I saw an advance screening of Into the Woods, and I signed a nondisclosure agreement so I can't give any specific details about the film, but I will say that I loved it. If you're a fan of the musical, I recommend putting aside your expectations. Some changes have been made, but I don't think any of the changes majorly detract from the story. It's a beautiful movie. Anna Kendrick and Emily Blunt's performances were my favorite, and I was also really impressed with Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen (oh my goodness, "Agony" killed!). I didn't like the performances of Lilla Crawford or Johnny Depp. I'll probably write more after the movie is released. For now, watch this snippet of "Stay With Me." I wasn't crazy about the casting of Meryl Streep as the Witch, but she won me over, mostly with this song.

"Every time the sun comes up I'm in trouble." ~sharon van etten

I got into Sharon Van Etten through The National (which is also how I got into St. Vincent, whom I've also written about on here; The National works with some awesome women). I've seen her perform with them and I've seen her open for them. Aaron Dessner (from The National) produced her brilliant album Tramp. I like that she's from my home state of New Jersey. She's incredibly talented, and I was really excited to hear this song of hers on last night's episode of Elementary. I've noticed that all my favorite TV shows feature really, really good music.

I've been busy with a lot of fun things that I haven't written about, and now I can't even remember everything I meant to post about but never got around to, so for now I'll leave you with a post about my most recent fun event.

This weekend was the Outlaw Roadshow, an annual event in NYC hosted by Ryan Spaulding and Adam Duritz. Adam talked about Ryan and the Outlaw Roadshow during Counting Crows' show at Irving Plaza this summer in the intro to "Holiday in Spain":


It really is an awesome event, full of free music by great bands. One of the things I love about it is that all the musicians are just hanging around during the other sets, enjoying seeing their buddies play. It's a special weekend. I mean, how many times do you find yourself sitting on the floor of a tiny, tiny room with Adam Duritz watching a talented musician like Nate Leavitt play? Nate Leavitt is awesome, by the way. I loved his solo set, and I also loved OldJack (the band he's part of). And I actually got to meet him and tell him how much I enjoy his music; he was really cool.

The highlight of the weekend was Counting Crows' set. It was actually just three members of Counting Crows (Adam, Dan, and Immy), and they played under the name Sonic Cow Grunt. They were wonderful. I filmed their set, and it's worth watching all the way through. The last song is really, really special. They played a cover of a K Phillips song called "I Only Want What I Can't Have." K Phillips was standing next to me when they played his song, and his reaction was beautiful. He and some of the other Outlaws joined the band during that song and it really was magical. So you should watch.

The whole set was fun and had a loose, playful vibe; the band seemed genuinely happy to be there. There is some absolutely killer banter. The band talks about the jalapeno KIND bars they were giving out (Adam describes them as "ass sandwich"), funny Robert Plant stories, the recent list that was released about the music smart people listen to (Counting Crows is on top, but Adam tells us not to pat ourselves on the back), their lack of rehearsal, knocking over beers, how "Richard Manuel Is Dead" really begins (they had to start it over three times), cliques (and the pre-CC band "The Clique"), funny fan comments...one of my favorite quotes from Adam to Dan and Immy was, "You figured out how to split the seven background vocals between the two of you?" (They definitely did, by the way.)

Anyway, trust me that this is a video worth watching:


Another exciting thing about the Outlaw Roadshow was seeing all my Counting Crows friends.

Here are some of my highlights from this year's Outlaw Roadshow:

Air Traffic Controller:

 Ryan Spaulding:

 OldJack:

 Nate Leavitt (and Adam being a fan):

 Mean Creek:

 Dan:

 Immy:

 Adam:

Finally, here's one of the reasons I tape. I like sharing recordings and making people happy. CC fans are always super nice and I've already gotten a bunch of nice messages/thank yous (on a video that I posted less than a day ago), but this is my favorite:

I've been posting a lot of videos here lately, so why stop now?

I'm Kate Mara's height. Does that mean I'm eligible to join these two ladies as a tiny detective? Because I love them both and this is completely awesome.

Tiny Detectives with Kate Mara and Ellen Page from Kate Mara