listening to archives

Stiff Little Fingers

It has been awhile since I last listened to Stiff Little Fingers. Can it be that I haven't really listened to them since I lived in Chicago?

They remind me of my first apartment on Clifton Street, shared with 3-5 other people, the numbers varying according to who among our friends happened to be in need of a place to crash.

And it's not just that I listened to them a lot back than, although I did. It's also the quality of the music. The crisp guitars like the icy air that always managed to penetrate our thin walls, and the vocals, tinny as the neighbors who argued in the apartment underneath ours, muffled as attempts at conversation with chattering teeth bundled in thick scarves iced over from breath condensation.

This is why it makes me shiver to listen to Stiff Little fingers this morning. This is why it warms me.

(Sample Track: Wasted Life)

Friday Random 10 - Chilly Day Version

Man, I am so glad my desktop computer is up and running. I really missed hearing music with speakers.

Here's my Random Ten. I'm not sure if I've mentioned my Last.fm account...but I have one here. I totally love last.fm.


  1. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
  2. Gill Scott-Heron - Home is Where the Hatred Is
  3. Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down
  4. The Birthday Party – Capers
  5. They Might Be Giants – I'll Sink Manhattan
  6. Rites of Spring – Nudes
  7. Joe Strummer – Machete
  8. Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
  9. Lush – Kiss Chase
  10. Public Enemy – Who Stole The Soul

Keeping myself occupied…

Here's what I have been filling my senses with lately:

Eating:
the kids and I are cooking our way around the world with the Kids' Around the World Cookbook. It is amazing what they will eat when they have a hand in making it.

Reading:
I am reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin, the Sexual Life of Catherine M. by Catherine Millet, and The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker. The kids and I are reading the second book in the Pendragon series, and Leaves of Grass.

Listening:
I am listening to a ton of stuff, but I am allowing myself to be heavily influenced by the musical tastes of the sole musician in Black Wax Machine. So lots of guitar stuff. Ethereal. Instrumental. Quavering and wavering. And Jimi Hendrix! Wow.

Watching:
I am working my way through all of the episodes of Futurama. Last week I watched the Boondocks Saints (I think is what it is called). I saw the Bjork movie the other night in the theater. Puffy Chair movie. I am sure there are things I can say about all of these, but I can't think of anything off of the top of my head.

Doing:
Mostly just a lot of sitting around thinking about cleaning up the place. Getting by. It has been a very lazy in practical things, active in my heartfelt pursuits kind of last few weeks. The kids and I play cards and go swimming a lot. I take my walks. Get embroiled in things. Have endless conversations in chat. My house is breaking. I am planning a maybe trip to chicago in the fall. Maybe. And I am dreaming of buying a mandolin, and a tattoo.

Thinking:
I am thinking about relationships and their parameters and rules. What I can accept and what I must reject - either by virtue of my own preferences or by virtue of my motherhood and the limits it places on my freedom. I hate to say it like that, but there is a certain amount of caution I must exercise when it comes to tripping around after love. It is, of course, up to me to define those limits. And I am thinking a lot about that. Also, the book. I am thinking about finding someone to help me select what goes in and what does not. And to help me with some decisions about future publishing ventures. I might just make the book more of an annual zine kind of thing. We will see.

Feeling:
Absolute and total bliss. Terror, to some extent. hahaha. Love - Deep and abiding and difficult to place or define. Panic about random little stupid things in my life. Contentment. A desire for order balanced with a seeming need to create disorder. Sexiness. A kind of restless laziness. Sure-footedness. Love.

that about describes where I'm at right now.

Good Woman

Good Woman
by Cat Power

I want to be a good woman
And I want for you to be a good man
And this is why I am leaving
And this is why I cant see you no more
cause I dont want to be a bad woman
I cant stand to see you to be a bad man

I will miss your heart so tender
I will love this love forever
This is why I am leavin
And this is why I cant see ya no more
And this is why I am lying
When I say I dont love ya no more

I want to be a good woman
And I want for you to be a good man
And this is why I am leavin
And this is why I cant see ya no more
And this is why I am lying
When I say that I dont love you no more

The Fate Of The Human Carbine
by Peter Jeffries (as interpreted by Cat Power/chan marshall)

Thinks of money all the time,
Doing it to annoy her,
She's on his conscience day and night,
So he acts like her employer.
They all come and peep through a hole in the wall,
Keep the bastards guessing.
He likes to take the long way home,
It's another fine decision,
From six to seven he'll be all alone,
So he turns on televison,
Doesn't even notices this is the hours roll by,
It's lost inside the screen,
Watches the film about the evening sky,
It was someone else's dream.
All come peep through the wall,
Keep the bastards guessing,
All come and peep through a hole in the wall,
Just to watch his heart undressing,
They all come and peep through a hole in the wall,
Because you look so impressive.

Zany Musician Friends.

In order to inspire myself to do some major housecleaning today, I made a mix CD of random, upbeat tunes for myself. It just so happened that two of these tunes were created by two different musician friends of mine that I introduced to each other awhile back in hopes of them possibly working together. The songs came on one right after the other, and I laughed out loud because I realized, even though the two musician friends got along pretty well, both of them had confided in me "Don't tell [other musician friend] this, but I really don't like his music all that much."

Thankfully, since I am not an uber-competitive music dude, I can stand on the periphery and enjoy it all!

HA!

Friday Random Ten - Version This is the Week I Find my Housemate.

You know the drill. Fire up the music player of your choice, put it on shuffle (as if there's any OTHER way to listen to music!) and list the first ten you hear. Pray that nothing dorky comes up.

  • The Pogues - Hell's Ditch
  • Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line
  • Cypress Hill - Insane in the Membrane
  • The Pogues - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
  • Stiff Little Fingers - Roaring Boys
  • The Velvet Underground - I'll Be Your Mirror
  • Wutang Clan - Uzi
  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - There is a Town
  • The Velvet Underground - Guess I'm Falling In Love
  • Phil Rosenthal - Goodnight, Irene

Bonus Tracks:


  • Sugarcubes - Motorcrash
  • Portishead - Undenied
  • Gilberto Gil & Jorge Ben - Filhos de Gandhi
  • Buzzcocks - Why can't I touch it?

Friday Random Ten - Version Full Weekend Ahead.

Lots of stuff planned this weekend. I wonder what the soundtrack will be like.

  1. Sonic Youth - Green Light
  2. De La Soul - Me, Myself and I
  3. Jimmy Cross - I Want My Baby Back
  4. Violent Femmes - I Held Her In My Arms
  5. Nick Cave - Red Right Hand
  6. PJ Harvey - A Perfect Day Elise
  7. Cletus - Somewhere Down The Road
  8. New Order & Depeche Mode - Bizarre Love Triangle
  9. Eastern Dub Tactic - Brothers and Sisters
  10. Portishead - Sour Times (Nobody Loves me)


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My Ten is always Random.

Badgerings: Friday Random Ten :

  1. A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhyme
  2. Howard Jones - Everlasting Love
  3. Glen Phillips - Have a Little Fun With Me
  4. The Knitters - Poor Little Critter On The Road
  5. Goldfinger - Smiling (Op-Ivy cover)
  6. the Dog Faced Hermans - Jan 9
  7. The Cure - Close to Me
  8. New Order - Primitive Notion
  9. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
  10. Operation Ivy - Bad Town

Bonus Tracks:


  • Heart - Crazy on You
  • KRS1 - Step Into My World
  • Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealin
  • Ken Nordine - Faces in the Jazzamatazz

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Friday Random Ten - version “Landricus Bagicus”

Wow. Bel Biv Devoe? I don't think I have anything quite. that. bad. in my collection. Let's see, though:

  1. Jawbreaker - Gutless
  2. Velvet Underground - That's the Story of My Life
  3. General Public - Never You Done That
  4. Operation Ivy - Gonna Find You
  5. John Lennon - And So This is Christmas
  6. Jets to Brazil - One Summer Last Fall
  7. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
  8. REM & Natalie Merchang - Photograph
  9. Erykay Badu ft. Common Ground - Love of my Life (instrumental)
  10. Minutemen - Maybe Partying Will Help

Bonus Tracks

  • The Beauty Pill - Quote Devout Unquote
  • The Decemberists - The Legionnaire's Lament
  • Jimmy Cliff - No Justice
  • A Tribe Called Quest - What's the Scenario

Continued reading Friday Random Ten - version "Landricus Bagicus"...

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Friday Random unspecified number of tracks of music

Linking to Norbizness/a> again this week. Because, you know, the Cramps!. I cannot figure out why I don't have any Cramps in my MP3 Library. I'm sure I have at least 2 CD's...the rest is on vinyl.

Anyway, here goes (sorry, no coolness audits here):

  1. Moby - Across the Universe (w/Rufus Wainwright)
  2. Decemberists - Bring on the Dancing Horses (live, Echo & the Bunnymen cover)
  3. Pussy Galore - Cunt Tease (incorrectly labeled as Bikini Kill)
  4. Old 97's - King of all the World
  5. The Clash - Koka Kola
  6. Billy Mure - Hawaiian War Chant
  7. U2 - Mothers of the Disappeared
  8. Violent Femmes - Add It Up
  9. Spearhead - Oh My God (live? Unplugged?)
  10. Public Enemy - Miuzi Weighs a Ton

Bonus Tracks:


  1. Peter Tosh & Skatalites - Shame and Scandal
  2. The Cure - Friday I'm in Love
  3. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Inside Me
  4. Janes Addiction - Jane Says

Damn, that's a good mix.

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