Eve Of Destruction (Day 48)

Bishop Allen - "Eve Of Destruction"
Destroyer - "Streethawk II"
Sloan - "Who Taught You To Live Like That?"
Nirvana - "Polly"
Versus - "Follow"
Bishop Allen - "Corazon"
Not only did Bishop Allen show up twice on the playlist today, but I open the paper to the weekend arts listings... and wham-o! There's a listing for a Bishop Allen show tonight in Williamsburg. So who are these guys? Take it away NYT: "Borrowing from the playbook of early Joathan Richman, this Brooklyn band put a boyish smile on spunky, angst-ridden guitar pop, and nurses worries about the slow crawl towards the workaday adult life." I couldn't have said it better myself. I found them on some blog, somewhere, and was first drawn in by the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head power of the single "Click Click Click Click." At the time (2006), BA was working on an ambitious EP a month project. And even though they self-released almost 60 tracks there were few throwaway tunes in the bunch. The first song above (today's song with the most previous plays), comes from their self-recorded debut Charm School, which is excellent. "Eve Of Destruction" starts out with a litany a la R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and settles into this mellow groove with the refrain "I tell you over and over and over again my friend that I'm down with you even on the eve of destruction." It's both comforting and foreboding at the same time. The second song from Boston childhood buddies Justin Rice and Christian Rudder (they grew up on Bishop Allen Drive) is from their 2006 release The Broken String. It included a few re-workings of the tunes from the EP project, but for me it lacked the spontaneity of their first album. The songs, like "Corazon," have a much richer sound but it was the stripped down quirk that originally hooked me. Maybe live that's still what you'll hear. If you're in town and you've got nothing better to do, check it out. (Muisc Hall of Williamsburg, 9pm)
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Killing The Blues"
Elliott Smith - "Waltz #2"
Aimee Mann - "Stupid Thing"
M Ward - "Afterworld/Rag"
Bob Dylan - "When The Ship Comes In" (live)
The Evens - "Cut From The Cloth"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 12
Total minutes of music (approx.): 52
Song with the most previous plays: "Eve Of Destruction" - 10
Number of bands on the playlist mentioned in the New York Times: 1
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Baseball has got me feeling up -- and down. The Mets are seriously scuffling right now having lost 3 out of 4 to the last place Nationals. Yesterday's afternoon affair was the capper, a 1-0 shutout that ended with Carlos Beltran being doubled up -- off of third base! Granted he was running on contact in an effort to make something happen, but come on! And now they have to play the Yankees in that media circus known as the Subway Series. (I'm not a fan of interleague play.) So what's the good baseball news? My fantasy team is surging! We are in second place right now. Thanks Lance Berkman, we couldn't have done it without you.