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 Everything Flows to Everything Matters

Day 418, Session 86:
When/Where: Tuesday August 14th - Sitting in the house.
First song: Everything Flows by Teenage Fanclub
Last full song: Everything Matters by Glen Phillips
Progress: 1222-1227 of 5270
Total Songs Heard: 1000

8:20 pm - Song 995:
Everything Flows by Teenage Fanclub
The Teenage Fanclub greatest hits 'cd' that this song is from is the first thing I paid to download from iTunes. Out of the 5000+ songs I have I'd say I've downloaded less than 500 of them. I love me the internet but there's still something about having the physical cd in my hand that I prefer.

8:28 pm - Song 996:
Everything Had Changed by Barenaked Ladies
Oddly enough this song was also downloaded, not through iTunes though. Not illegally either! BNL are close the forefront of the modern music age. They made their most recent cds available for purchase from their own website with no DRM bullshit. Hooray for them. Of course it probably has a lot to do with the fact that they recorded and released this record on their own. They became the fat cat record company, except they decided not to be greedy fat cats. This song is heavy on banjo. I'm getting closer to signing up for banjo lessons. It might be the most ridiculous idea ever, but if I'm ever going to be in a band I have to play something besides violin.

9:00 pm - Song 997:
Everything I Try To Do, Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right by The Decemberists
If you're wondering why I went 30 minutes between songs... I just found banjo lessons I could sign up for. This song I downloaded from another blogger. (Thanks Gena!) Here's a thing I love about the interwebs. I probably would have never heard this song if she hadn't put it on her blog. Now... I'll probably end up buying The Decemberists at some point. Tell me why that doesn't work for the music industry? (Hmmm, somehow this whole count-up is becoming a DRM related rant. Perhaps this ties directly into the title of this song, trying something new doesn't seem to be turning out quite right.)

9:22 pm - Song 998:
Everything In Its Own Time - Indigo Girls
Ugh! I think I just drank a fly! When I came in tonight after work (soaked in sweat after walking the 1.5 miles home from the train station because I was too stubborn to wait for the bus) I must have let a fly in with me. Well, I've been enjoying a cool adult beverage as I listen and type and I'm pretty sure the fly flew into the can. As I slugged down the end of the can something solid ended up in my mouth. I spit back into the can and the solid thing was moving around inside. None of this has anything to do with the Indigo Girls or this song, but I've already told my favorite Indigo Girls story.

9:51 pm - Song 999:
Everything Is - Neutral Milk Hotel
I'm fascinated by musical acts that take on a pseudonym for what is basically a one man operation. Neutral Milk Hotel = Jeff Mangum, Badly Drawn Boy = Damon Gough, Pedro the Lion (a new addition, thanks Bob) = David Bazan. I think I need a pseudonym for this blog. Please leave suggestions in the comments (and don't bother with Badly Written Boy as I've already thought of it.)

10:15 pm - Song 1000:
Everything Matters - Glen Phillips
Here we are. A mere 418 days after it started this project is 1000 songs old. Glen Phillips tells me everything matters, so I'm going to take this moment to be happy with the fact that it's gotten this far. As I've mentioned before, as much as anything else this whole thing is simply an exercise in doing it. As the old saying goes... the first 1000 is the hardest, and we're there.

It should be cake from here on out.

More stats on the first 1000 and another set of songs for your downloading pleasure coming in the next few days.