed and giving up my apartment is going to be so bittersweet, I am beyond grateful for this amazing opportunity.

After the initial sadness of giving my notice to leave the first "home" I've ever had on my own, I realized that home isn't necessarily a physical place, it's more of a feeling. It's a feeling of comfort and familiarity and love. 

And surprise, surprise, certain music feels like home to me. 

She makes the sound, the sound the sea makes to calm me down. 

I love ∆ (alt-j), a ridiculous amount. I sometimes find myself getting upset because they don't have enough songs, though even with the limited amount, I still can't come close to picking a favorite. Each one evokes an entirely different set of emotions than the one before, but only one feels like home. That song would be Dissolve Me.

Now dissolve me, two tabs on your tongue. A herd of shepherds to herd the sheep, sleep now my only one. 

The next song is one that I play every time there is a pretty day in Memphis, sunroof open, the sun shining, coming down Madison, ready to take on the city come nightfall. It's predictor of good things to come. It's Portugal. The Man's Modern Jesus.

Don't pray for us. We don't need no modern Jesus to roll with us. The only rule we need is never giving up. The only faith we have is faith in us. 

When I listen to this one, I tend to replay it two or three times before venturing to the next song. I seriously can't get enough of it. I imagine it makes me feel like home because of the aforementioned reason, but also because when I listen to it, I feel like I can seriously do anything. So in a sense, because I know who I am and what I'm not, it empowers me, and makes me feel at home, at peace.

We know that we're helpless, at least we always assume. But we don't need to prove nothing to you.

And then there is Ocean Breathes Salty. The actual lyrics don't really make me feel like home, but the music itself does. It also helps that Modest Mouse is my brother's favorite, and what is a better reminder of home than that?

And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both grow old. Well, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I hope so.

Alright, last one.

Dumbed down and numbed by time and age. Your dreams the catch, the world the cage. The highway sets the traveler's stage. All exits look the same. 

Maybe this one is self-explanatory, but it still applies. The Avett Brothers have my heart, so anything they've ever done will feel like home, ('cause home is where the heart is...bah).

Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in. Are you aware the shape I'm in? My hands they shake, my head it spins. Oh, Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in. 

While traveling is fantastic, it's as equally exhausting. When I'm on that last plane home, the feel of my own bed so close, but still out of reach, this is the song I gravitate towards. And it's perfect in general.

Though I have no lyrics to post, Explosions in the Sky may be the best example of music feeling like home to me. I can put them on, and my stress dissipates, I sleep better, and some of the ache of being homesick eases. I feel their music in my entire being, sending a warmth through me, a musical hug of sorts. And that's the best thing about being home: the hugs, and hugs are the easiest way to feel loved, to feel like you're home.

She makes the sound the sea makes knee deep in the North Sea.