Weekly Music Mix, The Concert Edition

OK, forget that whole Monday thing. It's obvious I'm never going to make that deadline. Let's just say I'll post the mix sometime during the week....

I didn't go to many actual concerts last year, but the few I went to combined with the local festivals and shows makes a very eclectic mix. Here's a summary of 2005 in shows:

"Planet Earth" - Duran Duran (at Music Hall): Went with Paisley while she was in town. Sydney (my sister) was sitting a few sections over. The show brought out the 16-year-old Durannie in me. I danced like it was 1984 all over again.

"Anything Can Happen" - The Finn Brothers (at 20th Century Theatre): Was supposed to go with Stephanie, but she got stuck at work and had to forfeit her ticket. Too bad for her; the show was fabulous.

"Cherries in the Snow" - Lovely Crash (at York Street Cafe): Dragged Zappagirl along with me. Wasn't aware that Jen W. had left the band (at that time) and was quite perplexed to see her sitting behind us during the set. (She was back in the lineup by Midpoint. Hooray!)

"To Kill a King" - Hungry Lucy (at Southgate House during Electrofest): Stephanie made it to this one. JohnnyB was right about this band....

"Johnny's New Religion" - For Algernon (at RBC during Jammin' On...): I'd seen my friend Jason play solo (a few years ago at Southgate House) and with other bands (MPMF 2004, when our paths kept crossing and I discovered he was playing with at least four bands that I can think of), but had never had the opportunity to see him play with his band. When Jammin' on Main got cancelled and the local bars took matters into their own hands with Jamiin' On..., I finally got the opportunity to see them. (Heard they were one of the most talked about bands at this past year's Midpoint. I was only able to catch the end of the set, but the place was packed and they sounded great.)

"Mothership Connection" - George Clinton (at Madison Theater): Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch. I'd kind of seen George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars at Lollapalooza a few years back, but due to the weirdness of the day ended up missing most of the set. The band played for 3 hours. Much booty shaking ensued. The staff pretty much had to kick us out at the end because they wanted to go the hell home.

"Chrome" - VNV Nation (at Madison Theater): Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch, ran into a bajillion club kids, and spent most of the night talking to Mike Dangers. One of those bands that I wasn't familiar with, then would recognize the songs from the club. Fun show, but the onstage clown for Ronan's birthday was kind of scary.

"The Internet is for Porn" - Avenue Q (at Golden Theater in NYC): Not necessarily a concert per se, but I decided seeing a Tony-award-winning musical on Broadway merited a mention. Best puppet musical ever. I can't remember the last time I'd laughed so hard. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch during our eating and drinking (but mostly drinking) tour of the Big Apple. (And thanks to this video clip, I will never be able to hear this song without having images of dancing World of Warcraft characters in my head.)

"Gin and Juice" - Richard Cheese (at Bowery Ballroom in NYC). The main reason for the New York trip. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch. Fun stuff. (And yes, I was harboring a slight crush on Gordon Brie during the entire show. *sigh*)

"Go Daddy-O" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (at House of Blues in Cleveland): Best kidnapping ever. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch (the masterminds behind this little weekend). I don't care if the new swing revolution has come and gone; hearing this band still makes me want to go out and take dance lessons.

"Walking on Water" - Schooley Station (at The Exchange during MPMF): By this point during Midpoint, I think I'd already taken in five bands (and this was the second time slot of the night). Good band, swanky bar (definitely not my kind of place), and ran into Rob J. working security. Good start to the weekend.

"Gorecki Revisited" - Aether (at Japps during MPMF): I liked these guys a lot. They remind me a bit of Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai. Plus their albums were reasonably priced, so I was able to pick up both of them. Score!

"Bleed" - Moonshot Radio (at Jekyll and Hyde's during Midpoint). Nice group of boys from Texas, describing their sound as " the jangly grit of early 80's R.E.M., underscore it with Foo Fighters-esque hooks, then flavor it with a little U2 and early era Radiohead." Played on one of my least favorite stages, and was one of my favorite discoveries of the festival.

"Irish American Girls" - Dulahan (at The Dubliner): With Yzavela, Delordra, Nasturtium, Gojro, and whoever else showed up to drink and sing along. Keeping my fingers crossed that some other Irish pub springs up and gives this band a place to play again.

"Don't Kill" - Hamell on Trial (at Southgate House): With Zappagirl and Memnoch. I cannot believe I almost forgot Hamell, especially since his new album drops on Tuesday. After hearing many of the new songs at this past show (and giggling my head off during the one about Anne Coulter), I'm going to head off to pre-order this now....

Confessions of a Would-be English Major

I received this meme from my friend Shadow the other day...

Here are the current top 50 books from What Should I Read Next?.
Bold the books you have read. Italicise the books you might read. Cross out the books you probably won't read, and pass it on.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) - J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (book 3) - J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Ender's Game (The Ender Saga) - Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

*sigh* I wish I'd received this meme about a week ago, because now I'm looking at all of these books I'd like to read knowing that it will be a while before I get to them. I splurged the other night at Joseph-Beth and bought The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten (both by Jasper Fforde) and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. (I've also had Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris on audiobook on my iPod for months, but I haven't had the opportunity to listen to them.)
I'll admit it - a lot of the books that I marked as "might read" are books that I probably should have read by this point in my life (how is it that I've never read any Jane Austen or any of the Brontë sisters?) or are books that my friends have recommended to me. For instance, I have no idea if Cryptonomicon is my kind of book, but fatoudust and nasturtium both read it and enjoyed it. It's book peer pressure!

I made a conscious effort to not cross anything out. I looked up the books that I was not familiar with on Amazon. There was nothing on the list that sounded particularly horrid; anything that elicited a "meh" just got left alone.

And just because I actually marked a book as "have read" is no indication of whether I liked it or not. I'm looking at you, Mr. Hemingway. You too, Mr. Fitzgerald. I hated you both and neither of you would be in bold print if it wasn't for high school literature assignments. (Actually, there are several books on this list that I was forced to read. 4 out of 7 books from my senior British literature class are listed... but I enjoyed all of those.)

I marked The Lord of the Rings as a "might read" since I've only read The Fellowship of the Ring. Yeah, that's right. I never completed the series. And I didn't buy the extended editions of the movies, either.

And then there's The Life of Pi. At one point, I was interested in reading this. One of my coworkers raved about it. Since that point, I've heard from other people that it was the most excruciating read they'd attempted in a long time. (One person suggested reading every other sentence to lessen the pain but still manage to finish the book.) I'll put it on my "to read" list... somewhere after White Oleander. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

I'm not sure why I want to read The Da Vinci Code. Just to see what all the fuss is about, I suppose. (And of course, if I read it and think it stinks, I'll probably be much less likely to read Angels and Demons.)

I'm not sure what this list says about me. I guess it does make me feel a little better about my reading habits. Sometimes I have a tendency to think of myself as not that well-read because I'm reading fluff and watching crappy TV while my friends are reading and discussing Finnegan's Wake at great length. But I'ver read almost half of the books on this list, and have several of them on my "will read sooner or later" list. That's gotta count for something, right?

Monday Mix, Somewhat Delayed

Wow. It took me less than a week to meet my self-imposed deadline. That's gotta be some kind of record.

I had every intention of posting a mix when I got home last night, but a much-long-than-planned shopping excursion in search of necessities made me realize how exhausted the day (and the preceding weekend) had made me. I ate dinner, knit a few rows of I-cord, and fell asleep on the couch. Go me!

These were the first ten songs that Antoinette decided to play this morning...

"He's My Best Friend" - Jellyfish, Spilt Milk I'd always thought this would be a great song to use in a movie montage. Unfortunately, the makers of that crappy movie Threesome had the same idea and used it in that capacity. Oh well.

"Don't Worry About the Government" - Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline Um, yeah. What color is the sky in your world, Antoinette?

"Emojoe" - Infinite Number of Sounds, Time Wants a Skeleton This is going to be one of those incredibly random mixes, isn't it? I didn't make it to their show the other weekend. Thankfully, they come back frequently enough that I can possibly catch them the next time around. (This also makes me giggle because the quiz that I had to delete on Friday pegged me as an emo kid. Heh.)

"Guerilla Radio" - Richard Cheese, Lounge Against the Machine Because there's no better way to start the day than with a lounge cover of Rage Against the Machine.

"Enbracing the Sunshine" - BT, Ima And apparently there's no better way to follow up a lounge cover of Rage Against the Machine than with 11 minutes of trance. Are there iPsychiatrists on staff at AppleCare?

"Kill Your Television" - Ned's Atomic Dustbin, God Fodder One of my friends used to set his alarm clock to play this some when it was time for him to get up in the morning. Guess that two bass assault was just the right kick to the head he needed to get moving.

"Hardcore" - See Colin Slash This song still makes me giggle, because I personally know: one person who has to dye his hair black before he makes his occasional foray out to a club, one person who had pink hair when I met her, several people who would get dressed up to go out to a dance club and not dance, and more than one vegetarian who consistently wore leather. Plus it's got a good beat and I can dance to it.

"Pendulum" - Broadcast, Haha Sound I found this album in the used CD bin at Everybody's Records and, recalling that Roger Mexico had mentioned the band on more than one occasion, decided to take a chance on it. Good move on my part. Not for everyone's tastes, of course, but I like the lo-fi retro pop feel to the songs wedged between the more experimental dissonance.

"Bottle Up and Explode!" - Elliott Smith, XO The Poster Boy for the Sad Boys with Guitars genre. Yes, I'm still kicking myself after all these years that I didn't buy my tickets in advance to the Southgate show that sold out. "Oh well, I'll just see him the next time he comes through town." Yeah, as long as the artist doesn't stab himself in the chest twice. Dammit.

"Bloodshot Eyes" - Pat Benatar, True Love Yes, that Pat Benatar. The DJ at DV8 Swing nights used to play this song every night, and it was one of my favorite songs to dance to. One night I finally got around to asking the DJ who sang the song. Yeah, it took me a few minutes to wrap my head around the idea of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and a cover of "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss" coming from the same source. And then I immediately went out and bought the album.

Wow, that was random. The shufflemonkeys seem to be in rare form today....

Friday Randomness, Part 1

From The Friday Fiver:

1. What do you normally eat for breakfast?
Since preparing breakfast takes up valuable sleep time, I tend to go for something simple. This week it's been multigrain bagels, accompanied by a Diet Coke and the morning handful o' pills.

2. Are you more likely to drink coffee or tea?
Um, coffee. (Note title of this page.) I do like tea, and at one point was single-handedly keeping Celestial Seasonings in business, but now I'm pretty much Juan Valdez's bitch.

3. Would you consider yourself a good cook?
Depends. I can follow a simple recipe, and I do pretty well when it comes to h'ors doeuvres. But I'm certainly not ready for my own show on the Food Network or anything. (And I'll always be a pie school dropout.)

4. What is your favorite meal?
See, I'm wondering if this question is referring to the type of food or the time of day, so I suppose I'll answer both to be on the safe side....
Favorite meal (food): Italian Meatloaf (either mine or Cristof's) or Chicken Alfredo Primavera.
Favorite meal (time of day): late night dinner

5. Green eggs and ham: would you eat it?
Hey, why not? I'll pretty much try anything once...


(There was a silly personality test after this point, but it was a table-breaker and made my page look like crap. Sorry for those of you who saw it. I'll try to find one that doesn't kill my layout for next week.)

Plans for the New Year

In lieu of making a bunch of New Year's resolutions that I have little to no chance of keeping, I've given some thought as to what I can do at this site. I've been increasingly lax in posting here, partly due to being busy with other things (mostly work, but I do from time to time have something bearing a slight resemblance to a social life - shocking!).

The main problem, though, has been a lack of something to say. There has been more than one occasion when I've wanted to post, known I was long overdue for a post, and couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say. I've noticed that in other places where I write, I spend an inordinate amount of time whining incessantly about my crappy job and what a humongous loser I am. Honestly, I don't need any more places to do that.

There were a lot of things that went on last year that, frankly, amounted to a big ball of suck that I'm still trying to cope with and process. Sudden and unexpected family illness, and a few complications of my own. More than one friend who inexplicably disappeared from my life without saying a word, and one who exited with a word or two to say that made me doubt pretty much everything I believed to be true. Massive amounts of self loathing. People who, through their actions, constantly reminded me how worthless I am. Dealing with my past. Coming to terms with my place in the world. Yeah, 2005 kinda blew, but I don't feel comfortable writing about the details in such a public forum. (Ah, the paradox of blogging: what I sometimes need to get out of my system is stuff that is for the most part nobody's business.)

Of course, there were some bright spots: the New York trip, a second completed (but not yet edited) novel, the Cleveland abduction weekend, friends that reappeared from my past, new and wonderful friends, drunken nights at the Dubliner (R.I.P.), overcaffeinated plots hatched at the IHOP, and weekends filled with knitting and silliness courtesy of Zappagirl and Memnoch.

So anyway... 2006. So far it's been, as my buddy Gojiro so aptly put it, kind of a little bitch. But that's a whole 'nother blog.

In an effort to post here more than once a month, I have come up with a plan to post certain things on specific days. On Mondays, I will post a music mix of some sort or another. It may be a Rhapsody mix, it may be themed, it may be the first ten songs that played when I released the shufflemonkeys on Antoinette (my iPod). Fridays will be reserved for a lame online quiz or meme. And between those two scheduled posts... well, who knows? It could be a laundry list of what's going on in my life, a political rant, or the end product of a word-prompt exercise.

I'm not guaranteeing anything. You all know by now that I'm great with the planning, but awful on the follow-through. But I'm going to at least make an effort....