I get to see the boys this weekend. I haven't for awhile. This song ties with "Walls of Time and "Tonight I'll be Staying Here With You" as my favorite.
It is, however, one of my favorite songs to hear live, period.
I love this song. It's my first 2007 anthem.
Laura Love is charming, and a crazy-good bass player.
I've been on a Springsteen kick since I recently read an essay about a guy who met him at the movies in the 70s when he was on tour, and invited him home to meet his family. Bruce went.
It was a great essay. Check out the current issue of Sun Magazine in the chi-chi lit section of your local overpriced chain bookstore. This song is itself a sad short story, so it fits.
That verse about the wedding is a doozy. I'd love to hear Mary's response to it all.
Patty Griffin:
New record February 6th!
Yay! I love Patty so much. She's one of the greats, which means I forgive her for making me cry when she sings.
All of her songs are rated "explicit" on iTunes. This is just..
.strange. One would expect a George Carlin comedy record, which one does not get.
Awesome voice...
wonderful songwriter, and one of the best "new" artists in recent memory.
These girls did a nice job with this cd, which makes the stops on their upcoming tour way curious to me. A garlic festival and a casino golf resort in Iowa?
Weird. But I do enjoy the little cowgirl on their show listing. That's a new one.
I finally bought this cd for six dollars. I've had it on repeat for two months, which makes me laugh for so many reasons, but it's just kind of crawled into my head and won't leave. I'm not really sure how that happened, and it's a bit disturbing.
I'll be dealing with it soon.
It's on the Freedom Writers soundtrack, which I would say was dope if I didn't sound like a total ass saying it.
Because I can be pretend-hip with the best of them, sister.
(Seriously, this is a good song.)
) Why Stevie, you say? Well, because not only does he speak enough French to come up with cherie amour , he also wants to call just to say I love you, and when he finally shows up, he's got some candy kisses for your lips, yes he's got some honeysuckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love for you. I mean, my Lord.
I could do without the screaming, the DO YOU WANT SOME CANDY? DO YOU WANT SOME HO-NEY-SUCK-LE??
?? That's a little much, and I'm likely to make a bad face when a boy screams like that and that'll turn into an uncomfortable silence that turns into a quietly pissed off conversation, and oh wow do I not miss THAT shit.
Anyway, digression. And the candy honeysuckle shoutout is kind of a stupid question, at that, because, well duh. Who wouldn't?
Anything that drips chocolate is pretty good for me. You can just leave it by the door on your way out, actually.
Do I Do , song of the day, and Superstition and That Girl, too, because I can't decide between those tonight.
If you don't like the groove you can turn the record off.
| Okay, rightio, it's almost this big old holiday that we all go on and on about for two months out of the year. And I know I'm supposed to be full of big, luxurious love for everything and everyone but I'm falling a bit short in that particular category.
I'm not Scroogey, I'm just...
here. And I guess that's better than so many alternatives so I simply shouldn't complain. But that doesn't stop me from.
..ruminating aloud.
Part of it is that this Christmas day is going to be odd and new and different in my family, It's from Blogher, a site I write for that has so much good stuff on it that I could spend much more time on it than I do, but I'm glad I hit up this post. Sometimes my brain is a little off-kilter and it needs to be kicked back into place.
So much has changed since I was a child, which is certainly normal, but so much has changed in the fabric of my extended family in very recent years that sometimes it's difficult to reconcile what was with what is at all.
When my grandfather was alive, there was a closeness and to some extent there still is, but it's different. People have moved onto other situations and there's distance where there wasn't. I don't have much to offer in the way of stability myself these days, so I shouldn't complain, but I can't shake some of the things I think and feel about it.
I'm trying really hard to embrace change these days, and most of the time I'm successful. That means I'm excited about it, or merely content, or even neutral. Other times I'm just pisssed off about it, or confused, or sad, or in deep, dark, comforting-for-the-moment denial.
Today it's easier to be those things because I'm getting sick, I'm racing around trying to meet some deadlines that are totally self-inflicted because I'm an ass and didn't plan far enough ahead, and I'm really just physically tired. These are days that breed the winter of my discontent, which sucks. Blahblahblah, whine whine whine.
So what am I doing, in the meantime, to try to channel some of the goodies while making my way through the occasional emotional and physical muck?
I am making people laugh at every turn, have to admit. I've been on some kind of binge of commentary that seems to be going over quite well with my crew at work, which is comprised of people who also make me laugh, which is an incredible, wonderful blessing (a word I don't throw around.
We're having a good time with it, stressful as it can get, and that's good, because I like when people laugh.
I'm listening to lots of different holiday music, which sounds basic, but this year I'm doing it like it's my job. If I cannot in fact be barenaked for the holidays, I can indeed be .
It's a great album and Hanukkah Blessings ties with Elf's Lament for my favorite song on it, so look at me being all ecumenical and shit. I also remain quite true to Bing Crosby, and the Elton John Christmas album from last year, and the new one called Santa Baby that they're hawking this season at Starbucks. And of course there's the South Park record.
.. Mr.
Hankey's Christmas Classics, that's sort of a twisted tradition in our house at this point. Stress relief, that's what it's all about.
I'm also not doing things I don't want to do.
I made a decision not to do some things for Christmas that probably I would have done last year. I'm simply opting out, and this is unusual for me because I'm a terrible opter-outer. I'm a grit-my-teeth-and-bear-it kind of person when it comes to obligations of the familial variety, especially, but I'm finally reaching a point where I don't think I have to do that, just because I'm one of the ones without children or a spouse or in-laws.
That just doesn't have to translate to yo-yo whose plans can change at any time. Pardon me, but fuck that noise. Sometimes it seems that because I'm untethered to other human beings, I have more obligations almost, because it's assumed that I'm free to bounce around wherever, and I've always felt compelled to do that.
The truth is, that if I want to sit on my ass by my tree and be with my DOG on Christmas this year in the house where I live, I'm doing it. As much as I've always been led to believe that it will break someone's heart, I know it won't. And it doesn't mean that I don't love them or care about them or that they don't feel the same way about me.
I'm just really, really ready for some control over my own time, even if that means watching Christmas Vacation and Scrooged and lighting a candle and making phone calls. This has as much to do with the general vibe in my extended circle as anything else..
.where things can start to feel more like a hassle than a blessing or a joy, and I don't believe that that's the way it should be. Regardless of what you believe in terms of the reason for the season, if you're going to commemorate it in any way, it should be a good one.
That said, I am making time for some of the people who have made my year so much better in so many ways. Those are the people who deserve my time and to whom I wish to give it. This includes my parents and my sister, of course, but also my friends in real life and far away.
I had a great dinner out with some of my favorite people last night, and look forward to Christmas Eve with some more. Lately I've had occasion to find out that the most important people are the ones who really back up what they say with what they do. I always knew this, but it's true that there are people in our lives who actively support us, and those are the most important ones.
on Flickr, and am sad that we've had nothing approximating winter weather so I could really have some fun with it. The other photographers are kicking my ass, but it's been a nice daily diversion.
I'm also doing that thing I do where I commiserate with retail workers, and this year it's going swell!
You know, the job sucks. I've done it. It's terrible.
You're held to terribly high standards for working in substandard conditions. You have to ask people invasive personal questions about their contact information, which is NOT YOUR IDEA, and you're monitored and punished if you don't do it. You make approximately seven dollars per hour.
You stand for hours, and pick up crap that people leave in heaps, and sometimes you even have to clean the bathroom. So when I go out shopping, I generally chat briefly with the person ringing me up, and ask them how they're holding up, and tell them I've been in their shoes many days, and I have to say that it generally is a great interaction. It makes them feel better and I usually have something to smile about when I leave the store.
Last night I was in Nordstrom Rack, which has the most unpleasant aesthetic value of any store I've been in lately save for the Germantown Wal-Mart. And the clerk was a beautiful girl who was still smiling and genuine, and after she told me that she was generally over Christmas and only cared about gifts for her little brothers, I TOLD her to find a store that suited her better. I told her she needed a bright and shiny environment.
And she was like, You know...
..I've considered it.
And I was like, Do it! Do it! The real Nordstrom!
because she really looked like she belonged there and not in the yellow flourescent weirdness that was this particular store. Anyway, it was nice.
Okay, and now I'm really not going to bust out with Merry Christmas movie house!
Swear to God. But I could, because I like the movies.
| A surefire way to get yourself noticed in the Liz Claiborne Outlet Store in Lancaster, PA:
When the version of Carol of the Bells , sung by what sounds like Point of Grace or SheDaisy or some such girl band of infidels, creeps into your head straight from the in-store music, find yourself, er, ENHANCING the tune by blurting out All seem to say, DING DONG MMMKAY just like Mr.
Mackey from South Park. And do it over and over, and don't really consciously realize this until the song is just about over. And find yourself in a fit of giggles, repeating Hark hear the bells, 'mmmkay all by yourself, all the way to the car, garnering several more funny outlet-mall stares (and not making that whole having-to-pee-really-bad thing any easier.
)
Happy freaking holidays, Mr. Hat.
(Oh, and I realized I never disclosed the number of Feliz Navidads in the song of the same name, as I've fallen down terribly on the yuletide song blogging.
It's 21...
21 times he wants to wish you a merry Spanglish Christmas. But doesn't it feel like more? Doesn't it?
)
| Some days have more resonance than others in our personal calendars, for whatever reason. For instance, April 9 means nothing to me other than a grand opportunity to live one of the 80 odd April 9ths I could conceivably be gifted with when it's all said and done. It's just a random date, because it's no one's birthday yet (that I remember.
Watch me have forgotten someone's. Please forgive me, if so. I'm a bit overtired.
) No one in my life has gotten married or died on that day either. And I feel like the point I'm fumbling to make is a bit cumbersome, but it's in there somewhere. Again, very tired.
However, unlike April 9th, today is memorable for a couple of reasons, and not just because I had to teach a unit on time management, which is just funny because it's so ridiculous. It's the 7th of the month. One of my favorite people in the whole world came into the world today ( .
..who knew?
Oh, and ) a certain number of years ago, and my favorite dog #2 died on this day in 2001 (same day as Eleanor Roosevelt and Steve McQueen, in similar Wikipedia vein.) I'd say the confluence was weird, but it really isn't, so much..
.it's just the way things shook out, which is what I'm learning to think of most things.
I associate songs with people all the time, and sometimes they change, depending.
I have songs for them both today (so I guess I have songs for dogs, too.) I haven't done the song of the day bit for a while, but it's probably a good day for it. This little lady gets You are the Sunshine of My Life, because that's her name and that's what she was, although she could be kind of bitchy sometimes, like most - hell, all - of the important women in my life.
(Look at her big, freaked out eyes! If you're going to get a dog, rescue one like I did her. Comforting these kinds of eyes for as long as they live does your heart good, trust me.
) I'll also throw in Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da for her, because we used to dance to it in the empty dining room of our apartment when I came home from work. That was fun stuff.
The birthday boy (no picture because I've never asked for permission.
..but here are a couple from his city.
...
) gets You and Me, by Patty Larkin, because when it rolled around on the iPod the other day, I was going to mail his birthday card, and for some reason parts of it struck me as appropriate for him in a way it never has...
It's a bit of a smushy song overall, but that's not the point...
I just like the spirit behind these lines specifically:
You and me babe/we fell down laughing/couldn't get out fast enough/who's to say there's a /right or wrong way/we don't believe in that stuff/you and me took a breath of air/and spit out all the dust/...
You and me baby/we know everything/and we have been everywhere/you and me babe we/grew a couple of wings/and flew away on a dare/you and me/in a silent room/we prayed for what we got/forever after will be too soon/cause we will have what we want. *
We've been friends for a long time now, and even though we exist in no proximity to each other anymore, I still think we both live in the way these lines describe, to different degrees and depending on the day. And for me this song speaks to friendship, and independence, so that makes it a good one for today.
There are a ton of others I could choose - really, just pick a great song and you couldn't go wrong in this case- but Patty Larkin gets the job done quite well. is an outstanding record, if you've never heard it. She's an awesome musician.
(*Geeky footnote:You really have to hear the song to get the effect of it, because it's not a case where the lyrics written down look like a prose poem. Carole Bayer Sager she is not, thank God. You need her voice, which is an incredible interpretive instrument.
She's a very interesting singer in addition to a ridiculously good guitar player, and what I like about her is that her songs each have their own distinct style. Get the record. You'll see what I mean.
The Book I'm Not Reading is one of the most important songs on my mental best of all time playlist.)
| Today I did my first full-on full body work out in the weight room, and I feel like someone beat me with a stick, but also very satisfied that I got through it and have no plan to bail on this regimen. At all.
This is really important immediate information for you to have.
Another salient point: I used Steely Dan as a point of reference (for using one's gifts and talents in an atypical fashion) in my Career Development class - in which I am oddly the teacher - today, and things went swiftly south. I'd describe the analogy I was making, which made perfect sense in my head, but I'm afraid you'd be sitting there on the other side of a monitor on the other side of the world or wherever you might be reading this, and kind of shake your head like my students did, and I don't really want to deal with anymore of that today.
..But it totally made sense to me.
I was actually kind of proud of it as it formulated in my head, but what goest before a fall? Right. A wet floor.
Not feeling understood is such a cliche of a hang-up, but it's so important. It is for me, anyway, and a common language is no guarantee.
I went to the best show last night.
is awesome, and again I was left - indeed - awestruck by a way with words and a voice. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get over that feeling, or feel anything less than other in its presence.
She is very tiny, which I didn't realize, and at the same time has a huge voice, and resonates a deepness and a pain that I know is real, because it's impossible to miss it unless you're stone stupid, I think.
And perhaps I am not? Anyway..
.in her song Iced Tea, she sang, There’s no better place to be than in your eyes/There’s no other sight to see/You’re the cornbread and iced tea of life. And of course I was crying again, because I'm such a loser, and because whereas I've got access to the tea, I'm fresh out of some cornbread?
I think that's a safe assumption to make. And because her voice is so soothing, this blanket of an Alabama drawl, I said to my sister, I want her to call me every morning on my way to work with that VOICE, and say, 'Honey, it's all good,' because that's the sort of thing she kept saying up onstage. She likes to call her band cats and uses the phrase and shit alot, which is another personal favorite of mine.
She was also in Walk the Line , which I'd totally forgotten. She played Johnny's mother, and you can add her song Johnny Met June to the canon of works about the greatest musical love story ever told that just continues to kill me every time I hear it.
I think I'm tired of editing myself.
Therefore...
here's a song of the day. It won the coin toss over I Won't Die Alone , also an excellent tune, but this one has the excellent lyrical concept of moving fast and getting nowhere that seems quite prevalent around these parts lately. It's also just a kickass song.
Where Am I Now? (Shelby Lynne)
I thought I was moving but my legs were broken
Words were coming out but they were left unspoken
Maybe I was dreaming in my head, in my head.
Memories were noted but I hadn’t lived them
Swords were on my heart but I had long forgived them
Funny how the hurtful voices seem to slip away.
Where am I now
I don’t know how
I wound up in this place again.
How am I now
Just bringing me down.
I’m looking for a house where the door is open
My body’s moving fast but my spirit’s broken.
Where am I now
Oh anytime you break and turn the cycles change
Water starts pouring down your face again
You find yourself falling in the safety net you used to call home.
When you focus all your little thoughts and troubles
To the place of clear and cloudy clouds that rumble
Standing in a field of open avenues with no place to go.
Oh my lips are set and parted but my head is empty
I try to spit it out but it won’t exempt me
From feeling like it’s out in the open said and done.
Telling’s just talking that turns into speeches
Doesn’t aid the body with the hand that reaches
Stumble in the void to find there’s no one there.
| Ambition is what keeps you moving/When your heart wants to pull you back home/You gotta run..
. when God makes you an offer/You gotta go..
.if someone shows you how to go/But when I wake, it takes a minute to remember/Why - it's so quiet and still/Sometimes I can't tell one thing from the other/Your voice from the ringing of those bells.
This is turning out to be a weird season.
I'm not sure I like it yet, but I'm hopeful. If I didn't have that going for me I'd be tempted to build a treehouse and stay there at this point.
Just for a moment.
Just for an hour. Song of the day - Just to be Close to You , Lionel Richie. Why?
WE-he-hell, hold on a minute, hot stuff. That is called a setup. Or foreshadowing.
Or something...
Really, why? Okay, so I'm currently in the Los Angeles airport (which is really sort of dumpy, much to my surprise) and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was all about seeing Brangelina or Jessica Simpson while I was here. Can't help it.
Years of a weekly smack habit called People magazine (and now the too. God. I have no shot at being a productive citizen ANY MORE.
It's OVER.) have bred a benign interest in the famous, the silly, the talented, and the talentless that I can only defend because I read a lot of smart people stuff too that makes me have to think and ponder and analyze something way beyond whether or not Tom Cruise has locked his daughter up in a cage. We all need breaks, and People is my thing (one of them, anyway.
You really don't want to know how many there actually are, but I'm sure you can imagine.)
I haven't given up hope on the Brangelina or Jessica sighting, for sure, but I will tell you one thing that almost surpasses that possibility: I saw Lionel Richie! I was looking around for some wireless and some food, in that order, because I'm a cracked out internet junkie with a deep and abiding problem.
It's a good thing I'm busying my hands with this madness because I guess otherwise I'd really be at my highest weight ever at this point. (not yet, thank God. There's still hope, and as long as I can measure it in ounces I'm going to.
)
Sorry, digression. So yeah, I'm in LAX, like People always calls it - i.e.
, Mary Kate Olsen fuels up with a mango and coke (get it? Get their smooth insinuations and friendly yet deadly patter? Oh yeah, it's how Star Tracks rolls, totally) smoothie as she waifs her way through LAX after a red-eye from NYC.
And I was walking along, and damned if there wasn't Li-o-NEL, right there. Of course I'm fresh off my high where he was the headliner, and have long since outed myself as a fan of both his AND the Commodores. I've even forgiven him partially for Ballerina Girl at this point (although never Say You, Say Me, because that stupid fast bridge at the end is so lame and the lyrics so ridiculous that I can't bear to hear it, even if it means turning off Delilah.
)
I unfortunately missed my chance at paparazzi-dom (like I'd need another method of being PART OF THE PROBLEM. Really.) because I haven't slept in a long time and I was kind of disoriented, so my reaction time was bad.
I'd just gotten off a long flight where the Very Important Airplane Designer next to me used his laptop the whole time and kept knocking into me. He didn't do it hard, just enough to be annoying after the tenth time, and when it got up in the hundreds, blah. He had no using the computer in the center seat skills, and five hours of that plus no sleep just isn't good.
I did make an initial grab for the camera bag, but I was too slow, and Lionel had already passed me. A photo of his back was within the realm of possibility, but that seemed a little pathetic even to me, and standing as I was in the middle of the concourse, I knew that in my current bedraggled state I would not just look like but would indeed BE Crazy Camera Lady. I'm not trying to get this camera yanked on my first day in California.
I could be a plant for the Enquirer for all they know.
So congratulate me - or feel sorry for me that I care a little bit, pick your poison - that I saw an interesting-to-me famous person in my first hour on the west coast. I imagine I'll be geeking out quite a bit more than maybe even is usual, so I'm not apologizing in advance, even though I probably should.
|
I need someone to read me stories...
I always have wanted that, come to think of it...
maybe not needed, but definitely wanted it.
Patty Larkin's The Book I'm Not Reading is one of my recently rediscovered favorite songs. The entire Perishable Fruit cd is great, actually, and anyone interested in way good songwriting and a chick who can shred on the guitar should own it.
Still...
Yeah. It's riveting.
Heart is my second favorite off of the cd this week, strictly for these lyrics ,a sentiment I'd have written in different words, if I had more time and space right now for poetry:
Turn off that constant noise baby
You're gonna hurt someone
You aim your mouth at me like you're
Pointing a gun.
No - not Fitty cent . FIFTY. As in really big words, either in size or weight.
Words like hegemony . I tend to love 'em, but dilute them by using them along with other choice words like y'all and uh-uh , and of course a liberal dose of profanity.
One of the reasons that I love is because she's so ridiculously smart, in addition to being a great folk-pop vocalist, an above-average guitarist, and an engaging live performer.
Dar is one of the only people I listen to who can get the phrases ingenuously churlish and hail to your vast hegemony into songs in a way that doesn't make you want to slap her, and still has you tapping your feet.
SOTD: Oh my enemy, beautiful enemy/ my stride is slowed by memory . These lyrics rock, topped off with a couple of choice fitty cent words.
(PS: Hegemony: The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.)
So I Haven't Done This for Awhile..
. There is this song on a soundtrack that I've been listening to obsessively for a couple months now, to an old movie called Threesome . And there's a song on this here soundtrack that I love, because it is so silly and so much fun.
It's called Boomshackalak and it's by . I was just reminded of it, and the fact that I've strayed away from my SOTD posts, because I heard it on a Wallace and Gromit commercial, of all things. It turns out that Apache Indian is a British guy of Asian Indian (not Native American) descent who has settled on a combination of bhangra, reggae and dancehall music as his spiritual musical home, for lack of a better term.
Okay. That explains the..
.confluence, shall we say..
.of styles in this one little four-minute ditty. He's done all sorts of different appearances in a variety of media, including some work for If you've never watched any of these movies, and have any appreciation for cheesy, funny stuff, you should.
was one of the most ridiculous films I've ever seen, but I enjoyed it beyond reason.
So, this song is one of the most enjoyably tacky guilty pleasures ever. With all the stress I've been under that's stealing my smile, all I need to do is turn this baby on and I'm cracking up before I know it.
And sometimes that's all you need.
Do you believe in what you see?
I'm watching Garden State again today and have been listening to the soundtrack obsessively once more.Favorites: Let Go (FrouFrou is GoodGood), Blue Eyes by Cary Brothers, Such Great Heights , by my new faves Iron Wine, In the Waiting Line by Zero7 and Lebanese Blonde by Thievery Corporation, with vocals by who unfortunately passed away in February. Her voice was amazing, and I'm sad I never got to see her perform in the DC area. It's sick that such a talented singer could be so little known outside of the music community.
The first time I heard this cd I was over at a friend's house, and his girlfriend loved it. She played it over and over the night we were there, as I believe I mentioned in this venue many months ago. I think it hypnotized everyone.
The funniest thing about listening to it now is that every time I do, I can remember her singing in my head. She has a sort of sweet, lispy voice, and I particularly tend to remember her singing In the Waiting Line , for some reason. I don't think I'll ever be able to extricate the experience of watching a bunch of people sitting around a table playing poker from this cd, and that's okay, because it was enjoyable.
So I go to see tonight, which I knew very little about going in, and the film is just brutal. It's violent, and crazed, and has Andre 3000 Benjamin in a decidedly non-musical role, although his voice is so distinctive that I kept expecting him to go, 3000's always changing but you stay the same/and I neeeeeeeedddddddddd thaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttt . I'm a little bit of an Outkast fan.
Can't help it.
Anyway, this movie had me freaked out to an incredible degree - hands over eyes, fidgeting around, the whole nine. It was all guns and death and execution-style killings in snow and people being drowned under the ice.
Insane. I don't see this type of film very often, and I was reminded why. I'd had no caffeine for many hours and still thought I was going to jump out of my seat like fifty times.
It wasn't all bad. I love Mark Wahlberg, although I have no idea why, and Tyrese is no harm to the eyes either, and oh yeah, not a bad actor. The soundtrack was dope - lots of Marvin Gaye (it's set in Detroit - talk about Inner City Blues .
Let's give that song of the day props while we're at it - the sexiest, grooviest song about poverty and devastation ever.).
I know, me getting into a movie about the Marines is unlikely and strange, but as my friend said unexpectedly when he came on the screen, He's so weird but I just LIKE him.
Which is why we are friends.
After the alarming movie, we went to the IHOP, where at one point a big man walked by our table and I told everyone I was never going to see a violent film again, because I totally expected him to produce a gun and start shooting. The friends who went and saw the movie about the 40 year old virgin laughed at us for passing up that genius film for Four Brothers.
It got better after that. I haven't hung out in a place like that for hours and talked about life and drank coffee and gotten silly since those lovely Denny's days in Ohio, and it was sweet indeed. IHOP also makes a nice crepe with lemon butter.
Yes, indeed.
I am really grateful for my friends. I have so many amazing people in my life right now who are supportive, gifted, creative and fun, and I'm feeling pretty lucky about that.
Things have been so hectic, but it's so true that sometimes you just have to take the break and hang out with people...
I've also found that I still give pretty good advice (thought I was tapped out there for a while!) and some people - even those who are not completely desperate or drunk out of their minds - seem to appreciate it! ; )
| Aha - Hunting High and Low.
Led Zeppelin - Ramble On (off of Led Zeppelin II. This is my mom's. It's from 1969 - still in pretty good shape, too.
)
Hall and Oates - Rich Girl. Love me some Rock 'n Soul, Part 1. Whatever happened to Part 2, I dunno.
America - Sister Golden Hair. This is one of my favorite songs of all time.
- Beat's So Lonely.
This is the hottest song. I loved this song so much and used to sing and dance to it in my room. I was in love with him - for real.
I was 13. Don't laugh. He has likely never felt love like that which beat within my adolescent heart for him.
Seriously. He has a new album coming out in September, which of course I'm all over. I'll be going to check him out, cause he's still a looker, and now it's a legal relationship.
; ) Not to mention, he's spent the last ten years performing with Bob Dylan (he was on Love and Theft), Susan Tedeschi, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams (eek)...
Ah, just I was just doing the math, and the online press kit confirmed that he was indeed 17 when he had his first hit. I was thinking, 37? Hmmm.
Not that much older than I was then, maybe he isn't the same guy? Tis. Sounds like he's done it his way.
Good for him.
Book of Love - I Touch the ROSES. Oh my GOD.
I forgot about this song. I can't believe I own this album.
Power Station - Some Like it Hot and the Heat is On, extended 12 .
John Taylor = LOVE, surpassing Charlie Sexton love by many miles. This was, I made him a scrapbooK love. I have pictures, but images aren't loading well on here right now, so we'll have to wait 'til later for that silly goodness.
Anyway, in spite of (because of?) the mania, I learned at 14 to appreciate bass lines, so it served me well. (Who knew Le Freak 's working title was Fuck Off ?
Have you heard about the new dance craze?)
Madonna - Into the Groove, extended remix
The prices online are so bad, and I'm really loving looking at these albums. I can remember how excited I was to own them, to read the lyrics and check out the artwork on the sleeve.
Cds were nonexistent. Who knew? Screw selling them.
I'm getting a new needle for my turntable. Cause I do have a turntable. Oh yeah.
I seem on an involuntary mission lately to dissect and reassemble all of the pieces of my brain and my life, even more so than usual.
This, of course, will drive you completely insane, not to mention make you very bad company for the people you love, and who, amazingly, still love you, and listen anyway. I know it's good, because it means I'm letting change into my life, the difficult kind, the that-which-does-not-kill-you kind, the kind that will turn out great in the end, the this is for the best kind (which you will NEVER hear me say to another person, may God strike me dead.
These words should go to the Cemetery of Dead Phrases, along with it was his time, she looks just like she's sleeping , it's a paradigm shift, to be quite honest , it was God's will, and Are those Bugle Boy Jeans you're wearing? I mean, please.) This is the hardest thing for me, and I fight it with every ounce of stubborn resistance I cart around with me, which is to say, more than can fit in your basic road hog SUV, named after something like a large animal none of us will ever see except on the Discovery Channel, or a tragic weather event (Next up, the FORD RIPTIDE, or the TOYOTA TYRANNOSAURUS.
Guarantee).
Despite this article in the Post today that tells me I think there can be a thing as too much thought. Perhaps it's just the shrill tone with which I'm answering most simple questions, lately that tells me I may be at capacity.
Salad dressing? What kind do you HAVE? NO, NOT FAT FREE, for instance.
Or, What do you MEAN, I am SUPPOSED TO BE ATTENDING THE MEETING? THAT meeting? HAHA.
Why, SURE, I'll be right up. I'm charming, though. I promise.
I am still charming. I think.
This is a good period of time to spend reading, because books will not bitchslap you in response to your most recent repetitively neurotic or excessively sharp comment.
There's a quote in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (fantastic book, by the way) to the effect of I've thought myself out of happiness a million times and never ONCE into it. It hit home with me, hard.
So I was listening to the , yesterday, and Closer to Fine was once again most perfect for my recent state of mind.
It's a song about someone who's gone through all of the usual channels to make life make sense , which is just an inherently comical concept anyway.
I went to the doctor/I went to the mountain/I looked to the children/I drank from the fountain..
.I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper and I was free.
Of course, I have to add, except for I have to spend the rest of my life bowing to Sallie Mae .
After all of this, the conclusion: The less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine.
It's a Zen koan, of sorts - simplistic truth that can solve some seemingly complicated, mostly self-created, problems if applied to a confused little human brain, I think. They play this song at every concert, and there is typically such intuitive unity in the audience, as everyone sings along and means it, that for a minute I don't think anyone in the room feels quite so crazy as they might (if indeed, they do.
..) when they're roaming around in the crazy world alone, mining their source for SOME DAMNED DEFINITIVE SOMETHING, please, just to knit all this shit together just for a minute, thanks.
It becomes quite possible for a minute to think that you won't do that anymore, when you go out of here, the music ringing in your ears...
because these smart, talented ladies have told you a better way. A closer to fine way. Simple.
Done.
It's a nice thought, anyway, and sometimes it works, even if it's just for a little while. And although this is one of the songs of my LIFE, there are some days it comes in especially handy.
We go to the bible/ we go through the workout/ We read up on revival/ and we stand up for the lookout/There's more than one answer to these questions/pointing me in a crooked line/
The less I seek my source for some definitive/The closer I am to fine.
And centrifugal force, while we're at it.
My friend gave me these silly sunglasses...and I wore orange pants today.
...
which can only mean one thing...
(and no, not just that I'll fool around with my camera...
)
It's time to try...
.
(This is way harder than it looks. Harder than buying a router even.
Maybe. That didn't make all the blood rush to my head..
.)
So if you care to find me
Look to the Western sky!
As someone told me lately
Everyone deserves the chance to fly.
.) and maybe you won't end up turning green, ruining the lives of many little people, and melting in a pool of water.
Oh, and orange pants rule.
Wear the orange pants. And the weird glasses. It definitely kicks Wednesday right in the ass.
|
Anything goes in a place like this.
It's really weird. I love Hot Fuss . I've listened to Smile Like You Mean It and All These Things That I've Done twenty times apiece since yesterday. That's all.
I love to feel the rain on my face.
.. This song sailed into my mind whilst putting on my shoes this morning, carefully avoiding my ravaged toe, which bears my last (sigh.
..) Dr.
Seuss Band-Aid.
It was the most perfect song that could have possibly come into my head at that precise moment, and inspired my return to my Song of the Day posts. It brought back so many memories - good memories - of being absolutely, oddly, obsessed with this band.
I used to drive around the College Park vicinity, screaming out Presence of Love and Rescue Me (I wanna run like a refugee, indeed...
not sure that would fly now, or should have then, but damn that song is good!). Oh, and Deeside Town and Absolute Reality !
I had no idea what a mouthpiece I was for militant UK politics until YEARS later, when I read more about what some of the lyrics actually meant. The lesson: careful what you're shouting out, especially if it ain't God Save the Queen .
Rain in the Summertime was the first song of theirs I ever heard.
..and it's perfect for August.
Oh baby, the song of the day. I just can't keep up with it. Can't stop the music, ever - but also can't seem to stop the TIME from getting away from me.
What with the packing and the getting ready to leave town (and I am SO ready to leave town) and the work that is so NEEDY, and at which I am feeling so incompetent...
Sorry, it's been one of them head-exploding weeks, where I just want a farmhouse in the country and eight kids and a couple dogs and honest work that keeps my hands in the garden and the sink...
yes I said that...
.Take my NOW card..
.Call Gloria Steinem. I don't care.
Whatever THIS is...
I don't want it. I don't want any of it. I just want it all to stop.
Except for the music, of course. That's fine. And as usual, it's what's been keeping me sane, these past few days of bombings and memorial services and trying to get my mind around packing, which I am soso bad at, and meetings and people needingneedingneeding whatever it is that I really don't think I have, but I'll try to give it, cause that's just the kind of girl I am.
..
You Raise Me Up - they played this at my friend Sandy's memorial service today, and her little granddaughter sang along with the guitar player, and I didn't understand why everyone around me wasn't sobbing.
Lodi - I'm still stuck on this song. It's comforting me.
Superior , Girlyman - I can't sing it all the way through without crying but it's worth it.
Sometimes I Just Have to Say Your Name , del Amitri, How I love this band, and I don't even know why.
I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool - Shut up. I grew up with the Mandrell Show, and I downloaded this song last week, along with Reba's Fancy , if you must know.
It still makes me smile. And I was, you know.
Luka , Suzanne Vega - When I was in graduate school, I lived across from the street from a law student who hated Dayton, and that was all he talked about.
But I talked to him anyway, as unbearable as he was, because he had the cutest dog. Her name was Luka. They lived on the second floor.
Hendersonville , Last Train Home - It's about Johnny and June Cash, and it's a heartbreaker. But it's beautiful. Eric Brace is one of the most amazing men ever to walk the planet.
I love him. I have no idea why they don't have a US record deal. That sucks.
Whenever You're On My Mind , Marshall Crenshaw - I love this song. Love Marshall.
Second Hand News , Fleetwood Mac.
Genius.
Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz.
Yeah, yeah...
I'm a sheep. It's a good tune.
GAH, for fuck's sake.
Trapped in the Closet is on the tv. Could this madness stop, please? R.
Kelly is still trapped in the damned closet. Please let him out by the time I return to the land of digital cable. Thanks.
There you go. McArthur Park in the driving snow.
This song came on the house music between bands tonight at my friend's wedding, and I couldn't wait to come home and listen to it again.
Yeah, yeah, life, get one, I know...
everybody's a comedian...
ANYway ~
Owner of a Lonely Heart was the biggie off of 90125 (or 90210, as Andrew and I were calling it earlier...
like you could help it now...
), and it was a great song too- the car wreckish guitar riff (that's what it always reminded me of, anyway) and drum-n-bass...
very nice. But I like Leave It more, probably because I haven't heard it 1800 times on 80s compilations (I am so tired..
.I wrote complications and had to change it. Oh, those 80s complications.
..I think I'd switch the '05 ones for them.
Really.)
This album probably sucks according to any yes purist, who reads sites like and really knows their stuff, but I like it, and it's also very nostalgic for me. It came out when I was , and we listened to it on the bus, along with , on the way to our PATROL PICNIC.
; ) I can still remember everyone ignoring every possible rule to rock out in the aisles.
I can feel no sense of measure
No illusions as we take
Refuge in young man's pleasure
Breaking down the dreams we make real.
There's an a capella version on the remastered version of the album, come to find out (what has happened to me.
..help.
..), and that should be fun.
According to my friend, yes is often covered by a cappella groups, which I'd never even considered but now that I think about it, it makes sense.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye bad..
.Hello, hello, heaven.
Sounds about right to me.
Or, we could say this makes up for the past several days when I haven't bothered to post this...
I just can't make up my mind. And since I've been going through my cds to figure out which ones I'm going to get rid of, I've been discovering all kinds of goodies.
Today was the first day I slept past noon (I'm embarrassed to say how long past.
..I couldn't help it, I guess.
I was so tired last night) in who knows how long, and Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning , was the first song to pop into my head when I woke up. Cause everybody knows/Good news always sleeps 'til noon is one of the best lyrics ever written.
I loved the when I was obsessed with British pop music in high school, and is still one of my favorite songs.
I love that Spun calls them both jangle pop and sophisti-pop . Who makes this stuff up?
I just started listening to again.
You know you're dealing with a diva and a star when each new record has its own webpage. ; ) I love this album..
.It's compared to Madman Across the Water and Honky Chateau, which was actually what I was thinking about yesterday when I was listening to it in the car. Turn the Lights Out When You Leave is a great song.
It's sad but not darkly so, and Bernie Taupin has that songwriter's/poet's gift of turning a phrase just a little bit on its ear, but not enough so it sounds freakish or so it doesn't still resonate...
I just love it.
And one more..
. Let it Go , by , a group of siblings from Nova Scotia who it turns out now perform as The Rankin Sisters and Jimmy Rankin, the remaining brother, has gone solo. The other brother was killed in a car wreck in 2000, I read, which was sad.
They were so good together...
I found the Uprooted cd today and this song was on it. Just lovely.
So I wanted to write more about the Girlyman show last Sunday but haven't gotten around to it.
Little Star is one of the best records I've ever heard, hands down. It's a desert island disc for me. There are so many different reasons to appreciate it, I can't even list them all.
Or I probably could, but maybe I'm just lazy. My best advice is just to go and get it - listen to it - and start amassing your own personal list of reasons why you love it. They might even be different from mine.
It will make you smile, it will most assuredly make you cry, and it might even teach you how to sing harmony if you listen right.
I love the whole damned thing. I feel bad naming one song as my favorite (like I'm sure the other ones would care.
..) because that just probably wouldn't be accurate, but herewith,
This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, and one of the most beautiful things that will ever make you want to slit your wrists if you're ever in a melancholy mood.
It's also likely the most beautiful (sorry for the repetition - it's annoying me too) song ever to contain the word shit , but it totally works in the context of the lyric and tune, which is yet another example of the genius of dear, dear Girlyman.
We hit the stretch south of Rehoboth
The Atlantic Ocean came into sight
There was nothing on the radio but old Joni Mitchell
And I said, 'lean your seat back, just close your eyes, and I'll drive'
I'll bring you home and carry your shit to the house
How else can I say this?
I never really tried
I was always afraid that the world would end in ice.
Eek. Wow. Be careful, as hearing this can split a heart in two, given the right conditions.
However, it will be as enjoyable as a heart-splitting can possibly be.
I just love a band that can use the word shit - albeit to good effect - in one song, and obfuscate in the next. That is so like my life that I must hold them close to me, and share them with as many people as I can.
Buy their cd. Go see them live. Your life will be better.
You'll feel good about yourself. I promise.
of a white Christmas, apparently.
Already. It's been wonderfully cool and sunny so far this late spring/early summer in Maryland, which is odd, but I'm not complaining. Maybe that's why yesterday I got the urge to listen to Bing Crosby's White Christmas cd while I was at work.
My co-worker ok'd it, because she can hear most everything I listen to, even if I put it down way low.
Why Christmas music? I have no idea, yo.
But it's actually great fun to listen to it in June, when I'm not so sick of the jingly bells and the dashing to and fro (or is that through the snow ? Wow. I've been so spacey lately.
.. dashing to and fro .
What a dork. I should erase it but I'm leaving it just because..
.) and the littlest reindeer and all of the tunes that are played 8 million times from Halloween to Epiphany. I generally hit my saturation point by the second week in December, because I have no ability whatsoever to tune out music, for good or for ill.
And holiday shopping is particularly arduous when you're in one store grooving out to Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and you leave, go next door, and I Have A Litte Dreidel is blaring in your ear. It's confusing, and loud, and..
.and..
.just generally a bit much for me.
Of course, although this may sound strange for someone whose top ten holiday tunes include Run DMC's Christmas in Hollis and a few from the Mariah Carey oeuvre (which I'll actually admit), I'm basically a traditionalist when it comes to the music of the season , as it were.
And that means that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a little bit of Bing in June. That man's voice was so smooth, he could sing about socket wrenches and it'd be like, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..
.. Lovely.
And it was particularly funny, because as the first strains of Silent Night drifted through the office, my co-worker said, Hey, aren't we halfway to Christmas anyway? And she was right! It was the summer solstice!
Serendipitous cd choice, indeed.
Only in my twisted little world would the solstice be celebrated with Mele Kalikimaka (you know - the Hawaiian Christmas song). So, it gets the song of the day nod today, because, as I'm finding more and more, you have to go with what works for you.
And hopefully no one will make you turn down the volume. : )
Variety , . Mary, mother of God, this boy is quite good.
I have to give major props to a guy whose favorite bands at one point were AC/DC and New Edition. At the same time.
One of my favorite things in the world is seriously digging an opening act that I know nothing about before I get there, and this was one of those rare and pleasant times.
He plays all over the place, although Boston-based (drop a bomb on Massachusetts and we'd lose the entire population of singer-songwriters, apparently. Geez.) But he's not silly and overly emotive, and his band is really good.
It includes a jazz organ, which always works for me. I bought all three of his cds on the spot - VERY unusual, particularly when broke..
.Anyway..
.check him out. Very good stuff.
I thought this was a great lyric and I can't remember what song of his it was from...
You always said I was - anyway.
So I returned from the beach early, due to a cancelled Father's Day shindig (itself due to the fact that my entire family was exhausted from this wedding weekend in Rehoboth/Bethany and went our separate ways with the understanding that we may, indeed, see each other again if the situation requires it. ; )).
What this meant for mememeit'sallaboutmerightnow was that I got to drive my little orange car STRAIGHT through stifling Bay Bridge traffic to to see This was so exciting because I had resigned myself to missing the show. Surprise. There will be more about this later when I'm not so tired.
However, must be recognized as song of the day. Nay, song of the month, perhaps. There are other songs on the new album that I admire as much or maybe even more, for a variety of reasons, but this one grabbed me when I first heard it in January (I think.
..I don't think they played it when I saw them in September '04) and hasn't let go.
I love the guitar work, I love the lyrics, and the fact that Ty Greenstein (who wrote and sings lead on this tune) is such an amazing songwriter. Truly. It's so appropriate that they're signed to , because she is an Amy Ray (with a dash of Emily) for 2005 - literate, keyed in to the political landscape and herself as a lesbian woman.
..and a fine storyteller.
I ache for the woman in this song - but I also want to sing along. This is key.
I would recommend both Girlyman albums to anyone.
Absolutely anyone. They're a force of nature. I'm going away now to think about them some more.
Thank you. Good night.
Prayer Wheel , on the 1997 cd, Angels and Electricity .
This is the most beautiful melody I've heard in a very long time. I had lost the cd for a long time - and then found it in my stuff at my parents' house. It was the perfect day to find it and listen to it, honestly.
Don't forget about me/Spin a prayer wheel for me sometimes
Don't let me slip out of your mind/Spin a prayer wheel for me sometimes.
I think this is the most beautiful sentiment. It's an amazing song, and she is a wonderful vocalist.
She sounds most like Shawn Colvin, but I think that Eddi's voice is stronger, deeper somehow. There's something more substantial there than there is with Shawn, more nuances or something. Whatever it is, it works for me.
That SHOULD be my song of the day. WAY too hot for June! And I do love me some Kool the Gang.
..But I still have to say it's better than freezing, at least for me.
Didn't stop me from a blue day though...
two songs. Wreck of the Day, , and Nothing But the Wheel, Sigh.
Driving away from the wreck of the day
And it's finally quiet in my head
Driving alone, finally on my way home to the comfort of my bed.
The beach this weekend should perk it right on up...
.
I got to see one of my friends this weekend with someone he's really interested in, and it was so much fun. Thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes.
He's one of the greatest people I know, and has been single for a long time. He's been fine with that, enjoying his life and having a good time. Still, it's just a joyful thing to witness those very particular new love feelings in someone who gives so much to other people and who so truly deserves to be appreciated by someone special.
YAY! Yay for happiness!
Then, another friend of mine who's gone through a tough divorce is sounding hopeful again, and that is SUCH a blessing.
She's going on a date with a neighbor who has been interested in her for a while, and this is a big deal.
So, Big Love , by , for them today, because that's what they deserve.
| I realized in my flurry of posts that I've been neglecting my song of the day , and this is not good.
This week, I've been listening to a lot. It's very difficult to choose A song of his, since I love so many. But, when pressed, I have to choose Workin' at the Car Wash Blues as my current favorite.
It was on his first record, I've Got a Name , and then, where I listen to it, on Photographs and Memories, his greatest hits compilation.
When I was listening to it this week, it occurred to me that if I ever have a child, they're going to listen to this music in the womb and CERTAINLY when they get here. Baby Mozart.
..sure, whatever.
But something about these songs makes them good to start out with, I think. Plus, I can't think of many songs more fun for a kid - or for an adult - than Roller Derby Queen . : )
Whenever I think about him, as much as I dig the music, I get sad, thinking of how young he was when he died and how it always sucks to lose people too young.
Anyway, listen to Jim. It's good for the soul.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.
.. Here I am.
Stuck in the middle with you.
This is on some worst songs lists but there is NOTHING wrong with it. At least as far as I'm concerned.
.. ; )
I found it randomly on a one hit wonders list on some site or the other (my web wanderings are legend, as boringly geeky as they are.
..) and was all, Oh my God, Stuck in the Middle With You !
I LOVE that song! It wasn't like I'd even thought about it in who knows how many years, preoccupied as I am by all of the groundbreaking music of the early 21st century. (Insert ironic/sarcastic symbol here.
)
But man, 1973 was apparently a very good year. Not only did I start nursery school, and the last soldiers leave Vietnam (not to mention Roe vs. Wade.
Quite a year.) but Stealer's Wheel was rocking out with their bad selves.
Don't make 'em like that anymore.
I had to download it. Sometimes I can't help it.
Trivia: Remember ?
No? ; ) He was in Stealer's Wheel.
but i found out.
skipped song of the day yesterday, but access here has been a pain in the ass.
day tripper is an awesome song. i love day tripper.
i listened to the beatles #1s in the car on the way down yesterday, and was digging the beatles. for me, they're a band that you can not listen to in a concentrated fashion for a while, and when you do, it's like, where in the hell have you been? i love you so much!
funny. anway, i was getting irritated with the relatively sexist lyrics of can't buy me love and hard day's night - i mean, first, money can't buy me love and THEN, you know i work all day/ to get your money to buy your things - it was just annoying.
but day tripper rocks.
i love day tripper.
and i must add that eleanor rigby is so depressing that it makes me want to lay down on the floor. the stuff they were smoking then couldn't have been THAT BAD.
couple things just SUCK: the wearing her face she keeps in a jar by the door bit, and the father mckenzie, writing the words to a sermon that no one will here.
george bush's america. sorry.
and to end on a positive note: she was a DAY tripper. sunday driver yeah.
EXCELLENT!
!!!
!!!
!!!
!!!
!!!
!
Cracked Rear View was released in 1994, and I made a cassette of it and Under the Table and Dreaming by the Dave Matthews Band for my Ohio slacker boy.
I just remembered that on the way home. CRV is one of the few records on my love every song on it list. Lots of memories.
Is it genius? Probably not. But it's hooky, and it's fun to sing along to, it's not completely idiotic, and it has moments of beauty.
Sounds like a pretty typical day in my life, come to think of it. Maybe that's why I like it so much.
Anyway, I even bought the records that nobody else did (except for the last one a couple of years ago, I have to admit...
) A fan, I have been. A closet fan, mostly - not that I've ever felt the need to hide my taste in music. I have enough cred to know that cred doesn't matter.
What you like is what you like. But who's gonna ask, Hey, whaddya think about Hootie? It just never came up.
I kept my listening binges to myself, and that was that. The funny thing was, I'd never seen them live. And I dug them way back when I had disposable income (or thought I did - what an idiot) for concerts a couple of times a month, and they were touring all the time.
The drought ended tonight, as they played Hometown Holidays in Rockville - the city's alternative to traveling on the holiday weekend, which actually isn't so bad. Two guys in the band are from Montgomery County, hence the tie.
And double hence, the mayor declared today Hootie the Blowfish Day in Rockille, which I guess means we should all say, Hey, what're your plans for Hootie Memorial Weekend? Or not.
Last Train Home opened the show, and that was pretty great in and of itself, but I've seen them about twenty times (it must be that many by now) in the past few years.
I have to admit that I went in with low expectations, but hey, it was free.
Short story - it was a blast. A very good time. I was really impressed with how solid they are, and how much fun they still seem to be having after all this time.
Let's face it - it's a pretty sweet gig, this rock and roll thing - and this is a group of guys who are pushing 40 or already there, and seem to have that concept well in hand.
The only alarming part was Darius Rucker, inexplicably, attempting to rap.
I was in total denial when, in the middle of that Old Man and Me song, I heard them break into what I THOUGHT was Public Enemy, but thought, no way. Can't be.
All around me, in the Regal parking lot, Rockvillians were placidly responding to Darius's call with a WEAK fight the powers that be? response! There is no QUESTION MARK ON THAT, PEOPLE! Fight the Powers that BE! It's a statement!
A command! Not a question! Somewhere, Flava Flav's clock was stopping.
It was just random and very amusing...
and that song should never be amusing, really. Word.
They also played a cover of REM's Don't Go Back to Rockville , legend around these parts for its unintentionally prescient lyrics...
Don't go back to Rockville/ and waste another year...
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