from Figure It Out to Fiona

Day 449, Session 94:
When/Where: Friday September 14th - Home for the weekend, or at least for a few hours before hitting the road.
First song: Figure It Out by Maroon 5
Last full song: Fiona by the Argument
Progress: 1328-1341 of 5311 (1 skipped podcast)
Total Songs Heard: 1100

1100 songs! We haven't done this in a while, so let's take a look at some stats:

1100 songs in 449 days = 2.45 songs per day (a not unexpected down turn after a 4-month layoff)
5311-1341 = 3969 tracks to go
Of 1341 tracks so far, 241 (1341-1100) have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 17.9% skipped
3969-(3969*17.9%) = approximately 3259 songs to go accounting for skipped tracks
3259 songs/2.45 songs a day = 1330 days to go (3.6 years)
Estimated date of project completion = April 2011

More realistically we should be able to get the rate back up to around 5 songs a day (at least.) Which would make it more like:
3259 songs/5 songs a day = 652 days to go (1.8 years)
Estimated date of project completion = July 2009

Well folks, it looks like I'm in it for the long haul. Of course it's also possible that there are life changes coming soon that will allow me to devote a little more time to this project. At least we can hope.

I realize this was a pretty pointless post. For more interesting content, I point you toward more pictures of my nephew. That awesome remote control bouncy chair? From a pretty great aunt and uncle.

from February Stars to Figure Eight

Day 445, Session 93:
When/Where: Monday September 10th - Heading home after the start of another blah week.
First song: February Stars by Foo Fighters
Last full song: Figure Eight by Blossom Dearie (yes that is her real name)
Progress: 1303-1319 of 5303
Total Songs Heard: 1087

It's been a long and reasonably blah week round these parts. Still struggling with achieving a work/life balance that doesn't leave me mostly miserable most of the time. Here were the songs that were heard on this particular slog (train construction has made the average trip home (which used to be 30 minutes) take about 45, this one took an hour) of a trip home.

February Stars - Foo Fighters
Fee - Phish
Feeling Called Love - Pulp
Fell in Love - Moxy Früvous
Festive Overture - Dmitri Shostakovitch
Festive Road - The Divine Comedy
Fett's Vett - mc chris
Fever - Peggy Lee
Fewer Words - Badly Drawn Boy
fibber - dave matheson
Fiction - Garrison Keillor
Fifteen Keys - Uncle Tupelo
Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover - Simon & Garfunkel
Fight The Power - Barenaked Ladies
Fighting The Destroyer Droids - John Williams
Fighting The Guards - John Williams
Figure Eight - Blossom Dearie

My favorite tune from this group was Fett's Vett by mc chris. If you're an Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan, you may no may know mc chris better as MC Pee Pants/Sir Loin/Little Brittle. (If you're not an ATHF fan, then that last sentence probably made the least sense of anything I've written so far.) His first cd is available for download at his website. If you're into nerdcore rap, you should definitely pick it up. If you're not sure what the hell nerdcore rap is, take a listen:

Fett's Vett - mc chris

Lest I Eeyore this place up too much with my recent moping. I'd like to announce how happy I am to discover that this website is currently the #2 destination on the entire innerwebs if you Google the words: exploding hippos.

One more about the blog note: I've found a place online that will allow me to host mp3 files for free. I'm still not sure how exactly that site is supposed to make money or why it's free, so I also don't know what to expect as far as how dependable it is. If you try to play or download one of songs in a recent post and it's consistently unavailable let me know.

from Depot to Diamonds

Day 180, Session 66:
When/Where: Tuesday December 19th - Evening. Heading home on the train.
First song: Depot Depot by Tom Waits
Last full song: Diamonds On My Windshield by Tom Waits
Progress: 873-883 of 4617
Total Songs Heard: 774

So this worked yesterday, and in my efforts to continue catching up, I'll lazy out again.

Songs from today's session:
Depot Depot - Tom Waits
Description - De La Soul
Desert Winds - John Williams
Desire - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Destination Moon - Dinah Washington
Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants
Devil Boy - Seven Mary Three
Devotion - Weezer
Diamonds and Gold - Tom Waits
Diamonds For Duke - The University of Dayton
Diamonds On My Windshield - Tom Waits

I'd like to include the "Songs Heard" section every day, but it kind of mucks up the look of things. What I really want to do is include it as a expandable list, but I can't for the life of me find an easy way to create something like that in Blogger. I have the feeling I'm out of luck unless I become a lot better at programming. If you have any (simple to implement for an idiot) suggestions let me know.

Let's see, we had two different songs called Destination Moon, so it must be time for another song breakdown!

Destination Moon by Dinah Washington vs. Destination Moon by They Might Be Giants:

What's it about?
Dinah Washington wants some time away with her man. Apparently the moon seemed like the most convenient place to get away. Sure, this doesn't seem practical now, but back when this song was released in 1962 I'm sure moon based honeymoons seemed like something that was just around the corner. I'm not quite sure what TMBG is talking about in this song. But they do give detailed instructions on how to get from your bed to the moon. Perhaps that's the point. Maybe they're saying if you can just get out of bed in the morning, anything is possible.

Representative lyric:
Dinah Washington - "So away we steal in a spacemobile. A supersonic honeymoon. Leave your cares below, pull the switch, let's go! Destination moon."
TMBG - "By rocket to the moon, By airplane to the rocket, By taxi to the airport, By front door to the taxi, By throwing back the blanket, Hanging down the legs"

The music:
Dinah Washington uses a lot more horns. TMBG uses a lot more electric guitar.

Verdict:
As cool as moon based honeymooning seems, it's just not practical, especially with gas prices being what they are these days (something Ms. Washington surely did not foresee in 1962.) Combine that with TMBG's can do attitude and electric guitar and it's as apparent as a full moon on a clear night... They Might Be Giants has the better version of Destination Moon.

from Deck the Stills to Dentist

Day 180, Session 65:
When/Where: Tuesday December 19th - Morning. Heading into the office on the train.
First song: Deck The Stills by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Dentist by Steve Martin (from the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack)
Progress: 862-872 of 4617
Total Songs Heard: 763

Ok. Stumped. Bad times in the brain lately. So here. Here are the songs that were played in this group:

Deck The Stills - Barenaked Ladies
Dede Crough - Moxy Früvous
Deep In The West - Waylon Jennings
Deep Water - Jewel
Deeply Stupid Sushi, Deeply Whining Drummer - Barenaked Ladies
Deja Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Delicious - Sleeper
Demetrius - Sufjan Stevens
Demon John - Jeff Buckley
Denny's at 4AM* - Wally Pleasant
Dentist - Little Shop of Horrors

*Not actually Denny's at 4AM, but Alternateen by Wally Pleasant instead. I covered that earlier.

Here are some quick and dirty notes: That's right, more Jewel... I'm not sure where I picked up a Waylon Jennings song that's not the theme from the Dukes of Hazzard (obviously the tv show not the crap ass movie...) Much to my surprise, I like sushi now... The first time I remember experiencing deja vu was in 4th grade in the hallway outside of Ms. Foky's classroom. It had something to do with Tony Samartino recklessly swinging his crutch around...

We sang selection from the Little Shop of Horrors sound track when I was in chorus in 7th grade. I wasn't allowed to sing in the actual 7th grade chorus as there was only room in that group for guys who still sounded like girls. (Don't feel too bad for those pre-pubescent guys, boy:girl ratio in the 7th grade chorus 3:23.) So, I ended up singing with a bunch of 8th graders. It wasn't that bad though. I spent my entire pre-high school academic career taking classes with the kids a year ahead of me, so I already knew most of them. The only thing that never made sense about that group was its name. The 7th grade chorus group was called "7th Heaven" (clever I know.) The group I was in was called "HPO" which sounds more like a health care plan then a singing group.

Wednesday December 6th - Afternoon

Day 167, Session 60:
Location: On the way home, only 19 shopping days 'til Christmas (I hadn't started shopping yet)
First song: D and D by Stephen Lynch
Last full song: Dancing Days by Stone Temple Pilots
Progress: 807-819 of 4630
Total Songs Heard: 713

Dungeons and Dragons first came into my life on Saturday mornings when I was a kid. The D&D cartoon series was incredibly frustrating. Those kids had so many damn chances to get home!

When I was 6 I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on my Intellivsion, I was terrified of the Winged Dragon (it took 3 shots to kill) and the blob (couldn't be killed at all.)

In sixth grade I actually played D&D for the first time. Yes, I own a set of dice and little lead figure. I didn't stick with it for very long because none of my friends played and I didn't understand all the in-jokes that all the other nerds were sharing.

Soon there after though I discovered The Bards Tale II. My friend Mike and I spent hours and hours playing that game on his Apple II GS. To the best of my knowledge we never really got anywhere in the game. I do remember being terrified of groups of 8 werewolves. After Bards Tale kicked me off, I've almost always been playing one RPG or another.

Here is an extremely nerdy (and I'm sure partial) list of RPG-type games I've played over the years (* indicates I finished the game, as you can see, I'm a bit ADD with the D&D):
Bards Tale 1 & 2
Might & Magic 3*, 4*, 5, 6 & 7
Diablo 2
Kingdom Hearts*
Champions of Norrath*
Neverwinter Nights
Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (Game of the Year Edition)

and, here's the big one:
World of Warcraft plus Burning Crusade Expansion (here's my main character's page)

The stand-up/song D and D by Stephen Lynch pokes a lot of fun at that "nerd from high school." I just wanted to make it known that I am still that nerd.

So nerd am I in fact, that I'd like to share with you this awesome song about a public radio personality. (That's right, not only do I listen to public radio, but I enjoy songs about public radio personalities.) I give you Jonathan Coulton performing Dance, Soterious Johnson, Dance. Listen to it. I dare you not to enjoy (ha ha, you're a nerd.)

Monday October 23rd

Day 123, Session 46:
Location: Heading home
First song: Caught With A Smile On My Face by The Jayhawks
Last full song: Champagne Supernova by Ben Folds Five
Progress: 601-613 of 4508
Total Songs Heard: 527

Huh. 13 songs today and I got nothing much to say about any of the songs... so here's something different.

Match the songs with the artists. Answers next time!
A. Caught With A Smile On My Face (Demo)
B. Cause A Rockslide
C. Celebrity
D. Cemetery Polka
E. Central Reservation (Remix)
F. Centrepeace
G. Century
H. Cha Cha Cha d'Amour
I. Chad Maloney
J. Chale Jao
K. Chamber Of Commerce
L. Champagne Supernova
M. Champagne Supernova (live Oasis Cover)

1. Badly Drawn Boy
2. Ben Folds Five
3. Moxy Früvous
4. Babble
5. Beth Orton
6. The Jayhawks
7. Oasis
8. Tom Waits
9. Paul Westerberg
10. Badly Drawn Boy
11. Dean Martin
12. Barenaked Ladies
13. Garrison Keillor

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments section. Winner gets something. Mix CD? Eternal devotion? Link to your blog over on the sidebar there? You know, whatever you want. In case no one answers... well honestly that wouldn't be too surprising. Less brain cramping next time hopefully. Unless everyone likes this, in which case, hey that's easier for me!

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.

Thursday September 14th - the laziest post yet! (um, that's the next post)

Day 84, Session 24:
Location: Towards work.
First song: Beautiful People by Rusted Root
Last full song: Bed and Breakfast by Moxy Fruvous
Progress: 346-351 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 305

[This post has been editted again because I am dumb and I can't count.]

300!

Beautiful People by Rusted Root was song number 300. In an alarming development, it took 50 days to get from song 200 to song 300. That's only 2 songs a day. What the hell? At this rate, with about 3800 songs left, I'd be finishing the project in November of 2011. (3800 songs/2 songs a day/365 days a year=5.2 years) Shit! Time seems to be working against me.

100!

You may be visitor 100 to this blog. If you read this post, leave a comment, then I may be able to congratulate you in a future post. Then we'll be best friends forever!

[comment redacted] - Turns I posted the bit about Beercan on the wrong day. That makes the next post really easy and this one really short.