Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hopeless (Day 168)

Ween - "Drifter In The Dark"
The Beatles - "She Said She Said"
Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are"
Pernice Brothers - "Somerville"
M Ward - "Deep Dark Well"
The Postal Service - "This Place Is Prison"
Tokyo Police Club - "Nursery, Academy"
Meat Puppets - "Plateau"
Roy Orbison - "Communication Breakdown"
The Mountain Goats - "Tianchi Lake"
Beck - "Movie Theme"
Wilco - "Yesterday"
The Beatles - "Get Back"
Big day for the Beatles on today's list - - three appearances, including Jeff Tweedy's cover of "Yesterday." Funnily enough I was reading a review in the NY Times of Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers, and The Beatles play a fairly significant role. First, let me just say that I have not read either of Mr. Gladwell's wildly successful books, The Tipping Point or Blink, although I'm fully aware of them and what they're about. But this book sounds, form the review, like it's a bit half-baked. Basically this book purports that success is due to a mix of talent and opportunity. Well, like, duh. The Beatles figure into his hypothesis and evidently he feels their success is due to the fact that they practiced their music by playing a lot in Hamburg, Germany. Now, I know a lot of dudes in their garages who would probably have to agree that a lot of practice is not going to equal success. The theory seems to downplay their genius. The Times reviewer even says such, and cites other rock successes as the Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys who were just as influential without all the "practice." Pass.
The Wrens - "Hopeless"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 14
Total minutes of music (approx.): 47
Song with the most previous plays: "Hopeless" - 14
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: It actually snowed a bit when I was walking to the train this AM...a week and a half before Thanksgiving. Hmm...

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