Monday Morning Shuffle

First off, the Grammy's sucked as usual. My dad was pissed that the Dixie Chicks won so much because they're commie pinko leftists but really they just had a great CD and a terrific producer and really did deserve to win a bunch. Also, i suggested that if my dad didn't enjoy protest music that he should take every album he has from every Vietnam era band he liked and just go ahead and burn them. Moving on.

Secondly, i really enjoyed the conversation about the Top 5 British Bands of all time. And yes, i missed a big one with Queen. They deserved to be up there in both lists. A great band, very influential and one of my favorites. It was a blinding error and i'm embarrassed for making it. Most of the time, these postings are just crap off the top of my head, but i actually went and did some research on the British Top 5 post and i really thought i had considered everyone who deserved the influential spots. For instance, I had initially written The Clash in at #5 before realizing that The Sex Pistols totally paved the way for The Clash...it would be like saying that Green Day was in my American Punk Top 5 but the Ramones weren't...So yeah, somehow Queen slipped through the cracks but thanks to Nole for bringing it to every one's attention.

Also, my lack of knowledge, experience and appreciation for Radiohead has been very well documented on this blog so i can't really believe that anyone was surprised i left them out. I'd have been a total poser for putting them in at all. It's a problem, i admit it, and i'm working on it, i promise. In the meantime, i would really like someone (Laura, Kate, Courtney i'm looking at you) to do some research and put some thought into just who and what Radiohead has influenced. The other bands we all named paved the way for other bands that followed with a swath as wide as a thousand bulldozers and i'm interested to see what bands or what sounds specifically can be traced back to Radiohead and also why they stop there and can't be traced THROUGH Radiohead to someone else. You have your mission, go forth, wreak havoc.

On with the shuffle:
1. Tunnel of Love - Dire Straits
I like it when the shuffle throws me an 8 minute song right off the bat so i can actually listen to it and type at the same time. It seems like i always get some crazy 2:15 song and i have to pause to finish my commentary about it and it just messes with the flow of the entire shuffle.
Anyway, Dire Straits kicks ass...and now that i think about it, i think they may be in my Brit Band top 5 after all... i originally had them at 6 -8 but now that i'm listening to this song, i might like their body of work overall more than i like The Who, or The Beatles. I'm not saying they were a better or bigger band, i'm just saying that on a song by song basis, i think i'd rather listen to "Money for Nothing" than "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" or "Sgt. Peppers"...i don't know, maybe, that's a pretty bold statement and one that may not be true by this afternoon. We'll see.
Anyway, this song has this rolling feel to it that would make it a good running or driving song. It just keeps flowing over its 8 minutes interspersed with little solos and guitar licks and Mark Knopfler's incredibly cool sounding vocals that sound like he's breathing out a puff of smoke every time he opens his mouth. Talented band, and an underrated one at that. If the depth of your Dire Straits knowledge is Money For Nothing or hearing Romeo and Juliet on the soundtrack of "Can't Hardly Wait" give me a call and i'll get you hooked up.

2. Chicago is So Two Years Ago (acoustic) - Fall Out Boy
I'm not sure where i downloaded this from but the quality is awful. You can barely hear Patrick Stump's vocals over the little scenster kids clapping and singing awfully off key while imagining how the lyrics perfectly apply to their own little broken-heart high school romances. In fact, this is horrible, i'm clicking next.

3. Red Rabbits - The Shins, off of Wincing the Night Away
I'm flying to NYC on Thursday and this CD is at the top of my play list for the 6 hour flight. I'm very excited. In fact, let's do a quick top 5:
Top 5 new (to me) albums i'm most excited about listening to on the way to and from NYC
1. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
2. The Killers - Sam's Town (surprisingly good)
3. Norah Jones - Not Too Late
4. The Beta Band - 3 E.P.s
5. Johnny Cash - American V

Yeah, and just listening to this song for the first time, i can tell i'm going to enjoy it. I hope the rest of the CD is like this. The new Shins strikes me like the perfect album to chill out to on a plane while reading a large chunk of Audacity of Hope (sorry i'm so far behind guys). These guys should call Natalie Portman every damn day and thank her.

4. The Man in Me - Bob Dylan, off of The Big Lebowski Soundtrack
Hilarious song, hilarious movie. They did such a good job on the music in that movie that i can't listen to a single song on the soundtrack without automatically picturing exactly what's happening in the movie. And isn't that what a soundtrack is supposed to be about? Just total symbiosis between the two mediums? That's what i thought.
Anyway, what more can i say about Dylan or the movie? Not a lot i feel. But i will mention this joke from Bill Maher: "Bob Dylan is the voice of our generation and he can't argue with that. We didn't really have a choice in the matter. If we had a choice wouldn't you think we'd pick a better voice than his?"

5. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds, off of Rockin' the Suburbs
It makes sense that i'm going to see Courtney in NYC this weekend and she's the one who introduced me to Ben Folds and to this song. Courtney and I took a class our freshman year in Colorado called U.S. Race And Ethnic Relations...which we both affectionately remember as Race Relations Boot Camp. What an awful semester. Although Courtney and I will both admit that we learned more about race and privilege and our own thoughts and prejudices than at any other time in our lives, it was just an amazing way to be absolutely torn down at your core and be told that everything you've known about your race and your upbringing and your opportunities were just complete false or worse, that you've only had the opportunities you had been given at the expense of someone else. So this song really hit me at the perfect time in life... "Y'all don't know what it's like/being male, middle class and white./Y'all don't know what it's like/being male, middle class and white. It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream/It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream, It gets me real pissed off and i wanna scream, 'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yup...that's pretty much exactly what it felt like at the time. Isn't it amazing how music can do that?

Alright, big week this week. Vegas tomorrow with Ron and Nole, then NYC to see Courtney and others. I can't make any promises about more posts this week but i've got a lot of ideas and i'm hoping that i can find a really cool coffee shop to sit in with my laptop and iPod and just be so stereotypical that it hurts. So don't be surprised if you see 3-4 more things this week.