from Jealous Minds Think Alike to Jessica

Day 1622, Session 161:
When/Where: Tuesday November 30th - Jewel on Ashland
First song: Jealous Minds Think Alike by You Me At 6
Last full song: Jessica by They Might Be Giants

Progress: 4616-4631 of 10907
Total Songs Heard: 2076

True story: I posted this update and almost immediately the occasional blue screens my computer had been giving me, turned into an unsolvable epidemic of BSODs.  One trip to the shop later and things still weren't better. Now my computer won't even turn on. We believe the cause of death is ruptured motherboard.  At this point I'm still working on the assumption that it is a coincidence that I posted here and my computer immediately decided to die... but if the wife's computer dies tomorrow, then I may have to give up this project for good.

Lots of "J" girl names on this day. Let's see what we can do with that...


Jen Brewer and Jen Pike by Moxy Fruvous - I was in several shows in college with Jen V. Her first book is about to be published. I think that's pretty awesome. Jen G. and I met randomly over the internet my freshman year. She was from Texas. In spite of that, we got along very well. I once wrote an article about her for a journalism class. I got an A on the article.


Jenifa Taught Me (2 versions) by De La Soul - Though I've never actually known a Jenifa, I was once taught an important lesson by a Jennifer.  In 5th grade there was a girl in my class named Jennifer G. She was generally regarded as the good looking girl in class. Though I was not the most popular kid in my elementary school class, I thought I was generally well regarded for both my intelligence and sense of humor. Jen G threw a halloween party that year. As far as I remember everyone in my class (even "the smart kids" that I generally hung out with) was invited to that party. Everyone that is (as you've probably already guessed) except me. Jenifa taught me what I had suspected but had yet to confirm: Being smart /= being popular.


Jennifer Burnett by Moxy Fruvous - When I was a freshman in high school I joined the school "literary" magazine. I've always been a crap writer, so why would I do that? Why does any high school boy do almost anything? Cute girls. One of the editors of the magazine was a senior who was both cute and funny in a way that seemed very mature to me at the time. During one of the discussions of a submitted piece I said something that I probably pulled out of my butt. Jennifer M said, "That was cute." Then she kissed me on the cheek. I remember 1) turning a bright shade of red and 2) Thinking that just maybe smart/funny was going to work out after all.


Jennifer Save Me by Golden Smog - I've actually known several more that go by Jen, Jenny, or Jenni (just off the top of my head: a cousin, 2 friends wives, another college friend from theater, a former neighbor...) apparently variations on Jennifer were big from 1974-1981.


Jenny Washington by Moxy Fruvous - Jenny S. was my second girlfriend. I've previously mentioned that "relationship," but I thought I'd actually include her name here because hey, if someone was writing a blog post about me, I'd like to be able to randomly find it someday with the google. That's why I included all the real names in this post (not anymore, that's the update that happened in 2023.)  Hello Jennifers of this post, you all still have a place in my head.


Jessica by They Might Be Giants - My friend Dan Telfer from his stand up set a few years ago:

from Invisible to Island

Day 947, Session 153:
When/Where: Thursday January 29th - At home.
First song: Invisible by Modest Mouse
Last full song: Island by Ben Taylor
Progress: 2713-2728 of 6761
Total Songs Heard: 1995

Freshman year of college I made the 9 hour drive from Dayton to Philly to spend the first major break with my high school friends (oh, and I suppose to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family on Dad's side.) The night before Thanksgiving I went out to dinner with my friend Liv and his family (who had really been my second family when I lived away from my own senior year) and a bunch of their family friends. We went into the city and had dinner in Chinatown. It was a big group, probably 15 people or so, and when I looked around I noticed one small difference between me and everyone else at the table: I was the only person not speaking Chinese.

That wasn't the only thing I noticed when I looked around. Two tables over there was a girl. Well ok, there was a girl and her family, but I didn't really see the family. She looked to be college aged and she was very very attractive. Since I was having trouble following the conversation at the table, I found my eyes wandering over to the girl about every 6.5 seconds. (That may be an exaggeration. It was more like every 2.1 seconds.)

Sometime right after I finished my soup, something strange happened. I looked over, and the girl was looking at me. Knowing I had been caught, I immediately became very interested in the silverware pattern the restaurant was using. (Would it surprise you to learn that I was the only one at the table who needed silverware? I didn't think it would.)

Of course, my sense of shame doesn't run all that deep, so a minute or two later I ventured another glimpse at this (now elevated in my mind to "heavenly") girl and lo and behold she was looking at me AGAIN! This time she looked away. I immediately elbowed my friend Liv and asked him if he had seen what just happened. Of course I managed to ask him right as everyone else at the table had gone quiet. Seems someone at the table was in the middle of a prayer. Guh.

After I was sure praying was over, I again asked Liv to take a look over at the girl to a) confirm that she was hot and 2) see if she was looking over. His answers, "YES!" and "yes?!?" Well, now I was just confused. I looked over again and we had our first extended eye contact. We shared hellos from across the room. She indicated that she noticed the "one of these kids is not like the other" eating situation. I gave it a smile and a shrug.

Dinner arrived so I turned my attention to eating. We stole occasional glances for the next 15 minutes while I planned my next move. Seriously? I had no next move. What was I going to do, get up in the middle of dinner and walk over to her and tell her that even though I was only going to be in town for three days and even though the next day was Thanksgiving I wanted to spend as much of the next 72 hours as humanly possible with her because even though we hadn't spoken a word I had fallen utterly in love from the other side of the restaurant?

But then, why not? I was 18. Anything seemed possible.

I had just about worked up the nerve to excuse myself to "look for the restroom." I looked over to try to get her attention to "arrange the meet" and she was gone!

Well, she wasn't quite gone yet. Her family was walking toward the door. She was looking at me and our eyes locked. She stopped at the door for 3 seconds that stretched on for days, smiled sadly, waved, and slipped through the door and out of my life forever.

An Irishman In Chinatown - Luka Bloom

from If I Had $1,000,000 to If I Had...

Day 874, Session 145:
When/Where: Monday November 17th - Afternoon chorefest: car/Jewel/home
First song: If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: If I Had A Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn
Progress: 2133-2141 of 6069
Total Songs Heard: 1868

First of all, once again, F you iTunes. I won't bore you with the details of exactly why it happened, but when I started iTunes this morning, I had to rebuild my iTunes library. Just like the last time, after the initial rebuild, I had to re-rebuild the library because iTunes couldn't find over 1000 songs. I can understand why it would miss those songs since they were hidden away... in the iTunes folder. It's not a huge deal, except for the part where a big part of doing this project right means being able to track stats. Now all the stats are f-ed.

Anyway...
9 tracks, but only 4 different songs today. Started with 3 versions of If I Had $1,000,000. This is the song that launched my fandom of BNL. I had never heard of Barenaked Ladies (despite my affinity for scantily clad women) before my freshman year in college. 2nd semester Joey and I got a radio show and BNL showed up on our playlist. We were hooked immediately.

That started a whirlwind affair with BNL that saw me attend something like 8 shows in the space of 18 months. Of course this was also pre-One Week which meant you could go to a BNL show and actually get to be close to the band and do fun things like throw mac and cheese at the stage when they sang the "we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner" line. I still love the guys today, but it hasn't been the same since their shows moved from mid-sized clubs into full-sized arenas.

If I Had $1,000,000 is also my "go to" karaoke song. The down side is you need someone to sing it with you, so I've occasionally ended up singing it with complete randoms. The upside is when you have someone who knows the song as well as you do, it's always a crowd pleaser. Kaylor and I have gotten compliments from strangers after our rendition.

If I had $1,000,000 I'd buy something nice for the wife, then we'd take a fun vacation. I'd bank the rest and attempt to live off the interest. After building up a few years of interest I'd probably buy a new place to live. I like where I live now, but if I could buy a really nice new condo or single family place that'd be even better. The new place would have a game room and I would buy an Addam's Family pinball machine and a pool table for that room.

I'm guessing everyone here is familiar with the song, so instead of the Gordon version here is live version from a 2004 Philly concert:

If I Had $1,000,00 - Barenaked Ladies

The 2nd song (actually the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th) heard was If I Had A Boat. It's a Lyle Lovett song, but the Lyle Lovett version is the last one I actually heard. I first found the Dave Matthews Band thanks to Napster in 2000, then the Eddie From Ohio and Jimmy Buffett covers. It's one of those songs that speaks to me for some reason. I think it's my chronic urge to get away from things.

If I really had a boat, I'm sure I'd have no idea what to actually do with it. I'm don't think I would take it out onto the ocean. Knowing me I'd sink the thing 1st time out. If I'm going to sink a boat I'd rather do it in a nice recreational lake. So I guess that means I don't really want to get away from things, I just want to be somewhere I can float and drink a beer. The pony would be a nice though. I could rent it out for kids parties and finally have a source of income. That is assuming of course that you make more money renting a pony out than you spend on the costs of pony upkeep. This may be a losing proposition all around.

If I Had A Boat - Lyle Lovett
If I Had A Boat - Eddie From Ohio
If I Had A Boat - Jimmy Buffett
If I Had A Boat - Dave Matthews Band

So if you had $1,000,000 and/or a boat (and pony,) what would you do?

from I Wish to If I Ever Feel Better

Day 870, Session 144:
When/Where: Thursday November 13th - Car/Post Office/Best Buy/Car
First song: I Wish by Skee Lo
Last full song: If I Ever Feel Better by Phoenix
Progress: 2175-2192 of 6109
Total Songs Heard: 1859

I Wish - Skee Lo
Despite the fact that I'm almost exactly the average height for a white male I think, like Mr. Lo, I will always wish I were a little bit taller. 6 foot even would be awesome, but unless I'm having the world's most delayed growth spurt I don't think that's going to happen.

I'm still bitter that I was ripped off by puberty. Other guys I knew went through growth spurts, adding 5 or 6 inches of height in the course of a few months. I never spurted (and yes, let's all take a moment to giggle at the fact that I just typed that.) I think I was something like 4' 10" when I was 12. 6 years later I had topped out around 5' 9" but at no point during that time did I grow more than 2 or 3 inches in a year. I had one friend who grew 6 inches between the end of one school year and the start of the next. One minute we were approximately the same height, next thing I knew he turned out 6' 6".

Maybe it's a little harder for tall guys to find clothes that fit but that's about the only disadvantage I see. I'm a firm believer that at general admission concerts, there should be a line on the floor that separates the crowd into those under six foot (the front) and those over (the back.) Ladies if your 4-inch heels put you over, it's behind the line for you. (You deserve the back anyway. Who wears 4-inch heels to concert?)

(I became reacquainted with Skee thanks to the flashback inducing "It Came From The Nineties" feature at Can You See The Sunset... If you'd like to share in the time travel, I suggest checking it out.)

I Wish I Could Go Back To College - Avenue Q
It has occurred to me during my period of unemployment that I could go back to college. Unfortunately going back to college would not solve the fundamental question: "What do I want to do with my life?" At this point, people go back to college with a specific goal in mind. Until I have a better idea of what that is, going back to college would be a lot like unemployment only with a lot more textbooks and a tuition bill where there currently isn't one.

If I Could've Been - Working
In case you didn't notice, I'm featuring back to back songs from musicals. You probably didn't notice because if you haven't been in the musical Working, you probably haven't heard of it. It's based on a book of conversations about people's jobs by Studs Terkel (R.I.P.)

As tempting as it is to take this song as another opportunity to complain about the current state of things and what I could've been*, instead I'd like to point out two things:
1) The end of the first verse "A tower of strength, a center of power, for TEN BUCKS AN HOUR." This musical was developed in the '70s. Many of the people featured had jobs at the lower end of the job scale and yet they were still making (and rolling their eyes) at ten bucks an hour! Ten dollars an hour in 1970's money is something like $47.69 an hour now and yet many of the jobs I see everyday in my search for work are still offering $10 an hour**! (and I live in a big city!) I guess what I'm saying is... Where the hell did the economy go completely off the rails (I'm blaming trickle-down Reagan when executive pay started expanding greatly while base employee pay didn't move much) and what the hell is it going to take to get a real living (minimum) wage bill passed in this country??
2) We did this song in my college production with different folks soloing each verse. If you want to try to imagine me on stage pay attention to the second verse. (From "If I could've done..." to "Paid all my bills.) I enter slowly from stage left in my meter reader costume. It sounds just like this except an octave lower***, without any vibrato, and without any of the vocal flourishes. Once my solo is done, I'm going to find a seat and sing the chorus parts as more folks come on stage and we rebuild to the tableau that we started the show with. I loved this show and will surely be mentioning it again in the J's.

*If you've read the whole post you know that if I could've been something different, it would've been taller.
**Which isn't to say that there shouldn't be some $10 jobs. Temporary seasonal employment, fast food, dog walker...sure. It's when I see jobs with titles like "Marketing Associate" and "Executive Assistant" that want a college degree and experience offering $10-12/hr that I shake my head.
***Despite not getting the growth spurt part of puberty I did get one overnight adjustment. I went from pre-pubescent alto to pubescent baritone overnight. Which in retrospect was kind of great. I avoided the whole voice cracking a lot stage, and the juxtaposition of my size vs. my voice's pitch was quite a surprise in the school choruses I performed in back in the day.

from I Was Hoping to I Wish

Day 862, Session 143:
When/Where: Wednesday November 5th - The aisles of Jewel (I never realized before my unemployed stretch how much time one spends in the supermarket.)
First song: I Was Hoping by Alanis Morissette
Last full song: I Wish by King Missile
Progress: 2161-2172 of 6110
Total Songs Heard: 1841

Rambles...

I Was Hoping to get a job with Chicago Public Radio. A friend got my resume looked at, and I ended up with an interview which I thought I nailed. Found out Wednesday I was no longer under consideration for the job. Rats. Believe it or not, this was the first time I've gotten as far as an in person interview where I did not end up getting the job. I was holding that fact as my ace in the hole during this whole employment drought. I figured if I could just get an interview, I'd be back to work shortly. Now I don't even have that going for me.

I Was Only Kidding is one of my favorite Weird Al originals. The gospel choir style opening into the maniacal ranting is exactly the way I would assume the mind of someone who would sing that song would work. And make no mistake, I believe there are guys out there for whom this song is real. There was a time when I considered trying to be one of those guys, just to see what it would be like. I couldn't pull it off. It still makes me mad knowing those guys probably got laid more than I did in college.

I Will - Coulton + Beatles = Good. About halfway through this one I realized I was singing along quite loudly in the pasta aisle.

I Will Be The One - Third Wish was my favorite college band for two reasons: 1) They put on a great show. The music was genuinely good and fun to listen (especially while enjoying a few under-age beers.) 2) Tara Marie O'Malley. I (along with probably every other male in the audience) had a bit of a thing for the band's female singer. They toured the Great Lakes region extensively in the mid-90s, even being named Cleveland's Band of the Year one year, but have since disappeared. Attempting to Google them has taught me one thing: Third Wish is apparently a very popular band name.

I Will Hold On - My favorite song from the last Fruvous cd, although I'm still not quite sure if it's being sung from the point of view of a stalker.

I Will Survive - Cake This may be the greatest cover song ever recorded. It would also probably make a kick ass track on Rock Band. It came on as I reached my car. I transitioned the iPod over to the car stereo, downed the windows and turned it up real loud. (Don't worry, the version I have backmasks the F-word so I wasn't going to offend any of the folks out trying to enjoy the last nice day of the year.) I don't have the Gloria Gaynor version of this song, but I believe it may be THE WORST karaoke song in the history of karaoke. Every time you go, you're guaranteed to see a lady attempt to perform this. 97 of 100 times it is awful.

I Wish - King Missile. I also wish for everything he mentions in this song, especially the part about the tractor of innocence.

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'll Never Fall... to I'm A Rover (Live)

Day 748, Session 130:
When/Where: Monday July 7th - Enjoying the living room AC before a walleye dinner.
First song: I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Elvis Costello
Last full song: I'm A Rover (Live) by Great Big Sea
Progress: 2090-2098 of 5984
Total Songs Heard: 1645

And we're back...

New computer is up and running with as many scavenged parts as I could manage. (That's right, I went right back in and started tinkering with the new machine. The lesson here? I am probably a moron.)

What is it about June? Last June a combination of work turmoil and basement flooding sucked my will to live. This June iTunes and my broken computer conspired to make what should have been a simple operation into something akin to removing to "bread basket" piece from the game of Operation. (I was awful at that game btw, I have a terribly unsteady hand under pressure.)

So where were we?

I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Elvis Costello

Actual line from the song:

What do you get when you kiss a girl? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.

Here's an idea... if you're with a girl who seems to have a heavy upper respiratory infection, perhaps you shouldn't be using so much tongue. Just because you were trading tonsils a little too deeply with a lunger, don't assume you should completely give up on love. It can't really be that hard. I had mono my senior year of high school and managed to not transfer it on to my girlfriend.

I'll See You In My Dreams - Giant

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm fascinated by the whole process of dreaming. When I was a kid I had the idea that you could only see specific people in your dreams if they were actually dreaming about you as well. So your dreams would be a big psychic chat room where you could hold a conversation with someone you know while falling from a very tall building or while trying to figure out why they hadn't told you about the test you were about to take that you had completely forgotten about.

Obviously once I started dreaming about supermodels this theory was shot to hell.

I'm A Rover - Great Big Sea

The Great Big Sea tune I'm A Rover reminds me of the time just before the wife and I started dating. We were in the habit of stopping by the others house after our respective nights out to check in and say hi. (Seriously, we would just chat a bit and then go home.) If someone was still out, we would leave a note on the pillow letting the other know we stopped by. (Yes, we were very cute.) This worked out fine until one night I stopped by very drunk tired. I wrote the note and then thought I would rest my eyes for just a second...

Four hours later I woke up still alone in her room. I blearily stumbled out of the house and made the 250 foot walk back to my place, without seeing The Wife or waking her roommates. My first thought was, "Phew, I got a way with it!" My second thought, "Shit, she didn't come home last night!"

Turns out, neither was the case. The Wife had come home and found me passed out sleeping peacefully in her bed. She left me there and went downstairs and slept on her sofa. Lucky for me she wasn't mad.

Happy Slurpee day everybody.

from Happy Birthday to Happy, The End

Day 604, Session 112:
When/Where: Thursday February 14th - In the air between Chicago and Nashville.
First song: Happy Birthday by Clem Snide
Last full song: Happy, The End by The Innocence Mission
Progress: 1786-1796 of 5773
Total Songs Heard: 1418

It was time for my biannual trip to Nashville. (BTW, did you know that biannual and semiannual mean the same thing? You did? Oh. I had to look it up. As far as I know the prefix 'bi-' means 2 and the prefix 'semi-' means 1/2, so how can biannual and semiannual mean the same thing? English man... just one more reason to move to Finland and learn to speak Finnish.) There's about 40 minutes of usable air time between Chicago and Nashville and most of that time was spent hearing songs about different types of happy birthdays.

Seeing as how I am just 2 weeks removed from a birthday and then I hit this particular run of songs I took the time on the flight to order a jack and coke and reflect on birthdays past. Here are the ones I remember:

1978 - I turned 2. I don't actually remember this birthday, but according to photographic evidence I made a real mess of myself while enjoying some chocolate cake. Guests included my parents, Great-Great Grandmother and next door neighbors.

1981 - I turned 5 and we had a party at my house. Using the power of static electricity (and probably tape) my name was up on the dining room wall constructed entirely of balloons. I thought this was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Also, somewhere my parents found gigantic balloon. I spent a lot of the party wrestling the balloon with Zach Hafer playing the role of my tag team partner. Other guests included Mike Vardaro and Eddie Atkinson.

1984 - I turned 8 and we watched Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo in the basement of my house. This was a big deal because at the time, my family didn't own a VCR. We actually had to rent one (along with the movie) from the local West Coast Video (why West Coast Video was a big chain on the East Coast I still don't understand.) This was a big deal at the time. Guests included Mike again and the girl I had a crush on at the time Alanna. At least I'm pretty sure that's her name (Mike will confirm once he reads this.)

1987 - I turned 11 and a few of the guys came over for a sleep over. At this point we owned a VCR so I'm sure some type of movie was watched. If I had to guess I'd say there's also a pretty good chance we spent part of that overnight watching the Playboy Channel which came in scrambled (but not very well) on channel 19. What can I say, even at age 11 boobs were fascinating. Guests included Mike, and Brendan Roan.

1992 - I turned 16 and my parents through my one and only surprised party. The surprise totally worked. I had no idea. My dad told me he needed my help moving some boxes at his office and offered to pay me for my time. Since I didn't actually have any Friday night plans (yep, I was a winner back then too) I agreed. I had just had my hair buzzed almost entirely off, and it turned out that under all that hair, I had a very tiny head. Any time I think about getting my hair cut extremely short I think back to the pictures taken at this party. Guests included Mike, Brian McIntire and my cadre of K-named girl friends Kristin, Kerstin, Kierstin, and Kate.

1995 - I turned 19 at college. We played Twister in Joey and Ryno's room. We also played the very dangerous game of "how many people can we fit on the top bunk of that bunk bed?" (The answer was 14.) To the best of my knowledge, no alcohol was served this night. This would be the last time that would happen. Mike was not there, Joey, Ryno, Missy, and Mary were.

1996 - 20, still at college. This year we had 21-year old connections. We filled the mini fridge with beer and played Revolution (a more genteel version of Asshole.) Guests included Joey, Ryno, Jay, and Becky.

1997 - 21. I became the 21-year old connection as I was the first one in our house to hit the milestone. I celebrated my birthday proper by walking into the UDF at 12:03 am and buying two 40s. Which Joey and I then enjoyed on the porch of our house on the dark side. Later that day I bought my first keg. The house was full of people all party long and any time anyone saw me with less than half a beer, they poured some out of their glass into mine. Eventually I was drunk to the point where I knew I had to stop drinking, so I wandered upstairs and put myself to bed. The party went on for a few more hours without me. Guests included lots of people I didn't know, but who seemed to know me.

1999 - 23. Went to a Fruvous concert where the guys proceeded to play a multiple song encore dedicated to my birthday (this track will be posted when we hit the 'M's.) I think this is my favorite birthday. Guests included Joey, Sarah, Betsy.

2005 - 29. My sisters both came to visit for the weekend. We ordered deep dish pizza and they baked me a cake. A few days later we watched the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Even though it was my birthday, they refused to win. Except for the losing Super Bowl part, this birthday was pretty good too. Guests included The Wife, Kate, Alicia, and Potsie.

As you can see, I got a lot of remembering done during the very short flight. I saw recently there's going to be a game show where you're quizzed on things that happened in the course of your own life. I think I would be pretty good at it. (As long as they don't quiz me on too many things that happened this past weekend. I often come back from Nashville a little foggy.)

Happy Birthday - Clem Snide
Happy Birthday - Sufjan Stevens
Happy Birthday - Weird Al Yankovic

from Gold Dust Woman to Goodnight Rose

Day 584, Session 107:
When/Where: Friday January 25th - In the living room, conquering the Freezeflame galaxy.
First song: Gold Dust Woman by Sister Hazel
Last full song: Goodnight Rose by Ryan Adams
Progress: 1639-1671 of 5676 (one skipped repeat)
Total Songs Heard: 1331

First of all, Well Hello to everyone visiting the blog for the first time as a result of the recent blurb this blog received in Time Out Chicago. If you didn't see it and are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, check here.

If you're new here, I recommend the links over on the left for a taste of what it's usually like around here (which is to say light and mostly nonsensical.) The last post's sap is certainly not normal and this one is a bit mopey even for me.

We used to go to the (cleverly named) campus pub, The Pub, to see the few bands that would come to UD. The Pub really wasn't much of a student hang out. That might have had something to do with the fact that it was connected directly to the largest cafeteria on campus. It's hard to enjoy spending a lot of time in a place where the smell of Pier 17 baked cod hangs in the air. On the plus side The Pub was a decent place to get some underage drinking done. When there was live music, the lights would go down and it would be much harder to see the big black X on the back of your hand indicating that you shouldn't be drinking.

It was during one of these 3-beer drunk (I was a lightweight) nights that Hello Dave first came to town. They seemed to be the classic college band; perfectly happy playing small college 'bars,' going to parties afterward, and then packing the van and driving 5 hours to the next place. There's a part of me that would love that life. The whole getting to perform for a living thing, getting paid to entertain people, seeing different parts of the country. It just seems like it would be a fun and completely different from the 'corporate' life I've been a part of for the last 8 years.

On the other hand, that life is hard. Hello Dave is still together and over the next 2 months play a total of 11 gigs. They're playing in such exotic locations as Island Lake, Downers Grove (both Illinois,) and Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This isn't to put them down... they've been together at least 13 years. That's a successful run! But working at something for 13 years and to still be playing bars and clubs... wouldn't that eventually get old? Not to mention how hard it would be to potentially raise a family in a city like Chicago on musician money. I'm reasonably sure musician is not your only job at that point, and if you're working multiple jobs to make ends meet, then how fun can all that traveling be when you can't go to the after show party because you have to be up to work in the morning?

I guess what I'm saying is... I don't know what to do with my life. I love the idea of entertaining/performing for a living. But just getting to the point of being good enough at something to be able to do that is almost impossible since the spots are few and the people looking for those spots are endless. Then, even if you get your chance, that life is so hard... and I am so weak.

Anywho, that shouldn't take away from the fact that Hello Dave's song Golden is pretty great. In fact, it's a nice tonic for the mope-fest that I just spit out.

Golden - Hello Dave (song coming soon)

It's not often that I find a song so lousy that I feel no choice but to delete it, however, today I am willing to make an exception. So say goodnight Goodnight L.A. you've been erased. (See, performing is hard! You're Strangeways and you've recorded this song and it was good enough to be included in a Metal Ballads compilation and then years later this jerk with a blog says the song sucks so much that he had to delete it!)

Finally, we passed 1300 songs, so lets do some math:
1331 songs in 584 days = 2.28 songs per day (so slow...)
5676-1671 = 4005 tracks to go
Of 1671 tracks so far, 340 (1671-1331) have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 20.3% skipped
4005-(4005*20.3%) = approximately 3192 songs to go accounting for skipped tracks
3192 songs/2.28 songs a day = 1400 days to go (3.8 years)
Estimated date of project completion = October 2011

So yeah, looks like there's work to be done. The good news is after the prolonged slow period that was 2007, I think things will pick up significantly in 2008 and that estimated completion date will start to go down in the next 100 songs or so. It will also be hard for me to add many more songs seeing as how the Ipod is now approximately 97% full.

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 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 Dreams to Drown

Day 215, Session 76:
When/Where: Tuesday January 23rd - On the way home.
First song: Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
Last full song: Drown by Son Volt
Progress: 1032-1043 of 4814
Total Songs Heard: 889

Drive Mix is another dance routine song clip. Thank goodness it came up immediately after the last entry. I'd hate to be able to shake the creepy old man feeling any time soon.

Drinking With You is more from Jonathan Coulton. The song tells the tale of a guy with an office crush which is probably reciprocated but unspoken, think Pam/Jim from The Office (or Tim*/Dawn if you're Brit-inclined.)

Jonathan Coulton - Drinking With You

I've only tried to actually ask a girl from the office out for a drink once. I was temping in the customer service department of a credit card company. She was a temp who started a month after me. Since it was my second year at the same place, I was obviously qualified enough to train new hires and I trained her. (And it's killing me right now that I can't remember her name.)

The training went well. It was flirty and fun while still conveying the necessary information. We started eating lunch together in the cafeteria. I found out that she was the son of a preacher man. She found out that I was a little bit crazy. I thought things were going so well that I got it in my head to ask this girl out to eat after work. (Neither us were legally old enough to drink.) The week before I left to go back to school, as we were leaving the office (her name was Sarah, whew I feel better) I asked her out. She immediately, and I mean before I was even finished the asking the question immediately, said no. Apparently the feelings were not as reciprocal as I imagined.

The funny thing is, we then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes standing by her car chatting. By this time I was very hungry; so I told her I was going to get some food and she was still welcome to come along. This time she said yes.

We had a good time at dinner. She talked about how she often drove through Dayton when going to visit a friend in Cinci. I invited her to stop by and visit some time. She said that sounded like fun.

Two days later I left the job for the summer but not before making sure she had all my contact info so we could hang out before I went back to school.

If you know me at all, then you've already figured out that I never heard from her again.

I'd like to think things will turn out better with Pam and Jim. (But if they don't… Pam, call me.)

*Originally posted as Martin/Dawn. In the British version of The Office, Tim was played by Martin Freeman.

Tuesday November 28th - A little later in the morning

Day 159, Session 57:
Location: At the desk at work. Practically the entire morning.
First song: Cowboy Romance by Natalie Merchant
Last full song: Crowing by Toad the Wet Sprocket
Progress: 758-779 of 4546
Total Songs Heard: 682

In college I went through a Dave Matthews phase. I don't think it was just me. I'm pretty sure if you went to college between 1994 and 2000 or so you went through a Dave Matthews phase too. Yeah, I liked the music. It was good to drink to and the ladies liked it. Both of those were good. The problem I had with Dave Matthews was the concerts. It's not that they weren't entertaining in concert, it's just that two of the most awkward days I ever spent were both at DMB concerts.

Summer after sophomore year I was supposed to go to a DMB concert in Columbus with what was supposed to be a large group of friends from college. Unfortunately as the concert grew closer more and more people backed out until it was me, a roommate, his friend from work, a girl from school and her boyfriend from home. Now the fact that this girl's boyfriend was coming along was a bit strange for me because I had spent the better part of the last semester at school flirting with this girl like mad. (Crash Into Me had been our unofficial flirting anthem, except for the last night of the semester when another DMB song took over.) It went from strange to terribly awkward when my roommate and his friend got a late start from Dayton, then got caught in a thunderstorm related traffic jam. Show time drew close and we couldn't wait any longer, so off we went to the show. Me, the girl... and her boyfriend. It was a strained few hours. The girl played it cool, the boyfriend had no idea... I spent a lot of time shifting uncomfortably (luckily it was a DMB concert, so I looked like just another white guy dancing.)

The second DMB concert gone bad occurred the following summer. I started the summer dating the wife's roommate, but that ended pretty quickly. After it ended however, she told me that she had bought a ticket for me to go to a DMB concert with her and her friends from high school (she apparently thought we'd still be together and wanted them to meet me, oops.) I was trying to still stay friendly with her (because I wanted to date her roommate) so, after she turned down my offer to pay for the ticket so she could give it to someone else, I agreed to go.

I was extremely uncomfortable with the whole idea and when she introduced me to her friends as "the guy who dumped me," I started feeling ill. In order to fight off the ill feelings I took some prescription meds that I was on at the time for my bad stomach. I knew I was in for a long day. Unfortunately a little later in the afternoon when my stomach was bothering me again (this time due to an unfortunate lunch choice at Steak & Shake) I took another dose of meds well before I should have. Two side effects of the medication? Increased sensitivity to light and heat. Now double those effects after double dosing and then try to sit in the mid-afternoon sun on a 90 degree July day. Not only was the situation as awkward as could be to begin with, but every minute sitting in the sun made me feel that much closer to passing out. Eventually I wandered off in a daze attempting to find some shade.

45 minutes of wandering later I accepted the fact that I had no idea where on the giant amphitheater lawn my group was seated. I took the best course of action I could think of. I staggered on stage, grabbed Boyd's violin and started playing Vivaldi's Spring. The band hired me to play second violin (my traditional preferred orchestral part) for the rest of the tour. I actually ended up touring with the band for 5 years until that fateful day when my stomach problems kicked up again as we crossed a bridge over the Chicago River. As part of the terms of the court settlement I had to leave the band AND stay in Chicago until my personal income taxes, city fees and parking tickets (mostly parking tickets) had paid off all the fines.

Friday October 20th - Into the evening

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday October 13th - Afternoon

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

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

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

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

Thursday October 5th

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

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

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

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

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

Monday September 25th - Evening (right before napping)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday September 14th - evening

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

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

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

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

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

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

And they were singin' like this!

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

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

Oh yeah, my goodness

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

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

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

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

Oh yeah indeed.

Eventually I'll figure out what it all means.

Tuesday Septeber 12th - Afternoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday July 18th - Heading Home

Day 26, Session 13:
Location: On the Brown Line, heading home
First song: American Tune by Simon & Garfunkel
Last full song: Anatevka by The Original Broadway Cast of Fiddler on the Roof
Progress: 177-193 of 3937
Total Songs Heard: 197

Kind of a cheating day where I skipped the last 8 tracks before Anatevka. There was a good reason though, they were all titles starting with the word "Anakin" from the Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack. Why do I have the Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack? You never know when that sort of things gonna come in handy! At least that's my theory.

Heard Ana Ng today from the They Might Be Giants cd Lincoln. That happens to be the very first cd I ever bought. Picked it up at a used music store one of my first weekends at college. It was that day that I first discovered what I has suspected all along... downtown Dayton had absolutely nothing to offer on the weekends (at least nothing on a Saturday afternoon to someone under 21.) On that same walk downtown (carrying Lincoln the whole way) we managed to get ourselves locked in a stairwell in the second tallest building in Dayton. I think it was 14 stories high.

The building I work in now has 22 stories. I also own a lot more cds.

Everything is bigger in Chicago!