from I Am Part... to I Can't Wait

Day 793, Session 135:
When/Where: Thursday August 21st - Another jog/walk up and down the street.
First song: I Am Part Of A Large Family by Great Lake Swimmers
Last full song: I Can't Wait by William Topley
Progress: 2068-2078 of 6049
Total Songs Heard: 1712

I've picked a bad weekend to go out of town. If you're in Chicago this weekend (perhaps you're coming into town to take my place as I head out,) I recommend setting up camp at Schubas. Friday night at 10 you'll get to see Great Lake Swimmers. GLS are Canadian and relaxed and folksy which are all things I tend to like (man do I miss Fruvous.) While I've never seen them in concert, if I was going to be in town I'm pretty sure I'd find their show to be a place where I could sit back and be enveloped by the music. And yes, I realize that wanting a concert to be a relaxing experience is just one more sign of my march into old.

I Am Part Of A Large Family - Great Lake Swimmers

Saturday night at 7, Garrison Starr is back in town. You may remember Garrison from this post. Well besides the fact that she was fun to hang out with, Garrison also put on a great show. I think this will make the 2nd time she's been back to Chicago since that awesome drunken karaoke filled night, and it's also the second time I'll be out of town. Again, if I were here, I'd be there. (She's appearing with Jim Bianco. I don't know him. I'll assume Jim is the brother of my middle school principal Mike Bianco, so don't misbehave or he may give you detention.)

I won't be at the shows this weekend because I'll be in Sea Isle City hanging out with the family and celebrating the first birthday of my nephew Orion.

Check this kid out:


Pretty awesome I know. In the hopes of eventually helping out the national team, this weekend I'm going to teach him to fall down and roll around on the ground in pain any time someone bumps him when he's near the ball.

So what kind of gifts do I get for a 1-year old? Music of course. Snack Time from Barenaked Ladies and Here Come The ABCs from They Might Be Giants. Sure the kid is only one and may not get them yet, but what does anyone really 'get' when they're one?

It should be a fun weekend. Hope your weekend is fun too.

(and yes, I realize it is somewhat shocking that I've posted twice in less than 24 hours.)

from I've Got Dreams... to I Am Not...

Day 789, Session 134:
When/Where: Friday August 15th - Puttering around the house
First song: I've Got Dreams To Remember by Oh Susanna
Last full song: I Am Not The Only Cowboy by Josh Joplin
Progress: 2056-2070 of 6038
Total Songs Heard: 1701

When I was thinking about going to college, there were two things I was sure I wanted to do:

1. Play ultimate frisbee.
2. Sing in an a capella group.

(Ok sure, there were other things that almost all teenage guys have on their list of things to do in college, but you all have active functional imaginations, so I'm not typing them out.)

I ended up doing neither. There was ultimate frisbee at Dayton, but it wasn't nearly as big as I had heard of it being at other schools. There was a club team, but no intramural league. I wasn't nearly committed (or skilled) enough to play on a club team. I don't think I really missed it that much. I played a lot of pick up volleyball and basketball, at least until drinking and bar trivia became my full time sport of choice.

I was however disappointed that I was not part of an a capella group. I had a pretty good excuse though. There was no a capella at Dayton. At least not in the 4.5 years I was there. I always found that strange. I thought a capella groups sprouted up at colleges like foot fungus in dorm showers. I guess I was wrong. I suppose it's ok though. I doubt any group I'd have been in would have been able to do anything as good as this:

I've Gotta Get A Message To You - Moxy Fruvous

Edit - Damn it. This was actually day 787, not 789. (Passing math classes was another thing I didn't do in college.) Fuck it, I like the song, I'm leaving it.

from I'm So Happy to I've Changed

Day 778, Session 133:
When/Where: Wednesday August 6th - Out for a jog up and down the street.
First song: I'm So Happy by The Interiors
Last full song: I've Changed (alternate version) by Josh Joplin Group
Progress: 2045-2062 of 6018
Total Songs Heard: 1686

The summer after 7th grade my parents sent me on my one and only trip to summer camp. It was 2 weeks in the Poconos with my friend Pete and an international house of pancakes of cabin mates. Besides me and Pete, there was a French guy named Chuck (whose real name it turned out was Florian,) a German guy named Janko (who enjoyed eating ketchup sandwiches for every meal of the day,) a counselor from New Zealand named Darren who pronounced the word aluminum ah-loo-min-ee-um (which eventually caused me to almost punch my 8th grade science teacher in the face,) and a Chinese guy named Ben (who didn't say more than 10 words the whole 2 weeks I was there (we got along great btw.)) There were also 3 other American kids in the bunk, but one of them was a big dumb lunk who wasn't exactly skilled at English either.

Communication was difficult sometimes. Luckily we all spoke the language of Anthrax. Yep, Anthrax. I'm The Man is only Anthrax song I have in my collection. Actually, it's the only Anthrax song I've ever heard. It's a pretty stupid song actually, but it really spoke to the mismatched band of teenagers in the Arapahoe bunk. Probably has something to do with the swearing and the undeniable Hava Nagila hook.

I'm The Man - Anthrax

According to Anthrax, this is also the first ever merger of rap and metal. If you're like me and generally dislike that type of music, now you know who to blame.

In other news, congrats to I've Changed by Josh Joplin (in solo, Band, and Group forms.) I've Changed now claims the title of most versions of one song with 5.

from I'm Having A Heart Attack to I'm So Afraid

Day 758, Session 132:
When/Where: Thursday July 17th - Back and forth to the Gold Coast to drop off some abandoned items.
First song: I'm Having A Heart Attack by They Might Be Giants
Last full song: I'm So Afraid by Fleetwood Mac
Progress: 2136-2150 of 6066
Total Songs Heard: 1668

All "I'm" songs today. So let's see if they apply:

I'm Having A Heart Attack - They Might Be Giants: When I was still living in Dayton I spent an entire day sitting on the couch having chest pains every time I took a breath. Since I'm still here, I'm pretty sure I was not having a heart attack.

I'm Having A Party - Jonathan Coulton: I can't think of the last time I actually had a party at home (like in the song.) We'll occasionally have some people over, but never enough to have a full fledged party. The last party I was involved with was the Wing Night flip cup tournament at The Playground. It actually went really well. Maybe I should have more parties.

I'm Just A Bill (x2) - Deluxx Folk Implosion & Jack Sheldon: I don't mean to tell you how to educate your kids (you know, if anyone reading this actually had kids) but you could do a lot worse than using Schoolhouse Rocks. I'm sure I learned about the process of how a bill becomes law in school, but I remember the process because of this song. (They should probably record a new version that mentions how the doesn't necessarily have to obey the new law. Hooray for presidential signing statements. Viva La Bush!)

I'm Looking Through You - The Wallflowers: I've often wondered what having the power of x-ray vision would be like. Would you constantly have to adjust the amount of x-rayness you're using? Sure seeing through that hot chick's t-shirt might be cool, but seeing through to her muscular-skeletal structure, not so much.

I'm Nice - Wally Pleasant: I struggle with this one. On one hand, I'm nicer than people who would generally be described as assholes. On hand the other, I'm always very aware that there are nicer people than me around. I wish I was nicer and have on occasion made efforts to be so. The problem lies in my sense of humor. Humorous words often escape my mouth before they've had a chance to run through the censor in my brain. Those words are not always nice, or at least they seem that way if you don't get the fact that I'm just being funny. So yeah, I wish I were nicer... or that other people were smarter so they could understand me better. Idiots.

(I'm Not In) Prison - The Jayhawks: I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today - Avenue Q: (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone - The Monkees: I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen: True. False. True. False.

I'm Only Sleeping - The Vines: Most of the time when I dream, I'm aware that it's a dream. If a dream starts to get uncomfortable, I will either take control of the situation or remind myself that I'm only sleeping. This has not prevented me from being crushed by killer robots in my dreams, but I believe it has kept that dream death from carrying over into real life.

I'm Outlived By That Thing? - Crash Test Dummies: I'm just going to assume Crash Test Dummies were watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel when writing this song and therefore "That Thing" = Shark. Sharks have been the practically the same for 100 million years. Homo Sapiens have been around for about 250,000. Unless we manage to extinct them completely we'll be outlived by sharks.

I'm Sensitive - Jewel: As much as it pains me to admit it... I am sensitive. Seriously. I know I don't come off that way, but I'm probably half a step away from openly weeping right now. Oh shit! Here comes that Applebee's commercial again!

I'm So Afraid (x2) - Fleetwood Mac: I'm so afraid of posting this and revealing my terrible secret about the Applebee's commercial.