Daddy Day Care (Day 121)

Yup, that's me. Along with my 5-and-a-half-month-old son. And we're both on the way to work! Perhaps you've heard: it's not easy for two working parents to raise two kids. (Good luck, CP!) My best advice is you have to roll with it. So today, due to scheduling issues, my youngest got to take the trip to the office with me. And after ipodwidow finished her work appointment, she came and picked him up. He was only at my office for an hour or so, but It was a lot of fun. (Fun fact for dads: Women in your office will drop whatever they're doing and come hang out with you and your baby. Not too shabby.) But even though he slept in the Moby Wrap baby carrier the whole way in, listening to my iPod, and not the deep, restful breathing of my still infant son, seemed wrong. When we got to the office, he was his happy, smiling self and I played a little music to stimulate those young ears. To be honest, I haven't been pushing music on him the way I did his sister at his age. Mostly because he's much more mellow and doesn't need constant rocking, singing and aural stimulation to get him to go to sleep. Still I should probably make more of an effort. The Bruce Springsteen Seeger Sessions album always seems like a good starter kit. I love the big folk band sound, and the renditions of the classics (many recorded by Pete Seeger) are informal and inviting - - for kids and adults. The little man cooed and giggled in my lap, while I checked some emails...
Bruce Springsteen - "Old Dan Tucker"
Bruce Springsteen - "Jesse James"
Bruce Springsteen - "Mrs. McGrath"
Bruce Springsteen - "O Mary Don't You Weep"
Bruce Springsteen - "John Henry"
Bruce Springsteen - "Erie Canal"
Bruce Springsteen - "Jacob's Ladder"
Bruce Springsteen - "My Old Kentucky Home"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 0
Total minutes of music (approx.): 0
Song with the most previous plays: n/a
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): n/a
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: A very small child was attached to my chest.

Hard To Love A Man (Day 120)

Kings Of Convenience - "Toxic Girl"
Wilco - "Heavy Metal Drummer" (live)
Pete Yorn - "Ez"
Mose Allison - "I Don't Worry About A Thing"
The Fratellis - "Henrietta"
Gary Louris - "Omaha Nights"
Taj Mahal - "Keep Your Hands Off Her"
Magnolia Electric Co. - "Hard To Love A Man"
Conor Oberst - "Moab"
The Thorns - "Runaway Feeling"
I thought this was a pretty great playlist today, especially this stretch from Gary Louris to The Throns that made me think Cosmic American Music is alive and well. Gram Parsons, of course, came up with that term to refer to his own brand of country and folk mixed with gospel and soul. He was specifically referring to the covers of the R&B classics "Do Right Woman" and "The Dark End of the Street" that appeared on the 1969 Flying Burrito Brothers album The Gilded Palace of Sin, but I like the term as a stand-in for Americana. I mean, look closely at these 5 songs: Gary Louris is a granddad of the alt country movement as a founding member of The Jayhawks. (New album, btw, is good, not great.) Taj Mahal is best known for the blues mixed with African beats and this song is from an album released (remarkably) the same year as The Gilded Palace of Sin. So while Parsons and Co. were twang-ing up the soul, he was funk-ing up the blues. The Magnolia Electric Co. song from the great 2005 album What Comes After The Blues is straight out of the tradition of Neil Young and Crazy Horse (I know he's Canadian, roll with it people), slow, plodding, countri-fied. Conor Oberst's new album seems to have stripped away a lot of the artifice of Bright Eyes in a good way and feels a lot like a latter day Flying Burrito Brothers record. His backing band on the record is even called Mystic Valley Band - - sounds cosmic to me. The final song in this set-within-a-set is from a band that I really trashed a while back. But somehow coming on the heels of these other tunes, it was like dessert. The harmonies and the lush acoustic strumming are syrupy sweet, but suddenly I was seeing what the band (Matthew Sweet, et al) was aiming for: an American Traveling Wilburys. All of these songs are not exactly of the same genre, but they are pretty damn close. And I think they are all firmly rooted in the same tradition that probably wouldn't mind being referred to as Cosmic American Music. Thanks, Gram.



















Broken Social Scene - "Handjobs For The Holidays"
The Rolling Stones - "Emotional Rescue"
Weezer - "The Other Way"
Sloan - "I've Gotta Try"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 14
Total minutes of music (approx.): 49
Song with the most previous plays: "Hard To Love A Man" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 8
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: ipodwidow took the front section of my NY Times, so I didn't have the pleasure of reading about (apologies to Huey Lewis) this new drug until I got to work. Say hello to Salvia divinorum, and then just say "no" - - of course.

Coupla Easy Things (Day 119)

The Walkmen - "The Rat"
The Clash - "I Fought The Law"
O'Death - "Ground Stump"
The Arcade Fire - "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)"
Dixie Chicks - "So Hard"
The Roots - "I Can't Help It"
The Kinks - "Sitting By The Riverside"
I think a song off of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society also played last week, and both then and now I made a mental note of how nicely these tunes have aged. I think a large part of it has to do with the popularity of folkie, pastoral music right now. I mean Fleet Foxes (of which I can, seriously, not get enough) are sorting of doing the same thing thematically on their debut as the Kinks 1968 album which was conceived as an homage to British hamlet life. Today, anything goes, but you can imagine in 1968 that this record would have been met with a lot of blank stares. The other big Brit bands were putting out songs like "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Hey Jude" and "Magic Bus," while Ray Davies was singing about the bucolic landscape in "Animal Farm" or singing about just sitting by the riverside, literally, in this song. Man, I said it before, and I'll say it again: The Kinks are so damn underrated. And, just because, here's some guy playing the song on the ukulele.



Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - "Mega Bottle Ride"
Pixies - "Isla De Encanta" (live)
Gnarls Barkley - "Storm Coming"
Rivers Cuomo - "Ooh"
Son Volt - "Driving The View"
Coleman Hawkins - "You Met Miss Jones"
Bishop Allen - "Coupla Easy Things"

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: "Coupla Easy Things" - 9
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Forgot to grab my NY Times from the front stoop this morning. Desperate for reading material, I found an old copy of Cook's Illustrated in my bag. This worked out quite well, because now I know how to improve herbed roast chicken. Let me just say the secret of total flavor infusion lies in three simple steps: butterfly, press and score.

White Fluffy Clouds (Day 118)

DJ Danger Mouse - "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
No time for commentary today. Sorry, folks. More tomorrow.
Tortoise - "The Equator"
Pavement - "Mercy: The Laundromat"
The Fiery Furnaces - "Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second Street"
Minutemen - "On Trial"
Billy Bragg and Wilco - "Joe Dimaggio Done It Again"
Oneida - "Reckoning"
Devendra Banhart - "Lunda De Margarita"
Camper Van Beethoven - "White Fluffly Clouds"
Versus - "Thera"
Tom Waits - "Martha"
The Killers - "Read My Mind"
Bill Evans - "Gloria's Step" (Take 3)

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 13
Total minutes of music (approx.): 47
Song with the most previous plays: "The Equator," "White Fluffy Clouds" (tie) - 6
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 5
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I'll try and keep things a little more apolitical. If I don't, I may burst a blood vessel before Nov. 4.

The Needle Has Landed (Day 117)

New Radiant Storm King - "New Math"
The White Stripes - "Let's Shake Hands" (live)
Maritime - "If All My Days Go By"
Blur - "Sweet Song"
Rilo Kiley - "Execution Of All Things"
Smog - "No Dancing"
The Kooks - "Sofa Song"
Red House Painters - "Revelation Big Sur"
Pavement - "Recorder Grot"
What I find most interesting about today's playlist is that I was trying to inject some new life into the shuffle - - and so was iPod! Let me explain: I'm starting to think that even with 11,200 songs, the same core artists pop up every day making things a bite same-y. In addition, a comment by loyal reader comoprozac led me to believe that I'm not fully representing the breadth of my musical tastes. I can't remember exactly what CP said, but I think he was wondering how much of my music collection is absent from the iPod. The short answer is: a lot! I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, I just figured a blog about What I Listen To should probably be more complete. The fact is, most of the music on my iPod is either new stuff I've collected in the past few years, interesting things I've ripped from other people, or stuff I've had the time/inclination to upload from a pretty sizable collection of CDs and records (the tapes are history, unfortunately) that I've been stockpiling since about 1980. (The same year, incidentally, that Billy Joel's Glass Houses came out ...no, I'm not proud.) So what does this have to do with this noisy Pavement tune from the collection of early recordings Westing (By Musket and Sextant)? Well, I just uploaded it yesterday. I know what you're thinking, still not showing much more diversity here, GE. True. But I just grabbed a few things on the way to the office (including New Radiant Storm King, another lo-fi 90s band that never got the attention they deserved, and which also popped up on today's list!). I just thought that it was interesting that two songs from newly uploaded music immediately found their way into the shuffle. I guess iPod was getting bored too. Hopefully we'll both be re-energized as I add more oldies, but goodies.
Wilco - "Someone Else's Song"
Neko Case - "The Needle Has Landed"
Nirvana - "Anorexorcist"
Outkast - "Interlude"
Nick Lowe - "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day"
Nirvana - "Do Re Mi"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 15
Total minutes of music (approx.): 47
Song with the most previous plays: "The Needle Has Landed," "Sofa Song" (tie) - 9
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 7
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I think my blood was still boiling from watching the smug parade of half-truths last night. Thank goodness for The Daily Show.



Update: Thank goodness for...Diddy?

Get It Like You Like It (Day 116)

Islands - "Rough Gem"
The White Stripes - "The Same Boy You've Always Known" (live)
Minutemen - "The Big Blast For Youth" (live)
Gang Of Four - "To Hell With Poverty" (live)
That is kind of an odd trio of very punk-y live recordings that popped up in consecutive order today. I guess The White Stripes tune is not that strange (good song from White Blood Cells), but unfortunately I don't know where this particular recording comes from. I ripped it from a co-worker who had a bunch of tunes simply labeled "White Strips B-Sides" - - but I don't think this is any kind of official release. The there's the Minutemen. What a wild, raucous piece of music. Now just about everything this punk trio touched was raucous, but this track has a stinging cacophony highlighted by a very James Chance-like avant garde blast of saxophone near the end. I was digging it. Meanwhile, I have it on the Post-Mersh, Vol. 3 compilation, but it originally appeared on 1984's The Politics of Time and was recorded September 24, 1983 at the Longshormen's [sic] Ball in Wilmington, CA. And then, finally, this very groovy recording by Gang of Four from a 1979 Peel Session that's not quite as urgent as their other stuff, but still totally post-punk.
Mercury Rev - "Endlessly"
Just a note here about what was a tough transition: I occasionally enjoy the dream pop of this Buffalo-band. But when you're getting your day started nicely with some punk rock (and have only had 2 of the necessary 4-5 cups of coffee), a song that steals the melody from "Silent Night," yet manages to make that X-mas tune sound like a rave highlight, is not going to go over well. Zzzz
The Hold Steady - "Lord, I'm Discouraged"
Sparklehorse - "Knives Of Summertime"
DJ Shadow - "Why Hip Hop Sucks in '96"
The Wrens - "Yellow Number Three"
The Clash - "Hateful"
Ben Harper - "Get It Like You Like It"
Nirvana "Polly" (demo)
Tom Waits - "Fannin Street"
The Kinks - "Big Sky"
The Elected - "Go On"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 15
Total minutes of music (approx.): 49
Song with the most previous plays: "Get It Like You Like It" - 7
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: There is so much crazy wrapped up in McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, but I will limit myself to one jaw-dropper I read in the NY Times on the way in today:

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

Excuse me, book-banning? Don't let the librarian glasses fool you...

Black (Day 115)

Stars - "What I'm Trying To Say"
Teenage Fanclub - "Tears Are Cool"
Talking Heads - "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town"
Camera Obscura - "Tears For Affairs"
fIREHOSE - "Hear Me"
Dolorean - "You Can't Win"
Eleventh Dream Day - "For Everything"
Lucinda Williams - "Words Fell" (live)
Okkervil River - "Black"
The Beatles - "Octopus's Garden"
Sorry... I don't have much time today, so just one quick anecdote from the long weekend. We were spending Monday afternoon on this lovely beach next to a lake (a perfect end to summer), when one of the lifeguards came by asking everyone if they minded the music that the she and her friends were playing. But oddly, her exact words were, "I want to make sure no one minds The Beatles." Wha? First of all, how nice to ask? Secondly, she's only about 17, so the fact that they're even playing The Beatles renews some faith in humanity. And third of all, does anyone really mind The Beatles? Aren't they, like, they only universally appreciated band on the planet? It's pretty much like pizza, no?
Teddy Thompson - "Sorry To See Me Go"
Belle & Sebastian - "The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 12
Total minutes of music (approx.): 46
Song with the most previous plays: "Black" - 10
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 8
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I wanted to get my haircut before work, but it just didn't work out.