from I'm So Happy to I've Changed

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

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

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

I'm The Man - Anthrax

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

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

from Halloween to Happy At Last

Day 602, Session 111:
When/Where: Tuesday February 12th - Another fascinating trip to Jewel.
First song: Halloween by Dave Matthews Band
Last full song: Happy At Last by Josh Joplin
Progress: 1754-1765 of 5733
Total Songs Heard: 1407

A really nice run of 12 today. A little too nice probably. While I was walking through Jewel (the local grocery store for you non-local readers) I'm pretty sure that I was both singing along and walking/dancing the cart in rhythm to whatever I happened to be listening to at the moment. Except for when Jewel's (the singer) Hands played. Then I was mumbling to myself once again about the presence of Jewel (the singer.) Little known fact: Jewel's hands are small and she is aware of it. It was crowded in the Jewel (the store) in front of the yogurt when Jewel (the singer) came on but it quickly cleared out as my mumbling became more animated. I caught one person looking at me like I was crazy, but I'm not sure if it was because they didn't see the headphones and thought I was talking to myself, or because they did see the headphones and they realized I was listening to Jewel (the singer) in Jewel (the store.) Either way, if I had seen me, I would have avoided me too.

As I walked out into the snow (another little known fact: pushing a full shopping cart through snow is good exercise) I hit the Hanukkah portion of music. In this case, Hanukkah consisted of two songs, both by Barenaked Ladies. I grew up in an area with a reasonably heavy Jewish population, so I've always had a soft spot for Hanukkah. We spent many an elementary school holiday music class singing both Christmas and Hanukkah songs (now I wonder if either are sung in school or if it's all completely religiously neutral "winter" songs.)

When I was very young, I actually thought Hanukkah and Christmas worked together. During Hanukkah, candles would be lit, then on Christmas, since it was baby Jesus' birthday, you would blow the candles out. Actually I'm still a little disappointed that's not how it goes.

Hanukkah Blessings - Barenaked Ladies

After Hanukkah I hit the beginning of the happy songs (or at least songs titled Happy "Something.") So let's see, what to be happy about? Well, first of I'm happy I downloaded Harvey Danger's last cd from their website. I hadn't thought much about the band since Flagpole Sitta came and went from the music scene but they offered their last cd, "Little By Little" for free so why not give it a chance? You might want to give it chance too, if for no other reason than to enjoy Happiness Writes White.

Happiness Writes White - Harvey Danger

Finally, I'm happy that Josh Joplin has come out of semi-retirement and has started limited touring again. He'll be in Chicago at Schuba's on March 1st and I'll be there along with the wife and good friends Jon and Lori.

Happy At Last - Josh Joplin

from Freedom to Frenesi

Day 529, Session 100:
When/Where: Saturday December 1st - Driving back from Evanston
First song: Freedom by Blues Traveler
Last full song: Frenesi by Eydie Gormé
Progress: 1480-1485 of 5513
Total Songs Heard: 1187

One hundred times I've strapped the iPod to my head to listen to songs in alphabetical order. Well actually, that's a bit of a lie, sometimes I've plugged in an old cassette tape converter and listened in the car. This was one of those times.

Things kicked off with Freedom by Blues Traveler. The wife commented that she would have preferred if I had the song Freedom by George Michael. I explained to her that the song she was thinking of was actually titled Freedom! '90. You see, I was a big Wham! fan growing up and I knew that the song was titled Freedom! '90 to distinguish it from an earlier Wham! hit that was also titled Freedom. That's right, I knew that immediately and felt the need to share it. And now, apparently, I've felt the need to share it again. (For those of you reading this that are too young to remember, before being a solo artist, George Michael was one half of the group Wham!, thus the need to distinguish his newer solo song.) (For those of you reading this who are too young to remember George Michael as a musician... he was a punchline on late night talk shows for quite some time after being caught soliciting a male police officer in a public restroom.)

Sadly, despite the fact that I own "Make It Big" on record (that's right, actual record) I have not yet transferred it into my music collection. So you'll just have to take my word for it that Freedom by Blues Traveler, Freedom by Wham!, and Freedom '90 by George Michael are all different songs.



Freedom - Blues Traveler

from Everyday Glory to Everything Falls Apart (or from ugh to yuck)

Day 412, Session 85:
When/Where: Wednesday August 8th - On the train from work to home.
First song: Everyday Glory by Rush
Last full song: Everything Falls Apart by dog's eye view
Progress: 1184-1192 of 5183
Total Songs Heard: 994

Not the best day of listening I've had. Rush continues to batter my eardrums thanks to the musical tastes of The Wife. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever heard her listen to Rush, but several of their cds somehow ended up as part of our music library and I know they're not mine. As for dog's eye view (their lowercase letters, not mine)... well the mid-90s were a time for taking a chance on music I hadn't heard before. For every successful exposure to groups like Barenaked Ladies and The Jayhawks, I have to retain a reminder of the groups that didn't work out.

Of course, can any song that contains the immortal line:

The devil's not in the details,
the devil is in my pants
It's shoot first, apologize later,
another quick end to a short shod romance

be all bad? I mean all guys should be willing to admit that the devil is in their pants, but it takes a real man to sing about how his premature ejaculation issue has soured another potential relationship.

Also included in today's listening was a great This American Life excerpt about a band that was put together entirely from the "musicians seeking gigs" section of the newspaper. This story (as well as seeing Ben Kweller in concert) makes me think that I would enjoy being in a band; which is unfortunate for me as I have neither a good voice nor any rock instrumental skill. I guess I'll have to stick with the improv as my creative outlet for now (shows the next two Saturdays, e-mail for details!) As I've mentioned before, This American Life is great. You can listen to the "Classified Band" episode here.

I realize I'm close to 1000 songs heard. I'm trying to think of something to 'celebrate' the occasion. Let me know if you have any ideas.