More cds and listening to them!

And now for something completely different...

or not.

So i've been listening to my cds, one a day - more or less - all week and it's been a blast.

Throughout the day i've played through Jenny Lewis's album off and on while playing video games or goofing around the house. i havent really listened to the album since the first time i was going through it for my little project. The idea of revisiting something i bought that i havent given much thought to since is rare for me, mostly because in the past buying things has been rare to me. My new-found wealth is baffling to me, i still havent grown accustomed to it, well - i've grown accustomed to it, just not in every aspect of my life.

Either way. i ran into a snag - my sister has my Modest Mouse cd. So i'm putting that on hold until i can find it.

So the list for past listens looks like:
-Mon: Bob Dylan's Highway 61
-Tues: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue
-Wed: (skipped! :0 )
-Thurs: Mae's Singularity and Animal Collective
-Fri: The Beatles Love with a sister and friend over for dinner
-Sat: (skipped! :0 )
-Sun: Jenny Lewis's Acid Tongue

So in the future (i need my Bon Iver cd from a friend too!)
-Mon: Fiction Family and Andrew Bird's Noble Beast (! - awesome)
-Tues: Derek Truck's Already Free
-Wed: Graceland
-Thurs: Brett Dennen's Hope for the Hopeless
-Fri: Jimi's Electric Ladyland (Have you ever been? ...)
-Sat: Flaming Lips - Yoshimi!

i've been keeping track of NPR's best music of the decade head over the npr.org's music side if you want in. They have some great running commentary and i'm excited to see what they'll list as the best music of the decade.

Also there's a great paste blog with their pick for the top 50 albums of the decade and you can stream all of them!

Kind of Blue

Poetic.

i was feeling Kind of Blue while getting off work today.

Miles Davis's (?) Kind of Blue never was my favorite album of his. i tend to prefer Sketches of Spain or Miles Ahead and sometimes Porgy and Bess, as well as that one album my dad has of him playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. i like the orchestral sound of the Gil Evans albums and the strong melodies.

All that said, i'm just realizing how much i connect with what Miles was tryinng to do with this album, simplify simplify simplify. It sounds like he moved to modal songs for this album to rebel against the complexity in jazz at the time. im guessing Bebop was in full swing at this period. That would make a lot of sense.

Lately i've been thinking about what i call the Postmodern Dilemma of too much choice. and i'm drawing heavily from others on that statement. i've heard it best described in a podcast put out by RadioLab called "Choice." Also, i've drawn a bunch of inspiration lately from 37signals. Their software and ideas raise simplicity up as a high principle in order to have their software do important tasks well and easily. They go so far as to say "less is less" in rebellion to the idea that less should serve "more."

There is too much choice available (or is there?), but at the same time, i like having all these choices. i think it just forces grappling with adulthood a little more. For someone like me who tries to have a million concurrent hobbies and is very interested in the world around me it's easy to get caught up.

i'm starting to see how Miles constructed the songs in Kind of Blue to take away a bunch of complex chord changes to allow for a beautiful melody to emerge.

Like a Rolling Stone

For those of you in the know. i've been buying myself a cd every week for the past year. It was born out of a rough last year and my love for music. It's been a blast spending dolla$ on music, rejuvenating involving friends in it, and a lot of work assembling tracks, lists, letters, and envelopes.

It's been worth it.

So to celebrate i'm listening to each of the albums with the last 52 days of the year in celebration. And i'd like to extend an invitation to join. i'm just writing this now, so you'll probably miss out on Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone.

So please join in! You can celebrate with me however you'd like... listen to the 2/3 songs i selected from the album on the same day and send me a tweet/facebook message/email/letter/phone call. Or even if you're ambitious, pick an album you like and want to join with me in listening wherever you are. Bonus points if you join me in person!

So...

Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

here i go into the close of the year!

ps i'll try to post more of a schedule! and hopefully i've counted right, so that this is actually the start of the last 52 days of the year.

for now:
-Mon - Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
-Tues - Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
-Wed - Good News for People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse
-Thurs - Singularity - Mae
-Fri - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

Also

At the Andrew Bird concert the other night i was stopped by the guy at the door:

Open your purse.

Speechless.

Dude, it's my man-bag.

The worst thing that can ever be said about anyone

i'm currently reading through a book with a small group of people on emotionally healthy spirituality. In fact, that's what the book is called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

At one point the author discusses Joe DiMaggio. i dont know much about his life, but reading what the author had to say got me so sad:

Who knows what negative core beliefs Joe might have carried within himself. I doubt Joe DiMaggio himself knew. However, one thing is sure, his life was both a lie and a tragedy.

That's terrible. i'm still trying to figure out where it was on NPR that i heard about the importance of tragedy in art and how society needs it, but it's no fun seeing someone's life involve a real fall that they dont ever climb up from.

wedding conversation

(Me and two bridesmaids i didnt know)

Erin: I'm sick of all this theological talk.

Me: Let's tell corny jokes.

Rhonda: or lets just say stuff that relates to corn...

Me: i dont know about this.

Rhonda: Quit talking my ears off.

James: There is not one kernel of truth to what you're saying.

Rhonda: i was worried, for a second there i thought you were trying to butter me up.

James: Don't get salty with me.

Clam Juice!

Clam Juice!
Originally uploaded by jugglingnutcase.

So i keep watch on my flickr stats. Mostly because i wonder if anyone actually looks at them, so every once in a while i'll check to see what gets looked at and guess what others seem to think is worth looking at...

Well, apparently the other day it was my clam juice photo. it got a bunch of hits, and i have no idea why. i took this photo forever ago, and i'll be the first to admit that it's not all that special.

clam juice!