Author: dansomeone

30 songs in 30 days: day 01 – your favorite song

OK, if I’m going to do this… thing… I might as well start now, with Laphroaig-induced boldness and time on my hands.

So. Maximo Park became one of my go-to bands a couple of years ago, and this song is one that I go back to again and again. (Don’t be surprised if more Maximo Park songs pop up in this meme. Not sure it will happen, but it might.) I’ve played this one so much over the past two or three years that I think it gets the title of “current favorite” by default.

Why this one? Hard to say. The jangly guitars and harmonizing vocals (in a British accent) are right in my wheelhouse these days when it comes to loving music. There’s a frenetic energy that revs me up every time the track comes on. Like a lot of Maximo Park songs, it becomes a couple of different songs as it progresses from beginning to end, structurally and thematically, and that appeals to me more than the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus that characterizes most songs. “What happens when you lose everything? You just start again; you start all over again.” That doesn’t directly apply to me (thankfully), but with the world as precarious as it sometimes seems to be these days, it resonates. It seems like the right attitude to have just in case.

But I guess the strongest argument in favor of this one being my favorite song (at least for the moment) is that I have listened to it at least a dozen times in a row while I’ve been struggling to write this entry. And I could listen to it a dozen more times without a second’s hesitation. Hard to top that.

30 Songs in 30 Days

I am a bit reluctant to do this, but I am being pressured. (Dammit, Dave!) My main concern is that I don’t know if I can think of songs to fit the categories. Like, how am I supposed to choose one song to be my favorite?

Oh well. I suppose I’ll give it a shot. Starting with my next post, we’re going to launch this thing and see where it lands.

UPDATE: First of all, it’s going to take me a while to figure out a favorite song to start this thing off with. Secondly, “daily” may mean something different to you than it means to me. Shut up.

The sequence (so you can set your expectations):

•
day 01 – your favorite song
•
day 02 – your least favorite song
•
day 03 – a song that makes you happy
•
day 04 – a song that makes you sad
•
day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone
•
day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere
•
day 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event
•
day 08 – a song that you know all the words to
•
day 09 – a song that you can dance to
•
day 10 – a song that makes you fall asleep
•
day 11 – a song from your favorite band
•
day 12 – a song from a band you hate
•
day 13 – a song that is a guilty pleasure
•
day 14 – a song that no one would expect you to love
•
day 15 – a song that describes you
•
day 16 – a song that you used to love but now hate
•
day 17 – a song that you hear often on the radio
•
day 18 – a song that you wish you heard on the radio
•
day 19 – a song from your favorite album
•
day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry
•
day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy
•
day 22 – a song that you listen to when you’re sad
•
day 23 – a song that you want to play at your wedding
•
day 24 – a song that you want to play at your funeral
•
day 25 – a song that makes you laugh
•
day 26 – a song that you can play on an instrument
•
day 27 – a song that you wish you could play
•
day 28 – a song that makes you feel guilty
•
day 29 – a song from your childhood
•
day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year

The Star’s editorial | Federal government must not skimp in rebuilding Joplin – KansasCity.com

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/24/2901256/the-stars-editorial-federal-gove…

Money quote: “Here’s the big picture: If the United States is to the point at which helping disaster victims means cutting other needed programs, it’s time to rethink the way we’re running this country.”

Zoe Keating, Evanston S.P.A.C.E., 5/17/11

A friend of mine had an extra ticket to see Zoe Keating play at S.P.A.C.E. in Evanston last night. At first I dithered about whether to go or not; I wasn’t familiar with her music, and I just wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it. I’m glad I decided to take him up on the offer, though, because it was a beautiful experience.

Zoe Keating, if you don’t know (as I didn’t), is a cellist. Her music consists of loops and layers as she multitracks herself with a foot-controlled laptop computer. She might lay down a percussion track by plucking or by bouncing her bow on the strings, then play a bassline over that, and finally layer on melodies. Her pieces are evocative and can be stirring or moving or calming or any or all of the above.

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We had a table in the front row. I took this photo from my seat. On the left you can see the foot controller she uses, while the laptop is on the right. It was fascinating to watch her play and to try to figure out how the different pedals on the controller were changing the music.

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Front. Row.

Anyway, the show was about 90 minutes, during which she played maybe 10-12 pieces, including a cover of Muse’s Time Is Running Out, which she said she learned because she was hearing it everywhere and decided she needed to exorcise it by making it her own. (And she did it exceptionally well.)

S.P.A.C.E. (which stands for Society for the Preservation of Art & Culture in Evanston) is a terrific venue for this kind of show, too. It’s small enough to feel intimate (did you see how close I was to the artist?) without feeling cramped or jammed, even with a sold-out show like last night’s. Most of the seating was at small reserved tables facing the front of the stage, with a few rows of seats on either side, and some seating at the (well-stocked) bar, and SRO space at the back of the room. I’d say nobody was more than about 30 feet from the stage.

In sum, a good time was had by all. Zoe Keating: highly recommended.

Michael Moore on the Death of Osama bin Laden

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/some-final-thoughts-on-de…

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece, and it’s a shame that many people will dismiss it out of hand because it’s from Michael Moore.

Health news I know a lot of women have been waiting for.

http://io9.com/5800725/want-to-stay-healthy-and-cancer+free-have-some-coffee-…

I’m still waiting for confirmation of similarly salubrious effects for men. Why isn’t more medical research focused on men’s health issues?

Yes, that was a joke.