Saturday, July 15, 2006
Friday Shuffle on Saturday
Well since I did my Thursday haiku post technically on friday, it seems acceptable to do my Friday Shuffle on Saturday.
Music has always played a big part in my life. And I dont mean that I am talented and play many instruments. I mean that my life has just one big soundtrack. Almost every song reminds me of a moment, and every era of my life reminds me of a song. So I figured for this shuffle, Id share some of my memories/thoughts to go with the songs. 
1. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
This song reminds me of that movie, "Beautiful Girls". If you never saw, it, rent it. I think it was Natalie Portman's screen debut, and she's awesome in it. Lots of other great people in the cast, and too many great quotes and scenes. This song is in a scene where they are in the local town bar after they've all been togther for the first time in a long time for their HS reunion. They're all bonding and drinking and singing this song loudly and it just reminds me of some good friends and similar times. The town I went to college in had a main street that was referred to downtown during the day if you were shopping, and uptown at night if you were drinking. Never quite understood why it changed, or why one street could earn such a distinction but hey, it was a college town. There were lots of bars on this street and they all seemed to have their particular crowd they attracted. The first one, Sgro's, was not a bar usually frequented by the college crowd at all. This was one of those dark places where men sat on barstools and didnt talk to each other. I dont know why the college set never discovered it, because the drinks were cheap! A group of my friends and I did discover it. We would start our night off there at a small booth in the back near the jukebox, singing along and just enjoying each other. Good times...
2. Declaration - The Alarm
I babbled enough about The Alarm in my first post. The Alarm to me was always one of those bands that were mine. They werent mainstream, and somehow it made it feel like they were my special secret. I connected with their lyrics and I could never not feel better after listening to them. This is the first song on their first LP (yes, LP!) and it has a great feeling of building anticipation of great things yet to come.
3. Brian Wilson (Live) - Bare Naked Ladies
I used to work at Bath and Body Works, and that song was on one of those tapes that played over and over and over for months on end. Surpringly, I still like it. I saw BNL live once on City Hall Plaza in Boston and I have to say, without a doubt, they are one of the best live bands ever.
4. It's Probably Me - Sting
I love Sting. Ive seen him several times in my life but one of the most memorable was the time at Star Lake Ampitheatre which apparantly has also now changed names to a corporate sponsor name instead. Anyway, we had planned on getting lawn seats, but the day before the concert it had rained like a pig and we thought it might suck to be sitting in muck and decided to call just to see if there was any hope that there were some real seats left. Well apparantly we had good karma that week... They had just opened up more seats, and some were available in the third row. THIRD ROW! Oh My GOD! So we thought this rawked till we got there. Yeah, it wasnt the third row really. They added three rows IN FRONT OF THE FRONT ROW! So we were actually sitting in the -1st row! We could see the individual beads of sweat on his forehead, the vein bulging out in his neck, and visible panty if he had been wearing panties!! If you asked me who my favorite artist is, Id have to answer- "It's hard to say it, I hate to say it, but it's probably Sting." 
5. Sleep to Dream - Fiona Apple
I think this song must have shown up on shuffle as a nod to my insomnia. Actually, lying in bed like Brian Wilson prolly was too! Anyway, Fiona in general reminds me of an era in my life where I had a friend who I have since lost touch with. So if anyone out there knows Christina Lee, previously of Virginia Beach and Kansas, tell her to email me! 
6. The Beauty of the Rain - Dar Williams
Dar is an artist that a friend of mine during the same time as Christina Lee was in my life that Ive also lost touch with. Her name was Amanda Lipnack. She made me a mix tape (to give you an idea of how long ago this was) that was called "Songs that Make Me Smile". That tape enriched my musical tastes forever. I miss her, so if anyone knows her, she lived in the Westchester, PA area, have her email me too! Years later, Dar helped me build another friendship. I met a cool chick and we started hanging out, but I think one of the things that helped the friendship click was a similar taste in music. I loved this girl, we hung for a summer while she was on an internship in Baltimore and I was sad when she left. She is from Chapel Hill orignally, and when I moved here I got back in touch with her just to find out that she moved to Washington state. :( She is currrently working towards completing walking 60 miles to help support breast cancer research. If you have even just 5 dollars to spare, please follow this link and support her, and a great cause. And tell her to move back to NC when she's done walking because I miss her. 
7. Fields of Gold - Eva Cassidy
Eva is one of the few things that remind me of Vermont that I still love. I was in one of the other few things I miss, the best Barnes and Nobles I've ever been to, and they were were playing her. Immediately I had to find out who she was and get the CD. That disc lived in my CD player pretty much the whole time I lived in VT. She's an amazing artist, go buy her stuff. Sadly, she died from metastatic melanoma and will be recording no more. The world really lost out when we lost her.
8. Girl Like You - Smithereens
One time I spend an evening dancing and hanging out with a cute boy who then walked me home and told me as he gave me a kiss goodnight that he had been looking for a girl like me. In a few days he started dating some other girl. I guess we're very similar. He was looking for a girl LIKE me, just not me.
9. Extraordinary - Liz Phair
"I am just your ordinary average everyday sane psycho supergoddess. " Yup, fits me to a tee!
10. And So it Goes - Billy JoelWho would have thought Penn Station in NYC was not wheelchair accessable. Someday Ill tell this whole story. It was one of those days from hell but because I was with a great friend, we ended up laughing alot. We knew everything was going to be ok when this song came on. And then we went and recorded a rawkin version of Pour Some Sugar on Me with a cute guy from Boston. I am smiling like a dork as I type this and remember this day.
What a great deal of these songs apparantly remind me of is just how blessed I have been with good friends and great people in my life. I love that music helps me apprecite them.
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"I guess we're very similar. He was looking for a girl LIKE me, just not me." Story of my life too. Sigh.
But I'm smiling because I'm still visualizing Sting's visible panty lines!
This is great! Pics and all your fun memories.
btw, Im embarrassed to ask this really stupid question, but what exactly is this shuffle thing? Is it on your mp3?
well -- I know Amanda Lipnack because I AM Amanda Lipnack!
feel free to email me at alipnack@hotmail.com