Randomly Musical

Well hey there, internet neighbor. I've been absent from the blogosphere recently but once you see the vast and magical things that have kept me away you will regret sending me those anthrax emails:

• New beers have been drunk (at the Pour Farm)
• Meeting Joey from Anthrax!
• Taking time to be awesome
• Digitizing my DVD collection
• Traveling the countryside
• "Researching" the myFaces
  
• Playing in bands
• Not blogging

That last one was probably the biggest reason for not writing, but it could have been all that time I was being awesome. Either way, times are changing as I'm easing into a full-time research position at my center and contemplating my next life steps. I take small steps, though, so right now its between finishing this blog post and drinking some water.

Lucky for you I've decided to stick this post out and give you a patented (by patented I mean "stolen") uber random post about songs in the 'ol iPod.

1) He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot - Grandaddy
I was (digitally) given this album a few years ago and I don't think I've ever listened to the whole thing. From what I've heard (and what I will hear over the next 9 min...wow, that's long) they sound like a pour man's version of The Flaming Lips. I'm 4 minutes in and have detected some Death Cab For Cutie-ness and need for splitting this into at least 3 tracks.


2) Communication Breakdown - Trippin' Blues
Oh dear lord. Back in college I was in a little acoustic trio consisting of no singers (though that didn't stop us) and 3 very amateur musicians. Lucky for us we were quite charming and fun to hang around so we got more gigs than we rightfully deserved (apologies to anyone who went to see us at Uncle John's...every Thursday for the Spring 2002 semester). This song came from, what I like to call, the "Rick Fetters" sessions. He was a regular at the old Hardware Cafe (Marion, MA) open mic and we wrote him the "Rick Fetters Song" which was a rather disturbing but well received tune about Rick taking over as MC at said open mic. You may have noticed how much text I'm writing while listening to this song. The reason being that this song is in fact a 7 min. cover of Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" ripe with harmonica (possibly the best aspect of the old band), cringe-worthy slide leads and awful rhythm...oh good, it's over.

3) Long Way Down - Goo Goo Dolls
Before that horrid "City of Angels" movie totally removed any rockish tendencies from the Goo Goo Dolls they were a pretty awesome rock band. This song is a perfect testament to those tendencies. The album where it resides, A Boy Named Goo, is be best known for the ballad-ish "Name" but should have been remembered as balls to the wall rock album.

4) Strawberry Wine (Live 05/17/2005) - Ryan Adams
Cold Roses had just been released and I was gonna see Ryan Adams play at the Avalon in Boston. As I staked out my spot in the crowd visions of "Magnolia Mountain", "Sweet Illusions" and "Let It Ride" danced in my head. Then the show started with a new tune. Good call, good call, get the crowd settled with a new, peppy song. Then another new song and another and another one still. All told he played 3 songs off of Cold Roses and 8 songs off his yet to be released albums, Jacksonville City Nights and 29. While I didn't complain (much) the one tune that made me less than pleased was this one, which opened up the encore, as it clocked in at over 9 minutes and consisted of just an acoustic guitar and tooooooons of words. Luckily, "Wonderwall" and an awesomely unaccompanied electric version of "I See Monsters" followed to close the show.

5) Stevie's Song - Michael Troy
The pride of Fall River! I don't know how I'd feel about having that moniker but Mr. Troy seems to enjoy it. He's as close to a music legend as you're gonna get in a city who's motto is "We'll Try" (f'realz, it's even on the police badges). I would often run into him at the Narrows Center open mic and his music was always pretty decent...little acoustic diddy's about local life, nothing fancy.

6) Casey Jones (Live @ The Filmore West) - The Grateful Dead
WTF?!?! Can't I get just 2 songs in a row which aren't like 50 minutes long? This tune comes off a 4-Disc set recorded from a set of shows the Dead performed at the Filmore back in the late 60's. Back in High School I used to tutor my friend's little sister in Algebra and her mom got me a Circuit City (R.I.P.) gift certificate for the help. Along with some blank CDs I bought this album and further fueled my High School obsession with jammy, hippie bands. I admit, though, 15 years later this album still has legs...those boys could play.

P.S. The song actually ends with over 3 minutes left. The rest is just some really stoned dude blabbering on about how awesome the Dead are.

7) By My Car - My Morning Jacket
I don't know where I got this from. Oh, sweet lord, it's soooooo freakin' slow. I just want something fast, pleeeeease.

Note to self: When in a specific music mood do not play "Randomly Musical"

P.S. I'm reeeeealllly (italics mean "streeeeesss") bored so I'm enjoying playing with FONTS!!!!

8) Emile's Vietnam in the Sky - Elvis Perkins
Great band, great album, great song. Elvis actually played a gig for my best friend's Computer Music thesis presentation at Brown. I saw him again at the Paradise in Boston last year, maybe longer.

Still a slow song but at least it's less than 3 minutes long.

9) Moby Dick (bootleg) - Led Zeppelin
I have been a Zep-head since I was about 17. This gem (according to the 17-year old newly minted Zep-head me) comes via a bootleg cassette tape I bought at the Raynham Flea Market in High School. Later it got put on an 8 disc collection of Zeppelin rarities and live tracks I made called Hammer of the Gods. This is actually just 4 minutes of Bonham playing around on the drum set.

The 17-year old newly minted Zep-head version of me wasn't the best judge of musical character.

10) Kashmir (Live) - Led Zeppelin
Dear Lord, why hath you forsaken me? This is a 10-minute version of the classic Physical Graffiti track from the early 80's. Here are the list of reasons why this version sounds like utter crap:

1. It's the early 80's so Jimmy Page probably has a needle sticking in his arm the entire song (in fact, he barely does anything on this song)
2. John Paul Jones is making his mark that he's not the least talented one...so he's really loud.
3. Robert Plant is beginning his vocal deterioration.
4. For some reason there is an echo effect on everything Robert Plant sings
5. It just sucks, absolute crap

Well, that wasn't as much fun as I thought it'd be. Better luck next time, for now its time to be physically active.

Who wants to poke a bear with a stick and see how fast it can run?