from Jesus' Brother Bob to Jesusland (University A Cappella Version)

Day 1637, Session 162:
When/Where: Wednesday December 15th - Jewel on Ashland
First song: Jesus' Brother Bob by The Arrogant Worms
Last full song: Jesusland (University A Cappella Version) by The University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill's Loreleis

Progress: 4657-4668 of 10964
Total Songs Heard: 2088

12 songs, all starting with Jesus. Jesus... I believe that many of the world's problems are caused (and have been caused for thousands of years!) by people fighting over which version of the imaginary space grampa is the best.

This isn't to say that there necessarily isn't a space grampa. Personally I'm not sure, but if there is I'm firmly in the Deist camp.  (You know who else were Deists? The founding fathers. Which is why it drives me crazy any time some conservative bullshit artist claims that the founding fathers specifically wanted this to be an exclusively Christian country.)

Here's the problem with many religious people... they use it as an excuse to remain ignorant:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bill O'Reilly Proves God's Existence - Neil deGrasse Tyson
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

You know what... I have no business really talking about this. No one came here to read my thoughts on religion. I'll leave you with this from Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog:

"Saying 'God did it' is not an answer. It’s an evasion. O’Reilly (and so many ideologues like him) wants his ignorance to be canonized, but ignorance is not a goal. It’s an opportunity to learn more.
Look: I seriously and strongly feel that everyone has the right to believe what they want, and to find comfort in it if they need it. But you can’t let that belief narrow your view of the Universe to where it’s simply easier to avoid what you don’t understand. That’s what O’Reilly has done — or is urging his listeners to do — and he’s missing out. Nature is subtle, and amazing, and layered, and complex, and interconnected on levels we’re only just now starting to suspect. That’s where the true mystery lies.

As long as we’re curious, and keep our eyes and minds open, we’ll be able to explore the Universe, and we’ll never run out of things to question and explain."

Also what Ricky Gervais said:



If I'm not struck down for this typing I swear to science that I'll take it less seriously next time.

Jesus' Brother Bob - The Arrogant Worms

Inauguration Special

The marching in of all the different dignitaries is finished. The Presidency of Barrack Obama is about to begin.

I hope this is be the beginning of a better time for America, and for the rest of the world that has had to deal with us recently.

It feels like quite some time ago that the election actually happened and even longer since the campaign started.

Finally. Finally! Today is here!

Movin In - The Presidents Of The United States Of America

from Indonesian Wine to Infinite Tamboura

Day 913, Session 150:
When/Where: Friday December 26th - 36,000 feet over somewhere.
First song: Indonesian Wine by SNMNMNM
Last full song: Infinite Tamboura by Rusted Root
Progress: 2111-2112 of 6078
Total Songs Heard: 1937

"Why on earth are you writing an entry on only two songs?" you may ask.

I didn't want 2008 to end without squeezing out one more entry, and I wanted to tell the story of my flight to Vegas and then you can judge whether it's a metaphor for anything else (like my entire year.)

The annual post-Christmas pilgrimage to Las Vegas started off not so great. Our 2:45 flight became a 6:30 flight due to weather problems in sweet home Chicago. Once we got on the plane however, things were looking up. The Wife and I were able to snag seats in the exit row which of course meant greatly enhanced leg room for the duration of the now 5.5 hour (usually about 4.5, but again, the weather) flight. I realize I'm not particularly tall and so taking the exit row seats when there was an entire basketball team getting on the plane after us (go Ohio Northern Fighting Northerners!) seems like something of a dick move, but my knee tends to go a bit wacky when I'm forced into cramped seating for an extended period and I have to constantly get up to stretch it. With the exit row, there's no need for getting up. (Plus, it's not like the entire basketball team could have fit in the exit row anyhow and if they really wanted that row, they should have checked in exactly 24 hours before the flight like we did.)

As the rest of the passengers filed on, I noticed a kid (probably 2 or 3 years old) getting into the row behind us.

"Uh, oh." I whispered to The Wife, but she assured me that she had seen this kid in the waiting area and that he had quiet, if a little rambunctious. (I found out later from my mom that he had been trying to tip over one of the big airport trashcans.)

4 hours later I wanted to strangle the kid and both of his adult "guardians." The child in the row behind us began wailing approximately 8 seconds after take off. He continued to scream without stop for the entire duration of the flight. I think it might have been a world record. As an added bonus, I was sitting directly in front of him and he was keeping the beat to his cry-fest by drumming what I was assuming were his feet against the back of my seat.

I assumed it was his feet, but for all I know it could have been his head. Unlike everyone else around me, I refused to turn around and look at the sorry group of adults who were responsible for this child. I was so filled with loathing for their existence that I feared if I turned around and stared them down the power of my furious glare would reduce them all to ash. I didn't want the death of 3 more people on my conscience.

I attempted to self medicate my way out of this sonic filabuster with enough drink to put me to sleep (free as a peace offering for the lateness of our flight, thanks Southwest!) but the screaming was too much. I attempted to drown it out by finding the loudest music on my iPod and playing it at full blast. This worked to an extent, but I'm not a person who really enjoys blasting music directly into my brain via headphone, so it was not an ideal solution.

Then... I took out a pen to put the memories of this experience down on paper. I wrote exactly one sentence before discovering that the pen couldn't take the screaming anymore and decided to end it all in the most dramatic way a pen can... by exploding. Black pen blood coated my hand. Adjusting the pen to see where the fatal wound was only made things worse. So now I've got a screaming, kicking kid and blood... er, ink on my hands. I'm seriously considering throttling the kid, the kid's parents, and myself at this point, so I have to wash the ink off so as to leave less evidence.

I headed to the plane bathroom, and since I had had a couple of drinks, I decided to kill a second bird while washing my hands. I'm siting there returning a portion of my rented drinks (sitting because of a previous plane/turbulence/restroom experience) and I decide I'll wash my hands at the same time. Yeah, that was a mistake. It turns out those airplane sinks pack a surprising amount of water pressure. So now I'm covered in water, and ink (and luckily that's all.)

I get back to my seat and decide that I might as well spend the remaining tortuous time of the flight working on this here project and of course, just as I get through the second song they make the announcement that we're making our final approach. Five minutes after that the kid's mother finally wakes up (she somehow has been sleeping almost the entire flight!) and holds the kid, at which point the kid finally stops crying.

This is not the kind of luck you want on your side as you begin a trip to Vegas.

I promise you this, if two years from now my 18-month kid (codename: Gummy) is causing that sort of misery to my fellow passengers, you can bet that we'll be solving that problem with children's Benadryl and airplane bottle sized doses of liquor.

So that's it for 2008. It was a bad year for one reason (no job) outweighed by the many reasons it was a good year: Phillies' World Series Title, Obama victory, success for the wife at her job, financial stability, continued good health for me and my family, and, last but certainly not least, the news of impending Gummy.

Of course there's no reason 2009 can't be even better. I hope it is for you too.

Happy New Year.

Yes We Did!

YES WE DID!

Seriously, music next time.

from I Want To Be Alone to I Was Born Yesterday - Election Day Special

Day 853, Session 142:
When/Where: Monday October 27th - Music to do housework by.
First song: I Want To Be Alone by Green Day
Last full song: I Was Born Yesterday by The Divine Comedy
Progress: 2155-2164 of 6112
Total Songs Heard: 1829

Look, I don't like politics, and you don't like politics (What? You do kinda like politics? Oh, well, I still like you.) We're all a little tired of how long this particular election cycle has gone on. (We can all agree there I think.) But I didn't want to be the only person in the entire blogosphere to not give his opinion. There are two things I will be voting on today and one I wish I could:

1) I will be voting for Barack Obama for President. I feel he offers this country the best opportunity to start heading in a new, more positive, direction. After the last 8 years of Republican "leadership" I believe we need a change at the top and that you can't get change with a candidate from the same party who has seemingly altered many of his previous beliefs in order to manuver himself into the "best" position to become president.
2) I will be voting against the Proposed Call For A Constitional Convention in Illinois. I don't think we really need to rewrite the entire Illinois State Constitution. A Constitutional Convention would end up being a large expenditure of both time and resources that would result in a document that would end up looking awfully similar to what we already have.

If I lived in California I would also be voting like this:
3) I would vote NO on Proposition 8. The official title: "Eliminates Right of Same–Sex Couples to Marry." I like my rights equal. Imagine how absurd it would be if they were trying to vote for a bill that said "Eliminates Right of Opposite-Sex Couples to Marry." That would seem assinine right? So why does it make a difference what kind of business is being done between consenting adults in the bedroom?

/tacky stand-up comedian
And listen, if homosexual people want to tie themselves to the anchor that is marriage, who are we to stop them? Why should they be prohibited from being unhappy?
/rimshot
/end tacky stand-up

(Hooray for marriage!)

Listen, you may not agree with anything I've written above, and that's ok. We can still be friendly. The important thing is that you take today to exercise your right to disagree with me by going out and standing in a line for two hours before punching out random choices on an absurdly long list of judges that you know nothing about. I suggest bringing an iPod and/or a book.

I'm heading out now. See you there.

p.s. I promise, we'll be back to music next time.

***Updated*** If you're in my neighborhood that iPod may not be necessary, I had exactly zero wait to vote at my local fire station. USA! USA!

Redefining nothing to do with music

I'm from Philadelphia. I'm 32-years old. The last time a team (in one of the four major sports) from Philadelphia won a championship I was 7.

I don't really remember it. I remember some moments from that team, but I don't really remember the moment when the buzzer went off right after Maurice Cheeks dunked the ball to seal the Sixers sweep of the Lakers.

What I do remember are the losses that have come since...

1983 - Phillies lose the World Series 4-1 to Baltimore. Game 5 ends as I'm in the back of the family station wagon driving past (now-defunct) Manoa Lanes.
1987 - I was in bed listening to the game on the radio as the Flyers lost game 7 to Edmonton.
1993 - I was in my friend Pete's basement by myself (Pete had left for college and I was babysitting his little brother) when Mitch Williams gave up the Joe Carter homer.
1997 - I lived at 58 Woodland and watched the Flyers get swept by that team from Detroit by myself in the comfort of Ken's living room chair. I woke up the day after game 3 still in that chair surrounded by the remains from a Bud Light 12-pack. After the sweep was done, I wore all black (in mourning) for the next 3 days.
2001- In Chicago I watched the 76ers lose 4-1 to the Lakers. This wasn't actually that disappointing because it was not unexpected.
2005 - Super Bowl XXXIX. It was my freaking birthday (ok fine, 2 days after) and both my sisters came to town to visit and watch the game and STILL, that wasn't enough to prevent another crushing Philadelphia loss.

For the purpose of brevity I'm skipping 1988-90 & 2001-2003 (Eagles), 1995, 96, 2000, or 2004 (Flyers), 2005-2007 (Phillies) or 1984, 85 (Sixers)... all teams that had the talent to get there, but didn't even reach the finals of their respective sports.

This has nothing to do with the music. So why write it? It has something to do with me, and at the heart of it, that is what this whole project is about... the music taking me back to where I was "then."

All those lines of lamentation above? They're about where I was then. Each of every one of those disappointments stayed with me... and that's what makes where I am now all the more special.

Tonight, at long last, Philadelphia (still my home town even if I'm not there anymore) has a championship team again. 25 years have passed since the Sixers win. 100 seasons since the last time Philadelphia was the champion. And now, October 29th, 2008, the Phillies have won the World Series and finally (Phinally!) I know and can appreciate the feeling of victory.

If sports aren't your thing, I understand why this might not mean anything to you. But sports are my thing... have been as long as I can remember. So tonight, to finally win... was fantastic.

It got a little dusty here. I didn't weap (even though I half expected to) but there were some happy tears. It was a great feeling. GREAT! To be on the winning end after so long... felt like it meant something. So tonight, I'd like to thank all those teams who didn't quite make it, for making me appreciate this all the more. Thanks to The Wife for sticking with me through all the post-loss grumpiness and to my sister for being here to watch the game with me (the Alicia curse is over!) I'd also like to thank all the folks who reached out to send a congrats my way. I think everyone who did understands what joy and relief this night was for me.

I knew how big a moment it was when I got my very first post-game call. It was Kristin, my high school girlfriend. (We're still friends now, so this wasn't total out of the bluesville) The fact that she was on the phone 3 minutes after the game was over to share the cheers with me reminded me of how long it had been since this particular team (the 1993 Phils (we were still dating in 1993!)) had last had a chance. No matter how long it is, the people you share(d) the moments with will always be there with you. So I share this little moment with all of you.

We did it!

2008 Philadelphia Phillies - World Series Champions!!!!

from How Do You Sleep to How Nothing Feels

Day 685, Session 126:
When/Where: Monday May 5th - Running to the post office and back.
First song: How Do You Sleep? by The Magnificent Bastards
Last full song: How Nothing Feels by The Promise Ring
Progress: 2030-2035 of 5908
Total Songs Heard: 1619

Oh those Magnificent Bastards. How Do You Sleep? they ask. How do I sleep?

When I was a kid I slept on my stomach. My right arm was away from my body and bent at the elbow so that head would have been lying on my right hand except for the pillow in between. My face always turned right. My left arm stayed in close to my body. Every night was the same. As a kid sleeping on my back was out of the question, I couldn't grasp how anyone could do it. One of the side benefits to sleeping this way was whenever I slept on the floor (at sleepovers for example) my right arm would end up completely numb. When I woke up with a numb arm and tried to move it, it always felt like the arm had pushed through the floor into the ceiling of the room below. It was cool feeling.

As I hit my teens I added sleeping on my side to my repertoire. This was made necessary by the awesome family legacy of sinus fun. Sleeping became a balancing act... too much time spent turned on one side meant that nostril was no longer good for breathing and it was time to turn to the other side so that all the head gunk could slide over. If I didn't fall asleep by the time the sliding was complete, it was time to roll back over and try again.

The other reason sleeping on the side became a necessary option around this time... sleeping with other people. Seeing as how most initial forays into this exciting new world took place on a twin sized bed, sleeping side by side was the only practical choice. Side sleeping still leads to an arm usually ending up under my pillow. Years from now I'm going to have circulation problems in my arms and I'm going to have to confess that I've spent about 1/3 of my life cutting off the blood to my arm. But hey, who needs arms right?

Eventually I did learn to sleep on my back, and with it, much to The Wife's amusement has come the snoring. I hate the fact that I snore. I see it as another in the ever growing list of symptoms that point to oldness. For a while I told The Wife that she must be imagining things, but then one night as I was drifting off to sleep I was awoken by the most awful sound. Yep, it was me snoring.

Currently, I don't sleep very well. Lots of nights with way too much time between when I get in bed and when I actually fall asleep. If I don't fall asleep within 5 minutes of hitting the pillow I know something isn't right. Two nights ago it took me 90 minutes. Stupid brain.

So how do you sleep?

ETA: The previous poll asking which was the hotter Sandy in Grease (good girl or bad girl) ended up being decided by Mike's vote for "ha ha you watch musicals" (he was going to vote for bad girl.) Good girl Sandy was victorious 3 to 2 (bad girl) to 1 (ha ha.) That reminds me of the time I voted for the third party candidate in the 8th grade elections and Rami Dakko ended up beating Kim Donahue by one vote.

from High Enough to Highway Blues

Day 657, Session 121:
When/Where: Monday April 7th - Running for the third time. This officially makes it a pattern.
First song: High Enough by Damn Yankees
Last full song: Highway Blues by Marc Seales, composer. New Stories. Ernie Watts, saxophone
Progress: 1933-1937 of 5869
Total Songs Heard: 1541

Shockingly the run this time didn't go well (as the fact that I was only out for 5 songs can probably attest.) 15 minutes of movement are ok, but the last 8 or so were spent with angry burning lungs. I can't remember the last time I ran my way into a stitch in the side, but I somehow managed to do it this time. (I do remember when I was 5, I told a fundamentalist Christian friend that "Catholics don't get [stitches]." Apparently I was very proud of my religion then. I was also a liar as I specifically remember having a cramp while I was claiming that my god prevented me from getting them.)

I believe the problem here was two-fold. 1) I had a long weekend. My improv team, Wing Night, threw a fund raiser party/flip-cup tournament over the weekend. I remember when I could stay up all night partying and then still be worth a damn the next day. I think that era may have passed. The party didn't start until midnight and I didn't get home until sometime early in the morning. (7am maybe?) Things were actually find while the party was going on. Everyone had a great time, funds were raised, cleaning went smoothly (the part I helped with anyhow.) The only bad part of the evening, er morning, was deciding that the best thing to eat at 6am was a bar-b-que bacon cheeseburger. All of that has nothing to do with the music. Sorry.

The second reason: my music for the day peaked as I was walking out the door.

High Enough by Damn Yankees is one of my favorite songs ever. Seriously. It's the only song I owned as a cassette single. It came out my freshman year of high school. That was an awesome time for groups that you knew for 6 months and then never heard of again: Nelson, Extreme, Mr. Big, and the rock super group Damn Yankees. Super group you say? Sure, Damn Yankees was made up of members of Styx! Night Ranger! and... TED NUGENT himself! How much more super could a group get?

If you don't remember this song, you own it to yourself to take a listen. It starts with an orchestra(!), moves to solo voice with acoustic guitar and then it takes off. Harmonies! Orchestra! Electric guitar! More Soaring Harmonies! and don't forget Rocking Guitar Solos! I'm telling you, this was the apex of early 90's rock/pop.

Well unfortunately, 4:45 after it started, it was over. Every song after seemed like a let down, so I packed it in early and trudged home.

High Enough - Damn Yankees

For more on the 1990's awesome contributions to music, please check out Can You See the Sunset? Their occasional feature It Came From the 90's is chock full of awesome.

from Flight to Flowers in December

Day 481, Session 96:
When/Where: Tuesday October 16th - Driving home from dropping a friend off at class.
First song: Flight vs. Invisibility by John Hodgman
Last full song: Flowers in December (live KCRW 1996) by Mazzy Star
Progress: 1381-1384 of 5413
Total Songs Heard: 1127

Perhaps you first met John Hodgman through his work on The Daily Show, or maybe you know him as the PC guy in Apple's commercials. I first got to know John Hodgman through his work on This American Life, specifically his Flight vs. Invisibility story in the "Superpowers" episode. The entire premise of the story is this... if you can be granted either the power of flight, or the power of invisibility (only one, no other super powers are offered,) which do you choose?

The story gives plenty of interesting ideas for ways to use each power, but it seems to center on one basic idea. Flight is more of a power for good, while invisibility is more a power for evil. Ok, maybe not evil. But there are definitely more nefarious uses that immediately spring to mind for invisibility.

And so obviously I choose invisibility. At least I did at first. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I would not be able to overcome the temptation that invisibility would have to offer. I would try to use my power to steal things and to sneak into movies and concerts and sporting events and other places that I don't really belong. And if I had the power of invisibility in high school? Man, you would have had to tie me down to keep me from trying to see live naked ladies. (Now, of course, I'm married and have no need whatsoever to even acknowledge the existence of other women.)

But if you have the power of flight... mostly good comes out to of that right? I mean, maybe I'd finally stop being late for things because of traffic or public transit. With an established flying speed of 1000 mph, it would take just about 30 minutes to go visit my new nephew (who I may now refer to as the 'newphew.') It would take less time than that to go visit the parents. I could fly to California or Vegas or London in an evening. What in this world is more valuable than possessions? Time.

Time > Stuff (even boobs)

So in the eternal battle of flight vs. invisibility, I'll take flying. You?
That's a hint, the comments are open.

Flight vs. Invisibility - John Hodgman

Updated 12/17/07: I've noticed update a fair number of people coming to this page in search of the above file, but it's only recently that I was informed that the link wasn't working. Try it again, I think I fixed it. Thanks for visiting...

from F.O.D. to Fallible

Day 434, Session 90:
When/Where: Thursday August 30th - Desk to train, train to Belmont, 1.5 mile walk home.
First song: F.O.D. by Green Day
Last full song: Fallible by Blues Traveler
Progress: 1256-1271 of 5300
Total Songs Heard: 1038

The problem with occasionally posting to my MySpace blog, besides the inevitable question as to why exactly I have a MySpace account (the answer: I'm 12,) is that I ended up posting there something that would have fit in pretty well here. Or at least it would have fit in pretty well with the woe-is-me attitude of the more recent posts. Anywho, if you want to read it, there's a link over on the right.

And some good news (that still has nothing to do with music...) I am now officially an uncle. Congrats to the sister on the birth of Orion Francis. I've been holding off on that announcement until she posted about it on her own blog. Took her almost a week... I couldn't figure out why it took so long but then she mentioned something about having a newborn baby, so I guess that's understandable.

From the music front today I heard one of those songs that shocks me into remembering that apparently, I may actually have a romantic side. Fallen For You by Sheila Nicholls is from the High Fidelity soundtrack. (I've previously mentioned my affinity for that particular film.) It's a piano-driven gut punch tale of unrequited love; and really, who among us hasn't been there? She does a great job of laying out that feeling of longing for someone so much... and yet knowing it's just not going to work out. How you play that game with yourself of pretending like you don't care around the other person and yet wishing that they would see right through your facade. Such a pretty song; the type of thing you could play for a first dance at a wedding... until you listen to the words and realize that it's completely inappropriate seeing as how it's about specifically NOT finding love.

Kind of like how More Than Words by Xtreme sounds like a really nice love song until you listen to the words and figure out that they're basically saying, "If you really loved me, we'd be having sex right now."

Fallen For You - Sheila Nicholls

from Evil vs. Good to Exotic Night

Day 431, Session 88:
When/Where: Monday August 27th - Struggling to stay awake on the train ride to work.
First song: Evil Vs. Good by Clem Snide
Last full song: Exotic Night by Martin Denny
Progress: 1241-1247 of 5301
Total Songs Heard: 1014

Is it a bad sign that while beginning to type this on Tuesday afternoon I was thinking that I had actually listened to these songs some time last week? In other words, the distance between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon felt like between 3 & 5 days, instead of the 30 hours it actually was. Something inside my head isn't working correctly at the moment. Time, which usually has a pretty consistent feel, has been moving in fits and starts for the last few months.

I'm blaming this latest spell on the current state of general upheaval going on around me. The job upheaval is detailed below. The other upheaval is happening at home. We're currently remodeling our kitchen (ok, we aren't actively doing it, but we're paying people to do it for us,) which is another one of those so-very-adult-things-that-kind-of-blows-my-mind things. (Like when I mowed my own lawn for the first time about a month ago.) The fact that I'm very excited by the prospect of new cabinets is foreign to my usual outlook (unless those cabinets have built in video screens.)

Turns out, in order to remodel a kitchen, you have to take it all apart first. So right now our house looks something like this:
Kitchen cabinets: In the basement.
Kitchen floor and counter: In a dumpster in the alley.
Refrigerator, Oven, Dishes, Glasses and all other small appliances: In the living room.
Kitchen itself: Empty.

No wait, that's not quite right...
Toilet: In the kitchen. (Oh man do I hope I don't get up in the middle of the night to take a sleep walking trip to use the bathroom only to stop at the first toilet I see.)

It's a little disconcerting.

So anyway... what was the point to all this? Oh, yeah. Due to both work and home life being out of order, my head is messed up.

If my head were in a better place, this would be the part where I would tie everything into one of the songs I heard. Maybe later.