Yo La Tengo - "Winter A Go-Go"
There's so much to love about Yo La Tengo, I could write a book. But today I just wanted to mention that for about 11 years they've helped free form, non-profit radio station WFMU raise cash during their pledge drive by performing a set of covers by request. By request! They basically manage to play everything from tunes by The Feelies to The Eurythmics on demand. Of course the band has a lustrous history of covers. (Their covers record Fakebook is amazing and live they always sprinkle in some gems.) The awesomeness of this annual event can only be matched by the lameness of my missing it every single year. I've been aware of the covers marathon forever, but I've never actually heard it. They do have a CD that they sell on their website featuring many of the hits (misses?) from these sets - - and I don't even have that! Loser, me. This video from this year's marathon will at least give you a taste of these loose and fun performances. There's no Georgia on drums, sadly, but Ira's inability to remember the lyrics leads to a great editorial riff on the plummeting career of Jack Nicholson.
Modest Mouse - "Little Motel"
Ben Harper - "Both Sides Of The Gun"
Ra Ra Riot - "Each Year" (live)
Iron & Wine - "Love Song of the Buzzard" (live)
Sufjan Stevens - "Happy Birthday"
Golden Smog - "Think About Yourself"
The Clientele - "The Dance Of The Hours"
Joan Baez - "Here's To You"
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - "At the Border, Guy"
Devandra Banhart - "Insect Eyes"
Jens Lekman - "Another Sweet Summer Night On Hammer Hill"
I've only recently started listening to this Swedish singer-songwriter but I'm digging him. His lyrics are wry and hysterical. This song features the following couplet, which cracks me up:
"I had a friend who was slightly overweight
that means fatass in the seventh grade
I still remember the steamy dressing room
where they beat him black and blue
yeah they beat him black and blue"
that means fatass in the seventh grade
I still remember the steamy dressing room
where they beat him black and blue
yeah they beat him black and blue"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 13
Total minutes of music (approx.): 53
Song with the most previous plays: (tie) "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood," Winter A Go-Go," "Little Motel" - 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I look forward to the Wednesday commute. And it's not because it's "Hump Day." (Who came up with that, anyway? I checked, but Wikipedia was no help, offering only: "An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day," a reference to making it through the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump." A pretty idiotic Idiom, if you ask me.) The reason is a tad humiliating, but here goes: I really get pumped to read the Dining In/Dining Out section of the NY Times. The features! The reviews! The recipes! It all excites my burgeoning foodie sensibilities. And while I'm on the subject of The Gray Lady, it might be time for my ranking of (drum roll) Favorite Weekday Special Sections of the New York Times In Order of Interest And Excitement. (I nominate this for dorkiest list of all time before I even begin to type it.)
1. Dining In/Dining Out (Wednesday)
2. Weekend Arts and Escapes (Friday)
3. no special section, but the Monday business includes extended Media coverage (Monday)
4. House & Home and Thursday Styles (Thursday)
5. Science Times (Tuesday)
6 comments:
The Yo La Tengo covers album is called "Fakebook" not "Facebook."
Been a fan of theirs forever.
I'll have to check out the Jens Lekman. You're the second person in the past week to recommend him.
Of course it's Fakebook. Duh. Guess my day job is getting in the way of careful blog proofreading.
Dining In/Dining Out, GE? Wow. Along with the House & Home section, that utterly useless filler is the kind of crap that allows the Times to justify charging $1.25 for a paper that cost 60 cents only ten years ago. Excerpt from a business meeting somewhere in the bowels of the NY Times building: "Here's an idea! Let's give 'em shit they don't need! And charge them for it!" Excerpt from my most recent thought: "Just give me the damn sports and the news and the classic NY Times style, and only charge me a buck for it, tops, you Dining In/Dining Out motherfuckers."
Well, AJS, guess the people over on your blog who don't necessarily think you're that angry should read your comments here. Also, you’re ridiculous. Especially considering you've written for some of those "utterly useless filler" sections! In any case, I read the Sports section first - - can we still be friends?
Of course we're still friends, but that doesn't mean I don't hate crap like the Dining In/Dining Out section. Or Travel. What is it with the damn Travel section? So terrible. But I will give props to Science of the Times and the Style Section. Still, $1.25 is wack.
I'm hungover, hence the extra dose of anger.
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