Monday Morning Shuffle: HHS Edition

I can stop making excuses why i'm not posting this before noon, right? Will anyone hold it against me? I didn't think so.

1. 6 to 8 - AFI, off of The Art of Drowning
I once saw an AFI concert in a hockey rink in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They melted the ice, set up a stage and played. It was cool because it was the first time i'd ever been in a moshpit that had boards around it...you know, as in you could check someone into the boards while moshing. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty great. Also, Nicole Lombardi got kicked in the head and had a concussion during the show (eventually this head inury caused her to dump Mike Lisi and date me for a while, but that's neither here nor there. ha ha ha.) and i got to go on stage after the concert because i won the slopestyle competition earlier that day. Shaun White, eat your heart out.
This song has an great chorus:
What new friends will the day bring? One for one thousand acquainted.
What new home will the night bring? When it all comes down you just throw the bones.

Bones meaning dice because when you're Davey Havoc, it's all a gamble, even your choice of eyeliner, or your choice to leave a proven punk label (Nitro) for a mainstream label, completely selling-out your bandmates, your fans and yourself.

2. Solid Gold Telephone - Head Automatica, off of Decadence
Man, i loved this album. What happened to these guys? Kinda makes a guy sad.
I think my favorite song is "I Shot William H. Macy" because William H. Macy is great. Moving on.

3. Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin, off of Led Zeppelin IV
First, how cool is it that Led Zep didn't really name all their CDs but just called them 1-4. I think that is the balls.
This song is also another one of Zep's references to Lord of the Rings, because Bilbo went on his adventure in The Hobbit to the Misty Mountains and i'm a nerd.
This definitely isn't one of my favorite Led Zep songs (as you can see in my Top 5), there's just something about the keyboard and guitar harmony and way the vocals are spaced out that bugs me...and you won't hear me say that about many Led Zeppelin songs.

4. Whip It - Devo
Uh yeah. This is one of the best shuffle's in recent memory. Just consistently good tracks, a little old, a little new, a little retro, a lotta hilarious.


And since this song makes no sense at all, other than the sexual connotations of whipping it, whipping it good, i'll just tell a story about Ron, because that's always a good time.
I think it was our junior year, (or was it senior? i'm totally forgetting the details. Bonus points if you remember.) but the homecoming theme at Horizon High School that year was a trip through the decades of the 1900s (it being the year 2000, i guess we all felt nostalgic that it was the last year we could have done that). Well anyway, Monday was the 50s, Tuesday the 60s, etc. which made Thursday 80s day. And being children of the 80s, we all pulled out our leg warmers and side-ponytails and during lunch a band played 80s songs. Well i don't remember who was all in it, but i do remember Ben Sinclair on bass and Ron as the lead singer (which must have been like the 3rd greatest moment in your life right Ron? 1. Getting married. 2. Playing at the Whiskey in Hollywood 3. Being the lead singer of an 80s cover band in high school. Is that about right?) Whoever played drums (Greg Frasetti? Nole? I can't remember but double bonus points if you can tell me in the comments.) had an electronic drum set, which was about the sickest thing to ever enter the hallowed walls of Horizon High School and the whole band just rocked songs all through lunch. I ditched Mr. Bach's 5th hour just to stay out and have fun (must have been senior year then). They played Blue Monday, Billy Idol-White Wedding, and a whole bunch of other great 80s songs (actually, it was definitely junior year because i rocked out next to Crazy Kate the entire time and she was a year older than me.) Good times had by all. Who would have thought i'd be looking back on high school with such fondness? Ha ha.

5. Forever for Tonight - Blessid Union of Souls, off of Home
Wow, three high school references and two Nicole Lombardi references in the same shuffle? What are the odds? And yes, if you have no idea who or what i'm talking about, you can probably just stop reading, but i'll try to explain. This song was our prom theme senior year and Nicole was my date to that prom. This song really reminds me of CP and his never-ending devotion and adoration for BUOS, and for having the balls to theme a high school prom after a deep cut on a CD that only he had and that nobody in our school would know. And, in case you were wondering, he completely pulled it off.
This song also reminds me of Cody Kimmel playing it on his guitar and doing an amazing job of singing it during the prom fashion show a few nights before the dance. At the last minute i had to step in for someone (Tim Brooks) who didn't show up for the event and i ended up on stage standing with someone (Lauren Teets) and standing right behind Kimmel as he sang this. It was one of those Wonder Years/Saved by the Bell/90210 moments where you're just standing there and everything comes together in that moment and you can hear Kevin Cooper's little voice in your head doing the voice over and talking about Winnie. Top notch all the way around.
And just to see how many more names i can drop from high school in the same shuffle, Nicole wanted to dance with me during this song because it really did have some meaning for us at the time and for some reason she was dancing with Keegan Zagami when it came on. She didn't recognize it but i did and had to pull her away from Keegan right in the middle of their dance. Sorry Keegs.
And in related BUOS information, a bunch of us went to the Chandler Ostrich Festival (do they even have this anymore?!?) that year because Blessid was actually going to play there. It may have been their first and only show west of the Mississippi of the last 15-20 years, but damnit we weren't going to miss it. And the lead singer wore a pink mesh shirt and sang "I Believe" twice in the same show. ha ha. I think that might have been the night that CP's Blessid fetish died.

Update #1- Tommy Schmidt played drums.
Update #2 - Nicole was punched in the head (i'm assuming it was an accident), not kicked.
Update #3 - See Ron's comments below for the full band line-up.
Update #4 - It was definitely my junior year, and it would have been in the fall, so i guess the year was actually 1999.