playlist 6/30/09

brian jonestown massacre - anenome
the ponys - double vision
funkadelic - music for my mother
soulsavers - revival
les nubians - el son reggae
the roots - how i got over / baby / long time / what they do
santigold - lights out
tv on the radio - dlz
flunk - blue monday
rchp - my friends
portishead - glory box
lamb - stronger
twilight singers - when doves cry
martina topley bird - testimony
rokia traore - kaman neni
bat for lashes - tahiti
bjork - immature
telescopes - space ship
cat power - cross bones style
ride - driving blind
swervedriver - never lose that feeling


current song obsession even if I think that Anton is ridiculously full of himself.

defining normal

Friday night, I got home and was so tired I crashed. I'm still sore from the accident but the pain is finally starting to leave me. It still hurts when I laugh really hard. I still get nervous when I'm driving. My time is up on the rental car so I'll be utilizing my bus pass and I got a fill-in for my show tomorrow.

My roommate came back, and we went up to Edgewater to walk along the beach and watch the sunset from the pier. This has become our ritual when we need to chill and there's nothing better for that than water, waves, and the best people-watching ever.

There's been a lot in the way of parties and showers and people getting married and it's only getting to be moreso. It's hard to be single during wedding season, when the weather's gorgeous and all these girls younger than you are flashing their diamond rings and talking about interior decorating and wedding colors and cake flavors. When you get snubbed with some weddings and wonder if you can get out of going to others. I was always bored with the idea of planning an event that may or may not happen, and often speculated more on what happens when you get old and hoping that you're not bored with whoever you tied your life to.

I don't mind being single 95% of the time because I've got a great crew of people to hang out with and there's so much good stuff going on right now. I'm grateful that there's no pressure and that I can take this time to really do something wholeheartedly because I don't have many other obligations. I can pour myself into the lives of the kids and the families I work with, hang out with a lot of different people without worrying about making a boyfriend jealous, work on my music and my art, immerse myself in other languages and cultures.

And I visited a friend of mine this weekend who called me from the mental ward at Lutheran. I've never been to a place like that and we sat there and played board games and tried to act as normal as possible. I wonder what everyone's story is as they shuffle by and ask me and the roommate questions and talk about their kids and their goals and what they used to be when they weren't in there and you wonder how much of it is true and what everyone's stories are. And how true anyone's stories are in general.

hyped

Very much looking forward to seeing these guys on Tuesday night.



What started out as me wanting to go whether no one went or now has turned into a crew of 9 people meeting up and hanging out there together and who knows who else. I have missed the Roots every single time they came through, and now I'm finally getting the chance. I don't go to shows as much as I used to so I'm really looking forward to this one.

playlist 6/23/09

Seriously, people, do I seem like an N.W.A. fan? Look at the rest of this playlist and explain to me why I get more requests for early west coast gangsta rap than anything else.

sonic youth - unmade bed
folk implosion - no need to worry
kasabian - lsf
twilight singers - love / annie mae
alice russell - let us be loving
j dilla - time
curtis mayfield - give me your love (live)
marcia griffiths - band of gold
eric b & rakim - microphone fiend
black star - respiration (pete rock remix)
the roots - good music
angelique kidjo - voodoo child
soul coughing - idiot kings
fela tribute (red hot & riot) - water get no enemy / gentlemen
(featuring femi kuti, positive force, d'angelo, me'shell ndegeocello, yerba buena)
bajofondo with julieta venegas - pa bailar siempre quiere nos
amadou & mariam - m'bife / coulibaly
ollabelle - see line woman
ramata diakite - sonte samarala
pharaoh's daughter - enpesare
robert plant & alison krauss - gone gone gone
martina topley-bird - sweet and dandy
sleater-kinney - 02
heatmiser - low flying jets
kristin hersh - your ghost
jawbox - i've got you under my skin

accident waiting to happen.

Got in a car accident yesterday, rear-ended someone, totally my fault, no one was hurt, but I feel so bad. And the front end of my car is all smashed up. Thankful that no one has any serious injuries, thankful for good friends and my sister who stuck with me, and for Mukhtar giving me a ride home even though it's completely out of his way and he and his girl were supposed to go see a movie. And he made me laugh which I needed so badly.

life goes on I guess, right?

Salman Rushdie, I love you.

..."there are bands that are hit machines, bands that earn the respect of the music crowd, bands that fill stadiums, bands that drip sex; transcendent bands and ephemeral, boy bands and girl bands, gimmick bands and inept bands, beach and driving bands, summer and winter bands, bands to make love by and bands that make you memorize the words to every song they play.

most bands are awful and if there are aliens from other galaxies monitoring our radio and tv waves, they're probably being driven crazy by the din. and in the whole half-century-long history of rock music there is a small number of bands, a number so small you can count to it without running out of fingers, who steal into your heart and become a part of how you see the world, how you tell and understand the truth, even when you're old and deaf and foolish...

... and it was the voice that did it, it's always the voice; the beat catches your attention and the melody makes you remember but it's the voice against which you're defenseless, the unholy cantor, the profane muezzin, the siren call that knows its way directly to the rhythm center, the soul. never mind what kind of music. never mind what kind of voice. when you hear it, the real thing, you're done for, trust me on this..."

-From "The Ground Beneath Her Feet"

playlist 6/16/09

queens of the stone age - in the fade
afghan whigs - come see about me
oumou sangare - djorolen
90 day men - we blame chicago
morcheeba - never an easy way
burial - etched headplate
mos def w/ slick rick - auditorium
ramata diakite - na
massive attack - safe from harm
les nubians - brothers and sisters
twilight singers - when doves cry
malatu astatqe - asmarina
chambers brothers - love peace and happiness
amadou & mariam - fete au village
hadag nahash - kamti
letters to cleo - here and now
the editors - orange crush
blonde redhead - equus
nightmares on wax - 195 lbs
sidestepper - san juan
kumba sira koita - aye to
bob marley - could you be loved
tinariwen - aldhechen manu
martina topley-bird - carnies
fela kuti - upside-down