Pixies - "Debaser" (live)
Zumpano - "Jeez-Louise"
A really nice long, list that encompassed a short trip to the gym and the commute to work. This particular song helped fuel part of my time on the treadmill (thanks power pop!), but also made my thoughts wander to an entirely different band: Frank Allison and the Odd Sox. If you lived in Ann Arbor in the late 80s or early 90s you know exactly who I'm talking about: Long hair, quirky, nasal voice, rocking backup band. Every once and a while I'll come across my vinyl copy of Monkey Business and it'll bring me right back to that chilly gem of a town in the Midwest. I had to find out what's up with Frank when I got to work today and it turns out he's had a bit of a wild ride: On the cusp of success, he lost his voice to something called spasmodic dysphonia. He was forced to put down the guitar for seven years and in the meantime he bought and operated a movie theater. Then, out of the blue, he got his young daughter a ukulele. She lost interest in the instrument, but he fiddled with it and eventually re-taught himself to sing - - and then he started recording again. Take that, Behind the Music! And good for you, Frank. Anyone else out there remember Frank Allison and The Odd Sox?
N.E.R.D. - "You Know What"
Deerhoof - "Giga Dance"
The Starlight Mints - "Pages"
The Books - "Take Time"
The Mountain Goats - "Diru Lipatti's Bones"
Bright Eyes - "Down A Rabbit Hole"
Superchunk - "Marquee"
Q-Tip - "Official"
Annuals - "Track 57"
Dolorean - "Morning Watch"
Grizzly Bear - "Plans"
The Rolling Stones - "Shake Your Hips"
Colin Meloy - "The Gymnast, High Above The Ground" (live)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "Sittin' And Thinkin'"
The Roots - "I Will Not Apologize"
Bod Dylan - "Who Killed Davey Moore?"
De La Soul - "Change In Speak"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 19
Total minutes of music (approx.): 64
Song with the most previous plays: "Plans," "Morning Watch" (tie) - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 9
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Devised recipe for beating cold with G - - roar like a lion at top volume.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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3 comments:
Hey Greg,
I'm amazed at how many songs you get to listen to on the way to work. Then I realized that you start farther in Brooklyn and you commute up to midtown. Great playlist today - I'd love to grab that Deerhoof from you (I don't have that track) and there's a few others that I'm not familiar that maybe you can school me on.
Just for shits and giggles, here's what I listened to on the shuffle (not quite as scientific as yours - it's a pre-loaded playlist set to shuffle - in this case, my hip hop/r&b mix)....
Kanye West - "Heard 'em Say"
Anthony Hamilton - "Coming From Where I'm From"
Souls of Mischief - "'93 til Infinity"
Pete Rock - "For the People"
Gang Starr - "Mass Appeal"
Junior M.A.F.I.A. - "Player's Anthem"
and then I got to work (and started reading your blog).
P.S....
and as an old Ann Arbor "townie" of COURSE I remember Frank Allison and the Odd Sox. I remember seeing them a few times at the Old Heidelburg up on Main Street. Most of my first shows were local bands like Frank Allison, The Holy Cows (from Chelsea) and SLK. SLK was a great ska band - it was rumored that it alternatively stood for "Street Light Knights" and "Stupid Little Kids". They played an outdoor show at the mudbowl at the corner of South U and Washtenaw that I still recall as one of my all-time favorites - it was a warm September Friday night, I was a senior in high school and UM was playing UCLA in the Big House the next day.
Frank Allison was a great sound - there were a few bands in SE Michigan back at that time that rocked similar sounds. Some of the tracks by Tracy Lee and the Leonards had that vibe - though typically they were more jazzy bluesy than pop. A closer match, though they were a bit more obsessed with being hip scenesters than FA & the OS, was a band from East Lansing that I loved called The Wayouts. It reminds me of a midwestern precursor to Ted Leo & the Pharmacists.
Hey David-
Thanks for checking in. Today was a bit longer than usual because I actually went to the gym. But I normally do get in about 40 minutes of solid listening. And thanks for the Ann Arbor scene report circa 1990. Don't ya miss it?
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