Say Yeah

GaGaGaGaGa is a glorious record. Spoon always seems to sound fresh and yet could fit in other time periods seamlessly. For my money, they are the purest rock'n'roll band out there. I know this will sound small but I think they utilize one of rock's most important and ignored sounds in a way that rivals The Beatles. Of course, I'm talking about the hand clap. I love a band that uses the hand clap.

Sticks to You

Ryan Adams's 29 has gotten under my skin only in the way that two other albums have -- The Cure's Disintergration and The Replacements All Shook Down. Like those two albums, it works as an album with repeated themes. Maybe, it is because I'm only nine months older than Ryan that I identify with it so. It could be the references to losing friends. It could be the references to friends having, and losing, babies while some act as if I am already dead. Maybe, it is all the water symbolism (death) and all the events that happened with Katrina. I'm at the point where I can't critically listen to it anymore. It is, like those two other albums, a part of me. "Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play that Part" and "Voices" gets me every time. I think of friends that I've been separated from after Katrina. I think of the kids I taught that I don't know if they are alive.

Ted Danson and Arthurian Legends

I was looking for something in my parents garage and found something unexpected. My copy of the Mission UK's
Carved in Sand. I loved this album my junior year of high school. If it wasn't for self preservation, I would have so been a goth kid growing up. I mean how can you not love this cd. The first song, Amelia, was inspired by a Ted Danson TV movie of the week in which he plays a father who abuses his daughter. And there are "darker" songs dealing with return of Arthur. There is even a book report called The Grapes of Wrath. Still, Butterfly on a Wheel was and still is a beautiful song. I have to go now to find a black cape to wear.

I really do like this cd.

Small World

I inherited a mac laptop from school. What I mean by this is that a teacher left, and the next year I got her powerbook. Great thing about macs is that many people are afraid of them. The "tech" at our school didn't know the first thing about macs. So, the computer wasn't wiped cleaned. The previous owner loved music and put her entire music collection on it. For this, I give thanks. She also had taste...Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Daft Punk, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, etc. Well, I really started getting into Lucinda Williams at the time and the computer had Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and Essence. I listened to those albums all the time. Well, one day the teacher/poet who taught next to me (i was at a public school dedicated to the arts in New Orleans for middle schoolers; no I didn't teach an art subject (history for me) and yes Katrina killed it) asked me what I was listening to lately. I said Lucinda Williams and asked if ever heard her. His response, "Oh Cindy, I got her birthday card in last week. I'm glad to see you like real music." Well, yes the bottom of jaw was dirty from hitting the ground. My friend, Ralph, studied under father at either Tulane or Loyola. In fact, he was at their house when she got kicked out of high school for refusing to say the pledge. I would have loved to ask for more stories of her, but this was the last week of August 2005 in New Orleans.

Wishlist

I sample music from other peoples blogs. But I don't believe in downloading whole albums. Not anymore anyways. I mean I know what it's like to struggle to make a living. Hell, I'm a teacher and that's the best paying job I've ever had. So here are twenty or so cd's I want to buy, in no particular order:

1. Spoon -- GaGaGaGa
   
2. Feist -- The Reminder
   
3. The Mars Volta -- Amputechture
   
4. Daft Punk -- Musique, Vol. 1: 1993-2005
   
5. Daft Punk -- Daft Club
   
6. Minus the Bear -- Planet of Ice
   
7. The National -- Boxer
   
8. Phoenix -- It's Never Been Like That
   
9. Rufus Wainwright -- Want One
   
10. Rufus Wainwright -- Want Two
    
11. Rufus Wainwright -- Release the Stars
    
12. Moonbabies -- Moonbabies at the Ballroom
    
13. Moonbabies -- The Orange Billboard
    
14. Feist -- Let it Die
    
15. Lucinda Williams -- West
    
16. Snow Patrol -- Eyes Open
    
17. Whiskeytown -- Stranger's Alamanac
    
18. Husker Du -- Zen Arcade How do I not own this!!!
    
19. Tori Amos -- American Doll Posse
    
20. The new Radiohead cd (maybe this year)
    
21. New Cure cd (should have one since they are going on tour but not to New Orleans)
    

There are more. But I have to give thanks for MP3 blogs. Radio doesn't play music that has anything to do with my life. A good number of those artists I had read about in magazines or had friends discuss, but through the mp3 blogs, I could actually listen and discover them.

Blame Axl

I love The Cure because of Axl Rose and Guns'N'Roses. How, you ask? Well, I was listening to the radio late one night and a station was playing Appetite for Destruction in its entirety. I listened to it. The DJ said the next night would be Disintergration by The Cure. I had heard The Cure that the radio and MTV played during daylight at the time...mainly "Boys Don't Cry" and "Just Like Heaven." But I hadn't bought anything by them. Well the next night I put on the headphones and was amazed. I still feel that way when I listen to it today. Here was gorgeous, dark, melodic pop music. I went out and bought the cassette of it the next day. I got a job and bought most of the back catalog.

There Once Was a Chord

I owned Grace by Jeff Buckley for some time. I had only listened to it in passing. Mainly, I listened to it while working. I wasn't impressed. It sounded like someone just trying to hit all kinds of notes just because he could. Then one night I was finished praying, I put the iPod on to have some music to sleep to. Hallelujah was the first song to play. I listened to it. I knew I was wrong. This man wasn't singing the notes because he could; he was singing them because it was the only way for him to be completely honest. So I listened to the rest of the cd. While I don't think it was his masterpiece -- I feel that shortchanges his promise some for I feel he would have gone on to make better music -- it was great. It has quickly become one of my favorite works. It's strange. Today, was a bad day in my family's history, but I found comfort in his music.

Everything I do is based on the Replacements

I remember when I bought All Shook Down by the Replacements. It was December 27, 1990. My best friend and I still bought Christmas presents for each other but in the way that you really didn't buy it for them. We went shopping at the record store and we bought each other's cd. I know we could have bought our own. He probably bought a Rush or Queensryche cd. Well, I bought The Mats' disc based on seeing the video for "Merry Go Round" on 120 Minutes and a Rolling Stone magazine review. I listened to it three straight times when I got home. It wasn't quite rock; it wasn't quite country. It was, however, a starkly confessional, solo album (if you read the liner notes which I do right when I get a cd, it was obvious). When "Nobody" played for the third time, I was convinced, hooked, sold, devoted. Here was a guy wearing his heart on his sleeve, not giving a fuck what he sounded like as long as he sounded honest. There probably hasn't been a week that has gone by that I don't listen to The Replacements/Paul Westerberg. There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't listen to music. That's what this blog will be about. How music, and also books and movies, help shape me, move me, helped me, or inspired me.