i promise – i rarely dance

A couple of months ago, when I still considered myself “recently moved” to the District of Columbia, I was walking along Wisconsin Avenue back from Safeway, and had put my iPod on shuffle to accompany the walk.  It’s not unusual that I did this – I always shuffle the ‘Pod when I’ve got a walk ahead of me.  The moment that made this particular walk memorable was that, when a certain song came on, I lost all my inhibitions (I should probably note here that my inhibitions are practically world-famous) and started dancing, for God and all the cars in Georgetown to see.  I think I was still in the mindset of being a driver; of course, people can certainly see you through car windows, too, but somehow it feels like there’s a visual barrier.  I realized what I was doing approximately three fist-pumps in, but that moment has stuck with me.

Anyway, that song (Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”) came on the iPod again today as I walked from pilates to Trader Joe’s and yet again, I had to fight the urge to dance my way down M Street.  Over these past months (I’ve been in DC now, what, seven months?) I’ve found myself in the same predicament more than just that once.  So, for the sake of making a list (and after all, I love making a good list) I give you:

Songs That I Have Accidentally Danced To In Public

I should note here that I define “dance” broadly – namely, made some kind of movement that allowed unwanted attention to be drawn my way.  This actually has most frequently been manifested through hand-drumming on the seat in front of me on the MetroBus.

• Air Traffic – “Never Even Told Me Her Name”
• The Apples in Stereo – “Energy”
• Arctic Monkeys – “Balaclava”
• Art Brut – “Good Weekend”
• The Beach Boys – “Help Me, Rhonda”
• Ben Folds Five – “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces”
• The Black Crowes – “Hard to Handle”
• The Cure – “Friday I’m in Love”
• The Futureheads – “Hounds of Love”
• Gipsy Kings – “Bamboleo”
• Gnarls Barkley – “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)”
• Jack Peñate – “Torn on the Platform”
• Jamie Lidell – “Wait for Me”
• Kaiser Chiefs – “Everything is Average Nowadays”
• Late of the Pier – “The Bears are Coming”
• Mika – “Love Today”
• Mos Def – “Quiet Dog”
• NOFX – “I Want You to Want Me”
• Pharcyde – “Devil Music”
• Poison – “Talk Dirty to Me”
• Rage Against the Machine – “Guerrilla Radio”
• Romantics – “What I Like About You”
• The Roots – “Web”
• Rufus Wainwright – “Zing! went the Strings of my Heart”
• Scissor Sisters – “Music is the Victim”
• Voxtrot – “Brother in Conflict”
• The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

mindless funsies

In celebration of completing my first semester of graduate school (!!!) I choose to engage my iTunes in the kind of work that involves me contributing the minimum amount of thought possible.  I saw this posted all over the Face and thought it looked kind of interesting, in that nothing-better-to-do kind of way.  So, the basic gist is this: by skipping randomly through my iTunes master list, I’m supposed to be able to find songs that accurately represent different stages in my life.  Some work better than others.  (I’d like to emphasize that the song selection belonged to my iTunes shuffle feature, not my own choosing.  Of course, the songs exist in the master list as a result of my enjoyment, but the order was out of my hands.)
Opening Credits:
“Big Joe and Phantom 309″ – Tom Waits

Waking Up:
“Dancing Choose” – TV on the Radio

First Day of School:
“Take Me to the Riot” – Stars

Falling in Love:
“Girl From the North Country” – Bob Dylan

Breaking Up:
“Life Without You” – The Shivvers

Prom:
“Nobody Home” – Pink Floyd  (I’m not sure what this would say about a prom experience, but I can’t imagine it would be anything positive.)

Life’s Okay:
“Pencil-Thin Mustache” – Jimmy Buffett

Mental Breakdown:
“To Zion” – Lauryn Hill and Carlos Santana (Hm.  A song about Lauryn Hill’s kid would be the soundtrack to my mental collapse?  I mean, it’s a great song, but I don’t think that was the intent.)

Driving:
“Leader” – Phantom Planet

Flashback:
“California Dreamin’” – The Mamas and the Papas

Getting back together:
“Lovers Who Uncover” – The Little Ones

Wedding:
“Love is All Around” – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Okay, I love this.  I’m officially walking down the aisle — one day in the distant future — to the theme from Mary Tyler Moore.)

Birth of Child:
“The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect” – The Rakes (Is there a good song for childbirth?)

Final Battle:
“Hello Conscience” – The Zutons

Death Scene:
“Julia” – The Beatles

Funeral Song:
“Dreams” – The Everly Brothers

Dance Sequence:
“She’s a Lady” – Tom Jones (Flippin’ fabulous.)

End Credits:
“Love Today” – Mika

the compilation i would make for myself if i was trying to win my own heart

It’s a two-discer.

Disc 1

Art Brut – Good Weekend

Ben Kweller – Thirteen

The Beatles – Martha My Dear (I don’t care if it’s allegedly about Paul’s dog; it always has my heart.)

Billy Joel – Rosalinda’s Eyes

Ben Folds Five – Don’t Change Your Plans

Bob Dylan – Girl from the North Country

The Box Tops – The Letter

Bright Eyes – First Day of My Life

Ryan Adams – Gonna Make You Love Me

Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes

Buffalo Tom – Late at Night

The Everly Brothers – Dreams

Tom Waits – I Want You

Voxtrot – Every Day

Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams (Don’t make fun.  It’s delightful.)

James Taylor – Only One

Jack’s Mannequin – Made For Each Other, parts 1 & 2

Disc 2

Sam Cooke – (Ain’t That) Good News

Pete Doherty ft. Wolfman – For Lovers

Jim Sturgess – All My Lovin’ (See how I did that?  I avoided my own dilemma – I’m very against the same artist appearing more than once on one CD, but love “All My Lovin’” and “Martha, My Dear” equally – by bringing in the very loverly version from “Across the Universe.”  Bam.)

Cory Morrow – Live Forever

Joshua Radin – Only You

The Decemberists – Red Right Ankle

Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby

The Kooks – She Moves in Her Own Way

Gavin Osborne – The Greatest Thing There Is

Little Man Tate – You and Me Might Be Alright, You Know

The Maccabees – Toothpaste Kisses

The Romantics – What I Like About You

Mason Jennings – Darkness Between the Fireflies (I may or may not have included this solely on its mention of the Appalachian mountains.  But it’s still wonderful.)

Mary Chapin Carpenter – Passionate Kisses

Modern English - I Melt With You

The Mountain Goats – International Small Arms Traffic Blues

Wilco – I’m the Man Who Loves You

Neutral Milk Hotel - In an Aeroplane Under the Sea

The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up is hard to do. It takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick it off with a killer to grab attention. Then you gotta take it up a notch. But you don’t want to blow your wad. So then you gotta cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway, I’ve started to make a tape, in my head, for Laura. Full of stuff she’d like. Full of stuff that’d make her happy. For the first time I can sorta see how that’s done. – Rob Gordon, “High Fidelity”

this gave me such delight, i had to share it

Melissa ’s celebrity dinner would include: Susan Sontag, Howard Zinn, Salman Rushdie, Jack Gilbert, Annie Dillard, and a few others. 7:18pm

 - 30 Comments

Melissa at 7:20pm November 24

The obvious: that we have a mix of “now” and “then” going on here.

Susan Sontag (then), Howard Zinn (now or then?), Salman Rushdie (btwn now & then), Jack Gilbert (now), and Annie Dillard (likely lovely and brilliant at any point)

Nora at 7:23pm November 24

Ahem. Howard Zinn is going to be at the Peace Ball during Inauguration. Sponsored by Busboys and Poets (I sent you a link to their website). Held at the Postal Museum. Did I mention I love Howard Zinn? Did I also mention that an outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays loves Howard Zinn, and that is why I chose them to be my team this year? (He also mentioned in a NYT article that as a child he idolized Herman Hesse.)

Melissa at 7:27pm November 24

I almost just typed “Dude!,” so as to exclaim, “Dude! I nearly idolized Hesse when an adolescent!” It’s true – I read nearly all of his books for heaven knows what reason when 13 or so – except for the ever-famous Stephenwolf (sp?) and The Glass-Bead Game.

I would NOT want him at this table. He would make the others want to end themselves.

Any news on tickets, lovey? Congrats on that AWESOME MEETING, by the by (involves a proper noun beginning with an “L”).

Melissa at 7:36pm November 24

OH, OH! Add Vik Muniz and Cindy Sherman to the list. And yourself, Nora, and yourself.

Michael at 7:53pm November 24

I don’t see Harold Bloom on that list; you ought to be ashamed of yourself!

Melissa at 7:56pm November 24

I’m mentally – and physically – flipping you off right now, M. This is a very complicated, layered bit of gesticulation. Thereby making me proud!

DOWN with Harold Bloom! (Can we please, please, please make this a riculous divisive point in our cohort/larger program?) DOWN with Bloom; on with the hilarity!

Melissa at 8:07pm November 24

Goodness me. I know better: those gestures/sentiments needs be saved for the experience of playing Guitar Hero/Rock Star for the first time.

I am duly sorry

Nora at 8:21pm November 24

Among others, my dinner table will have: Fareed Zakaria, Michelle Obama, Freddie Mercury, AJ Jacobs, Bill Bryson, Ken Jennings and, of course, Melissa Bagley.

The “L” appointment was fantastic — HUGE potential — about which elaboration will have to wait until I’m in a much less restricted forum than the status-message-comment-area. But it was delightful!

Ticket status: functioning under the assumption that none will be received. Plans are in place to stake out a spot on the Mall at dawn, January 20. Thermoses are being pre-purchased to fill with soup and hot drinks.

Nora at 8:22pm November 24

Oh! Oh! And Lois Lowry. I loved her pre-teenage level books. I probably read “Number the Stars” a thousand times between the ages of eight and twelve.

Melissa at 8:50pm November 24

I knew that this might be the wrong forum, thus the “code-talk”!

And, AND, I totally thought of Bill Bryson as having excellent potential to build bridges and fill the gaps in ways that conversations so often need at said parties. He would be PERFECT in that capacity, and an interesting little bugger all on his own.

I forgot musicians! And am gonna think about the recently posted Owen Pallett (of Final Fantasy fame).

Gonna try my damndest for that now slightly postponed DC trip. I should start a Paypal account

Oh, oh, oh: and I LOVED that Lowry book, too! (Though clearly not as much as Ms. Nora Cobo.

Melissa at 8:51pm November 24

Oh, and hell: Let’s add Paganini, if we are going to do the musician thing right.

JUST IMAGINE when and how the egos at this now ridiculous table will hit and burst! Heh.

CJ at 9:00pm November 24

Cindy Sherman is a must-have for this kind of thing. I’m thinking, Anne Carson, Joan Didion, and Brecht. But that’s just because I’m perverse.

Melissa at 9:04pm November 24

AUGH! HOW idd I forget Anne Carson and Joan Didion? They were already on my list. Not thieving them, I swear. They were.

ADDED.

And I think that I need to drop my two musicians. They might just make the whole thing awkward.

Melissa at 9:05pm November 24

Oh, and Joan Didion = then. Anne Carson? Who knows! Now, I guess.

I am going to fail out of school, and it will be because I gave too much of a damn about my fake celebrity dinner.

Nora at 10:22pm November 24

Oh! And Tony Danza. Don’t make fun. He seems like a genuinely sweet person. He also tap dances.

Melissa at 10:26pm November 24

Girl, you know he has some road rage, right? I think you may read the wrong newspapers. Give up the Times for that sweetness to the left of the checkstand

Nora at 10:54pm November 24

Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no! And just after I looked into the first season of “Who’s the Boss?” on Netflix!

Melissa at 10:59pm November 24

Dear Nora,

Just watch this, repeatedly, and calm down:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALKbCNlU2c&feature=related

Converting you away from the Danza and bringing you into the light of Hammer-Ortiz feels like missionary work to me. Breathe in that sweet air, Nora. Am I freaking you out yet? Do you associate this uncomfortableness with your devotion to Tony Danza?

Good.

It’s only because I love you, honeypie.

Melissa at 11:01pm November 24

(Embarrassing revelatory moment? – Notice that I stuck with the religiously connotative language?! – MAYBE I MAYBE miss that show, too.)

Facebook makes me miss italics.

Andy at 4:18pm November 26

there’s nothing wrong with a tony danza obsession. i myself have a Bill Cosby obsession. must watch two episodes of the Cosby show daily. that and Lamictal help keep my bipolar in check!

you really should invite Bill Cosby. Now and Then.

Melissa at 4:21pm November 26

I will always love Cosby for his “Chocolate Cake” sketch. That is hilarious.

Nora at 4:28pm November 26

Oh, my God! I was eating a chocolate cupcake for breakfast this morning (there’s no shame in that) and started singing to myself “Nora’s great! Gave us the chocolate cake!” I’m not even kidding. The cupcakes are delicious — baked, excitedly, last night for my roommate’s birthday — devil’s food with funfetti icing.

Andy at 4:33pm November 26

“i’ve always heard about people having…a conniption….but i’d never seen one….you don’t want to see ‘em.” – Bill Cosby

if he gets (and accepts) an invite to your dinner, my presence is thereby required at said dinner. it’s a law. you can tell because of all the legal words i used.

Andy at 4:35pm November 26

“My children who had been singing praises to me…LIED on me!”
“WE ASKED FOR EGGS AND MILK, AND DAD MADE US EAT THIS!”

okay i swear thats the last Cosby quote. today.

Melissa at 5:59pm November 26

You are totally “in,” though I myself will be having a panic attack before this variety of minds and talents comes together. I’m gonna recommend that course of action for you as well?

Let’s develop this scenario: Because you and I are the only ones at the imaginary dinner who are glistening with anxiety (euphemized sweat, and so on), we will be asked to sit at the fold-out card table, normally reserved for kids. Despite the fact that it is MY dinner

LOVE IT. And that selection from the skit was great – I just read that and said “Yes! Yes!”

Melissa at 6:00pm November 26

NORA! I love, love, love you – but more still because you were hopping around the kitchen, singing this, WHILST eating a chocolate, funfetti cupcake.

Spellcheck just told me that “funfetti” is wrong. How could anything be. more. right?!

Julie at 11:01pm November 26

Howard and Annie will fight.

Melissa at 11:04pm November 26

I can imagine Anne Carson and Annie Dillard fighting, as they would have the most at stake with each other. If Paganini came, I would imagine him as a s#it-starter, just a self-important pain. And Harold Bloom would end up in the corner, getting annoyed and side-long glances from Zinn and Rushdie through the whole of it

Andy at 2:20am November 27

I think Rushdie and Cosby would get along swimmingly.
an hiarious interesting thought, and at the same time, a legitimate opportunity to use the word “swimmingly.”

an interesting aside – i couldn’t remember how to spell “legitimate” so i went to dictionary.com , only i misspelled it dictoinary.com . if you have time, compare the two. fun stuff.

Melissa at 2:26am November 27

IF YOU JUST SENT ME PORN, ANDY…Just kidding. I already clicked and checked it out. Why would they spell it that way?!

Saying it outloud, with that spelling, is fun. Go ahead. Try it. Try it…!

don’t forget the geometry review

I’m pretty sure this clip speaks for itself.

Also, we should probably discuss that this show is so perfect that it evokes entirely different emotions in me as an adult.  I mean, aside from the painful recognition of what is probably the truest representation of adolescence in the 1990s, I dislike characters that I loved in my teenage years and vice versa.  I kind of have a retroactive crush on Brian Krakow.

rip ‘em up! tear ‘em up!

So, this analogy came into my life months ago (months!  at least two, but perhaps three).  I hate to be delayed in my reporting, but it didn’t seem widely important then.  Honestly, it probably isn’t even now, but the fact remains: even months (two, perhaps three) later, I’m so pleased with it.  It must be shared.

It all began in early July.  My mom and I had tickets to see the Cards/Cubs series in Saint Louis during the interterm break at my summer job.  While at Busch stadium, we got to talking about the rivalry (I suppose now it is appropriate to mention that, while I am a Cardinals fan, my mom supports the boys from Chicago) and how other teams felt the need to interject themselves unappreciatedly.  Which made us start thinking about ACC basketball.  And the following analogy was born.

In this analogy, the following pairings have been made:

Chicago Cubs / Duke Blue Devils
St. Louis Cardinals / University of North Carolina Tarheels (it pains me to have to make this association, but you’ll understand why in a minute)
Kansas City Royals / North Carolina State Wolfpack
Houston Astros / University of Maryland Terrapins

SO.  The real rivalry, as everyone knows is between the Cubs/Duke and the Cards/Tarheels.  It is both a result of long-standing excellence in both teams’ programs and geographical proximity (a three- or four-hour drive between Busch and Wrigley; a twenty-minute drive between Cameron Indoor and the Dean Dome).  However, KC/NC State venomously hates against the Cards/Tarheels, thinking THAT to be the actual rivalry due to even closer proximity.  Cards/Heels fans laugh at this.   Meanwhile, the ‘Stros/Terps are not even relatively close geographically but have stepped in as Cubs/Duke rivals during particularly low points in the Cards/Tarheels history and thus consider themselves by this point a traditional rival; once again, the Cubs/Duke scoff.

These are the things my mom and I discuss.

I leave you with these, quotes that exemplify my opinion by experts in the field:

The rivalry between the Cubs and the Cardinals is probably the oldest and perhaps the best in baseball, no matter how the Red Sox and Yankees spit and spite at each other.  That’s a tabloid-fueled soap opera about money and ego and sound bites.  That’s a pair of bratty high-priced supermodels trying to trip each other in their stilettos on the runway.  But the Cards-Cubs epic is about roots and geography and territorial rights.  It’s entwined in the Midwestern blood and therefore refreshing and honest and even heroic.  It isn’t simply two teams throwing tantrums at each other but two feudal city-states with eternal fans far beyond their own walls, spread throughout not only the Midwest but also deep into the South and the West.” (Buzz Bissinger, Three Nights in August)

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind, baby — Duke-Carolina is the best rivalry in college basketball, and probably in all of athletics.  Even a one-eyed broadcaster can see that! (Dick Vitale, forward to Art Chansky’s Blue Blood)

i’ll cover you

God, I love a good cover song.  I’ve loved cover songs for as long as I can remember.  The best part is, they always pop up when you’re least expecting them.  Though Pandora hasn’t really directed me to any great ones, the iTunes “just for you” feature (dangerous to the wallet, my friends) has picked up on this dear, long-standing love of mine.

Here’s the thing about covers: artists pay homage to their beloved influences and still make it their own.  It’s a two-for!  Of course, like any sane person, I only really enjoy the covers that do a song justice, but I even guiltily enjoy the ones that cock up the concept.  It’s like seeing a movie based on a book you love.  Even if it’s so terrible that the author refuses to let the filmmakers use the book’s actual name (cough cough Simon Bircb cough cough) it’s still interesting to see how someone who was at least in some way inspired by the original uses the material to make it their own.

Since I’ve been in DC, I’ve spent extensive quality time with my iPod.  I keep those $7.99 headphones (I managed to leave the better, less painful-to-my-ears ones in Louisiana and refuse to buy an equivalent pair since I can reclaim the originals when I next visit the Bayou State) attached to my head and the music library on “shuffle” at all times of travel (I will often attempt to listen to pre-made playlists, but my iPod has a mind of its own and refuses to play my compilations in the order I intended, which annoys me), and I’ve learned over the past few weeks that, with public transportation — particularly the bus route, which I rely on heavily — it often takes thirty minutes to make a two-mile trip.  Even when I’m not on the bus, I’m walking at least fifteen or twenty minutes at a time.  The point of all this is to emphasize how much time I’ve spent listening to oft-forgotten music from the ever-growing library.  In this process, I’ve come across some long-missed favorite cover tunes.  For your enjoyment (and, for my convenience, in the order that iTunes lists them):

• Alison Kraus – When You Say Nothing At All  Hands down, I prefer this version to the original.  I appreciate Keith Whitley for all he was and did, but his voice is just a little too twangy for me to invest long-term enjoyment in this song as he performs it.  However, Alison’s voice is perfect.  Always.
• Amy Winehouse – Cupid  God, I love Sam Cooke.  I love-love-love Sam Cooke.  And this is one of my favorites (though the ultimate prize is saved for A Change is Gonna Come).  I came across this song in a batch of reggae covers my brother sent me; this one’s a beauty.
• Beck – Diamond Dogs  This one came to me through a mix CD made for me by dear friends (whose music taste, incidentally, I will always, always trust).  It’s a great song to begin with, and this version is just strange enough to surprise me every time.  I guess that’s what Beck does best.  Anyway, it’s about six months old in my repertoire and yet to get passe.
• Ben Taylor – I Try  I was conditioned to love Ben Taylor; after all, I was raised on his dad’s music.  This was the first of his songs I ever heard, and it took me a while before I realized it was that f-ing Macy Gray song.  Did I mention that I can’t stand Macy Gray?  Anyway, even though the song is really just a collection of cliche expressions, it somehow doesn’t sound nearly as trite when Ben sings it as it does when Macy does.  In fact, it sounds quite earnest and pleading.  And I love that.
• Billy Joel – This Night  I suppose, technically, it’s not a cover.  Or is it?  I’m still undecided.  The chorus of this song, which is otherwise very simple doo-wop, lifts its melody straight from Beethoven’s Pathétique, and does so in a really meaningful and eloquent way.  And, God, I love Billy Joel any day of the week.
• Cary Brothers – If You Were Here  Another where I altogether prefer the cover to the original.  Really, the Thompson Twins version is only appropriate where we all recognize it — in the end scene of “Sixteen Candles” as Jake and Samantha kiss over her birthday cake.  Any other time, it’s tedious and mega-80s.  And I say that as someone who professes to adore the 80s.  Cary Brothers’ (and it’s one person named Cary, not brothers with the last name of Cary) version gets the point across in a much better, less tedious way.
• Eric Clapton – Layla (unplugged)  Again, like with Billy Joel, I think I might be cheating a little bit.  I’ll take my justification for this one from the much-missed VH1 show “The List” (what a freaking fantastic show; I reminisce about it much more than I would like to admit publicly): this version is so very different from the original that it deserves the genre of “cover.”  Plus, I was raised on the “Unplugged” album and, thus, this version rather than the original.  I remember the first time I heard the original — it took me actual minutes to recognize it.
• The Futureheads – Hounds of Love  I have to be honest here.  I have never heard the Kate Bush original.  I don’t care.  I love this song that much.
• George Harrison – My Sweet Lord  Due to the plagiarism controversy that surrounds this glorious song and The Chiffons’ He’s So Fine, I’m counting it.  Again, it’s glorious.  Enough said.
• Hotel Lights – The End of the Tour  As a life-long They Might Be Giants fan (my first concert, boys and girls) I’m skeptical of any covers, and rightfully so: most of the tribute album from which this song comes is not worth a second listen.  This project from Darren Jessee (you know I love that) takes an already-sad song and matches the instrumental to the lyric.
• Joe Anderson – Happiness is a Warm Gun  From the movie “Across the Universe.”  I could’ve picked many songs from this movie; I chose this one because It Still Gets Me.  I’ve seen the movie more times than I can count (hell, I own it) and still, no matter how many times I listen, it brings me back to the emotion from the first viewing.  Plus, I never really cared much about this song before the film, and the fact that it’s one of my favorites from the soundtrack has to say something about its wonder, right?
• Johnny Cash – Hurt  Remember those friends whose musical taste I’ll always trust (refer to the Beck song)?  I can thank them for this one, too.
• Joshua Radin – Only You  I didn’t know this was a cover until I played it for a friend; after hearing both I can now say with certainty that I love the original but prefer this version.  A little more pared-down.  That seems to have been the theme of many of these choices.
• Kaiser Chiefs – I Heard it Through the Grapevine  No one can argue that Marvin Gaye was (and continues to be) one of the best out there.  This version takes it to a much different place, and though I’ll always prefer the original, I have lots of affection for this’un, too.  Plus, it’s exactly five minutes long.  You know I love that.
• Keller Williams – Another Brick in the Wall  No use comparing it to the Floyd version, because they’re not at all comparable.  Listen to it now.  Thank me later.
• Lauryn Hill – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You  I actually don’t really love the original version.  It bores me.  Lauryn Hill’s version, however, does it correctly and does it well.  The pleading in her voice fits the lyric perfectly.
• The Mamas and the Papas – Dream a Little Dream of Me  A Cole Porter original, Mama Cass nails it.
• Mark Ronson and Kenna – Amy  Again, not even a little bit comparable to the Ryan Adams original.  Listen to, and love, each.  I did.
• Matt Ketteman and Cameron Mizzell – In Your Eyes  Anyone who knows me knows that “Say Anything” is one of my perennial favorite films.  So, of course I love this song.  There’s no competing with the Peter Gabriel version, but this toned-down acoustic cover does it a fair amount of justice.
• Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World (unplugged)  Another Bowie cover, you say?  He appears to lend himself nicely to these.  I loved — from a young age — the “Nirvana Unplugged” album, and this was always, always the first song I would choose.
• Patsy Cline – Crazy  Willie Nelson, I adore you, but you’re just too carefree to do this song justice.  Thank you, greatly, for writing it.  And thank you, greatly, for giving it to Miss Patsy.
• Presidents of the United States of America – Video Killed the Radio Star  I heard this version first.  Had no idea there was an early-80s version (that, you know, was the first music video on that famous cable music channel).  I freaking loved it.  I remember them playing this from atop Mount Rushmore for some MTV stunt or another in the mid-90s.  Freaking catchy as hell.  And well-done for a new generation.
• Seu Jorge – Rebel Rebel  I didn’t love “The Life Aquatic.”  But I did love the soundtrack.  And yes, more Bowie.
• The Shins – We Will Become Silhouettes  Nothing against that other Postal Service cover (oh, wait, and the other version by my all-time favorite musician) but this one is, in my own humble opinion, the most fun.  (Ben, I still adore your version.)
• Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out  Beatles covers are dangerous ground.  The “Across the Universe” folks got kind of a pass, as the songs are intended to fit into a larger storyline, but even someone amazing like Stevie Wonder is treading thin ice by doing an all-out cover.  That said, he nails it.  It’s as if the song was written for him to eventually sing.
• Willie Nelson – All of Me  Here, Willie, is where your light-hearted, beautiful voice does best.  The entire “Stardust” album is fantastic — Mr. Willie covering old jazz standards, and covering them well.  This one is my favorite.

So, check some of them out.  Maybe you’ll enjoy them.  I’m not saying they’re all — or even most — better than the original (in fact, I explicitly said that some were not), but they’re all thoroughly enjoyable.

In other news, I start class tomorrow!  And boy, am I ready.  I bought spiral notebooks (sidebar: have these gotten kind of pricy, or has it just been too long since I’ve bought school supplies) and am ready for some note-taking action.  Love that education.

and the war came

So, we all know (or, if we don’t all know, we’re about to find out) that I recently moved from northwest Louisiana to Our Nation’s Capital.  My mom came up with me for the first few days and we did all the tourist-y stuff; that said, how does one do all the tourist-y stuff in DC without seeing monuments?  Answer: one cannot.  So we did.  We started at the Lincoln memorial, which therefore meant that all else paled in comparison.  That monument is phenomenal.  First, it’s huge.  HUGE.  Imposing in stature, and not in a bad way, but rather in a very, very appropriate way.  Second, while walking up the numerous stairs to the actual monument, one passes by a particular stone marked as the stone where Martin Luther King, Jr. made his Speech of Speeches; standing there and looking out at the Mall and realizing how massive that moment actually had to have been is an incomparable experience.  One simply cannot do it any other way.

Finally, you walk into the monument itself and it Takes Your Breath Away.  I felt tears welling up (cliche, I know, but actual tears were forming, so I can’t describe it any other way) in my eyes as I entered — tears that, fairly, began welling as I was reading the stone that Martin Luther King, Jr. “marched here for jobs and freedom.”  Wow.  The first place you go, if you’re me, is to the right wall, where you can read, engraved, the Second Inaugural Address.  Which I’ve taken the liberty of quoting, in entirety, below:

Fellow Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether’.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

There are no words to describe how perfect a speech that is.  It places no blame, in fact explicitly says that neither side can know directly what God’s purpose is.  Perfect.

wireless internet

…especially the free kind.

 

Okay, so I might be fairly biased on this subject, considering I’m writing this post from a table in a bookstore/cafe that boasts said subject line (with the qualification, too).  My original intent at this institution was to buy a glass of iced tea (check!), research the ABC plan (check-check!) and get writing on my big Writing Sample of Glory (um…er…).  Naturally, after a couple of hours of research, I realized that there wasn’t even a slight chance I’d be getting words-on-paper (or, as it is, words-on-word-processor) before the night ended.  This was not helped by the fact that I have imminent plans to be drinking $1.75 beers before much longer.

So, I thought I’d sing some praises instead.  Don’t worry, mom, I’ll write tomorrow.  Promise.  But for serious, who’d-a thought ten years ago that I’d be able to take my laptop, of considerably smaller size than can be compared to a Zack Morris phone (an honor unable to bestow upon my previous laptop, a circa 1975 Dell whose fans would scream at me if I kept it turned on longer than five hours — a particular problem considering I would be at work upwards of ten many days), to a location where there were no — forget Ethernet — modems into which I could plug and still yet access the entire interwebs.  But here I sit, ten years in the making, at my delightfully lightweight MacBook and NOT at my desk!  When I think about it only slightly, I don’t have much of an opinion.  But!  When I consider the effect it has had on my productivity, I’m considerably more impressed than I otherwise would be.

See, I get the cabin fever pretty heavily.  Too much time in one location tends to make me slightly crazy.  This can manifest itself in a number of ways; sometimes it’s humorous, but more often it’s just cranky.  Which translates into potential rudeness.  Which is often inappropriate.  And anyone who knows me can attest that inappropriateness makes me itch.  This was a problem in college, as I had to shuffle back and forth between whatever on-campus residence I inhabited to the computer lab around back of the library to maintain my location-related sanity; and it was a problem when I worked, since my thicky-thicky-thick laptop certainly didn’t boast a wireless card and rarely recognized the USB adapter on which I spent fifty of my own dollars.  Yeah, I’m bitter.  Fifty dollars is hard to come by when you’re twenty-threeish.

Enter the phenomenon that is wireless internet.  The free kind, specifically.  I’ll add, for context, that I was really, really late in the game of WiFi.  Really late.  I acquired my first wireless-enabled computer approximately five months ago, and I’ve been thrilled about it.  As I was working on my graduate applications, I was able to take my computer to PJ’s for delicious tea and academic productivity.  While previously I would have been bound to my desk, I was able to make the process far more enjoyable and thus exciting.  And hurrah!  Though I certainly don’t credit my admission into certain glorious Peace and Conflict Resolution programs to the advent of free wireless, it certainly made me less likely to throw my hands in the air and give up before the applications were completed.  And for that, I thank the floating internet-related particles that have found their way from the World Wide Spiderweb into my computer.

Okay, I’m pretty sure I just gave away the fact that I know absolutely nothing about how the internet works.  And I’m cool with that.

It also is worth noting that wireless internet is delightfully helpful when one is on their day off.  After a long, long weekend.  Filled with field day-, dance- and term book-related stress.  (For those of you who aren’t familiar with what I mean, you should probably be aware that I’ve spent my summer working with teenagers.)  Also financial aid-related stress.  When that specific someone, who may or may not be me, has the opportunity to disappear with her glorious little computer and feel like she’s getting something done while being away from everything stressful, that specific someone leaps at the chance.

Of course, blogging about this subject has taken away about twenty minutes of productivity-related time.  But I’m cool with that, too.

the eastern time zone

So, today marks the one-month-until-I-commence-the-Big-Move day (I bet you didn’t know it was a celebratory day, but indeed, it is).  I need to reserve some U-Haul action, but aside from that, I’m freaking psyched for this move.  Of course, I’m more than ready to get going on graduate school, and I’m thrilled about the prospect of, for the first time, living in an actual big city with public transportation (I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about leaving my car in Shreveport for the next two years).  But there’s also one very important yet questionably logical reason for my enthusiasm about this move: I am so ready to be back in Eastern Standard Time.

Don’t make fun.  It really is important to me — in fact, I’ll openly admit it is a big-ass bias of mine.  Having grown up in North Cackylack, I became unknowingly accustomed to my time zone.  It wasn’t until I moved to Texas for college that I realized how much a time zone affects a mentality; frankly, things in this country happen based on EST!  Watch any non-local channel — unless you live on the East coast, you’re going to be forced to watch your show/game/concert/etc. at a time other than its intended airing.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: prime time was never meant to start at seven o’clock.  Every New Year’s Eve I’m reminded of this when whatever house/party/bar I am at shows Dick Clark’s ball drop happening one hour before we count down ourselves.

Now, the Central time zone has many offerings: South by Southwest, Mardi Gras, the Saint Louis Cardinals, Fiesta, rodeos, ACL, Pink Party, the inordinately huge percentage of attractive males in Iowa…and the list clearly goes on.  Just making that clear.  I fully plan to participate in these activities to the best of my ability.  Still, I know returning to my own, proper time zone will be a move that allows me to feel just a little more complete.