from Get Older to Ghetto Thang

Day 556, Session 104:
When/Where: Friday December 28th - Live from Vegas.
First song: Get Older by Matthew Sweet
Last full song: Ghetto Thang [Ghetto Ximer] by De La Soul
Progress: 1531-1538 of 5544
Total Songs Heard: 1242

Seems fitting that one of the songs from the last batch of the year would be Getting Better by The Beatles. As much as I whine and complain things really did get better in 2007. A small sampling (in no particular order:)

Upgraded to the fantastic new world of both HDTV and a DVR. I've always loved my TV and 2007 has made me love it even more.
Left a job that was no longer any good for me.
Remodeled our kitchen which included installing a dishwasher. I don't have a lot of relationship advice to give, but here's one thing that has served me well: If you're going to move in with your significant other, make sure you have a dishwasher.
Acquired a Wii, which has led to an unexpected amount of video game enjoyment (including watching my Dad play a video game for the first time in years and my Mom play for the first time ever.)
Performed another wedding.
Became a first time uncle.
Left Vegas ahead for the first time.
Watched my beloved Dayton Flyers win 2 games on ESPN.
Continued to have a great family and of course...
I have a fantastic wife.

Those are just things that I thought of while looking around my living room. I'm sure if I really put some brain power to it, I'd be able to come up with more.

There's no reason to think that pattern won't continue on into 2008. Whatever job I get next will have to be better than what I left. The kitchen remodel is the first (and biggest) part of our continuing efforts to make the house a home. The nephew will get out of that new baby phase and start to get to the age where you can really have fun with kids. Video games will continue to be fun. My cable system is adding more HD channels. Vegas... well, Vegas will probably get me back, but I still love Vegas. Dayton enters 2008 ranked! Hopefully I'll get to see family more. The wife will continue to be herself, which is to say, great.

Sorry if I've alarmed anyone with the unprecedented burst of optimism (even I'm surprised I didn't focus on Get Older,) but why not end/start the year on a positive note?

One more positive thing that will happen this year. Surely I will make more progress than the (pathetic) amount of progress made in 2007. It was a shockingly low number, even considering the 'break' I took to catch up. How low? Let's just say that 2 songs a day will be an improvement.

Getting Better - The Beatles

from Fun & Games to Get It Together

Day 546, Session 103:
When/Where: Tuesday December 18th - Running some Christmas related chores around the 'hood.
First song: Fun & Games by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Get It Together by Jackopierce
Progress: 1521-1546 of 5594
Total Songs Heard: 1234

First things first... let us all acknowledge the move from 'F' (last song: Future That Was) to 'G' (first song: G.O.D. which in this case stands for Good Old Days, but had an entirely different meaning in college when it was the wife's (then, the girlfriend's) BOX pledge name; and no, I'm not going to tell you what it stands for.)

Seems like I was in the 'F's forever. 193 songs isn't forever I guess, but considering it was still summer when the 'F's started and it was 3 days before winter when they ended, it certainly makes sense why it would seem that way. (Also, I still had a job when the 'F's started. In fact, the move that would eventually end with my quitting had just taken place.)

26 songs (most songs in a while) today but no giant I-have-to-write-about-this standout. Here's a Christmas sampler of music for your listening pleasure (no songs are Christmas related:)

Fun & Games - Barenaked Ladies
Is this a political protest song? Me thinks it is. I think this is one of the benefits BNL saw from releasing their Barenaked Ladies Are... cds on their own label. As much as I enjoy hearing a song about the complete boondoggle of a war we're totally stuck in right now, I can't imagine a major label would have given the ok to include such a song on a cd. The war in Iraq is another one of those things that I'm just not going to talk about here. But if you know how I feel about the completely corrupt and idiotic government that led us into this position, I think you can figure out how I feel about Iraq.

Fur Elise - Ludwig Van Beethoven
I taught myself how to play the main right hand part of this song. Unfortunately, I'm left hand stupid on the piano. I just don't understand chords. (I actually have the same problem with the guitar, which is why I continue to hesitate on signing up for banjo lessons.) Little known fact about me: I do everything right-handed except swing a baseball bat. Yep, I bat left-handed. Littler known fact: The only time I was able to hit 10 straight home runs in Wii Sports baseball, I did it hitting right-handed. Moral of the story, if I had switched to batting right-handed when I was a little kid, I probably would have been named in the Mitchell report last week.

Furry Old Lobster - Jonathan Coulton
This song is even more enjoyable if you have read John Hodgman's book. Oddly enough, after the song was released, an actual furry lobster was discovered. It's not the same lobster.

Gaelic Song - The Arrogant Worms
And the winner for best use of both strings and bits of the meow mix song goes to... this song. I'm sure if I spoke a Gaelic tongue this song would be even more moving.

Generator - Foo Fighters
This blogject very rarely rocks, so I thought it was important to point out a time when it does.

Get Back - The Beatles
When I was kid, I thought the first line of this song was, "Jojo was a man who thought he was a woman." This was in the days before I had heard of transvestites, so I thought this about the funniest opening line to a song ever. A man who thought he was a woman? That's just the sort of thing that will blow a 6 year-old's mind. Combine that with the later line (this one is real,)

Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
But she was another man

and I can honestly say that I didn't get this song at all, but I knew it was funny. Come to think of it, I still don't know what this song is about... except that it is not about trannies.

Get In The Car - Moxy Früvous
This one is a live recording from Canal Street Tavern in Dayton. I love every time I come across a track from that show, just wanted to share the love.

So that's about it. It's possible that this will be the last entry for a while (and yes, I'm happy to have ended up on song 1234.) The Wife and I head back to the family compounds for the holidays this weekend and I'm never sure if the computers back there are fully functional.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Have a safe and happy new year. Thanks for your continued visits. See you again soon.

from Fuckin' With My Head to Fumbling Towards Ecstacy

Day 534, Session 102:
When/Where: Thursday December 6th - During a quick walk around the neighborhood.
First song: Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) by Beck
Last full song: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan
Progress: 1514-1519 of 5568
Total Songs Heard: 1208

I find it somewhat hilarious that a guy who believes that all of our bodies are filled with the tortured souls of long dead aliens who were murdered by a galactic dictator wrote a song called Fuckin' With My Head. (Of course, people are free to believe what they want, and if you want to follow a religion founded by a science fiction writer, more power too you. Who knows, maybe in 2000 years L. Ron will be the next jeebus and Dianetics will be one more holy text that people can be sworn in on in court. (This is assuming of course that 2000 years into the future we're not being judged and juried by the robots that have turned against us. They probably won't have the need for us to swear in. They'll just use their robot nano-probes to drill directly into the truth centers of our brains (where they will, no doubt, find tortured alien souls shoveling coal into our brain engines.)))

Now who's crazy?

I'll tell you who's crazy: MC Chris. Crazy awesome that is. (Worst. Segue. Ever.) I present to you today Fuckin Up My Christmas. The timing seems pretty good as we're only 11 days away from celebrating when the son of god was born in a barn to a woman who conceived him without having sex. Uh oh, that sounds a little bit crazy too. Let's agree to never talk about religion again ok?

Warning: This song contains language of the adult variety (the title should have given that away) and has nothing to do with Christmas.

Fuckin Up My Christmas - MC Chris

MC Chris' first cd can be downloaded from his website.

from Friday The 13th to Frustrated Poet

Day 533, Session 101:
When/Where: Wednesday December 5th - Out in front of the house shoveling the first snow of the year, then back inside warming up and having lunch.
First song: Friday The 13th by Royal Crown Revue
Last full song: Frustrated Poet by Clem Snide
Progress: 1499-1513 of 5568
Total Songs Heard: 1202

The first snow of the season led me into another in a series of depressing realizations of adulthood. As I was shoveling the snow from our steps and small portion of sidewalk I remembered the days when shoveling snow was something that led directly to some form of payment (allowance from the parents or some small payoff from the neighbors.) Now, it's something I have to do because I own that small stretch of sidewalk. Ok, technically, I only own 1/3rd of that stretch of sidewalk, but I can hardly expect the neighbors to pay me for shoveling it seeing as how they do most of the yard work. Shoveling your own sidewalk... just one more "grown-up thing to do."

Previously I've had this same thought while mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, and writing a huge check for the kitchen remodel. I don't even know why it surprises me anymore. Although, I guess it's a good thing. When I get to the point where it no longer occurs to me how "grown-up" some of the things I'm doing are... well, that's probably when I will actually be a grown-up. And I'm certainly not ready for that.

I did feel good that I was shoveling snow as the song Frosty The Snowman came on. It's hardly the traditional arrangement. It's more like Frosty got sideswiped by Tequila (the song, not the drink) but it still counts. Just imagine a snowman on a Hawaiian island and you'll be all set.

Frosty The Snowman - The Ventures

from Freedom to Frenesi

Day 529, Session 100:
When/Where: Saturday December 1st - Driving back from Evanston
First song: Freedom by Blues Traveler
Last full song: Frenesi by Eydie Gormé
Progress: 1480-1485 of 5513
Total Songs Heard: 1187

One hundred times I've strapped the iPod to my head to listen to songs in alphabetical order. Well actually, that's a bit of a lie, sometimes I've plugged in an old cassette tape converter and listened in the car. This was one of those times.

Things kicked off with Freedom by Blues Traveler. The wife commented that she would have preferred if I had the song Freedom by George Michael. I explained to her that the song she was thinking of was actually titled Freedom! '90. You see, I was a big Wham! fan growing up and I knew that the song was titled Freedom! '90 to distinguish it from an earlier Wham! hit that was also titled Freedom. That's right, I knew that immediately and felt the need to share it. And now, apparently, I've felt the need to share it again. (For those of you reading this that are too young to remember, before being a solo artist, George Michael was one half of the group Wham!, thus the need to distinguish his newer solo song.) (For those of you reading this who are too young to remember George Michael as a musician... he was a punchline on late night talk shows for quite some time after being caught soliciting a male police officer in a public restroom.)

Sadly, despite the fact that I own "Make It Big" on record (that's right, actual record) I have not yet transferred it into my music collection. So you'll just have to take my word for it that Freedom by Blues Traveler, Freedom by Wham!, and Freedom '90 by George Michael are all different songs.



Freedom - Blues Traveler

from For the Widows to Free Ride

Day 515, Session 99:
When/Where: Saturday November 17th - At home while watching college football and playing a round of golf.
First song: For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti by Sufjan Stevens
Last full song: Free Ride by Nick Drake
Progress: 1441-1465 of 5472
Total Songs Heard: 1181

I'm off to Nashville to eat some southern fried bird and attend the last of my old college roommate's weddings. There will be a proper post about this set of songs later, but for now, I would just like to point out that I was right all along!

"John Mayer is an insufferable douchebag!"

Just remember, even though you're just reading about it on TMZ now, you heard it here first. I'd like to think one of the sites that led Mr. Mayer to his conclusion was this one (but probably not.) Thanks to Rachel for the heads up.

Proper posting resumes next week, when I discuss why the song Frank's 2000-Inch TV makes me both happy and jealous.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Frank's 2000-Inch TV - Weird Al Yankovic

from Food & Creative Love to For The Ladies

Day 497, Session 98:
When/Where: Tuesday October 30th - Wandering the aisles of Jewel, looking for walnuts.
First song: Food & Creative Love by Rusted Root
Last full song: For The Ladies by Stephen Lynch
Progress: 1396-1410 of 5401 (one duplicate skipped)
Total Songs Heard: 1156

So you'd think with me being jobless (5 weeks today) and all that there'd be a lot more writing around here. Yeah, I'd have thought so too.

Although I left the job 5 weeks ago, it was only this week that I finally severed ties completely. Up until Wednesday night I had still been taking part in the company bowling league. (Oddly, the initial reaction of many people when they found I was leaving was to immediately ask, "But you're not quitting bowling right?" I'm hoping this was because I was fun to hang out with at bowling and not because it's always challenging to find a sub.) The last night of bowling was weird because I realized that it really was the very last time I'll see many of those folks that I've been working with for the last 4+ years.

Since I quit I've had a lot of time alone with my thoughts (while not listening to music or writing obviously.) Upon full review, leaving was still the right thing to do. I was miserable at the job. I had been treated rather poorly and in turn allowed that to affect my job performance. Continually being questioned about my job performance was doing nothing to help my mood and the whole thing just kept cycling downward. A mature adult probably would have said to themselves, "Well I can't just quit my job without having a new job to go to, so I'll stick it out here until I find one."

Needless to say, I am not a mature adult. Maybe some day I will be, but not yet. So I left.

And here I am. Struggling to find purpose, (also porpoise, I haven't seen any dolphins anywhere) but in a better place I think. Even if I'm not, change is right around the corner. After all, I can't stay unemployed forever. The wife would kill me.

For Now - Avenue Q

from Flowers In The Windows to Fontanelle

Day 486, Session 97:
When/Where: Sunday October 21st - Aboard Southwest flight 499 from Philadelphia to Chicago.
First song: Flowers In The Windows by Travis
Last full song: Fontanelle by Clem Snide
Progress: 1385-1399 of 5413
Total Songs Heard: 1142

Synergy people, synergy. I hit the section of songs that start with the word fly while I was in an airplane, flying back from Philadelphia. You couldn't plan this stuff any better. I managed to hear seven 'different' songs that started with fly. Different is in quotes because they were actually only 4 different songs. I have 3 versions of Fly by Moxy Fruvous and 2 versions of Fly From Heaven by Toad the Wet Sprocket. As an added bonus, the other two fly songs were by the same guy: John Denver.

I'd be lying if I didn't say it creeped me out a little to hear John Denver singing about flying while I myself was in an airplane. Luckily my flight ended without incident (of course all of his flights did too until the last one.)

The reason I was in a plane to begin with? I was flying back from Philadelphia where I served as the officiant at my cousin's wedding. This was actually my second wedding as Reverend Matt. My first was last summer for my sister and brother-in-law. That one went extremely smoothly as they had written out every single word that I was going to say during the ceremony. I got a hold of everything with enough time to add a few personal touches. It ended up being a fantastic experience all the way around.

This past weekend was also an experience. Not as much content was written for me before hand (just the vows,) so I surprised myself by writing a 15-minute ceremony just a few hours before things were supposed to get underway. Things ended up going great and of course the important part was that the bride and groom were satisfied (and married) at the end... but man oh man was it stressful.

The good news is, if you're getting married and need a Reverend, I have a ceremony written and ready to go.

The final song of the day tied in nicely to the whole wedding vibe. Fontanelle by Clem Snide was the song that I danced with my Mom with at my wedding. Due to the song's prayer like quality, I actually wanted it as part of our ceremony but apparently the Catholics have rules about what can and cannot be sung in a church. But if you're going to have me do your wedding, you should know that I have no such rules. You can definitely use this song.

Fontanelle - Clem Snide

Oh, and just so you don't have to look it up... fontanelle is the soft spot at the top of a baby's head. (The title of the cd the song is on? "Soft Spot".)

from Flight to Flowers in December

Day 481, Session 96:
When/Where: Tuesday October 16th - Driving home from dropping a friend off at class.
First song: Flight vs. Invisibility by John Hodgman
Last full song: Flowers in December (live KCRW 1996) by Mazzy Star
Progress: 1381-1384 of 5413
Total Songs Heard: 1127

Perhaps you first met John Hodgman through his work on The Daily Show, or maybe you know him as the PC guy in Apple's commercials. I first got to know John Hodgman through his work on This American Life, specifically his Flight vs. Invisibility story in the "Superpowers" episode. The entire premise of the story is this... if you can be granted either the power of flight, or the power of invisibility (only one, no other super powers are offered,) which do you choose?

The story gives plenty of interesting ideas for ways to use each power, but it seems to center on one basic idea. Flight is more of a power for good, while invisibility is more a power for evil. Ok, maybe not evil. But there are definitely more nefarious uses that immediately spring to mind for invisibility.

And so obviously I choose invisibility. At least I did at first. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I would not be able to overcome the temptation that invisibility would have to offer. I would try to use my power to steal things and to sneak into movies and concerts and sporting events and other places that I don't really belong. And if I had the power of invisibility in high school? Man, you would have had to tie me down to keep me from trying to see live naked ladies. (Now, of course, I'm married and have no need whatsoever to even acknowledge the existence of other women.)

But if you have the power of flight... mostly good comes out to of that right? I mean, maybe I'd finally stop being late for things because of traffic or public transit. With an established flying speed of 1000 mph, it would take just about 30 minutes to go visit my new nephew (who I may now refer to as the 'newphew.') It would take less time than that to go visit the parents. I could fly to California or Vegas or London in an evening. What in this world is more valuable than possessions? Time.

Time > Stuff (even boobs)

So in the eternal battle of flight vs. invisibility, I'll take flying. You?
That's a hint, the comments are open.

Flight vs. Invisibility - John Hodgman

Updated 12/17/07: I've noticed update a fair number of people coming to this page in search of the above file, but it's only recently that I was informed that the link wasn't working. Try it again, I think I fixed it. Thanks for visiting...

from Fire to Flight Of The Passing Fancy

Day 460, Session 95:
When/Where: Tuesday September 25th - Sitting at my new desk at work. My third new desk this year.
First song: Fire by Josh Joplin
Last full song: Flight Of The Passing Fancy by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Progress: 1346-1369 of 5329 (1 skipped podcast)
Total Songs Heard: 1123

Way back in May I posted about the song First of May by Jonathan Coulton. Actually heard it in order today and it remains awesome. It also is one of those things that, when children eventually do come along, will lead to an awkward conversation. Instead of actually having that conversation, I plan on showing my future children this video.

(***WARNING*** this video contains scenes of animated debauchery and should definitely not be viewed by my parents.)



That way they'll also know more about World of Warcraft, a game their future father has spent way too much time playing.

I also heard Five Guys Named Moe today. If you ever have a chance to see the musical Five Guys Named Moe, I highly recommend it. The show features the music of Louis Jordan, who I happen to think is one of the great underappreciated figures in American music. I saw it at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. on a school trip. I remember thinking at the time how strange it was to be seeing a show at the same theater where President Lincoln had been assassinated (Abe and I were tight) but the music was so infectious that 10 minutes in I didn't give poor dead Linc another thought.

Hearing it again set me off thinking about how much I enjoy the sound of human voices in harmony. The moments in music of really good harmony are the moments that I tend to get goosebumpy. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation for why harmony is pleasing to the brain, but I'm probably not smart enough to understand it (feel free to try to explain it to me, I'll nod like I understand.) All I know is that if there had been harmonious singing in Our American Cousin instead of lines like "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal—you sockdologizing old man-trap..." there's no way Booth could have stayed mad enough to go through with the shooting.

Five Guys Named Moe

ETA: Oh yeah, I'm also leaving my job. So if anyone was ever thinking about approaching me about sponsoring this blog, now would be a good time.

Technical Difficulties

Hello,

We're having some technical difficulties at the moment. There may be a post before the end of the week, but more likely we will return to active blogging next week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Matt

from Figure It Out to Fiona

Day 449, Session 94:
When/Where: Friday September 14th - Home for the weekend, or at least for a few hours before hitting the road.
First song: Figure It Out by Maroon 5
Last full song: Fiona by the Argument
Progress: 1328-1341 of 5311 (1 skipped podcast)
Total Songs Heard: 1100

1100 songs! We haven't done this in a while, so let's take a look at some stats:

1100 songs in 449 days = 2.45 songs per day (a not unexpected down turn after a 4-month layoff)
5311-1341 = 3969 tracks to go
Of 1341 tracks so far, 241 (1341-1100) have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 17.9% skipped
3969-(3969*17.9%) = approximately 3259 songs to go accounting for skipped tracks
3259 songs/2.45 songs a day = 1330 days to go (3.6 years)
Estimated date of project completion = April 2011

More realistically we should be able to get the rate back up to around 5 songs a day (at least.) Which would make it more like:
3259 songs/5 songs a day = 652 days to go (1.8 years)
Estimated date of project completion = July 2009

Well folks, it looks like I'm in it for the long haul. Of course it's also possible that there are life changes coming soon that will allow me to devote a little more time to this project. At least we can hope.

I realize this was a pretty pointless post. For more interesting content, I point you toward more pictures of my nephew. That awesome remote control bouncy chair? From a pretty great aunt and uncle.

from February Stars to Figure Eight

Day 445, Session 93:
When/Where: Monday September 10th - Heading home after the start of another blah week.
First song: February Stars by Foo Fighters
Last full song: Figure Eight by Blossom Dearie (yes that is her real name)
Progress: 1303-1319 of 5303
Total Songs Heard: 1087

It's been a long and reasonably blah week round these parts. Still struggling with achieving a work/life balance that doesn't leave me mostly miserable most of the time. Here were the songs that were heard on this particular slog (train construction has made the average trip home (which used to be 30 minutes) take about 45, this one took an hour) of a trip home.

February Stars - Foo Fighters
Fee - Phish
Feeling Called Love - Pulp
Fell in Love - Moxy Früvous
Festive Overture - Dmitri Shostakovitch
Festive Road - The Divine Comedy
Fett's Vett - mc chris
Fever - Peggy Lee
Fewer Words - Badly Drawn Boy
fibber - dave matheson
Fiction - Garrison Keillor
Fifteen Keys - Uncle Tupelo
Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover - Simon & Garfunkel
Fight The Power - Barenaked Ladies
Fighting The Destroyer Droids - John Williams
Fighting The Guards - John Williams
Figure Eight - Blossom Dearie

My favorite tune from this group was Fett's Vett by mc chris. If you're an Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan, you may no may know mc chris better as MC Pee Pants/Sir Loin/Little Brittle. (If you're not an ATHF fan, then that last sentence probably made the least sense of anything I've written so far.) His first cd is available for download at his website. If you're into nerdcore rap, you should definitely pick it up. If you're not sure what the hell nerdcore rap is, take a listen:

Fett's Vett - mc chris

Lest I Eeyore this place up too much with my recent moping. I'd like to announce how happy I am to discover that this website is currently the #2 destination on the entire innerwebs if you Google the words: exploding hippos.

One more about the blog note: I've found a place online that will allow me to host mp3 files for free. I'm still not sure how exactly that site is supposed to make money or why it's free, so I also don't know what to expect as far as how dependable it is. If you try to play or download one of songs in a recent post and it's consistently unavailable let me know.

from Farewell to February

Day 440, Session 92:
When/Where: Wednesday September 5th - Post-work/Pre-bowling train ride home.
First song: Farewell And Goodnight by Smashing Pumpkins
Last full song: February by Dar Williams
Progress: 1289-1306 of 5321
Total Songs Heard: 1070

Just a few quick notes from what I heard yesterday:

Every time I hear it, I wish Farewell And Goodnight was a better song. With a title like that it seems like it would a great ending song to a mix tape/cd or, at the very least, would have been a good way to sign off the old Matt & Joey Show when our shift ended at 2am. Unfortunately, it's not that great. It's just kinda there. Attention musicians who read this blog, please record a better song with the title Farewell And Goodnight. Mix cds and late night college radio everywhere need it.

Father & Son by the artist formerly know as Cat Stevens contains one of my favorite ridiculous lines in all of musicdom:

You're still young, that's your fault...

Say what now?!? A father singing to his son is saying that it's the son's fault he's young? How is that possible? You are the age you are. At least until time travel comes along. I mean, if the father really wanted an older son, shouldn't he have gotten about the business of having said son earlier? That way the father could have been singing the same song at the same age, but the kid would be older. That seems like it's the father's fault, not the kid's!

If my Dad ever tried to give me advice and blamed me for the fact that I wouldn't get it because of my youth, I have trouble taking anything else he said seriously.

Oh shit. It just occurred to me that I may not understand that particular line of the song because I AM NOT OLD ENOUGH! Maybe in another 10 or 15 years it will make perfect sense. Remind me to revisit this entry in 2022.

February is one of the saddest songs I know. The lyrics are sad, the music is sad (especially the overriding cello,) the way the lyrics are sung (plaintive? I'm not good with words) sad. All the feelings of a relationship caught in a long slow death spiral equated to the month of my birth. Whether it be an actual romantic relationship, or your feelings towards your job, or a friendship that falls out of touch, eventually it all feels dark and cold and even when you try and dig out of the snow... the next day, it's snowing again.

And February was so long, that it lasted into March...

It really is a fantastic song. (As long as you like contemplative/sad/folky music.) It'll be linked up here later tonight. Here it is:

February - Dar Williams

from Fallin to Fare Thee Well

Day 435, Session 91:
When/Where: Friday August 31st - Heading home for the holiday weekend.
First song: Fallin by De La Soul Ft. Teenage Fanclub
Last full song: Fare Thee Well by Indigo Girls
Progress: 1268-1281 of 5288
Total Songs Heard: 1052

Passed the "Family" section of titles today, including the song Family Tree by Ben Kweller. I've actually been thinking quite a bit about the old family tree recently, what with my recently becoming an uncle and all. I've been lucky with my tree. It's been very straight forward and easy to understand. My parents have stayed together so there's no extra branching for step- or half- siblings. My grandparents were the same way, so there's only 4 of them to worry about. I grew up with all the parents and grandparents (along with a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins) involved in my life, so there's no tricky question marks along the way. Not that there's anything wrong with step-siblings or the occasional intriguing question mark, but my simple mind has enough trouble keeping track of the number of relatives I have.

4 grandparents (although I've had 6 grandparent figures in my life, the rest of the tree gets way complicated if I start down that road.)
2 parents
2 sisters
8 aunts & uncles related by blood (not counting their spouses)
13 1st cousins
and now 1 nephew.

Any theoretical kids of mine are going to have an even smaller tree than I do; the wife and I only combine for 3 siblings. I guess it's getting that way all over. As time goes on the family unit keeps shrinking. Don't need as many kids to mind the farm or to go to work to help pay the bills. I'm not doing anything to help the situation either. I wonder if somewhere down the line the ever shrinking American family will come back and bite us in the ass.

I suppose as long as we have die-hard Catholics and ineffective abstinence-only teaching in school we don't have much to worry about.

Family Tree - Ben Kweller

from F.O.D. to Fallible

Day 434, Session 90:
When/Where: Thursday August 30th - Desk to train, train to Belmont, 1.5 mile walk home.
First song: F.O.D. by Green Day
Last full song: Fallible by Blues Traveler
Progress: 1256-1271 of 5300
Total Songs Heard: 1038

The problem with occasionally posting to my MySpace blog, besides the inevitable question as to why exactly I have a MySpace account (the answer: I'm 12,) is that I ended up posting there something that would have fit in pretty well here. Or at least it would have fit in pretty well with the woe-is-me attitude of the more recent posts. Anywho, if you want to read it, there's a link over on the right.

And some good news (that still has nothing to do with music...) I am now officially an uncle. Congrats to the sister on the birth of Orion Francis. I've been holding off on that announcement until she posted about it on her own blog. Took her almost a week... I couldn't figure out why it took so long but then she mentioned something about having a newborn baby, so I guess that's understandable.

From the music front today I heard one of those songs that shocks me into remembering that apparently, I may actually have a romantic side. Fallen For You by Sheila Nicholls is from the High Fidelity soundtrack. (I've previously mentioned my affinity for that particular film.) It's a piano-driven gut punch tale of unrequited love; and really, who among us hasn't been there? She does a great job of laying out that feeling of longing for someone so much... and yet knowing it's just not going to work out. How you play that game with yourself of pretending like you don't care around the other person and yet wishing that they would see right through your facade. Such a pretty song; the type of thing you could play for a first dance at a wedding... until you listen to the words and realize that it's completely inappropriate seeing as how it's about specifically NOT finding love.

Kind of like how More Than Words by Xtreme sounds like a really nice love song until you listen to the words and figure out that they're basically saying, "If you really loved me, we'd be having sex right now."

Fallen For You - Sheila Nicholls

from Explanation to Ezekiel

Day 433, Session 89:
When/Where: Wednesday August 29th - Cursing the L for being too slow on the way home.
First song: Explanation by SNMNMNM
Last full song: Ezekiel 25-17 by Samuel L. Jackson
Progress: 1248-1255 of 5296
Total Songs Heard: 1022

The end of the E's comes not with a song, but with the clip of Jules Winnfield giving last rites to poor dumb Brett. Pulp Fiction was a phenomena of a movie for me. It was the last movie I've seen in a theater more than once. We actually saw Pulp Fiction in the theater 3 times. This actually said much more about the movie than you would think at first blush. (Is that even a phrase? Screw it, I'm keeping it.)

It was 1st semester freshman year of college and freshman weren't technically allowed to have cars on campus. The closest movie theater was out at the Dayton Mall which was a 25 minute bus ride from campus. Lucky for us, we were the type of freshmen who weren't getting into a lot of parties in the Ghetto (*cough* losers? *cough*) so we ended up on the bus (90 cents each way) out to the mall on multiple occasions the first few weeks of the year. It's strange for me to think back on it now and realize that I went with three different groups of people to see the movie, but I can't for the life of me think of who all those people were. At the time though it was a huge deal. Those first few weeks of school were so strange and I was so out of sorts... the fact that I had already made enough friends to go to see the movie three different times was somewhat of a relief.

If I had to guess, I would say that by the end of sophomore year I was only hanging out with one trip's worth of people. But by that time, that was ok. Routine had been established... that all important core group (the group I still talk to today) had been found. I didn't need to make a run with three different crowds.

These days that core group is scattered all over the place, but we're still in touch. The only problem is, I don't think I'm really friends with enough people here to justify taking 3 different trips. So I guess that's sad? I don't know. How many friends do you need as you get older? Hopefully not too many.

I have recently started taking the bus again. It's $2 a trip now.

from Evil vs. Good to Exotic Night

Day 431, Session 88:
When/Where: Monday August 27th - Struggling to stay awake on the train ride to work.
First song: Evil Vs. Good by Clem Snide
Last full song: Exotic Night by Martin Denny
Progress: 1241-1247 of 5301
Total Songs Heard: 1014

Is it a bad sign that while beginning to type this on Tuesday afternoon I was thinking that I had actually listened to these songs some time last week? In other words, the distance between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon felt like between 3 & 5 days, instead of the 30 hours it actually was. Something inside my head isn't working correctly at the moment. Time, which usually has a pretty consistent feel, has been moving in fits and starts for the last few months.

I'm blaming this latest spell on the current state of general upheaval going on around me. The job upheaval is detailed below. The other upheaval is happening at home. We're currently remodeling our kitchen (ok, we aren't actively doing it, but we're paying people to do it for us,) which is another one of those so-very-adult-things-that-kind-of-blows-my-mind things. (Like when I mowed my own lawn for the first time about a month ago.) The fact that I'm very excited by the prospect of new cabinets is foreign to my usual outlook (unless those cabinets have built in video screens.)

Turns out, in order to remodel a kitchen, you have to take it all apart first. So right now our house looks something like this:
Kitchen cabinets: In the basement.
Kitchen floor and counter: In a dumpster in the alley.
Refrigerator, Oven, Dishes, Glasses and all other small appliances: In the living room.
Kitchen itself: Empty.

No wait, that's not quite right...
Toilet: In the kitchen. (Oh man do I hope I don't get up in the middle of the night to take a sleep walking trip to use the bathroom only to stop at the first toilet I see.)

It's a little disconcerting.

So anyway... what was the point to all this? Oh, yeah. Due to both work and home life being out of order, my head is messed up.

If my head were in a better place, this would be the part where I would tie everything into one of the songs I heard. Maybe later.

The First 1000 Part 2

As promised, here is the link for the second .zip of the first 1000 songs mix.

From Can You Picture to El Fin - The First 1000 Songs (Disc 2)
1. Can You Picture That? - Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
2. Catch The Wind - Donovan
3. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
4. Cloak Of Elvenkind - Marcy Playground
5. Closing Time - Tom Waits
6. Cut Every Corner - The Simpsons
7. Dead - They Might Be Giants
8. Dear Chicago - Ryan Adams
9. Death Is Not the End - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
10. Did I Say - Teenage Fanclub
11. Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips
12. Don't Be Afraid Of Your Anger - Clem Snide
13. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
14. Dr. Worm - They Might Be Giants
15. Drown - Son Volt
16. Dutch Wonderland - Josh Joplin Group
17. Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot
18. El Fin de la Infancia - Café Tacuba

Many of these songs were also featured in earlier posts. Once I'm home from work, I'll probably link those up. If you're in a hurry you should be able to find them yourself, maybe you could use that search widget thing over on the right.

(Standard mp3 disclaimer applies here, please support the artists in this mix by buying a cd or tickets to a concert or something. Or even better, if you see them on the street, give them $5. That way the fat cat record company doesn't get a cut. If you are a fat cat record company and want me to remove any links, let me know.)

from Everything Old to Evil Genius

Day 424, Session 87:
When/Where: Monday August 20th - Fullerton to home.
First song: Everything Old Is New Again by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Evil Genius by Jonathan Coulton
Progress: 1227-1233 of 5271
Total Songs Heard: 1007

Usually I try to fill this space with memories that are inspired by the songs that come along, more or less avoiding discussion of day to day life. This time however, the song titles are too applicable to resist.

The last couple of weeks at work have not been fun.

Everything Old Is New Again: I've been in the same position for 3 years now, doing pretty much the same job for the last 2 years or so. At least that was the case until recently. A couple of weeks ago I was offered another position in the same department, but here's the fun part, it would be a completely lateral move (no pay/title increase) to work with a product I know nothing about and have no interest in. So I politely declined. I wasn't really interested in making my old job new again.

Everything Right Is Wrong Again: A weekend went by and I pretty much forgot about the other position. Monday came and I got back to work on the things that I did. It's not the best job I've ever had, but it's the longest I've ever been employed at one place and that means something right? Or in song title form... there must be something "right" about the place to keep me there, no? Yeah, well, 4 days after turning down the lateral move to a position I wasn't really interested in I was told that I was being moved to that position anyway. Now I'm now business expert... but that would seem to be a very "wrong" way to go about things. Don't offer me the choice of whether or not to move if there's no choice actually involved. So ever since, a place that previously had felt right enough, now feels completely wrong.

Everything You Know Is Wrong: The two years of knowledge I had gathered in my previous position? All wrong for my new position. It's so different from what I was doing before that I might as well be a new hire.

Good times.

Although I usually don't post later on Fridays, I should be posting part 2 of the First 1000 mix later today.

from Everything Flows to Everything Matters

Day 418, Session 86:
When/Where: Tuesday August 14th - Sitting in the house.
First song: Everything Flows by Teenage Fanclub
Last full song: Everything Matters by Glen Phillips
Progress: 1222-1227 of 5270
Total Songs Heard: 1000

8:20 pm - Song 995:
Everything Flows by Teenage Fanclub
The Teenage Fanclub greatest hits 'cd' that this song is from is the first thing I paid to download from iTunes. Out of the 5000+ songs I have I'd say I've downloaded less than 500 of them. I love me the internet but there's still something about having the physical cd in my hand that I prefer.

8:28 pm - Song 996:
Everything Had Changed by Barenaked Ladies
Oddly enough this song was also downloaded, not through iTunes though. Not illegally either! BNL are close the forefront of the modern music age. They made their most recent cds available for purchase from their own website with no DRM bullshit. Hooray for them. Of course it probably has a lot to do with the fact that they recorded and released this record on their own. They became the fat cat record company, except they decided not to be greedy fat cats. This song is heavy on banjo. I'm getting closer to signing up for banjo lessons. It might be the most ridiculous idea ever, but if I'm ever going to be in a band I have to play something besides violin.

9:00 pm - Song 997:
Everything I Try To Do, Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right by The Decemberists
If you're wondering why I went 30 minutes between songs... I just found banjo lessons I could sign up for. This song I downloaded from another blogger. (Thanks Gena!) Here's a thing I love about the interwebs. I probably would have never heard this song if she hadn't put it on her blog. Now... I'll probably end up buying The Decemberists at some point. Tell me why that doesn't work for the music industry? (Hmmm, somehow this whole count-up is becoming a DRM related rant. Perhaps this ties directly into the title of this song, trying something new doesn't seem to be turning out quite right.)

9:22 pm - Song 998:
Everything In Its Own Time - Indigo Girls
Ugh! I think I just drank a fly! When I came in tonight after work (soaked in sweat after walking the 1.5 miles home from the train station because I was too stubborn to wait for the bus) I must have let a fly in with me. Well, I've been enjoying a cool adult beverage as I listen and type and I'm pretty sure the fly flew into the can. As I slugged down the end of the can something solid ended up in my mouth. I spit back into the can and the solid thing was moving around inside. None of this has anything to do with the Indigo Girls or this song, but I've already told my favorite Indigo Girls story.

9:51 pm - Song 999:
Everything Is - Neutral Milk Hotel
I'm fascinated by musical acts that take on a pseudonym for what is basically a one man operation. Neutral Milk Hotel = Jeff Mangum, Badly Drawn Boy = Damon Gough, Pedro the Lion (a new addition, thanks Bob) = David Bazan. I think I need a pseudonym for this blog. Please leave suggestions in the comments (and don't bother with Badly Written Boy as I've already thought of it.)

10:15 pm - Song 1000:
Everything Matters - Glen Phillips
Here we are. A mere 418 days after it started this project is 1000 songs old. Glen Phillips tells me everything matters, so I'm going to take this moment to be happy with the fact that it's gotten this far. As I've mentioned before, as much as anything else this whole thing is simply an exercise in doing it. As the old saying goes... the first 1000 is the hardest, and we're there.

It should be cake from here on out.

More stats on the first 1000 and another set of songs for your downloading pleasure coming in the next few days.

A brief pause to reflect on 1000

One of the things I love about the more or less constant listening to my iPod is the way the ear buds do a really good job of blocking out the world around me. I don't have those fancy noise blocking dealees either, just a normal set of $20 replacements for the original iPod set that died out around song 400. (If you work for a company that supplies more expensive headphones and would like to send me a pair, please contact me. I'm sure we can work something out.)

The only downside is that constantly having buds in my ears leads to earritation (that's right, I went there.) I've been off the Pod the last few days letting my right ear return to normal. In the down time I've put together a mix containing the first 1000 songs. Disc 1 is available here. A bit of warning... if you're looking to rock, well you've forgotten most of the songs I've written about, and you're going to be disappointed.

(Standard mp3 disclaimer applies here, please support the artists in this mix by buying a cd or tickets to a concert or something. Or even better, if you see them on the street, give them $5. That way the fat cat record company doesn't get a cut. If you are a fat cat record company and want me to remove any links, let me know.)

Here's the track list, presented of course, in alphabetical order:

From 'Cello Song to Brother - The First 1000 Songs (Disc 1)
1. 'Cello Song - Nick Drake
2. Across The Universe - Rufus Wainwright
3. Act My Age - the Argument
4. Afternoons And Coffeespoons - Crash Test Dummies
5. All Over You - Live
6. And So It Goes - Billy Joel
7. Back - Barenaked Ladies
8. Beercan - Beck
9. Better - Jonathan Coulton
10. Beware, Brother, Beware - Louis Jordan
11. Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy
12. Bitches Ain't Shit - Ben Folds
13. BJ Don't Cry - Moxy Früvous
14. Blackbird - Sarah McLachlan
15. Boxing - Ben Folds Five
16. Broken Harpoon - The Jayhawks
17. Brother - Toad The Wet Sprocket

Feel free to follow the links above to some of the entries that mention the included songs. We'll hit song 1000 tomorrow night. I'll be "live blogging" the last few songs after work. Stop by if you have a chance. Thanks for visiting.

from Everyday Glory to Everything Falls Apart (or from ugh to yuck)

Day 412, Session 85:
When/Where: Wednesday August 8th - On the train from work to home.
First song: Everyday Glory by Rush
Last full song: Everything Falls Apart by dog's eye view
Progress: 1184-1192 of 5183
Total Songs Heard: 994

Not the best day of listening I've had. Rush continues to batter my eardrums thanks to the musical tastes of The Wife. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever heard her listen to Rush, but several of their cds somehow ended up as part of our music library and I know they're not mine. As for dog's eye view (their lowercase letters, not mine)... well the mid-90s were a time for taking a chance on music I hadn't heard before. For every successful exposure to groups like Barenaked Ladies and The Jayhawks, I have to retain a reminder of the groups that didn't work out.

Of course, can any song that contains the immortal line:

The devil's not in the details,
the devil is in my pants
It's shoot first, apologize later,
another quick end to a short shod romance

be all bad? I mean all guys should be willing to admit that the devil is in their pants, but it takes a real man to sing about how his premature ejaculation issue has soured another potential relationship.

Also included in today's listening was a great This American Life excerpt about a band that was put together entirely from the "musicians seeking gigs" section of the newspaper. This story (as well as seeing Ben Kweller in concert) makes me think that I would enjoy being in a band; which is unfortunate for me as I have neither a good voice nor any rock instrumental skill. I guess I'll have to stick with the improv as my creative outlet for now (shows the next two Saturdays, e-mail for details!) As I've mentioned before, This American Life is great. You can listen to the "Classified Band" episode here.

I realize I'm close to 1000 songs heard. I'm trying to think of something to 'celebrate' the occasion. Let me know if you have any ideas.

from Every Moment to Everybody Ready

Day 410, Session 84:
When/Where: Monday August 6th - On the train from work to home.
First song: Every Moment by Clem Snide
Last full song: Everybody Ready by Action Figure Party
Progress: 1173-1185 of 5185
Total Songs Heard: 985

Dear Poison,

While working on a project recently to listen to every song on my iPod, I came across your song Every Rose Has Its Thorn. This song brought back many fond memories of 1988 (ah, 7th grade... did I really call Mr. Ritts (the history teacher) a nazi in the middle of Mr. Batts' English class? Yes. Yes I did.) as well as memories of just about every night of karaoke I've ended up attending since. However, I feel it is my duty (19 years later!?! YIKES!) to inform you of a several very basic issues with some of the main points of your song:

Every rose has its thorn

Actually, if you check here, you'll see that there are several types of roses that don't have any thorns at all. While it is true that at one point every rose did have thorns to protect itself from potential predators (can plants have predators?) through the knowledge of hybrid and selective breeding it is now quite possible to grow a thornless rose. I suppose it's possible that the selective breeding/hybridization process had not yet perfected the thornless rose in 1988, so I'm willing to overlook this error.

Just like every night has its dawn

I'm assuming here that you're using the term "night" to mean the portion of the day that most people use for sleeping and not just any period of darkness. Of course we all know that astronomical polar night (the period that no trace of light can be seen anywhere) occurs for up to 179 days a year at latitudes above 84° 33′, which is exactly 18 degrees within the polar circle, or five and a half degrees from the pole. So in those areas the "night" doesn't necessarily have a dawn. Now perhaps you'll counter with the argument that there are no permanent human settlements at such latitudes. You'd be correct, but there are scientific stations in Antarctica that fall within this area. For those poor scientists, there are quite a few nights without dawns. (Also there are frequent run-ins with alien monsters. Mike, feel free to back me up on this.)

Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song

While I don't have proof that every cowboy doesn't sing a sad sad song. I would assume that only sad cowboys sing sad songs and yet if you google the phrases "happy cowboy" vs. "sad cowboy" you'll find that "happy cowboy" wins 14,300 to 556. There's no way that every one of the 13744 extra happy cowboys sing "sad, sad" songs. (One sad maybe, but not "sad, sad.")

So while I know it was your biggest hit, I find myself now unable to appreciate the song as much now that I know how untrue it is. I look forward to the corrected version on your soon to be released Poison:Revisited cd.

Sincerely,
Matt DiMarco
12-years old in 1988

p.s. What the hell is up with Bret? That dude is creepy now. The very concept of "Rock of Love" is horrifying.

On a completely different note, this set also brought me Everybody Hurts. Now there's a song that maintains the emotional wallop from the first time I heard it. As soon as I hear the first notes of that song I'm brought back to those weird days during the first weeks of college (when I really started listening to that cd) when I hadn't really found my stride and was trying to convince myself that I hadn't made some horrible mistake.

And finally -

Welcome to the 1000th visitor! If you're wondering if it's you, it probably is.

from Epitaph to Every Grain

Day 399, Session 83:
When/Where: Thursday July 26th - On the train from work to home.
First song: Epitaph by Badly Drawn Boy
Last full song: Every Grain of Sand by Moxy Fruvous
Progress: 1155-1170 of 5156
Total Songs Heard: 972 (skipped 3 podcasts)

The wife told me to add this: WARNING!! THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS A PICTURE OF MY FOOT. YOU MAY THINK IT DISTURBING.

If I had to pick out one line of music that summed up my entire life over the last 10 years or so, I'd probably have to go with this line from Evaporated by Ben Folds Five:

Woke up way too late, feeling hung over and old...

Which isn't to say I've woke up hung over every day for the last 10 years (although there have certainly been a *few* of those days,) but more days than not I do wake up feeling old.

Of course the song stops applying the very next line:

And the sun was shining bright, And I walked barefoot down the road

See, the thing is I would never wake up and exercise first thing in the morning. And even if I was going to walk down the road, I wouldn't walk anywhere barefoot. I wear shoes everywhere. I have baby soft feet. Don't believe me? This is a picture of my foot after the last time I walked barefoot:

That blister was shockingly deep. I couldn't walk normally for a week.

So to summarize:
Hungover and old? Yes
Barefoot down the road? No

from Englewood to Episode 22

Day 393, Session 82:
When/Where: Friday July 20th - On the train from work to home.
First song: Englewood by The Bogmen
Last full song: Episode 22: John Hodgman and the Furry Lobster by Popsci Podcasts (from the Moon)
Progress: 1132-1153 of 5184
Total Songs Heard: 959 (skipped 14 podcasts, listened to 1)

Have you ever heard a song written about Enrique Iglesias' mole?

Enrique Iglesias Mole - Clem Snide

Now you have.

It's songs like this the mystify me as to why Clem Snide isn't bigger. Of course than I think about how strange the song is and how that makes me perhaps the worst person ever to judge what music should be popular. Of course you've probably already come to realize that.

The song above comes from ClemSnide.org. It's from a live recording of a 2003 Chicago performance at the Empty Bottle. I was there. Apparently not only was I there, but I looked important. How important? Important enough for some guy to walk up to me before the show started, hand me a cd of his band and ask me to please listen to it. So I took it. And then I watched the guy, figured he'd go up to several other people and hand them cds.

Nope.

I watched him for about 15 minutes and he didn't approach anyone else. He must have known that I was only 2 years removed from the radio industry.

When I got home I listened to the cd and I actually liked it quite a bit. I figured his ploy had worked, because I was planning on actually going to see the band if I ever saw they were playing in town. Unfortunately, I never heard anything about them and have now forgotten their name. Oh well.
________

Speaking of live music... if you ever see that Ben Kweller is coming to a town near you, I highly recommend you go. Caught him last night at Schuba's and it was outstanding.

from Emaline to Enemy Fire

Day 391, Session 81:
When/Where: Wednesday July 18th - On the train and the bus from work to home.
First song: Emaline by Ben Folds
Last full song: Enemy Fire by Ryan Adams
Progress: 1131-1144 of 5204
Total Songs Heard: 951

So here I am minding my own business on the way home, when suddenly I here the train around me erupt in applause. I suspect someone has just foiled a purse snatcher (something I've seen once in my 4 years riding the train every day) or fallen over in some sort particularly hilarious way. But when I look around, no one is clapping or even moving around much at all. Finally I thought to look down at the iPod (don't ask me why it took me so long to think of the iPod) and realize that I'm listening to the "song" Encore Applause. This is why downloading live concert recordings is fun.

At first I couldn't believe how dumb it was that someone had taken the applause between the end of the first set and the encore and made it an entire track. Then I realized how genius it was. I love hidden tracks, but I hate it when the bonus track comes after 3 minutes of silence after the "final" song. It makes it a grand pain in the ass to use the bonus track in mixes (or playlists as iTunes wants me to call them.) So thanks to Heather who posted the Badly Drawn Boy concert recording that Encore Applause comes from. Despite my initial confusion, it's a great way to keep the feel of the whole concert there, while still allowing the listener to skip all the the clapping (all 4:30 of it.)

This stretch also took me through the End portion of song titles... quick notes on these titles and my life:

End Credits - It's always been a dream of mine to show up in the end credits of a real, released in the theater movie. I suppose it could still happen, but this particular dream seems a little bit further out of reach each day.

End It On This - As I was listening to this song I started thinking about how weird it must have been for No Doubt to hit big just as two members of the band were going through a romantic breakup. The romantic breakup part led nicely into...

End Of Love - I've only had two great romances in my life. One in high school and the current one (yep, married for two years and I still love The Wife. Hooray marriage!) I remember the exact moment that I knew that first relationship had moved from Love onto something else (which happily has turned out to be a continuing friendship.) Freshman year of college, I had come home to Philadelphia (I didn't live there any more) for Thanksgiving to visit. She had started dating someone at school (as per our unbelievably pragmatic agreement that it was unrealistic to continue our high school relationship into college. (some cutest couple we ended up being) (I will note for the record that I had also briefly dated someone soon after starting school)) but the first time we saw each other there was still something there... or at least I had hoped there would be. Those hopes were quickly dashed when we shared our first moments alone on the front steps of a friend's house. We shared a kiss. The kiss was utterly empty. I still remember the stomach punch feeling of the immediate aftermath as my heart said, "What the hell was that?" and my brain answered, "That was the end."

End Of The Day - I'm trying a new routine where I not ending my day until my body says I'm tired enough to go to sleep. So far it's resulted in alternating days of falling asleep at 11pm and 3:30am. I'm not sure this is the best plan I've ever thought of.

End Of The Movie - I have never walked out on a movie I have paid to see in the theater before it was over. Have you? If so, what movie was it?

from Elbow Room to ELT

Day 390, Session 80:
When/Where: Tuesday July 17th - On the train and walking along Belmont and on the bus from work to home.
First song: Elbow Room by Sue Manchester
Last full song: ELT by Wilco
Progress: 1128-1142 of 5200
Total Songs Heard: 937

Hey now. Let's hear it for progress. After a 169 day lay-off it's time to get moving again. Since we were last together I'm going to estimate that I've added about 500 songs... a few new releases by old favorites (both B.L.A.M. releases from BNL,) several old releases that were found during the great flood cleanup (I haven't heard Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos since freshman year) and some fantastic new discoveries (say hello to The Avett Brothers.)

Also since my last listen, iTunes has again changed the way they treat the alphabet as far as song titles go. "A" now apparently comes before numbers which would change the whole title of the blog. Bah, I wish they'd just make up their mind. Or here's a crazy idea... let the user choose how they want alphabetical order settings to work (for example, I want "M" before "G"... fuck you G!) and then let them keep it that way. Wankers.

One I got past the iTunes garbage plugging back into the music was great. I've spent so much time with various podcasts in my ear that getting the complete musical experience (instead of just public radio types talking) was refreshing. That sense of refreshment lasted all of one song. Then, about 15 seconds into The Beatles doing Eleanor Rigby, refreshment turned to befuddlement.

I thought either my iPod, my headphones, or my head was broken. Everything sounded normal until they got to the start of the first verse. Then, all of the sudden, for reasons I can't explain, as Paul starts the verse the vocals cut out of my left ear and come up exclusively in my right. This lasted until the chorus, when voices returned to both ears, but different vocal parts came from each side. It was like The Beatles were standing around me singing the song, which was cool but also disorienting. Paul was always on my right no matter which way I turned.

Here, take a listen for yourself (headphones recommended for full effect):

Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

So I guess my question is was it recorded this way on purpose, or do I just have a bum copy of "1?" (the greatest hits compilation) I don't suppose anyone out there has a copy of "Revolver" that can determine whether it sounds that way on the original album? Or if someone could at least listen to their copy of "1" to see if it does the same thing. Thanks.

Regardless, it was a good day. Music made the commute (which clocked in at almost an hour today, yuck) fly. I should try this more often.