Paean for a New Day

Having kind of a funny moment here. It's not every day that I have little to say. Just reflecting on how everything came together. I went to school for a year, which re-activated my student status, which enabled me to work on a J-1. None of that was planned, or even desirable, but it happened and here I am.

The The - This Is the Day




I'm here because I persist. An aggressive person with vision would be in a different place. I'm a lazy person with a vague dream, but I also have a canny ability to Make It Work. And yet I don't know how it will work -- I'm not sure it can, sans citizenship. But I'll try.

I'll try because I can't not. I have a life to make, and I only get one. I have good parents that think critically. I have never left a dinner table discussion with fewer angles considered.

I have so much love around me.

Drifting into la la land

A quick song couldn't hurt, right?

TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me

Gloria in excelsis deo

Patti Smith - Gloria (In Excelsis Deo/Gloria)

Dog Days Are Over!

Yup, they're really over. Hello, new/old life.

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

From loneliness to deliverance?

I hate it here
When you're gone

Wilco - Hate It Here


the path to redemption...

I'm going to view the host in white
Who travel both day and night
Comin' up from every nation
On the way to the Great Carnation

Aretha Franklin - How I Got Over


Am I saying that Jesus delivered me? No, no, probably not. Not even the liberal Jesus (Howard Dean?) did that. Mostly there's reason to hope again.

My love's growing stronger

Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)

There's Something Happening Here

Tonight's movie was supposedly the best film of 2009, The Hurt Locker, although it was actually made in 2008. It got me thinking: what's the best war-related song of all time? I think "For What It's Worth" has a pretty strong argument. It's so clichéd, I know, so how about a bunch of a different takes on it? Sure, why not!

Lou Rawls - For What It's Worth


Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - For What It's Worth


The Staples Singers - For What It's Worth (Low Quality)


...and of course, the original:
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

Sweet Jane

It's a great song by the Velvet Underground, but a smoky female voice, like Margo Timmins's, more than does it justice.

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

Get Back

Time to get back to where I once belonged, quite possibly... the country. Or at least get back to maintaining this blog.

The Beatles - Get Back


Neil Young - Get Back to the Country

Going on hiatus

I'm taking a brief hiatus from this underloved blog to serve this overloved blog. In that vein, here's a song by a band as famous for being on hiatus as off it (and no, I'm not talking about The Eagles, lest you think I've lost my mind/taste):

Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well


This tune is from the early, Peter Green years. Light on the pop, heavy on the guitar virtuosity. Enjoy for 11 more days!

Inner City Blues

Rodriguez - Inner City Blues


Going down a dirty inner city side road
I plotted
Madness passed me by, she smiled hi
I nodded
Looked up as the sky began to cry
She shot it.

Met a girl from Dearborn, early six o'clock this morn
A cold fact
Asked about her bag, suburbia's such a drag
Won't go back
'Cos Papa don't allow no new ideas here
And now he sees the news, but the picture's not too clear.

Mama, Papa, stop
Treasure what you got
Soon you may be caught
Without it
The curfew's set for eight
Will it ever all be straight
I doubt it.

7 jealous fools playing by her rules
Can't believe her
He feels so in between, can't break the scene
It would grieve her
And that's the reason why he must cry
He'll never leave her.

Crooked children, yellow chalk
writing on the concrete walk
Their King died
Drinking from a Judas cup,
looking down but seeing up
Sweet red wine
'Cos Papa don't allow no new ideas here
And now you hear the music
but the words don't sound too clear.

Mama, Papa, stop
Treasure what you got
Soon you may be caught
Without it
The curfew's set for eight
Will it ever all be straight
I doubt it.

Going down a dusty, Georgian side road
I wonder
The wind splashed in my face
can smell a trace
Of thunder.

Hold on, I'm comin'

Eric Clapton and BB King's brilliant cover of the Sam and Dave classic. I can't believe this song wasn't on the blog yet (for obvious reasons)!

BB King & Eric Clapton - Hold On, I'm Comin'

Get on that ship and sail back to me

I heard a song on the radio the other day by Serena Ryder, the CBC's newest darling songstress. It was good -- raw, dyspeptic, vaguely sapphic -- but mainly it reminded me of a song somewhere in my iTunes collection. A few hours later, it hit me:

Little Birdy - Brother

Baby, mellow my mind

An all-time favourite. Seriously, top... Oh I don't know, just so good. Best off-key song ever. So much realness.

Neil Young - Mellow My Mind

I always find a way to fall apart

Basia Bulat - Before I Knew (Live)

I Don't Want to Talk About it

I think this song speaks for itself and the kind of week I had.

Crazy Horse - I Don't Want To Talk About It

Server problems

Right now the mp3s aren't playing, FYI.

UPDATE: Aaaaaaaaand we're back. But right now I can't find my audience member!

Handsome Furs - Evangeline

Procrastination

I really ought to start this GRE practice thinger. But I don't feel like it right now. And in hono(u)r to procrastination, Let's Go Get Stoned. (Or at least sing about it. Really I'm going to eat food right now! Mmmm cheese toast!)

Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned


P.S. I concede that the song isn't really about what I want it to be about. But it seems like it pays tribute to diversions -- the key components of procrastination.

My first post about Hockey

Har har, I'm just talking about the band. No frozen pond talk here. Anyway, they're from Portland (the cool one). Not too far from Canada, but not far enough for the band's name to contain any irony. Okay, dumb name, fine, but how's the music? Glad you asked:

Hockey - Learn to Lose

Home

is whenever I'm with you.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home


buy it at amazon / band website / unreleased WTB bonus track

This will be a better year

In no particular order: unemployment, plans falling through, the lack of jobs, disappointment and rejection, recession economics, loneliness, depressed job market, heartache, the (irrational) defeat of liberal priorities and mostly bad movies. Good riddance, 2009. Other than the relatively good health of those around me, I did not enjoy you.

So here we are, on January 1, looking forward to the year to come. Let's hope, as we Jews are wont to, it's metukah.

Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game


Foo Fighters - Next Year