Monthly Archives: August 2008

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Song of the Day #30: ‘I’m a Lady’ – Santogold

My family members often laugh at the “obscure” bands I listen to, or at least know about. They’ll throw out a group name like Jars of Clay thinking it’s freakishly obscure and laugh when I say “Yeah, they’re a Christian rock band.”

But my secret is that I’m far from hip by the standards of true hipsters. Real music geeks (and I know a few of them) are familiar with bands that have never put out a CD, bands that have played only two gigs in the back room of a pizza joint.

I’m what I think of as “New York Times” hip. Meaning I know about bands that have been written up in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. Now, my parents (who are decidedly unhip when it comes to new music) read The New York Times every day, but they don’t read those articles.

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Song of the Day #29: ‘Crazy Mixed-Up Kid’ – The Smithereens

It’s funny to have a bunch of memories tied up in the only CD I own by a band I know just about nothing about, but that’s the case with The Smithereens’ Especially For You.

Flash back to my freshman year at the University of Florida, where I’m sharing a dorm room with a real asshole of a frat-guy cliche. We failed to click right from the start and fortunately he got an apartment a couple weeks into the semester and I wound up having the room to myself.

But once I was playing Elvis Costello and he told me Costello’s voice sounded a lot like the guy from The Smithereens, a favorite band of his. He played me a song and damned if he wasn’t right. Our one bonding moment.

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Song of the Day #28: ‘Amy’ – Dana Gallup

Today is my sister Amy’s birthday, so I figured I should honor the occasion by picking an appropriate song.

iTunes makes it very easy to do a word search of your entire collection. First I tried “birthday.” The results were ‘Unhappy Birthday’ by The Smiths, which is both an inappropriate sentiment and a repeat artist (which I’ve vowed not to do until absolutely necessary); and ‘Birthday’ by The Beatles, which is an OK song, but do I really want to blow my Beatles selection on that? I don’t think so.

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Song of the Day #27: ‘Emaline (Live)’ – Ben Folds Five

I’m not generally very big on live albums. I prefer hearing the music at it was performed and produced in the studio and committed to tape (or disc, or computer file) for all time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love going to concerts and hearing music performed live. But taking a live performance and pinning it down just feels wrong, like watching a DVD of a Broadway play.

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Song of the Day #26: ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ – The Beach Boys

I remember when I didn’t know The Beach Boys were a big deal.

Before my senior year of high school, I equated The Beach Boys with teeny boppers, surfing and cornball beach cookouts where kids with plastered grins danced the Swim.

Then I read about Pet Sounds, the classic album they recorded as a response to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, which in turn inspired The Beatles to crank out Sgt. Pepper. The idea that this surf group was in an arms race with history’s greatest band was quite intriguing, so I picked up the album.

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