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