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Song of the Day #17: ‘Winter in the Hamptons’ – Josh Rouse

I break down my entertainment compatibility with my wife (Alex) into three categories.

First comes TV, where we are extremely compatible. We both love Buffy, Angel, Alias, Friday Night Lights, The Office, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Arrested Development… a whole host of things. About the only TV show we don’t watch together is Survivor, though I usually drag her in by the finale.

Then come movies, and we’re a little less in line. We do love a lot of the same films, but there are many movies that I love and she either hates or has no desire to see. And on the flip side, she has her favorites that I find little time for.

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Song of the Day #16: ‘Be Mine’ – Robyn

This has been a great year for new music — especially new music by women. As I write this, five of my top ten 2008 CD’s are by women and most of those are first or second albums.

Years ago I was accused of not listening to many female artists. I had some old standbys by Carole King and Carly Simon that had mostly been inherited from my parents plus a Tracy Chapman or two, but otherwise my collection was distinctly lacking in estrogen.

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Song of the Day #15: ‘Close Your Eyes’ – Jump, Little Children

Jump, Little Children is one of those odd little bands that has a following of about a hundred people but just about every one of those hundred thinks it’s the best band ever.

I like them a lot, but I don’t feel the religious zeal of their most ardent fans. In fact, some of their songs I find downright annoying. In the way The Beatles used to let Ringo write and sing something every once in awhile, Jump, Little Children lets accordion player Matthew Bivins take center stage twice per album to do some sort of rap/modern jazz hybrid that really grates on me.

Yes, they have an accordion player.

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Song of the Day #14: ‘In God’s Country’ – U2

In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree and pretty much changed the face of popular music. The album not only propelled them to superstardom but made the marketplace safe for hyper-literate rock anthems, influencing the work of both contemporaries like R.E.M. and descendants like Coldplay.

This was my first U2 album and I went nuts over it, playing it nonstop in my bedroom that whole summer. It was also right around the time Paul Simon’s Graceland and Peter Gabriel’s So came out, and those three albums formed my holy trinity of new music.

But I write about The Joshua Tree (and my selected track, ‘In God’s Country’) not just to sing its praises 21 years later, but to reflect on the geeky association it forever carries in my mind.

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