Friday October 27th

Day 127, Session 49:
Location: Training away from work before hitting reheasal
First song: Christmas of Love by Little Isidore & The Inquisitors
Last full song: Circles by Soul Coughing
Progress: 646-659 of 4482
Total Songs Heard: 574

Made it through all the Christmas songs today, or at least all the ones that start with the word Christmas. Turns out there were 16 of them. That works out fine for writing this now, but was a bit strange in late October when these first came around. The Christmas Eve shopping trip with my sister once again worked to perfection. In fact, this year we improved on the trip by finding the back exit from the shopping center. Waiting in traffic to escape the Best Buy/Barnes and Noble parking lot? Totally for suckers.

I can't quite understand why Christmastime (Oh Yeah) doesn't get play on any of those 24-hour-a-day-from-Thanksgiving-through-Christmas stations. It's family friendly, it's got nice Christmas style harmonies, Barenaked Ladies will play on any radio station that isn't hard rock or R&B (and how many of those stations play Christmas music anyway?) but I've never heard it. I imagine it's almost impossible to break a new Christmas song on to one of those stations. I'm pretty sure they've been playing the same loop of music since the mid-80s (right after Do They Know It's Christmas? came out.) Just one more super annoying thing about the state of corporate radio.

The only thing that does change from year-to-year on those stations is those horrible "Special Christmas Wish" promos that they play. You know the one. The radio station (through the generous support of listeners like you) has bought Christmas presents for the poor family that is undergoing some hard times this holiday season. You know, Ma was laid off from the whoopie cushion plant and Pa is still in prison and Grandma has the scurvy and Junior has that terrible speech impediment that leads to all the other kids calling him "Stinky" (kids can be so non-sensical when they're cruel.) "Well," the soft-voiced DJ says, "we know how hard this Christmas is for you, so we've bought Tickle Me Elmos and Nicorette gum for everyone. All it will cost you is your dignity cause we'll be playing this promo every 22 minutes for the next 32 days." And then Ma blubbers into the phone, but not before remembering to drop the station catch phrase in there.

Meanwhile, I throw up in my car, but at least I wasn't waiting in traffic.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Tuesday October 24th - Evening

Day 124, Session 48:
Location: Heading home, actually awake on the train for once.
First song: Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton
Last full song: Christmas Medley by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 633-646 of 4508
Total Songs Heard: 560

First things first, obligatory Coulton plug: you need to go listen to (and download) Chiron Beta Prime right now. It's even timely for when this post is actually being published. I mean sure, a Christmas song about robot overlords in October, the timing was little off. But now... perfect.

In fact, there were lots of Christmas songs to be heard here. Good thing I've managed to fall almost 60 days behind. Obviously it was all part of some master plan. Let's talk about Christmas for a minute. I'm very pro-Christmas. Most years I'm at least semi-proactive about getting my Christmas shopping done. Especially since they invented the internets and Amazon. This year... not so much. 2 days before Christmas and I have purchased exactly zero gifts. Zero. This should be somewhat alarming, but for some reason it isn't. The Wife and I have already decided that there are too many things that need to be bought around the house to buy a lot of gifts for one another. Without The Wife to worry about, everyone else is pretty easy. I can probably take care of everyone else during one 2 hour shopping trip on Christmas Eve. That trip has become something a tradition for me and my sister, so hey, Christmas traditions are good right? But it still doesn't quite feel right to have no presents bought this close to Christmas.

The good news is I finally got The Wife her birthday present... and it was totally within 30 days of her birthday this year. Diamonds fix everything though right?

If you need me, I'll be on the couch.

Tuesday October 24th

Day 124, Session 47:
Location: The train, the desk, the first hour at work
First song: Change In Speak by De La Soul
Last full song: Chinese Baby by Clem Snide
Progress: 614-632 of 4508
Total Songs Heard: 546

Two different versions of Chicago by Sufjan Stevens was the big song of the day. Normally having two versions of the same song on the same cd would seem like a waste of time to me. Not in this case. The two songs are different enough that it's justified. Chicago...

I've been in Chicago for 5 and a half years now. I did not arrive in Chicago under the best of circumstances. I had been fired from a job I loved. I had been unemployed for 4 months. Chicago wasn't really on my radar of places to go next except for that one minor point... it's where the girl was. I spent 4 more months unemployed once I moved here, so while I was free for an entire summer in a great city, I was also broke which meant not a whole lot of actually being able to do anything. And nothing I did! I had a standing date with the television every day for 4 or 5 hours.

I tried to jump into the improv scene in town, but I found a few problems... 1) I had never done any improv before and there was no improv at UD so 2) I wasn't very good and 3) I wasn't very good at meeting new people. So while the folks I was in class with either had A) preexisting bonds from past improv experience or college, or B) were able to mesh by being good on stage together or at the very least C) had basic people skills, I didn't have any of those things. It left me feeling like an outsider among the group I was with. The only thing better than being an outsider among people you're hanging out with semi-regularly is paying (a lot) for the privilege (when you're already kind of broke.)

(I should note here for the record that as far as I remember, no one actively rejected me or anything. I just wasn't able to make it work. It's possible that people actually didn't like me, but no one ever said so to my face.)

To recap for the first few months in town I had no job, no new real friends and an expensive new hobby that I wasn't very good at.

Eventually I did get a job (which kind of sucked) and then another job (which didn't suck at first, but eventually, unless you're doing something you really love, all jobs suck.) Eventually I made some new friends, but still no one all that close. (Which raises the question of whether it's even possible to make new friends after a certain age.) Eventually I even became not terrible at the whole improv/theater thing. Luckily, the whole reason for moving here (the girl) worked out in the end.

But still... looking back, I'm pretty sure I still haven't gotten over the way I arrived and the first year in this city.

I'm not sure Chicago and I will ever feel good about each other, but now I'm stuck here. Married home owners can not just up and leave any time they feel like it.

So maybe Chicago and I need to reevaluate our relationship. Maybe it's time to (finally) move past the rough start.

I made a lot of mistakes in my mind, in my mind

Monday October 23rd

Day 123, Session 46:
Location: Heading home
First song: Caught With A Smile On My Face by The Jayhawks
Last full song: Champagne Supernova by Ben Folds Five
Progress: 601-613 of 4508
Total Songs Heard: 527

Huh. 13 songs today and I got nothing much to say about any of the songs... so here's something different.

Match the songs with the artists. Answers next time!
A. Caught With A Smile On My Face (Demo)
B. Cause A Rockslide
C. Celebrity
D. Cemetery Polka
E. Central Reservation (Remix)
F. Centrepeace
G. Century
H. Cha Cha Cha d'Amour
I. Chad Maloney
J. Chale Jao
K. Chamber Of Commerce
L. Champagne Supernova
M. Champagne Supernova (live Oasis Cover)

1. Badly Drawn Boy
2. Ben Folds Five
3. Moxy Früvous
4. Babble
5. Beth Orton
6. The Jayhawks
7. Oasis
8. Tom Waits
9. Paul Westerberg
10. Badly Drawn Boy
11. Dean Martin
12. Barenaked Ladies
13. Garrison Keillor

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments section. Winner gets something. Mix CD? Eternal devotion? Link to your blog over on the sidebar there? You know, whatever you want. In case no one answers... well honestly that wouldn't be too surprising. Less brain cramping next time hopefully. Unless everyone likes this, in which case, hey that's easier for me!

Friday October 20th - Into the evening

Day 120, Session 45:
Location: Going home on the train, then driving around looking for pants
First song: Captain Jack by Billy Joel
Last full song: Catching on Fire by They Might Be Giants
Progress: 580-596 of 4500
Total Songs Heard: 514

Hooray! Song 500! 500 songs in 120 days. That puts me right around 4 songs per day, with approximately 4000 songs to listen to... 1000 days. So I've cut the overall project time to just under 3 years. 400 to 500 only took 18 days (or just over 5 songs a day) if I can keep that pace up this should take even less time. I suppose my goal is to actually have this whole thing wrapped up during 2007. So I'll have to push the pace a little more.

Unfortunately, coming soon there will be another decided downturn in song listening productivity. (You might be wondering how I could possibly be less productive when I'm 30+ days behind in my writing at this point.) I'm currently appearing in a play here in Chicago. It's my first actual theater gig in 8 years and I was incredibly nervous about it. The thing is, I'm not very good at remembering lines. That's one of the reasons I ended up in improv. I still get to be a goof on stage occasionally, but no one is depending on me to remember exactly what to say and do every time. Well October 20th is right around when we started rehearsing the show. Once rehearsals really started in earnest and I was supposed to be learning my lines, I put this project aside for a few weeks and concentrated almost exclusively on the show. The good news is twofold. One, since I am 30+ days behind, I still have plenty of music to write about. Two, all the hard work on the lines paid off. The show is going very very well. If you're here in Chicago or will be in the next two weeks, I encourage you to come see it. For more information on the show you can either visit the Rogue Theater website or click the link over on the right there for my other blog where I've done some more writing about it.

As for song number 500, it was Caramia by the Indigo Girls. I've seen the Indigo Girls in concert once. I went with The Wife and her roommates summer after junior year of college. At the time The Wife was not even the girlfriend, she was just the girl I had a crush on. The thing that made it weird was one of The Wife's roommates had just recently stopped being my girlfriend. Well, if you want to get technical about it, I don't think we ever passed the "just dating" phase into the "going out" phase, so I'm not even sure you could call her my ex-girlfriend, but she sure seemed to think of me as her ex-boyfriend.

While at the concert I was flirting a little with The Wife, much to the annoyance of the roommate. In a drunken "argument" later that evening the roommate accused the wife and I of having sex right there in front of everyone on the blanket in the middle of the concert. I tried explaining that I didn't think that maybe touching someone's leg exactly counted as having sex but the roommate would have none of it! (This is why we never passed beyond "just dating." She was CRAZY!) The good thing was, this gave the wife and I a little joke to share and actually brought us closer together.

Eventually The Wife and I did have sex (but certainly not until after we were married. Hi Mom!) Every time I hear a song by the Indigo Girls I think about the first time we allegedly had sex... right there on the blanket we were sharing with 5 other people... in the middle of a crowd of 2000... probably while Galileo was playing.

Friday October 20th - During the workday one track special

Day 120, Session 44:
Location: Sitting at my desk in the loop in Chicago
First song: Capitol City Comedy, Austin TX 2001-11-25 by Mitch Hedberg
Last full song: Same thing
Progress: 579 of 4500
Total Songs Heard: 497

An unreleased comedy show from Mitch Hedberg. It was unreleased for a good reason. It sounds a lot like the guy recording the show was holding his equipment in his lap (heh.) Every time the guy holding the recorder finds something particularly funny, you can only hear him laughing.

I met Mitch Hedberg during my radio days. A lot of the comedians who came into the studio would not be "in character" until we went on the air. Mitch, it seemed, was in character all the time. Unfortunately his character was a drug using slacker type. He was very nice and extremely funny (I laughed so hard I actually teared up,) but definitely a little strange. He wore his oversized tinted sunglasses the entire time he was in studio. The following week we had another comedian in studio and talked to him about how hilarious Mitch was. The comedian agreed but said it was a shame about Mitch's drug issues. At the time I remember being a little surprised cause I figured it was just an act. It was a little eye opening for me to find out that some folks in the entertainment industry actually lived up to the hard partying image that is often portrayed. I was unfortunately not surprised a few years later when it turned out Mitch died of a drug overdose. His unnecessary death doesn't change the fact that he was one funny motherfucker.

"I was at a restaurant and I ordered a chicken sandwich, but I don't think the waitress understood me because she said 'How would you like your eggs?' So I tried to answer her anyhow. I said, 'Incubated and then raised and then beheaded and then plucked and then cut up and then put onto a grill and then put onto a bun. Shit. It's gonna take a while. I don't have time... scrambled.'"

Friday October 20th - Morning

Day 120, Session 43:
Location: On the train heading to work, plus the first 30 minutes of the day at the desk.
First song: Can't Keep It In by Cat Stevens
Last full song: Cape Feare (Medley) by The Simpsons
Progress: 562-578 of 4500
Total Songs Heard: 496

Can You Picture That from The Muppet Movie... awesome. The fact that the soundtrack from The Muppet Movie apparently is not available on cd... not awesome. Can someone explain this to me? I went to Amazon to try to add the cd to my wish list, thinking it would be an quick and easy gift for someone to get me for Christmas. The only problem is, the lowest price I saw was $50. Why is a soundtrack from a popular musical not available on cd?

Now I need to make a confession. I like Canada. Always have. I love hockey. I like universal health care. I like the city of Toronto. I like the idea of having a section of the country that contains an entirely different culture. I like $2 coins (except at Canadian strip clubs.) And I really like Canadian music. BNL, Fruvous, Crash Test Dummies, Sarah McLachlan, Gordon Lightfoot and lesser known Canadian bands like the Arrogant Worms. The Arrogant Worms like Canada because it is really big. *Edited to fix link!

The first time I went to Canada was my freshman year of high school. We bussed from suburban Philly through Niagra Falls to Toronto. The girl I had a crush on at the time (who would later become my high school girlfriend (my only hs girlfriend)) spent most of the ride making out with her boyfriend at the time. Somewhere around the border I suggested quite loudly that perhaps they should stop trading tonsils. It was kind of a funny line. At least the rest of the bus thought so. The girl was terribly terribly embarrassed, and I suppose I should have felt bad. But I didn't. I was happy that she quit making out with that other guy for 20 minutes or so.

Thursday October 19th - Evening

Day 119, Session 42:
Location: Heading home well after 6 pm. Boooooooooo.
First song: Call in Sick by The Argument
Last full song: Can't Cry Anymore by Sheryl Crow
Progress: 550-561 of 4500
Total Songs Heard: 479

Call in Sick is the first song I've ever heard extolling the virtues of taking a mental health day from work. Have I mentioned I'm disappointed The Argument didn't hit it bigger and stay together to release more good music? I have? Ok then, never mind.

And yes, Sheryl Crow. I picked it out of a box of $2.99 cds. I actually bought two cds that day, one was Sheryl Crow, the other was Green Day. So cut me some slack, I went one for two.

Can't Buy Me Love was not just the name of a Beatles song I heard today, but also the title of an "underrated and charming 80's teen flick" (IMDB's words, not mine.) I've never actually seen the movie version of "Can't Buy Me Love" but I was supposed to. For my friend Brendan's 12th birthday we went to the movies and were supposed to see this Patrick Dempsey masterpiece. Unfortunately the movie closed the night before we went to see it. This was way back in the day when there weren't 24 screens at every movieplex. The theater we went to had only two screens. (Imagine that! Only two screens. I'm surprised the movies weren't all in black and white and accompanied by a guy playing piano.) Because there were only 2 movies playing, only one movie was starting when we got there. So instead of "Can't Buy Me Love" we ended up seeing "A Fish Called Wanda," which happened to be rated R. It was the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater.

I was quite disappointed in the lack of boobs.

Thursday October 19th - Morning

Day 119, Session 41:
Location: At the desk, writing important documents.
First song: C'mon Daddy by The Lemonheads
Last full song: Call and Answer by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 541-549 of 4500
Total Songs Heard: 467

California was covered today. California by Mason Jennings, California Rolls by Janes Addiction, and California Stars by Billy Bragg & Wilco. Honestly I thought I'd have more songs about California. Truth be told, California Rolls could be about sushi for all I know. I've tried listening to it, and I still don't quite get it.

I've visited California quite a few times. When I was 6, my family spent a pretty large percentage of our RV trip cross country in California. We covered San Diego, LA, San Francisco, and Yosemite. I have a lot of memories from that trip that have kind of ended up smashing together in my head, but all the parts of the California portion stand out individually. I remember visiting Disney Land outside LA and being less than impressed because we had been to Disney World the year before. I remember cable cars and a guy trying to extricate himself from a straight jacket in San Fran. I remember giant redwoods and nature everywhere around Yosemite.

My most specific memory though is from San Diego. We went to the zoo. We were looking down on the hippo habitat. One of the hippos pointed his ass out of the water and let loose an amazing explosion of green hippo shit everywhere. My family laughed and laughed. It's probably one of my top 5 most vivid memories from that fantastic 6-week trip. I'm not sure if I remember it because of the absurdity of the scene or because of how hard we laughed.

I hope when I have kids I'll be able to share experiences with them that will stay with them for years and years. Even if they involve hippo shit.

Wednesday October 18th

Day 118, Session 40:
Location: Heading to work. Tired.
First song: Bullet from a Gun by Universal Honey
Last full song: By Starlight by Smashing Pumpkins
Progress: 529-538 of 4483
Total Songs Heard: 459

Hooray, the Bs are dead! 63 days after they started. 63 days for 211 songs. I hope all the rest of the letters don't have 211 songs. Ugh. 63 days... when the Bs started it was still August, still warm, still light out after 4:30. That seems like a million years ago now. I'm not usually effected by seasonal change, but it sure seems dark out a lot right now. Probably has something to do with all the rain. It's overcast when I leave the house in the morning and completely dark when I come home.

Appropriately enough, By Starlight by Smashing Pumpkins was the last of the Bs.

Friday October 13th - Afternoon

Day 113, Session 39:
Location: On the train to work, except for the first song, which I apparently played as soon as I got out of bed.
First song: Brothers Unaware by Live
Last full song: Building a Mystery by Sarah McLachlan
Progress: 511-520 of 4422
Total Songs Heard: 449

I was the program director of my college radio station senior year. I was absolutely terrible at the job. I had no desire to be a boss. I'm a performer, not a director. In my time as PD I only had to fire one DJ (although I probably should have disciplined a few more, like I said, I wasn't very good.) I had to fire the guy because he played a song that it specifically said on the cd case not to play because it contained bad language. He played it even after I called him and told him exactly why he couldn't. And then he repeated the reason that I told him he couldn't play it. The song? Building a Mystery by Sarah McLachlan. The reason? She says "fuck" in the middle of the song. What he said on the air? "I've been told I can't play this song because it says fuck in the middle of it, but I've never heard that, so I'm going to play it anyway." And then he played the song.

Believe it or not, I still felt kind of bad about canning the guy. At least I did, until he came in and had the audacity to think it was unfair that I was doing it. Then I laughed after he left the office.

The following summer The Wife and I went to her grandmother's birthday party. Her family had gotten her grandmother a cd player and The Wife had bought a few cds to get her grandmother's collection started. The cd at the top of the pile? "Surfacing" by Sarah McLachlan, the first track of which is Building a Fucking Mystery. The wife was moderately horrified when I told her what she was handing over to her grandmother. To my knowledge my wife has not been fired as a granddaughter.

Friday October 13th - Morning

Day 113, Session 38:
Location: On the train to work, except for the first song, which I apparently played as soon as I got out of bed.
First song: Broken by Jack Johnson
Last full song: Brother Love's Traveling Salvavation Show by Neil Diamond
Progress: 504-510 of 4422
Total Songs Heard: 439

Quick thoughts on some of the 7 songs from this morning:

Broken by Jack Johnson is from the "Curious George" movie that came out last winter. The wife and I went to see it in the theatre. We were the only people in the place who weren't accompanied by at least one person under the age of ten. We were, however, accompanied by approximately 10 stuffed animal monkeys that we decided would want to see the movie. Bringing them along started as something as a joke suggestion from the wife, then devolved into a challenge about how many animals we could sneak into the theater. Luckily, it was winter, and my winter coat has a lot of pockets, so the answer ended up being all of them. At one point during the movie, the little boy sitting directly in front of us turned around to take in his surroundings. He seemed quite surprised.

Brother by Toad the Wet Sprocket features one of my favorite song intros ever. It's a fun guitar and organ (which is probably not a real organ, but hey it sounds enough like an organ for me.) If I actually had a brother, this would be a good place to mention him and talk about our relationship. Maybe I could tell a funny story about that thing we did that time. But, uh... I don't have a brother, so I guess we're done here.

Broken Heart by Axel Rudi Pell (which must be a made up name) sucked out loud. I really shouldn't have acquired "Metal Ballads (Vol. 3)". Deleted!

Thursday October 12th - Afternoon

Day 112, Session 37:
Location: Training home after another horrible degrading day as a mutant, er, cube farm employee.
First song: Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Bring Some Love by Rockapella
Progress: 499-508 of 4447
Total Songs Heard: 432

3 more versions of Brian Wilson to start the day. Putting it in the lead at this point with 4 completely different versions of the same song. One from Gordon, two live recordings, one radically radio edited version of the song that is really only allowed to hang around for completeness of my BNL collection purposes. The radio edit version totally rewrites the opening of the song. The problem is I like the beginning of the song. It builds very nice and slow to the refrain where the energy really takes off. The remix version goes right into the refrain.

Following the Brian Wilson triple play were 2 versions of Brick by Ben Folds Five. It still kills me that Brick is the only real big hit that Ben Folds Five had. So much of their music is about tight harmonies, and pounding piano and bass, and fun... and their big hit is slow and practically harmony free and just about the least fun song ever. It's probably why they eventually had to break up. If they had stayed together, they would've ended up being "those guys who did that song about abortion" for the rest of their career.

There actually exists a techno version of the song. I had it in my music library at one point. Then I realized a techno version of this particular song had to be the worst idea ever. Nothing says, "let's grind on the dance floor" like lyrics about the emotional aftermath of an abortion set to a thumping techno beat.

Thursday October 12th - Morning

Day 112, Session 36:
Location: The last two-thirds of the train ride to work.
First song: Bread by Clem Snide
Last full song: Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 493-498 of 4447
Total Songs Heard: 422

Heard two signature BNL songs. Brian Wilson, is the live from Philadelphia version (the first of four different versions of Brian Wilson I've got.) Break Your Heart is originally from the BNL cd "Born On A Pirate Ship" but the version I heard was from their concert cd "Rock Spectacle." It wasn't until I heard the "Rock Spectacle" version that I realized I didn't have "Born On A Pirate Ship" in my iPod. Then I remembered why...

Summer before second senior year a certain roommate a habit of borrowing cds and then never returning them. Between the wife and I, we can count 4 or 5 cds that we know we had during that summer, but that we haven't seen since. So this leads me to this PURELY HYPOTHETICAL dilemma...

Suppose there was some music that you had absolutely positively spent real money to purchase (suppose you even still had the cd cases) but that through no real fault of your own you were no longer in possession of said music. And suppose the interwebs had a way for acquiring that music without having to pay for it again. Is it ok to use the interwebs to reacquire that music?

My theory was that it would HYPOTHETICALLY be ok. The wife's theory was that if you bought a coat and then someone stole it from you, that wouldn't mean you were entitled to a free coat. I agreed that you shouldn't be able to steal a coat from a store, but if you could somehow download the coat over the interweb, it would be ok.

Her stupid coat analogy really made me think. Sometimes I hate thinking.

In the end, since this was a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL dilemma, obviously no action was taken. But still I wonder... would it be ok? And where can I download a coat?

Tuesday October 10th

Day 110, Session 35:
Location: Walking out of work, relaxing on the train.
First song: Bowling Song (Almighty Malachi, Professional Bowling God) by Stephen Lynch
Last full song: Braver Newer World by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Progress: 483-492 of 4447
Total Songs Heard: 416

Boxing Nostalgic by Josh Joplin is from the cd of the same name. I very much enjoy Josh Joplin, but the "Boxing Nostalgic" cd was a small release before he got picked up by a major label. Apparently copies of this cd exist out there somewhere, but they're listed on Amazon for around $40. My enjoyment of Josh Joplin does not reach the $40 per cd level. So after one of his shows in Chicago I asked him what would be the best way to get a hold of the older stuff. He encouraged me to find it on the internets and download it for free. Now that's cool. The artist telling you to go ahead and download his stuff. If only I had ever been able to find "Boxing Nostalgic" out there. I even tried using The Google. No such luck.

So hey, if you're reading this and you happen to have a copy of "Boxing Nostalgic" go ahead and send me the mp3s. Josh said it was ok. I'll even trade you for the mp3s from "Projector Head" (the other independent Josh Joplin release that I happened to find on Amazon tonight for $5 while writing this entry. Score!)

I think Josh Joplin has given up touring*** (and perhaps music altogether,) which is too bad. I guess if you're a musician, it's probably not a good thing to be able to spend a few minutes talking to anyone who hung around after the show. Probably means you're not "big" enough. But Josh was always happy to spend time talking with his fans.

At one show, he talked with my friend Jon (the one who's getting married tomorrow, good luck) and me long enough that when he moved on to the next couple of folks, a girl who was standing around asked me if I was on his security team. I assured her that I most certainly was, so she gave me her phone number and asked me to pass it along. I offered the number to Josh, but he declined.

I had something more depressing to say about Boxing by Ben Folds Five, but I like that story better. I'll save depressing for another day.

***Updated March 2008: This, thank goodness, turned out to be totally wrong! He took some time off to be a dad and to recharge his batteries, but he's now back on tour.. Hooray for all those things. This is one case where I'm happy to have been wrong.

Thursday October 5th

Day 105, Session 34:
Location: I'm grumpy heading home. It's dark before I'm on the train. I'm home but have missed The Simpsons.
First song: Born Again by Badly Drawn Boy
Last full song: Bouncing Around the Room by Phish
Progress: 476-479 of 4424
Total Songs Heard: 406

Only managed to hear 4 songs today. Nothing particularly memorable either. I ended up being away for a few days after this. Went to Western Maryland for a friend's bachelor party. My friend Jon was introduced to his soon to be wife by their shared dry cleaner. That's pretty much the strangest, "how we met" story I've ever heard. (Seriously, beat that! Why hasn't someone developed that match-making dry cleaner into a TV series yet?)

While in Maryland we went clay shooting. You'd probably be surprised to find out I'm not much of a gun guy. We made it through 4 stations before I finally hit my first target. It was a tremendous feeling of relief when I finally hit a target. My brain had locked in on the idea that I was never going to be able to succeed. As the afternoon went on, I never got close to being good, but I did eventually get to the point of being semi-competent. Semi-competent felt really good when compared to the fear of complete failure.

What does this have to do with the songs of today? The first time I heard Bouncing Around the Room was on a mix tape made for my housemates and I back in college after we entertained a few girls that were visiting one of our friends for a weekend. Even though the tape wasn't specifically for me, I had spent a lot of time that weekend with the girl who made the tape. At the time, I hadn't had anything even resembling a date for going on 18 months. Getting that tape made me feel semi-competent again and ended a long period of brain failure-lock. Semi-competent was so much better than complete failure.

In the end, I guess this story disconnects though... I don't have any plans to go shooting again any time soon. Too many bruises.

Monday October 2nd - Evening

Day 102, Session 33:
Location: Once again leaving work after 6 what the fuck? Riding the train home.
First song: Body by The Presidents of the United States of America
Last full song: Books Are Burning by XTC
Progress: 464-475 of 4424
Total Songs Heard: 402

400!

Boo Time by Moxy Fruvous was song number 400. After taking 50 days to get from song 200 to 300, it only took 18 days to get from 300 to 400. That is a much better pace. For more numerical breakdown, please see the previous post.

One of my favorite things when buying a new cd is finding out that there is bonus music included. It's one of the things that just doesn't translate as well when downloading music over the intranets. When you're downloading music you see every track that being sent your way. But when you buy a cd, there's always a chance that the first time you listen to it, you'll be completely surprised by a song that does not appear on the track listings. (Obviously this doesn't apply if the first time you listen to a cd, you're using your computer to listen to it. Seriously, try your new cd in a stereo first, or better yet, listen to it in the car on the way home. Either way, quit ruining the surprise!)

I was a little disappointed that there turned out to be only 3 different songs in my library titled Bonus Track. Although I guess most musicians name every song, that way, if they release more than one cd with a bonus track, they'll know which song to play in concert. If the set list just said Bonus Track it could lead to total musical anarchy if everyone in the band started playing a different song (although I also think this would be kind of cool.)

Here's the three Bonus Tracks I heard:

by the Bogmen - The Bogmen were great because I think I was the only one in my group of friends who liked them at all. "Life Begins At 40 Million" was in heavy rotation in my person collection in 1996. I saw them open for Barenaked Ladies in Cincinnati in spring 1996. We got there kind of late, so all I really remember was seeing their lead singer spinning around and around and around during the last song of their set. For some reason, that was enough reason for me to take a chance on their cd. Bonus Track seems to fit exactly what a bonus track should be, a 51-second instrumental that sounds like an outtake pulled from the studio recordings. It would have been kind of pointless to include as its own track because it doesn't fit into the rest of the cd. But I think the band realized how much fun the track was and wanted to let fans in on it too.

by Jackopierce - There are 2 or 3 Jackopierce songs I like. This isn't really one of them.

by Wally Pleasant - Could have been titled Sunday Morning. Just guitar, banjo and Wally singing about that feeling you have on Sunday morning when you wake up and realize that for a few more hours you can take a step back from the world. It's true too... for those few minutes on Sunday morning responsibility is nil. Your #1 option is to just stay in bed. A few hours earlier and you're trying to live up the freedom of Saturday night. A few hours later, you're perilously close to Monday and having to start all that shit again. But Sunday morning, you can just lay there not worry about anything for a little while.

Man, I really want to go back to bed.

Monday October 2nd - Morning

Day 102, Session 32:
Location: From my front door to the train to the desk through hour one of the work week.
First song: Bleed To Love Her by Fleetwood Mac
Last full song: Body by Bush
Progress: 442-463 of 4424
Total Songs Heard: 390

To mark the first 100 (and 2) days, it's time for a statistical breakdown:

Number of songs I've counted myself: 390****
Number of songs iTunes says I've listened to: 396*
Average number of songs heard per day: 3.9
Listening sessions: 32
Average number of songs per session: 12.1
Number of files** on the iPod on day 1: 3925
Number of files on the iPod now: 4424
Number of files added in the last 100 days: 499
Average number of files added per day: 4.99
Average progress per day: -1.09 files***
Estimated completion time: Never if I'm adding music at a faster rate then I'm listening!

*I'm going to stick with my count, because going back to figure out where I made counting mistakes is too much trouble.
** "Files" on the iPod represents everything, songs, podcasts, videos, whatever else they count. I'm hoping I have not added more than 389 songs.
***This rate doesn't really alarm me, I don't think I've added that many songs. Plus these first 100 days were plagued with long listening delays (moving and laziness mostly.) I think over the next few weeks we'll see tracks per day increase greatly.
****I realized just now (the day after this was originally posted) that my math was off just between this post and the last one. Once upon a time I was good at math.

Most commonly heard artists:
Moxy Fruvous - 23
Barenaked Ladies - 18
Simon & Garfunkel - 16
They Might Be Giants - 13
Badly Drawn Boy - 12
Ben Folds Five - 11
Ben Folds - 9
Rufus Wainwright - 8
Sufjan Stevens - 8
Toad the Wet Sprocket - 8
The Jayhawks - 7

The only one on this list the least bit surprising was Simon & Garfunkel.

About today's songs: Bleed to Love Her is from "The Dance" a live reunion concert that Fleetwood Mac put together some time in the late '90s. I really didn't care at all for Fleetwood Mac until one fateful night my senior year of college. At the time "the wife" was just "the roommate of the girl I had briefly dated that summer." In fact, she was dating someone else at the time. In the course of the summer we had grown pretty close and I had been hinting in the best possible way (broadly) that perhaps we should date instead of her and this other guy.

This particular night I had decided to go to bed early (which was 100% different than every other night in college when I partied til dawn.) About 30 minutes after I had decided to go to sleep there was a knock at my door, and who should appear but "the wife." Apparently she and the other guy had broken up earlier that evening and she was kind of upset about it. We ended up talking for a few hours until she eventually fell asleep lying next to me in bed. While she was able to sleep, I couldn't sleep at all. The adrenaline from the combination of excitement and confusion was way too much to allow me to sleep.

Early the next morning, "the wife" got up and went home to finish sleeping in her own bed. I still couldn't sleep, so I turned on the tv. The only non-church/non-infomercial thing on that morning (it was Sunday) was VH1 showing "The Dance." I sat up through the entire hour of Fleetwood Mac and, no doubt aided by my super awesome frame of mind, greatly enjoyed the whole thing. That specific turn of events gives Fleetwood Mac a special place in my mind.

Friday September 29th - Evening

Day 99, Session 31:
Location: Since it was Friday night I was obviously taking the train home before a night of wild partying.
First song: Black & White by Sarah McLachlan
Last full song: Bleecker Street by Simon & Garfunkel
Progress: 429-438 of 4413
Total Songs Heard: 378

John Mayer is at it again.

So I "heard" two different songs today called Blank. One was "by" Wilco and it exactly matched what you expected from a song titled Blank. It was 25 seconds or so of silence.

The second song called Blank was by one Mr. John Mayer. You may remember him from an earlier post where he brought his guitar to a party so that he could eventually hit on your girlfriend. The theory established in that post was that you can't trust John Mayer. You can probably guess where this is going. Here, in it's entirety, is John Mayer's version of Blank.

John Mayer, what the hell is wrong with you? You can't even stop playing your damn guitar for 4 seconds! How am I supposed to trust you not to hit on my girlfriend when you can't even quit playing your damn guitar for 4 damn seconds!? Be on the look out for this guy people, he's a liar and he wants everything that's yours.

Friday September 29th - Morning

Day 99, Session 30:
Location: The only good morning to head to work... Friday!
First song: Bittersweet by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Black by Pete Yorn
Progress: 420-428 of 4413
Total Songs Heard: 368

9 tracks - 6 of them by Fruvous. 5 of them related to the song BJ Don't Cry (seen in an earlier post as B.J. Don't Cry.) Apparently back in October of '98 (while I was still in college, so a long time ago, sigh) Fruvous did an entire set during a show in Massachusetts where every song was preceeded by a narration of a different part of BJ's trip. Trip to where? I'm not sure exactly. I've tried downloading the rest of the show through the magic of the intraweb but I haven't been able to find an active seed. But just the fact that they were willing to put on a show that was part concert, part audience participation story-time gives you another pretty good idea of why I loved those guys. By the time this project is done we're all going to be sick of me continuously supplying reasons why I loved Fruvous and why I'm sorry they're on (permanent) hiatus.

A welcome to anyone who ended up here from a link on my new account at facebook.com. That's right, facebook now allows old people to sign up for accounts, and since half my sisters are active there I thought I'd sign up so I can keep tabs on her.

Also, welcome to anyone who ended up here after using Google to look for "zip gun plans." Um, you're in the wrong place, sorry for the confusion.

Thursday September 28th

Day 98, Session 29:
Location: On the train, leaving work late. Why am I leaving work at 6:30?
First song: Bingo Addict Grandma by Wally Pleasant
Last full song: Bitter Boy by Truck Stop Love
Progress: 413-419 of 4413
Total Songs Heard: 359

I've updated the template around here. The last one was beginning to look a little too... blue. I think this looks cleaner and is hopefully easier on the eyes. If you have an opinion on this change, or there's something else you'd like to see on the page, please use the comments section.

Birdhouse in Your Soul, from "Flood" by They Might Be Giants is one of my all-time favorite songs. I'm not sure why exactly, the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense. I only know that whenever I hear that song I end up feeling happier for the 3:20 it's on. Well, almost all of the 3:20. When I first got "Flood" I owned it on cassette, which meant most of the time I was listening to it in my car. Just over half way through the song, there's a car horn that plays. Every time I was listening in the car and got to that part of the song I'd hear the car horn and immediately scan all mirrors to make sure I hadn't just cut someone off or run over a kid or something. If I had been crossing the street when this song came on I would have whipped my head around nervously at the horn. Lots of time in high school was spent driving here or there, always with a destination in mind. We weren't the types to 'cruise' we just happend to be lucky enough that 2 or 3 in our group had cars which meant lots of driving around singing along to tapes.

The only thing I miss about tapes is the mix tape. There's nothing wrong with the mix cd, but the mix tape gave you more time for music, and 4 different opportunities for statement songs (the first and last of each side.) I made mix tapes very rarely, but when I made them, they were very good. I had to have a specific reason to make one (almost always meaning "I needed a girl to make them for.") I've meant to go back and attempt to recreate some of those tapes on cd, but it wouldn't be the same.

Bitches Ain't Shit by Ben Folds is part of my continued love for rap songs that aren't performed as rap songs (see also the previously mentioned Back, Baby Got by Jonathan Coulton.) I'll put together a mix cd for you once I've got enough tracks to fill it up.

Monday September 25th - Evening (right before napping)

Day 95, Session 28:
Location: For the first few minutes of the ride home, before falling asleep.
First song: Billie Jean Medley by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Biminy by Hello Dave
Progress: 398-401 of 4316
Total Songs Heard: 352

Once again sacked out on the train on the way home. I only remember 4 tunes before the sweet sweet rocking of the train put me to sleep. From all the times I fall asleep on the train (you know, 2 so far) you may think that I have some sort of crazy sleep disorder. That's not the case at all. It's just that I desperately cling to the hours of the day when I'm not working. For me, work time is any time that I'm not free to do what I want. So yes, technically my work day runs from around 9:15a until around 5:45p. But in my mind, my work day begins the first time the alarm goes off in the morning and I'm fighting the battle of snooze (around 7:15a) until the moment I step off the train on the way home (usually around 6:20p.) The entire 11 hours and 5 minutes in between there is all devoted to getting myself ready to go to work, being at work, or getting home from work. 11 HOURS!!! Almost half my day. Leaving only 13 hours left for play. In order to maximize those hours I tend to stay up later than I should and get less sleep at night than I should. Even 6.5 hours of sleep a night (a good night for me,) cuts my play time in half. If sleeping for 20 minutes on the train (which is still technically part of the "work" part of the day and where all there is to do is read and sit and listen to music) gives me 20 more minutes play time from 1:00-1:20 AM at home (where I can be on the internet, play playstation, watch a movie and drink a beer... all at the same time!) then train sleeping is where it's at.

Seriously, think about that for a second:
24 hours in a day = 11 hours in "work" mode + 6.5 hours to sleep + 6.5 hours to play

And my work life isn't that bad. I could skim some time from the work hours by transferring some more to the sleep time in the morning. Plus I only have to work an 8.5 hour day and my job is tolerable. What about the people who hate their jobs or have a 3 hour commute or work 10 hour days?

No wonder so many people are unhappy most of the time. The people who are really happy are the ones that really enjoy their jobs and have a very short commute and don't need sleep.

In conclusion, lack of play time is fucking us all up! Play more! (Reading this counts as play unless you're at work.)

3 of the 4 songs I did hear today were Dayton related:
Billie Jean Medley is from a Moxy Fruvous concert at Canal St. in Dayton. A great night all around and one that I'm very lucky to have a recording of.

Biminy by Hello Dave was their most popular song when they would play at UD. Oddly enough they're a Chicago based band and I've seen them once or twice since I moved here, but it's never been quite as great as it was seeing them in college.

Billy & the Mystery Box is a song by Heywood Banks. Heywood is a touring comedic singer and a really nice guy. I met him several times during my Dayton radio days. I feel a little bad about having this song though. Apparently when I was cleaning out my desk at Z93 after getting fired, one of Heywood's cds ended up in my box of possessions. I always meant to take it back, but after the whole firing thing, I really didn't want to show my face around there again. Which was really too bad. Except for the peckerhead boss who fired me, I really liked almost everyone else who worked there, but after that morning I only spoke to one of them again (and I haven't heard from him in years.) My time at Z was the happiest I've ever been working, probably because being an on-air radio personality was a lot like playing all the time. I loved my job and my commute was short.

I still needed sleep though, so I guess it wasn't perfect.

Monday September 25th

Day 95, Session 27:
Location: On the train and at my desk at work.
First song: Between Song Banter by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Bikers by Ben Folds Five
Progress: 379-397 of 4316
Total Songs Heard: 348

The wife and I recently became homeowners for the first time. In a development that I'm sure will shock anyone who has owned a place before, not everything has gone smoothly. Turns out our basement takes on water. Yep, takes on water through one of the walls despite the previous owner signing a document saying the basement had never taken on water, and an inspector looking at the walls of the house and saying "no water here." Seeing the water come flooding into our bathroom immediately filled me with two thoughts:

1) This is America, we'll sue! Surely between the previous owner and the inspection company someone should have been up front/noticed the whole water in the basement thing. Sadly, according to our lawyer, unless the cost of fixing the problem is huge, we're basically SOL and should chalk this up to the costs of being a home owner. Personally I think that is bullshit, but I don't have any sort of lawyerin' background, so we're kinda forced to take his word for it.
2) We abandon the house and move! Sure financially this is a horrible idea. I'm pretty sure we're still on the hook for the place even if we do abandon ship. One of today's songs however gave me an idea of where we could go. Before we do take this radical plan, I thought it would be best to come up with a list of pros and cons for moving to Big Rock Candy Mountain. (BRCM from here on out.)

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning
I'm headin for a land that's far away beside the crystal fountains
So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Con- "A land that's far away" - we live about a 6 hour drive from the parents now, it'd be nice to live a little closer to family. A land that's far away sounds farther away.
Pro- "beside the crystal fountains" - Crystal fountains sound nice, would probably raise local real estate values making eventual resale easier.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Pro- "land that's fair and bright" - Assuming they're talking about the weather, who could complain about fair and bright?
Pro/Con- "handouts grow on bushes" - Less panhandlers is good, but I'm not sure how the larger ramifications of a bush based economy would work.
Con- "you sleep out every night" - I like sleeping indoors.
Con- "the boxcars all are empty" - It sounds as though there may be bandits on the way to BRCM which are robbing the boxcars. May also indicate mafia presence in town. Either way, someone was waiting for what was supposed to be in those boxcars, now it's gone.
Pro- "and the sun shines everyday On the birds" - Again, sunshine is good, and who doesn't like birds.
Con- "and the bees" - I've long been an advocate of bee eradication. Bees in BRCM allows the eventuality that those bees will cross breed with Africanized Killer Bees. Nobody wants killer bees in their town.
Con- "and the cigarette trees" - Smoking is gross.
Pro- "Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings" I like singing bluebirds and, while I'm not a huge lemonade fan, who could argue with lemonade coming straight from springs? Unless you're worried about the potential soil instabilities that the root systems of an underground crop of lemon trees could cause, then this could be a Con.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs
The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay
Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs" - With the previously alluded to crime problems in BRCM and the surrounding area, I'd like able bodied cops around should problems arise.
Con- "And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs" - I've never had any problems with bulldogs so I see pulling and replacing their teeth to be unnecessarily cruel. Soft-boiled eggs? First of all yuck, I prefer fried or scrambled. Second, I'm assuming if the eggs come out pre-soft-boiled I wouldn't be able to use them in recipes. What if I want to bake brownies or make a cake?
Pro- "The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay" Nothing wrong with either of these things.
Con Con Con- "Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow" - What?? I was all for the general nice weather in BRCM, but this is going too far. I like the occasional rain, and I love a nice snowstorm every once in a while. I like my life with seasons. If I wanted warm and sunny every single day, I'd move to Arizona. I suppose the fact that the wind don't blow makes it very difficult for different weather fronts to move in.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too
You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks" - I'm all for being lazy about socks but after 3 or 4 days mine really start to stink. Mulitply my sock stink by the population of BRCM... ewwww.
Pro!- "And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks" - Holy shit. Alcohol streams? The strongest pro-BRCM argument yet.
Pro/Con- "The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind" - Polite brakemen, good. Blind bulls near the railroad tracks, possibly bad for both train and bull.
Pro- "There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too" - When I was kid I didn't much like stew, but now I occasionally will indulge in stew. When I was a kid I liked whiskey. Now I love it and indulge as often as my liver will allow.
Con- "You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe" - I don't think paddling a canoe through my dinner and after dinner drink is particularly sanitary.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in" - With the obvious crime problems in BRCM we'll need strong jails to keep the criminals in. Add in the quick and easy availability to alcohol and you'll also need some strong drunk tanks to allow folks to sleep it off. Tin jails serve neither of these purposes. These rampant crime issues should more than offset any property value bumps from the crystal fountains.
Pro- "There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks" - As long as they still have the internet, I'm ok with the lack of hand tools.
Con- "I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day" - Another sad wave at the fact that I'm getting older. Once upon a time sleeping all day seemed like a fine idea. Now, I want to spend as little time possible sleeping. There's too much playing to do to spend all day in bed.
Pro- "Where they hung the jerk that invented work" - Working is teh suck and interferes more with playing than sleep does. I'm all in favor of hanging the guy who invented it.

I'll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains

No, you won't. Upon further review, even with the current water in the basement problems, I believe I'm still better off staying in my current home. While it is tough to deny the BRCM pros of easy and easier access to alcohol, the cons of an unsustainable economic model as well as an apparent tolerance, even encouragement, of lawlessness make BRMC sound like a risky proposition for building a future.

Wednesday September 20th

Day 90, Session 26:
Location: Wednesday morning at the desk.
First song: Believer by Ben Kweller
Last full song: Better Than It Was by Fastball
Progress: 362-377 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 329

Number of the day: 5. 5 songs that started their title with the word "Better." Two of those songs were actually called Better.

Now I attempt to answer the question, which is the better Better?

Better by Clem Snide vs. Better by Jonathan Coulton (Available online here. Download it, it's totally legal!) Time for a best of 3 showdown!

What's it about?
Both songs are about a relationship. Clem Snide's song is about how two people in a relationship are better together. Coulton's song is about how he liked his girlfriend better before she bettered herself by having a bunch of cybernetic implants added. In other words, both pieces explore classic musical themes. I'm going to have to give a small advantage to the Clem Snide song because I haven't yet had the occasion to have a discussion with someone about their cybernetic implants.

Representative lyric:
Clem Snide - "Hours are like little rocks, stuck in your shoes. Ours is a love so strong, it'll see us through."
Jonathan Coulton - "And you look like the victim of a surgical crime, a little Darth Vader, a little Optimus Prime. You used to be OK and I liked you that way, but I don’t think that I like you better"
Referencing Darth Vader and Optimus Prime? Advantage Coulton.

The music:
Clem Snide - By the end of the song it's a full fledged guitar/cello(!?!) break down. You wouldn't think it'd be possible to rock with a cello. This song proves otherwise.
Jonathan Coulton - Catchy guitar strumming, but it's the lyrics that drive this one more that the hook. Advantage Clem Snide.

So in this very scientific breakdown, it appears the better Better belongs to Eef and the guys from Clem Snide, but just by a bit. Unless I had to sing one of these at karaoke. Then I'm taking Coulton.

Thursday September 14th - evening

Day 84, Session 25:
Location: Away from work, towards rehearsal.
First song: Bedside Story by Badly Drawn Boy
Last full song: Believe In Love by Scorpions
Progress: 352-359 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 313

Hmmmm, just realized I didn't actually hear Beercan until this session. So here's what I wrote yesterday (making this the new laziest post ever!):

As previously mentioned, Joey and I had a radio show back in college. One of our favorite songs to play was Beercan by Beck. I could go into a long winded discussion of why this song was so great, but instead, I'll simply post the lyrics. Sure it's lazy, but this was poetry, no need to muck it up with my words:

Alcohol on my hands
I got plans to ditch myself and get outside
Dancing women throwing plates
Decapitating their laughing dates
Swirling chickens caught in flight
Out of focus and much too bright
Coming down, shiny teeth
Game show suckers trying to breathe
But I got a drug and I got the bug
and I got something better than love

How you like me now?
Pretty good
Going on, feeling strong

I quit my job blowing leaves
Telephone bills up my sleeves
Choking like a one man dustball
Freedom rock slimeball talking in code
We went down, lit up the shack
Grabbed me a beer out of the sack
Everybody bent over twice
Painting the walls, throwing some dice
Leaping up into the air getting juiced up beyond belief

And they were singin' like this!

Winos throwing Frisbees at the sun
Burnt my soul between the bun
Now I'm wounded, now I'm drunk
Now I'm runnin' like a flaming pig

Oh yeah, scraping off the attitude
Old man eating all my food
Don't be kind, don't be rude
Just shake your boots and let it all get loose

Oh yeah, my goodness

Fluffy clouds
Lovely rainbows
I'm sad, a soft and snugly place
Fluffy clouds
I'm sad and unhappy… yppahnu dna das

Winos throwing Frisbees at the sun
Burnt my soul between the bun
Now I'm wounded, now I'm drunk
Now I'm runnin' like a flaming pig

Oh yeah, scraping off the attitude
Old man eating all my food
Don't be kind, don't be rude
Just shake your boots and let it all get loose

Oh yeah, I like it like that
Oh that is cold
Somebody put a flamethrower on thee
Uh-huh, oh my goodness!
Take me down to the depot
Somebody put me down on the bus
Oh yeah, I like it like that
Somebody burn me a plate of sassafras
Oh yeah…

Oh yeah indeed.

Eventually I'll figure out what it all means.

Thursday September 14th - the laziest post yet! (um, that's the next post)

Day 84, Session 24:
Location: Towards work.
First song: Beautiful People by Rusted Root
Last full song: Bed and Breakfast by Moxy Fruvous
Progress: 346-351 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 305

[This post has been editted again because I am dumb and I can't count.]

300!

Beautiful People by Rusted Root was song number 300. In an alarming development, it took 50 days to get from song 200 to song 300. That's only 2 songs a day. What the hell? At this rate, with about 3800 songs left, I'd be finishing the project in November of 2011. (3800 songs/2 songs a day/365 days a year=5.2 years) Shit! Time seems to be working against me.

100!

You may be visitor 100 to this blog. If you read this post, leave a comment, then I may be able to congratulate you in a future post. Then we'll be best friends forever!

[comment redacted] - Turns I posted the bit about Beercan on the wrong day. That makes the next post really easy and this one really short.

Tuesday Septeber 12th - Afternoon

Day 82, Session 23:
Location: Wooo! Heading home!
First song: Barcelona by Rufus Wainwright
Last full song: Be My Yoko Ono by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 304-345 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 299

First... happy belated birthday to Mike out in California, who happens to be my most loyal reader (and only real commenter) so far. Punch a dolphin for me. And happy on time birthday to my sister. Hope you're famous soon.

Who'd have thunk that there'd be two different tunes about Barcelona and neither of them would be about the Olympics or the Whit Stillman movie.

In case you're wondering how I got through 42 tracks, but only heard 14 songs, I skipped a bunch of Barenaked Ladies podcasts they did while recording their most recent cd.

Heard Basket Case by Green Day. If there's another song that better brings to mind my first semester of college, I'm not quite sure what it would be. Fall of 1994 was a confusing time. I certainly never intended to end up at college in Ohio (state motto: "Starts with a hole, ends with a hole, pretty describes everything in between.") I grew up in suburban Philly, I took all honors classes and did a bunch of extracurriculars like all my friends, and yet they all ended up going to the elite east coast schools (Williams, Cornell, Georgetown to name a few) and I ended up at a C-level college in the middle of nowhere. (It should be noted that they all had much better grades than I did.) Somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong. Only my friend Zach ended up in the same boat, but a year later he was at Dartmouth and I was still in Ohio.

"Do you have the time, to listen to me whine? About nothing and everything all at once."

I never really caught up. My friends from high school have gone on to become doctors and nurses, engineers and lawyers, two of them are getting doctorates in things they love. What do I do? Like Max Belmont, I do nothing. I mean sure, I have a job, but it's nothing. I perform occasionally, but I'm not particularly good at it (not by comparison to the folks around here who perform, anyhow.) Of course, it doesn't really matter where you go to college. At least a few successful people have attended the same college I did. But ending up there was pretty much a defeat for me, which is why hearing this song brings back such conflicting feelings. Good memories because that first semester at college ended up being such a good time... bad memories cause how in the world did I end up there? (and by extension... here.)

Which isn't to say there's anything particularly wrong with my life now. Basket Case has simply inspired me to whine about everything... which of course means nothing... um, all at once.

Lest you be concerned about my perpetually negative mental state, let me share a few good things that my C-list college did net me... several good friends... a chance to play for a few years as a radio guy... an appreciation of all things beer and of course we can't forget... a pretty awesome wife. (I would have said that even if she hadn't brought home God of War for me this weekend.)