Saying yes...

Songs I've Never Hated (Stolen directly from Snag...)

And even though I know better, I can't stop singing "If I could buy my Raisinets"...

There are some things I will NOT apologize for...

Andy and I were confessing less than stellar concert choices down below, or those that might be looked down upon by others. I can think of one I went to that would make most people cringe. Yes, I saw Tom Jones! Yes, I've written about it here before... have had irrational love for Tom since I was 7... wanted to send him my Easy Bake Oven to prove that love... We can't control who flips our switch... even if we know that choice might be cheesy or looked down upon. I stand by Tom in all his Vegas-y, cheesy glory! And just when I think he can't affect me anymore, I listen to a song and poof, my rational mind is gone.

The Police's Low Budget Tour

Brando's last Friday Random 11 included a song by the Police. He said:

7) “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” The Police. Apologies for another appearance from The Official Spokesman for Tantric Lovemaking, but old Sting is too good to keep locked out of sight behind bedroom doors. I didn’t go to the reunion concert a couple years ago because the only tickets I could get were $250 a pop, but I recently saw footage of them playing at some UK festival and wished I’d dug into the cookie jar to spring for the tickets. I know, that's crazy money to spend to see anyone unless they figured out a way to bring someone like Hendrix back from the grave and send him on tour. But there are few bands that could play an entire concert without playing a song I wish they skipped, and The Police are one of those bands—assuming they didn’t let Andy Summers sing “Mother.”

The ticket price was what caught my eye and reminded me of a story Grizzled told me long ago... The Police played at one of his college dances. Yes, a dance. They didn't do a concert there, but rather, played at a Grinnell dance as part of their "low budget tour"... and they weren't even the headliners. Ultravox was. As a matter of fact, The Police were still so new that Grizzled said when he saw the sign announcing who would be playing, he thought "Ultravox and The Police" was one band. Why did Grinnell score The Police for a dance? Well, they weren't charging $250 for a ticket yet, but Grinnell apparently had a former booking agent in charge of booking their performing arts programs.

Other groups that Grizzled got to see in the Darby Gym?? Bruce Springsteen... just a month after the release of Born to Run, and the same week he was on both the covers of Time and Newsweek (the link says it was a month later, but Grizzled swears it came out the following weekend... I trust Grizzled). He said a fellow student swore by this bar band, having seen them often in New Jersey.

He also got to see Charlie Mingus, Leon Redbone, and the Bill Evans Trio. I don't remember who else... I've usually tuned out by that point, cringing at thoughts of my own pathetic collegiate concert history...

And if Grizzled is talking about his concert past around one of his brothers, this story always comes up... how in the middle of the 60's, at The Cellar, a little club in NW suburban Chicago, his brother, and his other madras sportsjacket and skinny tie attired friends, got to see this new group smash their equipment onstage to the dismay of the audience. Yes, The Who.

Shameless Promotion

One of my beloved nieces helped the below book into print and also has a story in it. Ah yes, the beloved mixtape... we either made them or got them. Or both. :)

Cassette From My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves will be in stores next week on Tuesday October 27th! You can pre-order on Amazon now or head to your favorite indie bookstore next week to be the first to grab a copy.

Our brand-new anthology compiles sixty hilarious, nostalgic and heartbreaking stories about crushes and mixtapes from amazing writers and musicians: author Rick Moody, The Magnetic Fields’ Claudia Gonson, This American Life's Starlee Kine, The New Yorker's Ben Greenman, Joe Levy, Improv Everywhere's Charlie Todd, Mortified's David Nadelberg–  even a new story from the godfather of the genre, Rob Sheffied.

Cassette From My Ex falls in with a lot of the best confessional culture projects like Mortified, PostSecret and Six-Word Memoirs. Mixtape stories can be deeply personal and intimate or awkward and hilarious, and occasionally tragic... and though the title of the project already let's on how each relationship will end (badly)- you'll remember what it was like when crushes and music were at the center of the universe.

Not Garbage

Every time I hear this song, I have to check because I'm certain it's Garbage.

It's not...

Happy 4th everyone! Enjoy your independence, whether real or imagined!

Summer Flashback

I watched "Jaws" the other night. It reminded me that somewhere in the house or garage was an embarrassing musical purchase from my youth. Oh heck, most of them were embarrassing... but Dickie Goodman probably ranks up towards the top of my youthful musical/humor indiscretions.

Have a good weekend everyone! Enjoy the summer... sans jaws.

Still Makes Me Smile

Sly Songs I Never Hated, Part 85

Yes fish, even Danny Gokey...

I posted below that I pretty much love "Get Ready" no matter who sings it... I'd probably even get a hoot out of Mrs. Miller...

Fish responded with, "Even Danny Goeke?"

After much research, I found out that Danny Gokey was one of 3 finalists on the latest American Idol extravaganza. Not being as refined as fish, I have not seen this season of AI... but luckily Danny and his cover of Get Ready is available due to the wonders of YouTube... and while not my favorite version... it's still got the horns (and not flat horns like you know who...). I'd still have to say, " Yes, fish, even Danny Gokey."

Topic Stolen From Snag

Below is a song I've never hated. Doesn't matter who covers it, I almost always like it. I still think the Rare Earth version is my favorite...