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.

Wednesday November 22 - Afternoon

Day 153, Session 55:
Location: On a less crowded than usual train because most folks have already left work because of Thanksgiving, heading towards home.
First song: Concerto No 1 in E major "Spring" Largo e pianissimo sempre by Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Last full song: Congratulations by Mink
Progress: 687-699 of 4446
Total Songs Heard: 646

The rest of VIVALDI'S (ugh, so dumb - see last post for more details) The Four Seasons today. Logically it would seem to make sense now to have a four seasons breakdown!

Spring - I like spring, but I don't love spring. Sporting wise, spring is big. My two favorite sporting events happen in spring, the NCAA tournament and the Stanley Cup playoffs. Baseball season starts in spring too. My favorite part of spring is that first warm day each year where it really smells like spring for the first time. The whole feeling associated with that day usually drives me into a manic episode where I feel high (or what I would assume feeling high feels like anyway.) On the downside, I actually prefer snow to rain. I think I've also developed allergies over the past couple of years and spring is no good for that. As far as the music goes, I recognized 2 of the 3 sections of Spring. I'm pretty sure one of them is used in the Fancy Feast cat food commercials.

Summer - Is it weird that I'm not a big fan of summer? Obviously when I was in school summer was great because there was no school, now though where's the advantage to summer? A lot of people like spending time outside... I'm not one of those people. I don't like it hot. Heat and humidity leave me a lot more uncomfortable than cold and wind. I don't like that there's only baseball available. I suppose I like more daylight, but that's not huge for me. I hate bugs and summer is full of bugs, especially bees and those stupid house centipede dealees. Once could kill me and the other is super gross. TV is all reruns, boo! Oh, I do enjoy people watching more in summer, but my bathing suit body isn't what it used to be (not that it was ever anything (unless you like ribs)) so I don't feel as comfortable being people watched in the summer. For the music, I didn't recognize any of the sections of summer, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like the familiar.

Autumn - Now we're talking. Football! Bugs die! The first crisp air day has a very similar effect on me as that first spring day. I like wearing a wind breaker. Did I mention football? Plus hockey and college basketball both start in Autumn. There's new TV too! Yeah, I'm a big fan of autumn. Summer is usually hectic with weddings and vacations and long nights and time away... autumn it all calms down again and I can settle in at home with a sandwich and watch football. Didn't recognize any of the Autumn music right away.

Winter - You would think being in cold Chicago would make me hate winter. Not so. I like winter. My theory is, no matter how cold it is outside, it's always nice and warm once you're inside again. I enjoy layering sweatshirts and coats and gloves. I even like scarves now (for a long time I thought a scarf was a sign of weakness, oh how the midwest has taught me.) Mostly though, I like holing up. Coming in, shutting out the outside world, plopping down on the couch under a blanket and enjoying my warm space at home. If I have a cup of hot chocolate (and maybe that's got some Bailey's in it) all the better. Oh yeah, and Christmas!!! The winter music was good.

Final tally, my favorite seasons (as inspired by Vivaldi): 1. Autumn 2. Winter 3. Spring 4. Summer
Final tally, favorite among Vivaldi's Four Seasons: 1. Spring 2. Winter 3. Autumn 4. Summer

Wednesday November 22 - Morning

Day 153, Session 54:
Location: On a train more crowded than usual with holiday travelers, heading towards work.
First song: Comfort Eagle by Cake
Last full song: Concerto No. 1 in E Major "Spring" Allegro (Dabza Pastorale) by Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra*
Progress: 669-686 of 4446
Total Songs Heard: 633

Skipped one NPR Sunday Puzzle podcast. The wife and I like to listen to those together, since she wasn't on the train with me I didn't listen to it.

Started in on some Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Back in the day when not everyone had the opportunity to get themselves heard on the internet any time they wanted (thanks blogger!) I used to try to take part in a lot of chats on espn.com. I always tried to ask completely different non-sports questions, cause, you know, I thought that'd be a "cool" way to set myself apart and increase the chances of my name appearing in the chat. My favorite answer to one of my questions came from ESPN's John Buccigross. I asked who he preferred Tchaikovsky or Vivaldi? The answer... Vivaldi, because he really liked the "Four Seasons:" football, baseball, hockey and basketball. I thought that was a pretty good answer.

In the middle of one of the classical tunes I swear I heard someone cough during the recording. I found this hilarious! If I can manage to extract it from the song I'll post it later. Imagine all that hard work to capture the sound of an entire orchestra... and then someone coughs! (Ok, maybe only I find it funny.)

*Oops... and boo for me! For about 12 hours this song was credited to Simon and Garfunkel. And, super fantastic double boo, for the last 5 days I've been crediting Tchaikovsky with writing "The Four Seasons." Yeah, it wasn't. It was Vivaldi. Sweet jeebus I've gotten dumb recently. (Although I was still speeling Tchaikovsky correct from memory.)