from It's Time They Knew to Jack Hinks

Day 982, Session 157:
When/Where: Thursday March 5th - Grocery run.
First song: It's Time They Knew by The Swimmers
Last full song: Jack Hinks (Live) by Great Big Sea
Progress: 2959-2982 of 7175
Total Songs Heard: 2026

It Ain't Love by House of Lords, please show yourself out. It's funny how hard they tried with this particular metal ballad. There's a fair amount of guitar riffing, an 'emotional' male solo voice, a shouting chorus helping on the refrain, and of course a wailing mid-song guitar solo and yet none of those pieces seem to fit together particularly well. Deleted, but saved here in case you've really been looking for this tune to complete you House of Lords collection.

It Ain't Love - House of Lords

The other event for the day was moving out of the 'I's (last song Ixtapa by Rodridgo y Gabriela) and into the 'J's (first song J Smith by Travis).

Since I recently passed 2000 and have hit an alphabet transition, it's time to look at some stats.

2026 songs in 982 days = 2.06 songs per day
7175-2026 = 5149 tracks to go
Of 2982 tracks so far, 956 (2982-2026) have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 32.1% skipped but this number is way high owing to the large increase in songs thanks to the library grift. So let's lower this to 20%.
5149-(5149*20%) = approximately 4119 songs to go accounting for skipped tracks
4119 songs/2.06 songs a day = 2000 days to go (5.5 years)
Estimated date of project completion = September 2014

Holy crap, my kid will be 5. Perhaps doing stats was a bad idea.

from In A Future Age to In the Curve

Day 895, Session 147:
When/Where: Monday December 8th - Hanging around the house
First song: In A Future Age by Wilco
Last full song: In the Curve by The Avett Brothers
Progress: 2053-2072 of 6037
Total Songs Heard: 1913

Haven't deleted anything in a while, so let's do that now. Goodbye, In Deux Time by Deux Process. I just couldn't get over their constant pronunciation of the world deux like it was the word dew. It was one of those iTunes free singles of the week, so it's not like I had any real attachment to the thing.

The Wife has recently given up the coaching of the basketball dance team at her high school to concentrate full-time (well, you know, full-time after her day full of teaching) on the school flag team. For those of you who weren't nerds in high school and thus didn't spend much time around the marching band, in the fall, the flag team performs with the band at football games, but apparently in the winter, the flag team performs on their own at competitions. (I would like to note here that The Wife's school didn't even have a winter flag team until last year when she started the program by volunteering to coach it. The Wife is pretty awesome.)

Since there's no band playing with the winter team, they have to choose a piece of music to perform with. Monday night The Wife asked if I had any suggestions for songs they could use. Asking me for a musical suggestion is no simple feat. What I'm sure she was hoping would be a 10-minute conversation became a 2-hour effort to find the perfect song.

There were 2 primary criteria, the song had to be 3-4 minutes long and not too slow, and one secondary, it helped if the song told a story. Here was my tertiary criteria, the song should be pretty awesome.

After much deliberation, here are the two suggestions I came up with:
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
When I heard this song earlier in the day I just took note of how much I love it. When the flag team discussion came up I immediately thought of it. It's fast AND I'm pretty sure it's in 6/8 time. How many other flag teams are going to be performing in 6/8? Musically it's a great jumble of buzzing bass, trumpet, AND people playing SAWS! It tells an interpretive version of the journey of life. It weighs in nicely at 3:22.

Underground - Ben Folds Five
Tempo-rific, plus there are shifts that could be used to break up different sections of the routine. The song itself is about the alienation of high school and finding a place where that alienated feeling goes away. What could be more perfect for a high school flag team?!? Just slightly long at 4:11, but the last 15 seconds or so are vampy piano bits which could be faded on.

Here is what the girls decided to go with:
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Joel and while this particular song isn't a favorite of mine, it did help him score Christy Brinkley, so it can't be all bad. But really? This is the song they wanted to go with over the other two? Bah, kids today! I just don't understand them. (Confession time: Part of the reason this picks disturbs me is because I think high schoolers today would pick this song because they find it campy and amusing. Granted, this particular song probably is, but campy and amusing aren't two words I use to describe Billy Joel in general. I fear Billy Joel is to kids today what my enjoyment of say, ELO or Styx is to me. Yeah, I like them, but I kind of view them as relics of a bygone era (as opposed to say The Beatles whose music is timeless.) Just another sign of how out of touch I am with the young.)

There's a chance I'm wrong about this, but I don't think so. Please consider all three songs and vote for which one would be best for a high school flag routine. If you've got something that will work even better, leave it in the comments.

In The Curve from The Avett Brothers was also in the ears today. This is currently my favorite sing-along-with-really-loudly-every-time-I-hear-it song. It's one of those songs that makes me think, "If I could just figure out how to play guitar, I could actually perform this one." It also speaks to the self destructive streak that runs through me. Sure I haven't finished a bottle of bourbon and then gone out for a drive, but I have finished a bottle of bourbon, which is a terrible idea by itself. I do stupid things. I make bad decisions (*cough*quitting my job with nothing else lined up*cough*) but I will walk away. Sure, right now it feels like I've been hitchhiking along the road forever, but I'm sure I'll make it Concord. Hope to see you there.

from I Love Rocky Road to I Saw Mommy...

Day 844, Session 141:
When/Where: Saturday October 11th - Driving back from the burbs after attending The Wife's school's homecoming game.
First song: I Love Rocky Road by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Last full song: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy McGriff
Progress: 2121-2140 of 6137
Total Songs Heard: 1797

It's been a while, but a song had to be deleted. While I enjoy Sarah McLachlan I find I Love You to be over wrought in its emotionality. I don't hate the song, but what I do hate is techno music... and what I especially hate is a 9-minute techno remix of a song that I already found kind of grating to listen to. I Love You (Techno Remix) - deleted! (Sorry Kerstin, I know there was a very specific reason you included it in that mix cd you gave me that one time, but I was never going to listen to it again.)

For posterity's sake, I'm linking the song here. I couldn't even make it through the whole thing. Can you?

I Love You (Remix) - Sarah McLachlan

I just don't understand techno remixes, but as we drove back from the game my sister and I figured out where they must have come from. Here's our theory... club djs used to spin music much like radio djs. I mean sure they worked some transitions between songs, but otherwise every 2.5 to 4 minutes they had to change the record. Then one time, some dj was playing a song when the needle skipped right in the middle of an instrumental section. The dj was busy hitting on someone when the skipping started so it took him two minutes to even notice the song was skipping. When he did notice, he discovered that the people in the club simply didn't care that the same 8 second clip of music had been playing over and over again for the last 2 minutes, they were still dancing. Eureka! Why be forced to switch songs every 3 minutes when, with a few strategically applied record scratches, you can stretch that 3 minute song out to 10 minutes?

From that day forward bars that also feature dancing became awesome for people who like dancing but absolute hell for people who like music. And that, my friends, is why I will never go 'clubbing.' I don't like my dance music techno-y, I like my dance music funky. (The idea of me dancing to this song is actually terrifying, but the song is still great.)

I Need More Love - Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Finally, thanks a lot Robot Chicken. Now I can't hear I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus without thinking of this:

from Humble Daisy to Hurricane Eye

Day 693, Session 128:
When/Where: Tuesday May 13th - Pounding the pavement on the post office route.
First song: Humble Daisy by XTC
Last full song: Hurricane Eye by Paul Simon
Progress: 2056-2064 of 5946
Total Songs Heard: 1628

I'm running into recurring problem now where whenever I want to load something new onto the iPod, I have to unload something else. (I've probably mentioned this before.) Today, something else has taken the form of Hungry by Draxon. As I hit more and more of these "metal ballads" I've really started to wonder what the hell people were thinking when this type of music became popular. Sure some of it ended up having staying power, but so much of it is crap. Total crap. I refuse to take blame for it as I'm pretty sure metal ballads came into play while I was too young to be the target audience. My target audience years come with the rise of grunge and "alternative" music so I think I'm ahead on that account. If you're doing the math at home, you've probably noticed that I'm cutting a pretty fine line here. I'm 32, but I'm perfectly prepared to throw you under the bus for the metal ballad years if you're between say 35 and 42. Same way I'm blaming you between 21 and 26 for the boy band era.

Of course, maybe you love this song and have been looking everywhere for it. Who am I to deny you?

His goal in life was to be an echo
Riding alone, town after
town, toll after toll
A fixed bayonet through the great
southwest to forget her

That's how Hummingbird by Wilco begins. This song has become one of those reasons I'm glad I'm doing this whole thing. Somehow when I first listened to "A Ghost Is Born" I missed the goodness of this particular song. I love the idea of being an echo. The faded memory that still occasionally reverberates off the gray matter of someone I once knew... or maybe even someone I didn't know. A path crossed and an impression made that I didn't even know I was making.

I have echoes. They come to me when I sleep. People I haven't thought of in the light of day come and we talk. They look like I remember them even though I know they wouldn't really look like that now. When I wake I usually take a few minutes to try to figure out why I heard that echo and most of the time there's no reason. I always feel good about remembering, even if only for a minute, before the echo fades and the day comes in.

Being an echo seems like a good enough goal to me.

This particular version comes from one of Wilco's live concerts in Chicago. It features a favorite moment of mine from any concert; the moment when the band steps back and lets the audience sing.



(It may be a while before the mp3s show up here. The service I was using has completely changed (man, the internet moves fast) and I'm trying to figure out how to log back in.)

from Highway One to Holly Tominack

Day 664, Session 122:
When/Where: Monday April 14th - Back to the traditional running (around to the post office and grocery store.)
First song: Highway One by William Topley
Last full song: Holly Tominack by Moxy Früvous
Progress: 1948-1974 of 5894
Total Songs Heard: 1568

Two bad songs (not surprisingly from the Metal Ballads collection) get the boot. Hold On by Roko (who?) and Holiday by the Scorpions are no longer part of my music collection.

The weirdest thing I heard today came from Rockapella. You may remember them as the guys who sang the theme song to "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" Well, now you can also remember them as the guys who included a Folger's commercial on their cd.

Holiday Wake Up - Rockapella

That's weird, right? To include a commercial jingle on your CD?

I was also surprised to find that Hold Her Down by Toad The Wet Sprocket had been censored at some point while I wasn't paying attention. Hold Her Down was the first song I ever owned that contained the word "fuck." I remember how red faced I went when I forgot about the expletive and we listened to Fear on one of those long family car rides to Pittsburgh. Mom and Dad didn't say anything about it, but I know they were silently judging me (and probably still are.)

Now it doesn't say fuck anymore. I'm not sure why they felt the need to remove it. I remember being surprised that Toad had a song with "fuck" in it, but it made sense since it's a song about sexual assault. (Toad was heavily involved raising money for women's crisis centers.) Apparently some time between 1992 and 1999 the word fuck became so offensive that it had to be eliminated. Strange. (Fucking strange even.)

Hold Her Down (Remix) - Toad The Wet Sprocket

Finally, I love songs that start with counting.

Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel

Edited much later to add: Lots of folks have ended up at this page in search of the Fruvous tune about Holly Tominack. Let it never be said that I am not hear to serve (as long as the song I'm serving is not something I'm going to get a lot of shit from the RIAA for reposting.)

Holly Tominack - Moxy Fruvous.

from Here Comes The Brides to Hernando's Hideaway

Day 633, Session 117:
When/Where: Friday March 14th - Back and forth to the post office.
First song: Here Comes The Brides by Various Artists
Last full song: Hernando's Hideaway by Billy May's Rico Mamba Orchestra
Progress: 1871-1879 of 5807
Total Songs Heard: 1504

As I believed I've mentioned, space on the ole iPod is somewhat at a premium at this point. Depending on the podcast situation I'm often finding myself under 100 mbs of space left. As such, I am going to go ahead and delete Here Comes The Brides. I feel safe doing so because I've already been to a wedding in Seattle (thanks Becky & Rich.) If I hadn't ever been to a wedding in Seattle, then I suppose it would be important to keep a song about women getting married there... you know in case I ended up dj-ing or officiating the ceremony.

Apparently, this song was the theme for a show about women who were imported into the roughest wild west town of them all (Seattle) after the civil war left the east coast devoid of men. Sounds a little too much like human trafficking too me, but apparently it was a big hit for one season before getting canceled after its second season. This theme song was added in the second season. I can't understand how it didn't work out. How could anyone turn off a show after this rousing opening?

Here Comes The Brides - The New Establishment and Hugo Montenegro

Deleted (but saved here for posterity.)

The Seattle wedding I attended was great. It took place on a boat that had been converted into a... well... a boat, but a boat that stayed docked and instead of going out on the water, you just have parties on the edge of the water.

It was a touching ceremony. At various points several different people were holding back tears. The bride held back tears during her vows. The groom held back tears when he saw the bride getting worked up. Joey and I held back tears when, in the middle of the ceremony, a shirtless guy in a motorboat came puttering by to see why all the fancy dressed folks were standing on the deck of a boat that wasn't going anywhere. Truly a fun time. Plus, any time I'm holding a beer in one hand and a bubble gun in the other during the ceremony, I'm calling it a successful wedding.

from Grey Ice Water to Gypsy In The Mood

Day 594, Session 109:
When/Where: Monday February 4th - Sitting around the house trying to figure out how there can be a thunderstorm at the beginning of February and whether that's a metaphor for something grander.
First song: Grey Ice Water by Modest Mouse
Last full song: Gypsy In The Mood by The Jayhawks
Progress: 1709-1733 of 5700 (one skipped podcast)
Total Songs Heard: 1385

Grim Heart/Black Rose by Converge has been deleted. It was from a 2006 mixtape from some trendy music site. Obviously I do not have trendy taste in music.

One thing today: A Bruce Springsteen performance from exactly 33 years ago today... which also happened to be 364 days before I was born.

If I had tried to draw up exactly when I would hear Growin' Up, could I have timed it any better than hear it on my birthday? Probably not. And seeing as how the whole aversion to growing up thing is kind of a recurring theme around here don't I have to share it? I found this recording over at Fuel Friends and the first time I listened to it I was struck by the fact that voices of this bootleg recording were younger than me when this recording was made... and now they are old. Not just Springsteen either... during the intro you can clearly hear voices in the crowd. The contradiction between the life and energy in the recording (and really, I could feel it bursting from the headphones) and the vast distance of time (my entire life!) that has passed since is kind of messing with my head. Combine that with the fact that recording was made in Bryn Mawr, PA (the next town over from where I grew up) and now I'm faced with the thought that the crowd voices in this recording could be people I grew up around. It just makes it all so very real.

Of course I realize that every recording ever made is exactly the same. It was made on someone's birthday in someone's hometown and so we are left to think... What kind of mark am I leaving here? Will someone come back here in 30 years and find this and think... "Wow, this guy is sitting in his house in Chicago, listening to music, sharing his thoughts...thoughts that are older than I am and yet they still seem so immediate, so real."

I hope so.

Growin' Up - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (recorded Feb. 5th, 1975 @ The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA)

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 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.

from Dragonfly to Dreams

Day 215, Session 75:
When/Where: Tuesday January 23rd - On the train and in the office.
First song: Dragonfly by The Thorns
Last full song: Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
Progress: 1024-1031 of 4814
Total Songs Heard: 877

With three versions of Jeff Buckley's Dream Brother and two versions Dreams (both the original and a Corrs cover) out of the 8 songs it wasn't the most varied listening session I've ever had. Let's take a look at the shortest "song" of the day, which was actually a clip from Dream Police by Cheap Trick. It was only a clip from the song because it was being used as part of a high school dance routine. I can't really go into all the details as to why I had a song from a high school dance routine in my music library but at one point this year I went to go see this high school dance team perform.

It was... uncomfortable. I had a perfectly good reason to be there watching this team but I still couldn't shake the dirty old man feeling I had while watching. I mean, I knew why I was there, and the girls on the team knew why I was there, but I couldn't shake the feeling that other people in the crowd were wondering what the hell I was doing there. I thought about pretending I had a kid there, but, while I am obviously much older than a high school student, I don't look old enough to be mistaken for a high school parent. In fact, compounding the problem, I tend to look younger than I actually am... which in this case meant I still looked too old for high school, but not old enough to completely dismiss the thought that I might be the type of creepy guy who hangs around high schools watching the dance team perform.

The whole time I attempted to awkwardly straddle the line between watching carefully (since that's what I was there to see) and making it look like I wasn't watching at all. It made my brain hurt.

In the end, of course, I'm sure no one thought twice about my presence. The parents were too busy video taping their kids or yelling at the refs to notice me. And even if the high school kids couldn't tell that I was much older (which they could,) they would instinctively know that I wasn't cool enough to talk to.

So, is there a proper way to watch a high school dance team as a 30-year old guy? Probably not... and I should probably delete the track to stop reminding myself.

from Don't Stop Me Now to Double Huey Skit

Day 210, Session 72:
When/Where: Thursday January 18th - Going to work.
First song: Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
Last full song: Double Huey Skit by De La Soul
Progress: 999-1006 of 4802
Total Songs Heard: 856

Only 3 more "don't" songs... since it's the end of an era (4 posts now equals an era) let's look at them in no particular order:

Don't Wanna Be Your Fool - Quiet Riot: Don't want to hear you again. Deleted!

Don't Talk To Strangers - Jonathan Coulton: While I still find this to be reasonably good advice, I have now found that it somewhat limits my ability to make new friends as a 31-year old. When I was a kid, strangers were only the people that I didn't know at all. Now strangers are everyone that I don't already know well. It's hard to get to know more people well when you don't talk to anyone because you don't already know them well. Vicious cycle and all that.

Don't Stop Me Now - Queen: If you haven't seen "Shaun of the Dead" you really should. Who doesn't love zombie fights set to Queen?

from Dissing to Dog

Day 190, Session 68:
When/Where: Friday December 29th - On the beach, 100 feet from the ocean.
First song: Dissing Marilyn Manson by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Dog by Ben Folds
Progress: 943-960 of 4785 (3 podcasts skipped)
Total Songs Heard: 816

Dissing Marilyn Manson - Barenaked Ladies
Dit It All For Love - Phenomena II
DNA - Jonathan Coulton
Do As De La Does - De La Soul
Do Miss America - Ryan Adams
Do The Circulation - Joshie Armstead, Mary Sue Berry, & Maeretha Stewart
Do They Know It's Christmas? - Barenaked Ladies
Do What You Have To Do - Sarah McLachlan
Do You - Jewel
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans - Louis Armstrong
Do You Love Me? - Fiidler On The Roof (Original Broadway Cast)
Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips
Does anybody really fall in love anymore? - Kane Roberts
Does Cindy Lou Really Ruin Christmas? - James Horner
Dog - Ben Folds

First things first. Despite the fact that it sounds like it could have been a featured song on the "Revenge of the Nerds part 6 - Booger's Revenge (of the Nerds)" soundtrack, I must say goodbye to Dit It All For Love. I don't know why you dit what you dit, but you sure ditn't do it very well.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include the link to DNA. It's available here. Not only is it a catchy tune... you may even learn something.

I was listening to this set about 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. I love the ocean (this includes Billy Ocean, who I usually refer to as "The Ocean") and most of the time the ocean loves me (not talking about Billy this time, I don't think he's aware of my existence.) Except for this one time last summer...

The Wife and I were at the beach for a few days after my sister's wedding (where I performed the ceremony. That's right, I've been the Reverend Matt DiMarco for almost a year now. Seriously. I'll show you my ID card.) I usually spend my ocean time body surfing (I'm not nearly coordinated enough for real surfing) and this day was no exception. I had caught some really good waves and was having a great time until one big wave snuck up on me. I got caught in between trying to ride it and trying to duck under it. My feet ended up on top of the wave. The left side of my face and my left shoulder and collar bone ended planted on the ocean floor. Then it got bad.

As my face planted the wave crashed over top of me and my feet came with it. As far as I could tell, the next thing that happened was my feet touched the ocean floor right next to my head (which was still stuck on the ground) and I heard two loud cracking sounds. At this point I finally began to roll with the wave and I also began to wonder if I would be able to get up when the rolling was done. Luckily I was able stagger to my feet. I ended up a little (ok, a lot) woozy, but otherwise unharmed. I never did figure out what those cracking sounds were.

What does this have to do with the music of the day? Whenever I hear the song Do You Realize? I think about the fact that everyone I know some day will die... and the last time I thought I was going to die was during those ridiculous two seconds in the ocean.

Thursday December 7th

Day 168, Session 61:
Location: On the way to the salt mines for another day
First song: Dancing in the Sunshine of the Dark by Fury In The Slaughterhouse
Last full song: Darkest Hour by Glen Phillips
Progress: 820-827 of 4630
Total Songs Heard: 721

I guess I'm not much of a Fury in the Slaughterhouse fan (who'd have guessed?) because DitSotD was deleted.

I first heard the song Danke Schoen in the same way I'm sure most people my age heard it: during the parade scene of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I am not at all ashamed to admit that for years afterward, I was pretty sure it was a woman singing. I can't be the only one who thought that, right?

Now that I live in Chicago, I watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off with a whole new appreciation. There's no way all the things in that movie can be done in one day. Except by Ferris. He was a righteous dude.

Wednesday December 6th - Morning

Day 167, Session 59:
Location: Quickest train ride to work ever. Ever being at least the last 3 months.
First song: Cupid De Locke by Smashing Pumpkins
Last full song: D'yer Mak'er by Sheryl Crow
Progress: 798-806 of 4630
Total Songs Heard: 700

Look at that, a double milestone. In the same song I move from C's (Cut to the Chase by Rush) to the D's (D'yer Mak'er by Sheryl Crow) and hit song 700.

So... time for some stats:
700 tracks in 167 days = 4.2 songs a day.
4630-806 = 3824 tracks to go
Of 806 tracks so far, 106 have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 13.1% skipped
3824-(3824*13.1%) = approximately 3323 tracks to go accounting for skipped tracks
3323 tracks/4.2 songs a day = 792 days to go (2.16 years)
Estimated time of project completion = March 2009

Ok then. That's a long time. Perhaps I need to make some of these posts shorter so I can post more often.

For example, here's a shorter post. Custard Pie (Helmet w/David Yow)? I like it as a dessert and hated it as a song. Deleted.

Friday December 1st

Day 162, Session 58:
Location: On the train, heading home for the weekend
First song: Cruel Sun by Rusted Root
Last full song: Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three
Progress: 783-791 of 4552
Total Songs Heard: 691

Not a whole lot to say today, except to note that Crumble by Ultraspank, I'm sorry. It's just not going to work out. I wish you luck in all your future endeavors.

Since there's not much to say about the songs, let's clear some things up about the blog.

First, no matter how popular it seems to be with search engines, this blog will never contain any plans for a zip gun. It's been a little disturbing to see how many people end up here after investigating how to make a zip gun.

Second, the dates in the post titles are the dates that I'm writing about, not the date the post was written. I had a friend say they stopped checking in here because it seemed like I hadn't updated since November. This is not the case. I've been updating (mostly,) it's just that right now there's a 6 week lag between listening and writing. I'm working on it (and I'm guessing I'll continue to be "working on it" until this project is done or until I give it up.)

Third, thanks to Gena and my sister who both have been kind enough to link to this thing, and to Mike and my brother-in-law who, as far as I can tell, represent the regular readers.

Tuesday November 14th - Evening

Day 145, Session 51:
Location: Heading to rehearsal, running lines as I go.
First song: Closer to the Bone by Louis Prima
Last full song: Cold Blooded Old Times by (Smog)
Progress: 673-681 of 4474
Total Songs Heard: 596

Code Monkey Video!


There are more things to say about more songs in this particular set, but man, do I love me some Code Monkey. You probably will not be surprised to learn that the music behind this video is another example of the excellent work of Jonathan Coulton. I love the video because of the girl's commitment to the bit.

Added 1/8:
I said there was a little more to say about this day...

Cocoon by Bjork was terrible. Deleted! (Sorry Kerstin.)

Closing Time by Tom Waits, I discovered Tom Waits almost completely by accident. This song is the title track from his first cd. (Which, when it came out was actually called an album.) Some time in 1999 the group Semisonic released a song by the same name. At the time I was closing a lot of bars so it was something of a theme song. For some reason I got it in my head to try out some Tom Waits and since I already liked the song Closing Time I thought it would be cool to hear Tom Waits' version. Uh, yeah, they're not the same song. Not even close. In case you're not familiar, the Tom Waits' version is an instrumental. Turns out I like the Tom Waits' version better. If you don't know Closing Time, you should.

Friday October 13th - Morning

Day 113, Session 38:
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: Broken by Jack Johnson
Last full song: Brother Love's Traveling Salvavation Show by Neil Diamond
Progress: 504-510 of 4422
Total Songs Heard: 439

Quick thoughts on some of the 7 songs from this morning:

Broken by Jack Johnson is from the "Curious George" movie that came out last winter. The wife and I went to see it in the theatre. We were the only people in the place who weren't accompanied by at least one person under the age of ten. We were, however, accompanied by approximately 10 stuffed animal monkeys that we decided would want to see the movie. Bringing them along started as something as a joke suggestion from the wife, then devolved into a challenge about how many animals we could sneak into the theater. Luckily, it was winter, and my winter coat has a lot of pockets, so the answer ended up being all of them. At one point during the movie, the little boy sitting directly in front of us turned around to take in his surroundings. He seemed quite surprised.

Brother by Toad the Wet Sprocket features one of my favorite song intros ever. It's a fun guitar and organ (which is probably not a real organ, but hey it sounds enough like an organ for me.) If I actually had a brother, this would be a good place to mention him and talk about our relationship. Maybe I could tell a funny story about that thing we did that time. But, uh... I don't have a brother, so I guess we're done here.

Broken Heart by Axel Rudi Pell (which must be a made up name) sucked out loud. I really shouldn't have acquired "Metal Ballads (Vol. 3)". Deleted!

Tuesday, August 1st

Day 40, Session 16:
Location: On the way to work.
First song: Anthem by Blink 182
Last full song: Apu In "The Jolly Bengali" Theme by The Simpsons
Progress: 218-228 of 3937
Total Songs Heard: 231

Lots of doubling up today. Two versions of Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band, two entirely different songs called Anytime (by My Morning Jacket and McAuley Schenker Group (which was AWFUL and should probably be deleted, in fact, I'm going to do that now),) and two versions of April Come She Will by Simon & Garfunkel.

The song I didn't end up hearing was April is in My Mistress' Face, but after 4 straight songs starting with April, that was the song that drilled its way into my brain for the rest of the day. Of course I didn't hear AiiMMF because I don't make a habit of collecting madrigals as sung by my high school chorus. If I remember that song correctly, April was in my mistress' face, July in her eyes, and within her bosom was September. I honestly don't remember what came after that cause I was always too busy trying to stifle the giggles that September brought on. (It's also entirely possible I'm remembering this completely wrong. I'm sure google could clear this up, feel free to let me know if you use it.)

Happy Bosom Month everyone!




note: I'm now officially a month behind in entries. This is not surprising. The good news is the move is now completed and WoW is currently on hold, so I should have plenty of chances to play catch up.