Buy some: Eggstone

Buy some: The Radio Dept.

I put Some Racing, Some Stopping by Headlights on my headphones and opened up a new document to begin typing.
There was an instant smile on my face. Something curious comes over me when I hear music so familiar and happy... I get a little smirk. I like to guess that it’s the music nerd “you don’t know what yer missing out syndrome”¹ or some such. I started to think and type about the smirking when I realized She was reading my lapdog monitor.
She... the celebri-gossip-rag reading Trixie who plopped herself down next to me with her giant Pooh plush blanket during a 5+ hour train ride and proceeded to yell at her boyfriend (referred to as Babe¹) off and on every twenty minutes or so. Apparently, She and Babe were supposed to be going camping this weekend... or so she told every person she could get to answer when she furiously dialed her crackberry for the first hour past Joilet.
Above and beyond the not-so-healthy relationship of She and Babe... I was a rather annoyed. I realize that I post my thoughts for the world to read, but I don’t do that while I’m still developing said thoughts.
She got off the train, an hour before me in Podunk, Illinois. After a furious screaming match with her crackberry She and Babe had split for the weekend and there was "NO WAY I AM GOING ON THAT CAMPING TRIP WITH YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS IF YOU HAVE THAT ATTITUDE BABE!". Good Lord. People seem to have lost all boundaries of public and private space.

¹ Also known as the know-it-all grin.
² Unless she was callling him a pig, but I doubt that had actually occurred to her.

Buy some: Headlights

Buy some: Madrid

She sat down in front of me and pulled a newspaper out of her bag. Not odd, yet. She opened it up to the TV listings and movie guide and I still didn't think it was odd. Fifteen minutes later she was still staring at the same page... And it was then I noticed, "St. Petersburg Times". Huh. Odd choice... I wonder how in the world she got a newspaper from Florida in Chicago on a Monday morning. Oh wait... May 18?

Facts: May 18 , St. Petersburg Florida, TV and Movie listings.
Conclusion: Clearly delusional or some sort of time traveler.

Twenty minutes later, after hopping off the Lincoln bus at Adams St. I'm walking to the work, past the Sears Tower when suddenly she comes upon me. Edina. I mean DEAD RINGER... I can even hear the "Lacroix dahling, LACROIX". Stupid black floppy hat, ridiculously over-patterned Tunic, black shiny spandex (I wasn't kidding about dead ringer here), Ridiculously large brown curly hair, pink/yellow/orange strappy sandals which appear to be at least three sizes too small for her feet... And gregarious stomping.

Facts: Wow... I wish I'd been able to pull out my camera fast enough to document the ridiculous.
Conclusion: Either everyone else is on drugs this morning... Or I am?

Buy some: The Week That Was

After a fabulous show in Milwaukee on Sunday by the Polyphonic Spree... this song has been stuck on repeat. There are definitely worse things I could have on replay.

There is always something a bit magical about a Polyphonic Spree show... I'm not sure if it's the sheer number of people on-stage harmonizing at once, the positive energy that just radiates from them or just the great songwriting in the first place. Every time I see the spree, I like to look around the venue (or in this case outdoor pavilion) to witness the awe on the faces of those people who have never experienced this before. There is always someone within quick-glance-range who has the stunned deer-in-headlights look at the dancing, harmonizing extravaganza on stage in front of us. It's the same sort of look that a little kid might have at the zoo... the whole "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT" when coming face to face with a platypus. "Mom Look! It's got a beak AND fur AND a beaver tail AND a 7' tall harp player AND a horn section AND two drummers AND a spastic dancing choir in actual choir robes!"

Buy some: The Polyphonic Spree

Buy some: The Zutons

Buy some: Stereolab

Buy some: Yelle, Santogold, Robyn, Kate Nash

I've been having a hard time lately... getting up and going to work. I've never been a morning person so "waking up and getting up has never been easy". But it seems to be more than that lately. The daily grind does not seem particularly exciting. I realize that by calling it "the daily grind" I'm setting it up for a ton of same old, same old... but still... I feel like I'm crawling onto that bus in the morning as I set out on my never ending journey across the city and towards the place where I collect my paycheck.

Maybe that's part of my problem... I've never been one to simply go about a set of pre-determined tasks simply to collect a paycheck. I've always wanted to give that extra effort and give a bit of my own creativity to whatever I am currently tackling. There's no tackling going on now... there's nothing interesting... there's just days working towards collecting a paycheck with a few weekends in the middle. My worklife feels a bit like an old metal bucket... just a few drips from spilling over but nowhere near exciting.

Buy some: 22 Pistepirkko

You may¹ have noticed that I don't seem to do a lot of writing around here anymore. Why is this? Well... there are a multitude of reasons and I feel a very official looking list coming on...

1. It's not that I'm not writing anymore, but that my meanderings may have taken on a more entrepreneurial tone. More on this later. Maybe.
2. Time. Geez oh pete that Time thing seems not to be my friend. I don't know what I did to good ole Time but I see him less and less until I basically don't feel like we can hang out at all anymore. We've stopped connecting and I need to work on regaining that friendship.
3. Inspiration. I'm a creative. You'd think inspiration would not be a problem for me. You'd be wrong. I tend to notice that my inspiration waxes and wanes in themes... I can be sonically inspired. I can be visually inspired. I can have diarrhea of the fingers or I can stare in futility at a blinky cursor completely unaware of where I want it to lead me. These things all happen but rarely has the musical inspiration coincided with the visual inspiration. I guess this is my round about way of saying my job and the "visual inspiration" portion of my life is taking up an inordinate percentage of my day.
4. Did I mention that Time has stopped returning my calls?

So... in lieu of all these mitigating factors above in the very official looking list... I am considering getting a crackberry. A what? A huh? Yes I know... how could this be a solution to my problem? Well... the free time I do have to think and process things like music and life tends to happen while I'm sitting on a bus or train. Quite frankly I think it's time I took better advantage of my commute... not in a "I'm Going To Have A Machine Glued To My Hand So I Can Play With The Scrolly Wheel Anytime I Please" kind of way but in a "Jot A Quick Note That I Can Email To Myself And Turn Into A More Complete Thought" kind of way.

So... my birthday's coming up... who wants to buy me a Blackberry? ;-)

¹ Or may not? I mean really who am I to think that y'all are waiting with baited breathe on me? Am I that self centered? Answer... no.
²I saw this cat last week... yawn.

Buy some: Jamie Lidell

Buy some: Flight of the Conchords, Pet Shop Boys

Buy some: The Kinks

I would like to pretend that I am listening to all sorts of new music that I'd like to share with the world. In reality it's been a hard week and I've survived by replaying the same 5 songs from Black Kids over and over. And over. And over.

The record will come out on my birthday. See there you go, if you know me and you know when my birthday is... you'll know when you can go buy the new record. Aren't I a good music blogger? (Insert sarcasm here)

Buy some: Black Kids

I feel a bit like this tattered and old tabletop today. It's been a hard week, a harder weekend and unfortunately I see plenty of stormclouds in the future.

Buy some: The Shortwave Set, She & Him, Louis Jordan