Remembering the Encores

I thought it would be fun to dig out some of my old 'Mix CDs' for my devoted audience's enjoyment, perhaps with some bonus commentary. (Prepare yourself for lots of college navel gazing, essentially.) Perhaps the best mix I've ever made, and definitely my very favorite, is this gem from 2001 titled 'I Can drink in Canada!' - which I made, obviously, for my 19th birthday. This collection of songs feels like an actual time machine that takes me back to my freshman year of college. It's a perfect storm of college influences (a guy my roommate was seeing loved Ben Folds Five, Sublime is racy enough that it made me feel very grown-up), high school hold-overs (Sugar Ray, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and selections from the 'Can't Hardly Wait' soundtrack, obviously), and all the "punk" covers that were so prevalent at the time ('Jenny', 'Take On Me'). I have used this mix as an all-purpose pick me up - it's see...

Who: Britney Spears with DJ Pauly D When: August 20, 2011 Where: Nationwide Arena/ Columbus, OH With: Beth Of Note: Oh Brit-Brit... So, when your best girlfriend from college says, "Come visit; we'll go see Britney Spears," you say yes. It is what you do. Particularly if you went to high school during Britney's rise to superstardom and may or may not have appropriated your tennis kilt as a schoolgirl costume for Halloween. Or if thinking of the kind of gross Canadian dance bar thing you frequented (what up Daily Planet!) brings on nothing but fond memories of 'Slave 4 U' (oh Britney) and 'Boys' (sometimes a girl just needs one!). Ahem. (Someday, I will figure out how to turn one of these into the marvelous story of how none of managed to get roofied or die during those perhaps too frequent trips to Canada. Bonus! My boyfriend the doorway.) For Britney's 2011 tour, some of the dates had Nikki Minaj as the opener. We got DJ Paul...

Who: Mumford & Sons with Dawes When: August 7, 2012 Where: Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center/ Canandaigua, NY With: Colleen & her sister Beth Of Note: Sometimes I just have a lot of feelings, okay? How awesome of a story is Mumford & Sons? Plus, how awesome is this resurgence of folk-inspired music? I mean, a song that prominently features a banjo won a 'Best Rock Song' grammy. That's pretty boss. One of the things I just can't get over with them is they sound simultaneously like they are from the past and like they are from the future. They overwhelm me, just a little. There were two opening bands, the first of which we missed due to some insane traffic getting into CMAC. No big deal. The second opener, Dawes, was very good. They hit that sweet spot between "jam band" and "indie rock" that has come to feel like home to me. I really liked the song 'Fire Away'; my notes indicate that ...

Dave Matthews Band/ Mercy I heard this for the first time at the Connecticut show and declared it my new very favorite Dave song. The Killers/ Runaways Excuse me, new Killers album?  Let's hurry up and get here mmmmmkay? The Pushstars/ Any Little Town In preparation for their reunion show. Justin Beiber/ As Long As You Love Me Please don't judge me?  It's so much more JT than Beibs - I had no idea it was him the first time I heard it. Mumford & Sons/ I Will Wait There are not enough letters in the English language to form all the words that need to be said about this song.  

I've been looking for patterns in the songs that I get obsessed with.  So far, I've determined that I tend to fixate on songs that remind of me of marching bands...all snare drums and horns and rhythm.  According to a recent GChat conversation with Neil, I also get obsessed with songs that, "are bouncy, hand clapping, ooh-ooh-oohing".   Based on my response to this Bruce Springsteen track the first time I heard it on the radio?  I also tend to get obsessed with songs that sound like sea shanties/ Celtic drinking songs.  (See also: moe.'s 'Raise a Glass'.) This is so, so, so, so good and has ear-wormed me like crazy.  (Also, it makes me want to drink hard cider on a boat, so there's that.)