Dear High School Me (circa 1985),
As Douglas Adams wrote, "Don't panic." Somehow, through a rift in the space-time continuum, I've been allowed to send you the ultimate 21st century play list. And by "play list" I don't mean a list of fabulous Broadway productions. I'm talking music. Songs that I (you 25 years from now), enjoy. That item attached to this message? That tiny, little box? That is full of music, some from artists that are still learning to walk in the 1980's. And the best part is that you won't wear out the tape inside and have to listen to Simon LeBon singing soooo sloooowly. And don't tell Dad but that little music player can easily hold a thousand songs and costs less than that Sony Walkman he bought in Hong Kong.
And hey, don't fast forward just so you can hear all the Duran Duran songs. I just don't listen to them as much as I used to. They were great on MTV. When MTV played music videos. But don't worry! I think you'll find some of the other artists just as cute as John Taylor.
Just press the Play button to begin.
The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight"
Isn't that a great band name? This is one of my guilty secret bands. I heard them on an Alternative Radio station and just fell in love with the singer's raw voice and his description of this girl he met in a bar. "...the piano's this melancholy sound check to her smile". I think everyone has had this experience--finding the perfect person and knowing it in an instant--and then watching as it all just slips aside.
Anne Hathaway, Ella Enchanted Soundtrack - "Somebody To Love"
We grew up with some great movie soundtracks like Grease, Xanadu, and Footloose. Yes, Ella Enchanted is kind of a kid movie but the humor is great and the songs rock. I listened to this for months, driving to and from work, singing my heart out. When Critter was in the car with me, I'd crank up the music, using her as my excuse to listen. She didn't seem to mind too much. Except when I sang along.
Barenaked Ladies - "One Week" and "It's All Been Done"
Yeah, band names have come quite a ways since the 80's. Apparently they picked this name during a Dylan concert. They were up in the nosebleed seats, couldn't see the show, and pretended to be rock critics. "Well, they're no Barenaked Ladies..." And thus a great band was born. BNL songs are catchy tunes with some fabulous lyrics. Where else can you find references to the X-Files (a scary show you will sorta watch in college), The Price Is Right, and Sting?
Remember what I said about MTV not playing videos any more? Well, until I started writing this note to you, 1985 Me, I hadn't seen the BNL and Airborne Toxic Event videos. Yes, I like the songs just from hearing them on the radio! Can you believe it?!
Beyonce - "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
A great dance number that spawned MANY home made videos. I think my favorite might still be the Glee Football team version (more on Glee later). You're still young and limber enough you can probably do the whole dance.
the bird and the bee - "One On One"
I discovered this band from a Christmas video posted on some one's blog (blog=that's like an online journal). I think Inara George has a beautiful, ethereal voice. This is one of my favorite Hall and Oates song from their recent tribute album.
Blue October - "Into The Ocean"
The first time I heard this song on the radio I was so pleased to hear that Peter Gabriel had put out a new album. The song is a little dark but the imagery is so beautiful. This is the downside to not watching music videos. It took me months to figure out who sang this song.
Bruce Hornsby - "Gonna Be Some Changes Made"
I love songs that tell stories. Bruce plays some fabulous piano and having Sting on backup vocals isn't too bad either.
Christina Aguilera (et al) - "Lady Marmalade"
Another great dance song from a movie soundtrack. Plus, there's naughty French in it!
The Coats - "Down On The Corner"
I first heard The Coats at Bumbershoot in Seattle. They're a local NW group that got their start singing on the corner of Pike's Street Market. Now, any time they are in the area we try to hit their concerts. Their two Christmas albums are usually in rotation beginning in early November. I have even been known to play Mr. Grinch in July.
Coldplay - "Viva La Vida"
Brilliant lyrics and a very mesmerizing tune. Hit the replay button on this one.
Collective Soul - "Better Now"
This song sounds like it could be sung by an 80's Bowie. Really, he should have performed this on the Glass Spider tour.
Corrine Bailey Rae - "Put Your Records On"
Gorgeous lyrics like "Summer came like cinnamon, so sweet...". Makes me think of all the times I (you) hung out in the backyard listening to my Walkman. Breathe in summer and enjoy the music.
David Sylvian - "Midnight Sun"
David still has that velvety voice you remember from Japan and his early solo work.
Yes, 1985 Me, I'm in the D's. Duran Duran will be coming soon.
Death Cab For Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart"
One of the great things about this band is that all their songs kind of sound the same. I know most people would think that a bad thing, but this band is my Go To music when I have to hunker down and get some work done. All of the songs sort of flow together and two hours later I've finished updating that thing with all the words, the numbers match up, and I've got a happy boss.
Dixie Chicks - "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Wide Open Spaces"
Yes, it's country music. But it rocks! And you'll want to run away with a romantic cowboy when you're done listening.
Duran Duran - "Ordinary World"
See? I put one song on the list for you. I do listen to Duran Duran, but not their later stuff as much as the music they put together in the 80's. Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but we never married John. Sorry.
Elton John - "The One"
Technically this song is from your future, but only by a few years. I still love the lyrics.
Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge soundtrack - "Elephant Love Medley"
Every love song you can possibly name sung by Obi Wan Kenobi and Bewitched's Samantha.
Five For Fighting - "100 Years" and "The Riddle"
Two songs not performed by Train. I like the message in both of these songs. Again, not having MTV videos to rely on made figuring out who sang these a little difficult.
There are more songs on the play list, 1985 Me, I'll have to send that list in a separate batch. Stay tuned!
Monday, October 04, 2010
Songs From The Future
Monday, February 02, 2009
Can You Hear Me Now?
This weekend was full of mis (Miss?) communication.
Friday night I checked in with Critter and found her listening to her iPod stereo system and writing a note to a friend.
JewelGeek: Hey, I wanted to share a funny with you.
Critter: Yeah?
JewelGeek: So the other day CrafterKat was loading up songs onto her Zune and she said, "Who is this Vampire Weekend?" And I laughed and said that I knew them because of the song Oxford Comma * and Critter knows them because of A-Punk, which is a song that I like, too.
Critter: I know! I was so surprised that you knew who they were because you usually only know Old People. But you knew who they were and you totally earned a Point.
JewelGeek, beaming at her new status: I did? I got a Super Mom Point? What am I up to now?
Critter: Zero.
JewelGeek, shocked: What? But... but... I just earned a point!
Critter: Well, you were at minus one but now you're up to zero.
JewelGeek, still in shock, but happy that Critter knows her negative numbers: But... but... I thought I was ahead. How did I get to minus one?
Critter: Well, there was that thing you wrote on the blog that one time...? About snot? Like you said "Groovey" or something. Don't worry, I have confidence you'll be up to Five or so sooner or later.
JewelGeek, thinking hard: I know Bruises by Chairlift. I like that song.
Critter: I don't know what you're talking about.
JewelGeek, eyeing her iPod: Don't you have that song? (sings) "I got brusies on my knees for you, I got grass stains on my knees for you..."
Critter: I don't know what you're talking about... (jumps up and runs to the iPod system). Do you know this song?
JewelGeek, singing along: "Look at this photograph..." Nickelback.
Critter: Good job. One Point. Do you know this song? (plays another song).
JewelGeek, singing along: "If you were falling, then I would catch you. You need a light, I'd find a match." Ingrid... (pausing, so she doesn't get her name mixed up with the other Ingrid she knows...)
Critter: Michaelson. One more point. How about this one? (plays another song)
JewelGeek, listening... and listening.... and frowning...: Um... If I say I know it, do I get a Point?
Critter: No! You have to be truthful!
* Sorry, I could not locate the radio-censored version of this song!
Sunday night we visited a different Verizon store as we were still searching for the perfect phone. This store was far less crowded than the last and we were actually able to see and play with most models. At one point I texted CrafterKat from a phone: Nice keyboard but hard to find symbols. I giggled as I watched her retrieve the message; she was clearly wondering who was messaging her. From her model phone she texted: Boodle. Shut up.
Afterwards we got some food from Subway for Critter and headed back to the house.
JewelGeek: Can I have a Dorito?
Critter, handing over a chip: Sure.
JewelGeek: Thanks. Every once in awhile I like Doritos. Especially the Ranch ones.
Critter: I like Ranch corn nuts.
CrafterKat: Doh!
Critter: No, corn nuts.
CrafterKat: Donut!
Critter: Corn nut, CrafterKat!
CrafterKat: Donut!
Critter: Corn nut!
JewelGeek, who strongly dislikes corn nuts: Nasty!
Monday night I chatted with CrafterKat briefly to let her know that I was making dinner. I found an old message from her--it had "Boodle" in it--and stated: I will feed kid. ETA?
The phone beeped at me, signaling her response: Funny, this is a Verizon sample phone.
The lesson here is to erase messages that say "Boodle. Shut up."
Thursday, April 10, 2008
American Idle
Last night as Critter watched snippets of American Idol, I sat at the computer to play some online sudoku. As I opened Yahoo, I read an entertainment news headline that I thought might earn me some Cool Mom points--either the Wow-Mom-Knows-My-Music or the I-Understand-Your-Pain variety. It seems that Critter's Pete Wentz of The Fall Out Boys is now engaged to Ashlee Simpson, Jessica's younger sister.
"Oh, honey," I sighed, "it looks like your Pete Wentz is engaged."
"Who?"
What?! The rock guitarist you sighed over in the doctor's office? The good looking member of the group? I kept my voice calm. "You know, the guy you like from the Fall Out Boys?"
She nodded but continued to watch Billy Crystal and Lindsey Lohan Miley Cyrus. "Oh, yeah. I'm not much into him anymore..."
No Cool Mom points for me, it seems. "Oh? Is he sooo 2007?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sooo 2007."
Well, maybe one Cool Mom point.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Fractional Bookends
Amidst some sad tidings this week there were some marginal, or rather fractional, observations on Thursday.
As I pulled out of the driveway to take Critter to an early morning choir rehearsal at the high school, I inquired about the progress on her reading book. “How many pages do you think you have left?”
She shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Well, just a rough estimate. 100 pages? 150 pages?”
“I dunno.”
“Well, how much have you read?”
She sighed. “I’m about a quarter of the way through.”
I did some mental calculations. The paperback she was carrying around was roughly 200 pages. 250 tops. And she’d been reading this book for several days, including two hours over the weekend. “Critter….”
“Well, it’s more like a third. I’m about a third of the way.”
I paused.
“More like half.”
Pause.
“I mean, I have about a quarter left in it.”
Pause.
“Enough pages that I’ll finish by June 7th!”
At least Critter has learned her fractions…
That evening at the high school, parents were greeted by over a hundred students from both schools welcoming them to the concert in a lively African song. The band teacher played drums in the front of the stage and the choirs from both schools ringed the back of the auditorium, raising the rafters.
After this rousing welcome, the band teacher brought forth the jazz band who performed the high school standard Witchcraft. It was a small group, not more than a dozen performers, and five of them played saxophone. It was fun to watch and listen but I was a bit distracted by... something. I finally figured it out and sent the following text message to CrafterKat at Intermission:
Is it bad that three different sax players are tapping out 3 dif beats?
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Bassist Syndrome
While Critter and I waited in the doctor's office on Monday, she flipped through a People magazine and landed on a photo of the Fall Out Boys: four leather-clad, college-aged kids, not smiling at the camera. She tapped the face of one youth, his eyes mostly covered by straight black hair. "The Fall Out Boys would be nothing with out Pete."
I glanced at the caption beneath: Pete Wentz, bassist. Oh, dear Lord, not a bass guitar player. Sting, John Taylor... I was hit hard at her age, too. I kept my voice calm. "Oh, is he the singer? Is that why the band wouldn't be successful?"
"No. He's just the good looking one. Without him...." she left unsaid that their popularity would plummet without his mussed up locks and sneer.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Sock (W)Rapping
We are on our way down to Ashland this weekend to catch OSF's As You Like It, enjoy the chilly sunshine, and poke around in the little boutiques. This week has been spent cleaning the house, caring for kitties (Pretty Boy has been on medication), and doing laundry. Mountains of laundry. Spring is a tough time in Oregon—we’ve got summer weather wear which we are dying to put on but we still have to drag on sweatshirts due to the chill. Two seasons at once means lots of laundry.
Critter has been a good sport about it and has been adding clothes to the dirty piles downstairs. Putting the clean clothes away, though, is another story. She was down to two baskets last night when I entered her bedroom. Her floor is strewn with kitty toys and new millennium rap music poured from her stereo speakers. She found a spare slipper and chucked it into the closet. “Do you want to do socks?”
This is no small feat (feet?).
At one point last week, Critter suggested that she just might throw out all her little anklet socks and buy a whole new set of identical socks. Everything would be the same and matching them up afterwards would be easier. But she is also drawn to whimsical footwear—bells on the back, prancing monkeys, rainbow-toe socks… And CrafterKat and I like finding new ones to add to her collection. Does she wear them? You bet. To the ground. Until they can stand up on their own.
Matching up socks is my downfall when it comes to laundry. I have always disliked sorting through the piles to find that one missing mate. Inevitably the second sock is in a different pile of laundry and doesn’t get cleaned until a day or two later. Or it’s still hidden under the bed, behind the dresser, on the floor of the closet… I’m sure my Mom can tell stories…
Perhaps I’m a Sock Snob. I know what pairs I own and can find them pretty quickly in the sock heap. There’s only one pair of blue-striped socks like this and only one pair of green knit socks like that. But we tend to buy multiples now, and they all wear a bit differently. Or we go back and buy a second set a few months later and the manufacturer has altered the weave or dye ever so slightly. I have a hard time with some of CrafterKat’s trouser socks—they are three different shades of brown that I can’t quite match up. On some sock sorting nights I want to adopt Steven Wright’s Sock Philosophy: I don’t wear socks by color. I go by thickness.
Critter, bopping to her radio tunes, brought a brimming sock basket to the bed where I sat. I sighed at the large pile. “I’ll help but you have to do this with me.”
She nodded, relieved to have some assistance. The DJ began another rap beat. “Oh, I like this song!”
I listened to the drum machine track. “What do you like? The beat? The lyrics?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just do. Why do you ask?”
Why did I ask..? I’ve been swimming in music for the last few weeks as the Evil PXE and I have been loading up our Zunes (he even purchased a second one for his wife so they’d both have one for their cars). The link to music and memories is quite profound, I think, for many people. I remember liking certain bands only because the singer was good looking; and steadfastly refusing to listen to some groups because the front man had a mullet, wore awful clothes, or sweated in the music videos. Some songs were fun to sing because of the rhymes; others because your parents hated the words. Some songs had profound lyrics which spoke volumes to my teenage soul.
I remember…
My 6th grade music teacher not letting us play Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust before class because it might make us commit suicide.
Begging my Mom to take me to see Grease because all the girls knew the lyrics and I didn’t. (She finally relented when she realized that the John Travolta film wasn’t Saturday Night Fever, an R-rated movie).
Telling my grandparents that I really wanted a Billy Joel album for Christmas (they didn’t have a record store in their small town so this was asking a lot!).
For Christmas, getting the 45 of Duran Duran’s Wild Boys with John Taylor on the cover (they had made one with each band member).
Singing Do They Know It’s Christmas on the last day of school before Winter Break.
Getting a copy of Baltimora's Tarzan Boy on cassette from the boy who took me to prom.
Playing Side One of Air Supply’s The One That You Love over and over and over again. It was the first “decent” album my parents ever bought that wasn’t Julie Andrews or Harry Belafonte.Listening (and singing!) to The Sound of Music at every dinner party with family friends (the father is German and he loved this film). Three girls under the age of ten singing with gusto every other Saturday gave our family the phrase “Don’t sing at the table!”
Discovering that my parents did, in fact, own one Beatles album: The White Album. When asked later why they had it (I had been creeped out by the haunting sounds of Revolution 9 and couldn’t understand why this piece of vinyl would be in their collection), my mother admitted that she bought it at a garage sale but hadn’t listened to it more than once.
In college, listening to the Steve Miller Band as I fell asleep. My roommate, who had purchased a brand new $900 stereo CD system with her financial aid money, only had three CDs in her collection.
Buying tickets for my college roommates to see a Chicago concert at the Tacoma Dome. One by one, they ended up giving their tickets to friends. I attended the abysmal concert with people I didn’t know, listening to music I only partially recognized (see note above concerning mullets and sweating).
The rap lyrics began and I floated back to the moment. I shrugged back at her. “I just wondered if the song was important to you…?” And then I heard the lyrics and did everything I could not to laugh.
This is why I'm hot, This is why I'm Hot
This is why, this is why, this is why I'm Hot
I'm Hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
This is why, this is why, this is why I'm Hot
I'm Hot cause I'm fly, you ain't cause you not
This is why, this is why, this is why I'm Hot
“No, I just like it,” she concluded and I added another song to my musical memory catalog.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
And the Beat Goes On
Latest on recording our LPs to CDs...
