What's the soundtrack of your summer? Did you make a great escape at five minutes to midnight? Can you tell I'm a Boys Like Girls fan? (Points to people who tell me what songs those are... fairly self-explanatory)

No, surprisingly my review is not on a Boys Like Girls cd. Instead, it's on how to create the soundtrack of your summer. Whenever I think of a certain event, especially something as vague as summer, I always remember a certain song. Like when I won a debate tournament (super proud moment J) I remember my partner and I singing "We Are The Champions" on the way home.

So what's the soundtrack of my summer? And how to create yours? Start out by thinking of your favorite song, currently. Not your favorite song of all time. Then think of songs that you and your friends have been belting out while tooling around in your cars or hanging out at the pool. Also, include some popular songs, even if you're life me and you don't like them.

You can find the soundtrack of MY summer so far on my blog at www.SMWGraceR2013.blogspot.com. Or I can e-mail it to you- my e-mail is SMW.Grace.R@gmail.com. I really value your opinions!

<3, Grace

Hello, fellow music lovers!

So today I was at the movies and I saw iTeen KC was available and it made me think "Oh crap, I haven't blogged in FOREVER!"

So I'm blogging!

But anyways, when looking through my iPod to decide how to enlighten you today, I realized the majority of my music is Glee. Which, by no means, is a bad thing. I am a total Gleek!

The main reason I love Glee, amazing four part harmonies aside, is because of how they redo the songs. So I am a total "classic" music fan. Queen, Journey, Billy Joel, etc., I'm there.

But my sister had NEVER heard Bohemian Rhapsody (I know, the HORROR! :O) But the other day, I heard her listening to the real version because Glee had done it.

Also, take the version of Poker Face. First of all, the Idina Menzel-Lea Michele matchup? LOVED IT! But secondly, I'm not a huge Lady Gaga fan. I definitely agree that she's one of the best pop acts of all time, I just think that a lot of her songs sound the same. But taking Poker Face and re-vamping it like Glee did? That version is one of my all time favorites now.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though Glee is just a cover band (Don't even get me started on cover bands...) they are enlightening a lot of "tweens" and teens on good classic music.

I definitely want to hear your thoughts. You can either e-mail me at SMW.Grace.R@gmail.com or look at my blog at www.SMWGraceR2013.blogspot.com. Or do both!

Glee is currently airing reruns on Thursdays on Fox at 7:00 Central Time.

Check out my reviews on books on the Book blog!

Are you a Justin Bieber fan? His 2nd album titled " My world 2.0" releases March 23rd. So if you loved the first album, be sure to get your copy of My world 2.0 this week!

As you all know last month we witnessed something so devastating in Haiti. Well 25 years ago a group of people came together to write a song for Africa. Since that song did so great they thought they could do another one just like that to help Haiti. Well on February 2nd music's talented artists and actors came together to remake the 25 year old "We are the World". Now you are probably wondering who all was involved in the remake - let's see Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, The Jonas Brothers, Josh Groban, just to name a few. I encourage all of you to listen to it. If you really like go to iTunes and buy it because all the money goes to Haiti. Like the song says Haiti needs us. Help Haiti

American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest doesn't cut it for you? Yeah, me neither.

Some of today's best music may be from different artists, or even in a different genre than that of, say, Mix 93.3.

I'm not trying to hate on those who make sucess for themselves with music. Are you kidding me? Taylor Swift's biggest fan, right here!

However, there just may be some music out there that you don't know about. That will suck you in. And I found that in Soundtrack music. Broadway musicals make up over half of my treasured iPod.

So next time you have some cash to spend on iTunes, maybe deviate away from that homepage. Just search something random, and maybe you'll find a whole new world!

If you're having a little trouble deciding where to start, here's some tips:

• Click on "Indie Spotlight"- There's tons of good music there
• Search Addison Road, Hawk Nelson, TobyMac, Relient K, or b.reith if you're into Christian music
• Look at other songs on popular albums
• If you're a Harry Potter fan look up bands like The Remus Lupins or Ginny and the Heartbreakers

I hope some of you have been enlightened!

-Grace

-Album Review of the Month-

Artist: Hawthorne Heights

Album: Fragile Future

 Fragile Future may be one of Hawthorne Heights' best albums.  I enjoyed this album a lot, there is a very different sound compared to their past albums.  This is due to the loss of their guitarist/sreamer Casey Calvert.  So as you guessed, there isn't any screaming in this album, to respect Casey.  As a matter of fact, this album is one big tribute to Casey, songs like "Rescue Me" and "Four Become One" are in memory of him.  On the inside of the Cd there is a nice little lyric from JT (vocals/guitar) about Casey.  The whole thing is pretty touching.  Moving on from that, some of my favorite songs off of this record have to be "Let Go Of Everything You Know", "321", and "Somewhere in Between".  I often find myself with the lyrics still stuck in my head minutes after listening to them.  And unlike most bands, this new album doesn't stop the band from playing their older stuff live.  I've seen Hawthorne Heights live twice, and they still manage to play their older stuff, like "Nikki FM".  Though they may not be the most energetic bunch of guys live, they make up for it in the studio big time.

Rating:  • • • • • (5/5)

-Misc. News-

 - Blink-182 NEW ALBUM + World Tour

  Blink-182 recently re-united at the grammys, and there is lots of talk of a Blink-182 world tour.  A new album from Blink has been confirmed for this summer.  I think we all know what this means... WARPED TOUR 09'!   What I think is that maybe, Blink will hop on the Warped Tour for a few dates, and play a few new songs, to get people pumped for the world tour, and also to get used to being Blink-182 again.  I mean, come on, its been 4 years since they've played in front of an audience.  Me, being a huge fan of Blink, i'll definantly be attending the world tour.  Who do you guys think is gonna be opening for them?  Green Day?  Less Than Jake?  Maybe even Angels & Airwaves?   I'm interested to know.