Shine on, brightly

I'm not just being a typical mom when I say that truly my favorite person to spend time with and to talk to, especially in the past year, is the kid. I mean, sure, I love him and like spending time with him because he's my kid, and if you can't stand your own kid for at least part of your waking hours...well, there's something wrong with one or both of you.

Or maybe I am. I don't know. It's just that the times when he is being that favorite person (and not otherwise a pain in the ass 7 year old kid, which is to be expected from time to time--in fact, it'd be worrisome if he wasn't), I'm really not talking to him as my kid. Or even a kid, maybe. It's more like talking to a smaller version of myself. No, it's exactly like talking to a smaller version of myself, except one who's got an even smaller filter on calling bullshit on your, well, bullshit...and who is most definitely going to kick my ass in the memory game in a few years, not because he's younger (and I'm getting senile) but because he does have a better memory than I do (talk about freakish). 

He already knows more than I do, relative to his age--even if you take into account his ease of access to information, both due to geography and technology. Note I don't say he's smarter, because I'd beat his ass if we were peers under the same living circumstances. (Well, I'd like to think that, anyway. And I sure as heck am going to make him think that. Now that's being a typical mom).

If that whole justification sounds narcissistic, it because it is. And I'm not one bit ashamed of it.

Everybody's A Star (Starmaker) - The Kinks

Pulling at the strings

They were playing Katy f'in Perry in the main activities room when I picked up the kid from camp today.

Thankfully, I had inoculation handy in the car
Cosmic Love (live) - Florence + The Machine



By the way, the kid's take on Florence:

"Doesn't she remind you of Dolores O'Riordan?"
"Do you mean they sound similar?"
"I mean they have the same melancholy tone, like when they stretch their sounds."

Of course I'm supposed to love this kid as his mom but, damn, I like him so much.
(For once, the polysyllable word wasn't my doing--he got that one from his favorite Disney show, Phineas and Ferb. Great show, great music. Love watching it. I mean, he does. Right. )

POW:050711

Light Up - Tegan and Sara

If you're going to write a song to/for your mom, you can't do any better than this.

(You know, every goddamn musician needs to listen to this to understand that when something is good, it carries itself on pure vocals and a simple set of strings and nothing more. This is also my favorite of all their songs, which means it edged out about nine or ten other 'favorites'.)




***

The kid's been a long time fan of They Might Be Giants, first because of their Here Comes The ABCs DVD/CD (which, side note, helped us through many a miserable mealtimes during those nightmarish months and months of food issues), and then their Here Comes Science DVD/CD. A few weeks ago he heard this song on a mix CD someone made me a long time ago, and became immediately enamored of it intially for the title and then for the part about being a snake head eating the head etc.

My possibly inappropriate maternal sense of humor makes me laugh every time he belts out the first couple of lines. Every single time.

(And it really wasn't until L. pointed it out that I fully realized there's another immediate line in there that would probably raise the eyebrows of a few of his classmates' eyebrows, should he feel the need to teach them the song. Then again, I had to put up with him finally asking who Jesus is and listening to a hilarious interpretation of the resurrection, courtesy of his self-appointed girlfriend at school, so I figure it's quite fair for him to use less than appropriate language and, in fact, expected: don't the good pious girls always secretly go for the foul mouthed heathens?)

I Palindrome I (live) - They Might Be Giants

10

I won't be posting a top ten review of the songs of 2011* 2010...at least not for a couple of weeks. I have one very good reason for not doing it yet, and one sort of lame reason, and I'm just going to pretend it's the very good reason that's causing me to not do it.

***

2010 was a shitty, shitty year. That's putting it in terms so mild, that I almost think I should not even bother with any attempts to describe how bad it was. To be totally honest, I don't hold a lot of high hope for 2011, not because I'm overly pessimistic given all that happened this past year (and, really the last two years leading up to it), but because I am fully aware that I'm just beginning to understand how something so fundamental to who I am--who I was--is never going to be right again. Is never going to be again .

On the surface, I'm heading into the new year with my life more or less back to a sense of [a newly defined, but nevertheless identifiable] normalcy. Only people who know me really, really well--and even maybe not all of them--would realize this is an indication that I'm role playing in a tightly established set of controlled circumstances. A closed perimeter life to make it emotionally manageable, once again, but now shaped for a different purpose. Last/past year(s) it was about sustaining. Now it's about surviving.

***

One thing I do know: I can dance again for the sheer joy of expressing my enjoyment of the music--my own, unadulterated joy, not otherwise instigated by or for another person. Music--in the various forms that it came to and stayed with me this past year--saved my sanity and it's good to be able to show appreciation for that in the best way I know how.

These two are not only the kid's two favorite video performances by the band, but among his top five overall videos for quite some time now. To say he rocks out to them is another understatement of the year.

Wanderlust King (live) - Gogol Bordello



Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher) - Gogol Bordello



* Update: Sometimes I like to get a little ahead of myself...

Bird on a wire

Talking of strings, here is why we are fans of Andrew Bird in this house. Because he can go from this:

Dr. Stringz - Andrew Bird

(Yes, this is where I first found out about him. Let me tell you, Jack's Big Music Show is an excellent source of music for children and adults alike.)



to this:

Excerpt from The Wordless Music Series - Andrew Bird




to this:

Ravel (live) - Andrew Bird
Oh, that he fits my my skinny boy fantasy type is completely incidental to liking him, of course. Hah.



To this:

Water Jet Cilice (live) - Andrew Bird
(After watching this, I may have publicly announced my, uh, affinity for him and desire to see him live in terms so eloquent that even my five year old looked at me oddly, saying, "Mommy, it's just a video!" in a tone that clearly had the undertones of, "Please stop embarrassing me and yourself, woman.")

Graceful

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane




White Rabbit (cover) - Grace Potter And The Nocturnals




***
Sometimes I wonder if I should stop letting the kid click through and watch some of the sidebar videos. For one thing, he's never going to want to cut his hair, because almost an overwhelmingly number of the music videos we watch show men with hair of notable length (note: I give a rat's ass how long he grows his hair, but I do have an issue with either L. or I becoming his personal hair caretaker beyond shampooing supervision and drying: he's either got to get better at combing it throughout the day, or he's got to agree to wear it tied back). For another, he has very specific expectations now on what we are going to do at our next hotel stay, which is coming up pretty soon.

Paris (live) - Grace Potter And The Nocturnals

Loud and clear

This is getting a bit of airplay around here, thanks to it foot stomping, hand clapping, full body twirling beats.

Also, J. no longer thinks any variation of 'fuck it up' or 'fuck them all' (see lyrics to Green Day's 'Minority', for example) is saying 'buckle up' or 'buckle all'. Which is actually a relief, because while I didn't want to go out of my way to correct his mondegreen last year, I didn't want it to seem like it was a word that was taboo; I'd prefer him to know it, and know what it means (in various contexts, in a way he can comprehend) and for him to understand when and at what age it's appropriate for him to use it personally. So that's what we did, we treated like any other word that he doesn't know: we looked it up online on Merriam-Webster and read the definition and talked a little about those and when he can use it, if needed (he is actually very good with understanding the concept of age appropriateness) and that was that. Interest satisfied, moving on to the next thing.

***

So these guys are part of the same musical wave that produced Laura Marling and Noah and The Whale and they've collaborated with them. Which explains why I like them, since my affection for both of those (especially Laure Marling) is pretty well documented here.

I'm including both the official video and also J's favorite live version. He really digs the accordion.

Little Lion Man - Mumford And Sons



Little Lion Man (live) - Mumford And Sons

Midnight musings

You may know Alex Chilton as the youthful (literally, he was only sixteen) lead singer of The Boxtops, with that unforgettable voice on the hit "The Letter".

I knew him first, thanks to the 'basement treasures' albums as the Beatles influenced lead singer of Big Star, the group who put out one of the most sadly underrated debut albums, I feel, aptly named #1 Record.

Thirteen - Big Star



My favorite cover of this classic--and yes, I say that despite knowing full-well of the Elliott Smith cover:

Thirteen (cover) - Garbage



Wait, did you actually think I wouldn't link to the Elliott Smith cover? Please, child.

Thirteen (cover) - Elliott Smith



***

40 plus years and still a fantastic song. Even my five year old gets that.

The Letter - The Boxtops



And since we were talking of covers earlier...this, by the way, is the kid's preferred version of the song. I think it's the saxophones.

The Letter (cover) - Joe Cocker

Type A

Talking of songs that I've liked for a while that suddenly has found a new fan in my house: this little video has been added to the kid's favorites group I talked about before. We've also given up all pretense of acknowledging just what it is about these videos that he likes so much.

It does make my job as a protective mom screener much easier. Just kidding. Maybe.

Sidedish Friend - Rachel Yamagata

Here

Do-over

I was already a fan of the song (although, the live version they did on World Cafe was hands down the best version), but now, with the official video released, the whole household are fans: the kid because he likes the little boy in the video, feeling an especial affinity with him because of his hair (hah!); and L. because the video's inspired by his favorite movie of all time (which, by the way, is not a favorite because it seems self-referential, although he'd much prefer be associated with that one for that reason, than the other very obvious movie choice, which he finds annoying, to put it mildly).

When My Time Comes - Dawes



(Those two lines are still...yeah.)

Outing

We've spent almost of this weekend's waking hours outside of the house--more than any weekend that I can remember in a long time-- hanging out in a couple of awesome towns and parks and beaches, all a fair distance (about an hour) from home (but all within walking distance to each other, more than making up for the drive time to and from). Lots of fresh air and plenty of outdoors activities and really, really good, local food (a key factor in any all day outing, of course!).

No cares about anything waiting for us or on us. No quiet worries about the possibility of something happening. No one we really needed to call or check up on, every so often

That's probably why, at the end of it and in retrospect*, a weekend that by all definitions has been a pretty happy one with my family is making me sadder than ever. Not just because of the circumstances that made it so...easy for us to do what we did, but also a bit because it seemed so novel, this idea of having a nice time, for no reason except that it just was, naturally and with no agenda. A couple of times I felt as if I'd stepped into someone else's life.**

*The good news is I wasn't morose or anything during any of it as it was happening and didn't even have to try at a game face, except for a fleeting moment or two, here or there. The bad news is...it's not getting easier when I'm having to deal with the reality of it again, later, when I'm by myself. It's harder, so much harder and far worse than I could have imagined it to be. I'm not okay by a long shot, even though most everyone thinks I am. Or would like to think I am. Or I would like to let them think I am.

**I remember the feeling well, though; I felt the same way for a long time (and still do, on occasion), when we were past the worst of the issues with J.'s feeding issues and could actually go out for a couple of hours--or, gasp, more!--at a time, without having to be bound by the constraints and limitations of his mealtimes and all that it entailed to help him eat and keep his meals down, which were almost all only possible at home.

I have to say, I'm getting to be a pro at handling unshed tears without anyone being the wiser. Who the hell needs Visine to get that starry eyed look, right?

***
The kid has been on a Madonna kick the last week or two, so most of this weekend's drive time was spent listening to True Blue and Who's That Girl, his "favorite" Madonna albums. Given that he only really knows these two albums so far ( in the context of albums; he knows and likes other songs of hers like Holiday, Borderline, and This Used To Be My Playground, for example), I'm taking the favorite distinction with a grain of salt right now. (Although, I can't say I disagree with him.)

These two songs got demands for encores more than the others.


Live To Tell - Madonna



Causing A Commotion - Madonna
I did not have to explain to the kid what commotion meant. He's known the meaning since well before turning four, and has used it correctly on many an occasion, in reference to himself.



Time to go out again. It's too nice an evening.

Black magic women

The kid loves to look up videos of artists we listen to on youtube and see them perform their songs. Of course, there was the issue at first of explaining why a particular video we watched (mostly live performances) didn't quite sound like or last as long as (or lasted longer than) what we had on CD or on the MP3 players. Once he got the concept of versions--not be confused with covers or remixes (which he now has fully figured out (and can I just have one moment of bragging here that he is only four and a half and can talk intelligently about original, cover, live and studio versions, mashups and remixes etc)--he wanted to see every possible video out there.

Although he likes us to come up with new videos for him to watch (one day, I am going to run out of ideas. But not for a good while!), he has a certain set that we've now bookmarked on every browser, on every machine he has access to, as well on on our phones (yes, because we are suckers, especially me, when it comes to anything music related.) These are known as, appropriately, 'the favorite group' videos.

Of course, it is the common factor of a great, and uniquely identifiable, voice that attracts him to these videos. It's not like he's showing a preference for a type or anything, you see...

Long, Long Time - Linda Ronstadt




Ruby Tuesday (cover) - Melanie [Safka]
(I confess, it thrills me more that a little bit that one of my personal favorite covers is now his, too.)



Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane
(There is a White Rabbit video that has, in the kid's haughty opinion, a "better picture of Grace Slick" but he currently prefers this as a song much more so than White Rabbit. And, yes, of course he knows all their singers' names. I know facts about singers now that I never even cared to know, before, because of his incessant questions:"What's the name of the singer? When's her birthday? What's her favorite color? Where does she live?" You bet your ass I've taught him how to use Wiki.
P.S. As far as cheeky, insouciant grins go, Grace's is the best.)



Crazy For You - Heart
(And this is where L. gets to share a little in the thrill, too, since he is a big Annie fan, as well. I have to say, as much as I understand, I just prefer Nancy's badass playing a mite more than Annie's voice. Also, if you didn't know, Nancy is married to Cameron Crowe...now that's a household for any kid who's an innate music lover to grow up in!)

Trains, planes, and automobiles

Day four of the kid being pretty sick, although in general quite cheerful, other than individual, short errand runs by me or L., we've been pretty much housebound today. Which, despite the unfortunate reason why, has been nice. I sometimes forget how much we do on weekends and how very little time we spend in the house, other than to maybe pickup or drop off some things.

Around four in the afternoon, we were sort of at a standstill for what to do; no was hungry or thirsty, no one had a desire to watch anything, and we'd sort of plateaued on games to play or activities that didn't bring on a 15 minute coughing fit (which, of course, are really the best ones). In attempt to stave off the inevitable 'what do we do now?' cry that I knew was coming, I had the brilliant idea to play music categories.

Let me tell you, it's a good thing we're playing this with the kid now, because I honestly think in a few years, he could not only hold his own, going song for song against me, but probably kick my butt. (Of course, as my parental perogative, I will change the rules of the game to constantly adapt to his level play...so I can win.)

Anyway, we did a little transportation round and I post here the answer given by each member of the family for that particular category, but without saying whose answer it is. Try and see if you can guess--I'll post the answer key a little later. I think you might be surprised.

Category: Cars/Driving

Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin



I'm In Love With My Car - Queen



Fast Car - Tracy Chapman



Category: Airplanes/Flying

The Letter - The Boxtops
(This created a bit of a discussion, because it mentioned a train as well. Ultimately, the group voted in favor of it.)



Leaving On A Jetplane - Peter, Paul, and Mary



Fly Me To The Moon - Frank Sinatra


Category: Trains

Peace Train - Cat Stevens
(Once again, some discussion about this one. Since I proposed the game, I ended up being the deciding vote.)



Midnight Train To Georgia - Glady Knight And The Pips



Little Red Caboose - Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb

Little Red Caboose - Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell

Category: Boats/Ships/Sailing
We were a bit stumped on this one, initially, so we allowed it to be anything having to do with the sea.

Yellow Submarine - The Beatles



Sail Away (cover) - Eric Cartman



La Mer - Charles Trenet




Category: Bikes/Cycling/Motorbikes
(I don't need to say I personally did not choose this category, right?)

Bicycle Race - Queen



Daisy Bell/Bicycle Made For Two (cover) - Blur
(The person who picked this just picked the song, with no particular artist in mind, since it's pretty much is a very old song. But I liked this cover I found.)



The Motorcycle Song - Arlo Guthrie

Thinking of the children...

We've only bought three CDs for the kid that were labeled under the category of 'children's music'. It's not like we went out of our way to avoid these types of CDs, but we didn't go out of our way to look them up, either. The first one I actually bought before the kid was born, at a Haddonfield Symphony (aka Symphony in C) concert back when Benjamin Loeb was assistant conductor. He'd invited his sister--you may have have heard of her, Lisa Loeb?(heh)--to perform at their annual holiday concert and afterwards she was signing autographs and selling CDs. I'm not one for autographs, but I will always, always buy CDs at a venue when the artist is selling them directly, no matter who they are, so we picked up an out of print children's CD she'd done with a friend of hers years before.

The second CD was They Might Be Giants' 'Here Come the ABCs', although technically that was a CD/DVD combo and the DVD got played far, far more than the CD ever did (we love the Alphabet of Nations because of the shout out to Iran, and I'm personally very fond of F is for Fun. )

Funnily enough, we never got around to playing the third CD until just very recently; again, given that I think the label child appropriate music is pretty much hogwash, I've played what I listen to for the kid (or, I guess, it's more accurate to say, the kid has to listen to whatever we listen to, because we're not exactly going out of way to cater to his taste. Well, freaking opera not withstanding). I picked up the third CD mostly because of the title--'The Bottle Let Me Down'--the perfect irony of which, if you knew the history of the kid's first couple of years, would not escape you. Anyway, he came across it recently (I'm finally letting him rummage through the CDs and pick what he wants, now that he has had some decent musical appreciation instilled in him by yours truly and is--at least to my ears--showing really good judgement and taste. Heh.) The CD's been in heavy rotation in L's car, as well as the kid's little MP3 player, and we've all settled on our favorites. Given that this is my blog, though, here is my top choice, which just happens to be one of the many covers on the CD (there are some original songs). I've included the original artist's version, too (from back in the 60s; of course, what other decade could've produced such a delightfully saucy song?). It's been covered by several other artists too, but I have to say this so called children's version? Is the most innuendo-riddled one in tone of all.

(Seriously, I think everyone should listen to this CD, parent or not. And if you want to establish your cred as the hip uncle/aunt/friend etc.? Get this for your spawn-burdened friends. If they don't appreciate it, you should probably dump them. I mean, seriously, there is a version of Rubber Ducky that brings up images of Marilyn Monroe's rendition of the birthday song, with an invitation to "Let's get wet." If that doesn't get them, move on, I say.)

Li'l Red Riding Hood (cover) - Freakwater




Li'l Red Riding Hood - Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs

POW 090909

Did you know that in England the number for dialing emergency is 999? Even after all these years, eighteen and a half of which have been spent in the U.S., my first instinct is still to recite that number if asked about dialing emergency.

(Yes, people still watch over me when I cross the road, too.)

***

Last year I wrote about my mom's first trip to England and a life-long musical crush that resulted from that trip. Now, my dad was well into his 30s when he first went to England, with my mom and sister, but he also retains fond memories of a musical crush of his own. Well, he wouldn't call it a crush, I am sure, probably an affinity for a just pretty voice.

Just a pretty voice, my ass.

Those Were The Days - Mary Hopkin
Note that this song was produced by Paul McCartney; Mary was one of the first artists signed to the Apple record label.



Goodbye - Mary Hopkin
It shouldn't surprise anyone, after listening to this song, to learn that Paul McCartney not only produced but wrote this song for Mary.



***

This next song was favorite of both my parents. I know this only anecdotally in my dad's case, but with separate certainty of my own in my mom's because one of my very earliest memories--and my first recollection of any kind of music--is my mom humming this under her breath, putting me to sleep. And, if you were to believe all the baby books, I probably knew this song from before I was born, since my mom loves to tell the story of how "Sister M___" (the head nurse of their floor) and she used to sing this song all the time in the break room.

That I did not grow up with an overwhelming fear of abandonment is a miracle. That I do have propensity for expecting the other shoe to drop is clearly explained.

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - Middle Of The Road



***

My parents also became great fans of the Eurovision song contest, and were especially fond of the singers who sang in French (regardless of their country of representation). My sister and I grew up on a steady diet of 45 singles and LP records from the winning (and nonwinning) artists but, unlike some folk who are traumatized by their parents music, growing up, I liked the music. Besides which, I still maintain to this day that my ease in picking up French, when we lived in Spain and it was a mandatory second language from third grade onwards in the school we attended had everything to do with all the French Eurovision songs I'd memorized.


Vicky Leandros is a polyglot singer--probably on a par with Nana Mouskouri--who's represented various different countries in the contest. This was her first foray into the competition, and while she did not win, my parents--along with all their peers, it seems--became fans of her. She is, in fact, their favorite Eurovision discovered artist ever.

The song should sound pretty familiar to you, by the way.

L'Amour Est Bleu - Vicky Leandros




Vindication came for Vicky with this song finally. Of course, my parents bought the full album that she put out, after her win, and it was probably one of the most played albums in my house for about 5 years or so. That I can remember.

Après Toi - Vicky Leandros



In no particular order, some of the artists my parents (and, who're we kidding, I) enjoyed listening to. *Yes, I know these songs inside and out. No, I won't perform them for you. At least, not on demand.

Tu Te Reconnaîtras - Anne Marie David



Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son - Frances Gall



Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue - Séverine



L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant - Marie Myriam



***

I'm keeping the tradition alive, albeit with a twist. That last song was covered in what is one of the first songs the kid has (or, I guess, will have) recollection of remembering as something he liked and requested himself. Well, requested himself after I subjected him to it, that is. After all, I have to give the kid something to blog about thirty years from now.

L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant (cover) - Karol
Yes, we do the dance moves. See the answers to performing the songs upstream* for answers to your follow-up questions.



And if I've carried you this far, you might as well listen to and watch the other video that's in the same vein.

Le Bateau Blanc - Karol

With sugar on top

I'm starting to think we seriously have a little glam rocker on our hands. Besides The Ark and the early years of Queen (think early 70s), he is absolutely in love with Sweet. I finally showed him the video for his favorite song by them tonight, and he immediately pointed out that he would like to have his hair be even longer. He hasn't made any request for eyeliner, but that's probably because he hasn't seen any lying around or on me, so he probably figures it for a lost (for now).

I really wish I could tape him rocking out to this in the back of the car, especially ever since--bestill my heart--I caught him in the mirror air drumming. He'll stop as soon as he catches you watching him now, though, so I may have to ask L. to come up with some sort of hidden camera set up.

(Talking of L., he suggested the cover for this and J., smart kid that he is, refused to pick sides when I asked him which version was better, saying he liked them both. I figured I'd round off with a clever little adaptation and make this post a true family affair.)

Ballroom Blitz - Sweet



Ballroom Blitz (cover) - Tia Carrere (from the movie Wayne's World)



Ballroom Blitz set to Gorillaz video clips

POW 072009: Body double

I'm either a bit early this week, or several weeks too late, depending on how you look at it:

Disease - The Ark
(Ola Salo is perhaps the only male who can wear a white jacket post 80s, and not look like a fool--not that a lot of people didn't look like fools in the 80s, too.)



A Virgin Like You - The Ark
(Both this and the previous one favor more the disco ladies (definite shades of Yvonne Elliman/Thelma Houston especially) of the 70s, rather than the glam rock lads of the same decade that the other Ark songs seem to do.)



P.S. The kid has been rocking out to In Lust We Trust and Prayer For The Weekend with me. He's one hell of a hip swayer when he puts his mind to it. This is his favorite by far, both to listen to and watch, and it kind of goes with the theme of the others, you know?

The Worrying Kind - The Ark

The young ones

When I see a kid (anyone under 24 is a kid to me now, given they're at least a full thirteen year old teenager younger than me) taking the time to do something like this, it gives me pause in my cynical view of the general population and makes me think that maybe there's still some hope for some decent folk out there for the future, after all.

Mr. Brightside (cover) - Eric Wuest



That cover reminds me of these girls, who've been a firm favorite in our house (the kid loves watching them) for a couple of years now. Side note: I've never wavered once in the decision to not follow-up the kid with a sequel (which has nothing to do with my own experiences with having a sibling; in fact, my relationship with my sister is possibly as close to perfect as any relationship can be), but even I will confess to a few seconds 'damn, it might have been nice' looking at these two singing together:

Mr. Brightside (cover) - Emily W. and Fiona W.

Not so random play

The kid is currently deeply enamored of a CD of mine that he'd been listening to in my car (as we drive to and from places. I haven't banished him to listening to music outside of the house--yet). It's basically one of many, many CD backups of my MP3s that I made a couple of years or less ago, in a fit to do something useful with all the blank CDs that were lying around.

He's got an excellent ear for music, if I say so myself (and I do) and his memory for voice and music pattern recognition is eerie. He's definitely his mother's child in more ways than one: he fixates on a number of songs and/or singers and wants to hear them over and over and over...(I'm told this is actually pretty typical for a preschooler, but then that would lead to the conclusion that I am acting like a...naaaah!)

Anyway, in addition to Elliott Smith and Everclear (the boy also obviously has good taste), the other singer that is currently getting a lot of airplay off the one CD is Brandi Carlile. Good thing I like her, too. These two always get an encore play, even as her whole album gets repeated.

Closer To You - Brandi Carlile



What Can I Say - Brandi Carlile

Them no good, durn toes!

One of our favorite 'old spots' from the channel the kid watches. Read by Chris Meloni (of L&O:SVU and Oz fame). As a commenter notes, I'd feel better too, having him read to me by my bedside!

You can read the poem here.

My Toes Are Out To Get Me - by Sarah Feldman, read by Chris Meloni