Any good new music?

I'm kinda getting tired of the stuff on my computer. If you have any new stuff that you've discovered and would love to share, pass it on. To start the back scratching, I recommend checking out Queen Latifah's jazz album "Dana Owens Album," specifically the songs "Simply Beautiful," "Califonia Dreaming," and "Hard Times."

Life is quite normal around here. Nothing too cazy has happened in the last week. My fucking new camera broke, which is alright cause I have insurance, but what a bitch. So that's means that I couldn't take any pics when I toured the Aachener Dom and Schatzkammer ("Aachen Cathedral" and "Religious Treasury"). But it was all very cool. As I think I already said, Charlemagne made Aachen the second capital of his empire, outside of Rome. Here's a little history lesson.

Charlemagne was born in 742 in Belgium. He was crowned king of the Franks, presumably after his father, Pippin, died, at the age of 26. Fucking 26, man, some people. Try matching that Danielle. Then, on Christmas Day in 800, he was crowned emperor in Rome. Now, this was far after the fall of the Roman empire, which I think was in like 450 or something. His empire covered most of Germany, northern Italy and a large chunk of France. Aachen has always had these thermal springs, that the Romans made into natural baths. So he would be chillin out, enjoying the suds, here in Aachen, while he had a palace and a cathedral (Dom) built. He ultimately died at the age of 72 (damn - that was in 814; the life-expectancy in 1900 was like 50).

So the Dom is cool since it is sooo old (from around 800) and has a lot of nice stuff. This big gold chest contains the remains of Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse) and there is his throne on the second floor. In the Schatzkammer, they have a lot of cool stuff. More history. So Karl was big into Catholicism. Basically he loved everything Roman, and one of the biggest lasting Roman contributions in Europe was Christianity. Plus, he became so important, that when he died, his remains, and the religious relics that he had imported to Aachen, attracted pilgrims all throughout the Middle Ages. So they have some of his bones encased in all these gold things (gloves, busts, flasks, etc.), many really amazing relics, and, supposedly, the whip that Jesus was flagellated with (check that out, I still know English) during the Passion, his belt and the Virgin Mary's belt.

Other than that, things are pretty normal. German is coming along. Still feel like I don't know a god damned thing, and I am starting to wonder how much German I will really learn in a year. I think I might get good at it just as I go home, which sucks. But I am still trying. Research is moving, also slowly of course. I promise to send out more emails and calls soon.

Remember, music?