I am a completist. I watch tv shows in order. I collect every album from bands I like.  I listen to Prince for an entire month of the year.

And while I am preparing for a lecture about Juggalo Culture, I realized something.

October is totally going to be National ICP Listening Month.  Which I am taking liberties to abbreviate as NIPL month!  I hope someone will join me, but I somehow think it’s less likely than NaPriLiMo.

NaPriLiMo is quickly approaching in Feb. In case you don’t know, that means I only listen to Prince all next month.  I will actually be reporting on it this year, however, I realize not everyone wants constant Prince music updates.  So here’s your guide to the coverage:

• The Website — naprilimo.tumblr.com– will include updates
• The Twitter Feed — twitter.com/naprilimo
• The Facebook Event — for joiners
• The Email address –  naprilimo at gmail in case you want direct contact
• The Blip station — blip.fm/naprilimo i’ll hope to post a prince gem of the day
• My Last.FM station — Check up on me & keep me honest!

Man this month has been killer.  New job, new city, moving, new apartment, being without my stuff for a month, and an hour plus commute (soon to end) each way.  But I was ruminating on my favorite songs.  I am sure there are some I am forgetting, but here are my favorites off the top of my head.

1. You Are My Sunshine -as best performed by Gordon Gano, once in Columbia, MO, live, but generally any way live. Recorded, my favorite version so far would probably be Willie Nelson’s  I’d pay good money for a Tom Waits/John Cale/Stephin Merritt/Leonard Cohen/Rufus Wainwright version.
2. Hallelujah - Tie: John Cale/Leonard Cohen/Rufus Wainwright see a theme here?  Honestly best song ever.
3. Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground If we want to get technical, I prefer the John Cale demo version that is 20 mins long on Suck It & See.  Seriously even I didn’t realize I was so into John Cale till I made this list.  My next 10 favorite songs are probably VU songs.
4. Perfect Day - Lou Reed Lest you think I hate Lou Reed, rest assured I do not.  In fact his version of All Tomorrow’s Parties is my preferred version.  I also truly love Nico’s singing though.  Because I am weird.
5. Papa Was a Rodeo - Magnetic Fields Truly my next 20 favorite songs are Stephin Merritt songs.  I probably equally love “100,000 Fireflies,” “Book of Love,” “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing,” and “Reno Dakota.”  Papa Was a Rodeo is probably the most touching one personally though.  So it leads the pack.  I enjoy other versions of it too.
6. The Luckiest - Ben Folds This is an odd choice.  I like Ben Folds a lot, but I think I am a far more casual Ben Folds listener than any of these other bands.  But The Luckiest makes me cry.  It’s one of the most beautiful songs ever written in my opinion.
7. Forever in My Life - Prince JFK Jr used it as his wedding song.  A lot of Prince fans hate it because of the tacky instrumentation, which I agree knocks it down.  By someone else it would be amazing.   I want a version of this by Jared Friedman because, if I didn’t know him personally, his version of The Glamorous Life would make this list.

What are yours?  What am I missing?

***Edited to Add 7.

I am getting ready for NaPriLiMo and making sure to get the albums I am missing.  I am going to try to listen to them in chronological order so I am trying to fill in the gaps.  I found my ipod I never use and pumped it full of Prince.  So this is another reminder you have two days left to join me in NaPriLiMo!

I am toying with the idea of accepting the Pandora Prince station during this month.  I think it’s only acceptable if you have forgotten your ipod/music and need something to listen to.  Scouts honor!

I have thought of an idea.

National Prince Listening Month.  Or NaPriLiMo.  I have been toying with the idea of listening to only one band for one month.  I am somewhat of a completist when I really like a band and I could have hundreds of songs by one of these bands, but I never listen to them in one block.  So, when thinking about the bands that I 1. have enough music by and 2. like enough of it to listen to it solely for a month, I thought of Prince.  So here’s the concept, if you want to join me.

1.   Listen only to Prince.  I am going to take a wide stance on this.  This can include all music written or sung by Prince, covered by Prince, duets with Prince, and covers OF Prince.  It includes any Champagne, Grand Central, or 94 East which include Prince.  And if you have that, I want some of it.  All music not sung by Prince (i.e. “Manic Monday” or Vanity 6) can only make up, say 20% of the entire music budget.  Also, if one song on a soundtrack is by Prince, only that song counts!  Prince side projects (Morris Day & the Time, Vanity 6, Carmen Electra) do not count unless Prince sings or composes the song.  You could do Prince songs only or open it up–I am not making these hard and fast.

2.  Other music is allowed if you are not in control of the musical choice.  For example, you don’t have to avoid all stores that play music, or commandeer a DJ stand.  However, you can’t listen to a radio station that is non-Prince.  Though you can hear some snippets of other songs while flipping to talk radio or a Prince CD.  If NPR plays a song in between a show, you are fine, but no All Songs Considered.

3. You are allowed to go to shows of other bands.

4. Report if it makes you crazy on a weekly basis.  CRAZY for PRINCE!

I am going to go chronologically, but you can do it however you want.  Ideally this would be in June, because of the Purple One’s bday, but let’s make it January.  This way people have a chance to get their Prince music together.  And it will be like a New Year’s resolution.  Who’s in?

Oddee is one of the best blogs ever.  It puts surprising photos on interesting but out of the ordinary topics in lists.  Hence, Jennycrack.  Today’s list was the 15 Creepiest Old Album Covers.  I was surprised to find three abums I actually own on the list.  Guess which ones!

So, I like country music, especially the more gospelly inspired old tymey music. But a major problem with liking this music (for me) is it’s mainly about one guy.  Jesus.  And I am not Christian.  But I am hard pressed to not sing along to fire and brimstone song about how the time is coming when the sinner must die.  It’s kind of like white rich frat boys singing “Straight Out of Compton,” I guess.

So anyway there’s an excellent Porter Wagoner song called “What Would You Do (If Jesus Came to Your House)?”  Basically he asks you if you’d have to hide your smut mags and if your dirty family would have nothing to talk about at the dinner table.  This doesn’t really apply to me, as I am pretty sure that if Jesus came to my house 1. he already knows what I am like, 2. he’d forgive me for anything anyway, and 3. Uh hey Jesus, this is my house we play by my rules or you get yourself a hotel, mmmkay?  Plus it would seem like more pressing Second Coming matters might be at hand.  I’ve read Left Behind, I know the drill.  In fact, I would totally recommend Jesus come to my house.  He seems like a cool guy, and I’d never have to buy booze.  I think we’d get along and I know a ton about the Rapture.

Anyway today as I was getting in my shower which I really have to clean, my first thought was, “If Jesus came to spend some time with me I would totally have to clean my shower.  It’d be gross to leave it this way for any houseguest.”  However in retrospect Jesus would probably be excited about modern plumbing in general and would not care about my shower.  Plus he has bigger fish to fry.  Still, Jesus is a good impetus for cleaning my house.

Dwight Yoakam used to do impressions of Richard Nixon.

*According to wikipedia

Dark Knight encourages clown violence.  Finally, clown violence not related to ICP.

I just paid money for an mp3. Wow. I haven’t ever done that before.  Interesting.

So one of my favorite bands has toured my time zone, to my knowledge, once. I got to see them then, but it was about 7 years ago. And they’re playing tonight. And I cannot tell you how excited I am. For a long, long time they never toured here and no one knew who they were so I stopped even attempting to follow them! You couldn’t get any of their albums here. And I thought that went away with digital, but no. Then their music was used on The Sopranos (the best part of the show, IMO), so everyone I knew kind of scoffed at their music. It’s been a hard road! But there’s not many other bands that sample Jim Jones in their country techno, so it’s not like I could find another outlet.

I can’t even imagine seeing them in a venue this large. But I can only imagine it will be awesome.

I also got to see Devo last week, who I have always wanted to see. Seeing both of these bands I have been waiting years to see in one week is crazy! But exciting.

Take this as your official invitation to come visit the Uncensored Interview Blog, where I will also be blogging, generally about their awesome interview vids, the indie lifestyle, music, etc.  My first post, about Kid Rock (oh, the high quality of my musical interests), is here, but you can generally follow my posts here.  Will be sidebar linked as well for future reference. While you’re there, the videos are really cool.  And they are looking for competitors in their corporate Guitar Hero challenge, so sign up if you think you can take them.

I am uncomfortable with gangsta rappers kicking my ass….at chess.

R. Kelly on love: “You come to appreciate love more when you in love. Just as you like cereal until you come to your favorite kind of cereal and then you can appreciate cereal even more now, you know?”

If you were illiterate and came into a lot of money, wouldn’t you hire a tutor and learn how to read?  Or is that just me?

I wish Andrew WK were my life coach.

By popular demand, I will recount my awesome experience at the Dolly Parton show at Radio City Music Hall.  I went with my friend Jared who had recently gotten back from tour.  In Nashville, Jared graciously picked up some George Jones’ “Good on Everything Sauce.”  On the way to the show Jared picked up some yellow printing ink as well.

Why do you care about these facts?  Because Radio City does not like liquids in bottles.  The security man and I had a little discussion and he was going to take my George Jones sauce until I said, “OH man!  It’s for BBQ!”  The man totally respected this.  He was completely confused by the printing ink, and allowed it as well.

Our seats were technically “obscured view” which apparently means “awesome, balcony center behind the sound board.”  There was no opener.  Dolly was AMAZING.  She played seven instruments.  At one point, I turned to Jared and said, “What’s next, a harp?” only to have Dolly PULL OUT AN AUTOHARP.

Unlike most big stars she played all her big hits, and three songs off the new album (Backwoods Barbie, Better Get to Livin, and Jesus and Gravity).  I most wanted to hear “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That” which was the second song she played.  Her voice was amazingly on point the whole night.  Her chattiness between songs was hilarious.  She thanked everyone for spending their hard earned dough on her.

She played “Jolene” and then mentioned that there were a lot of men dressed as Dolly in the audience.  She said she should have sung it as “Drag Queen.”  The audience was probably the most vociferous and excited I have ever seen, and Dolly seemed to agree.  She had a great band too, but sadly the only duet she did was “Islands in the Stream.”  She did “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show” too, which I had never heard performed by anyone other than Neil Diamond.

Dolly did comment on how there’s not a whole lot of country music in nyc anymore which struck a chord in me.  From the reading/documentary watching I have been doing, it seems like there was a time when you had to make it in NYC to be a big country/folk singer, and that there was a huge country scene here.  There seems to be a country resurgence here at the moment, but I wonder why there was this big anti-NYC movement in the 70s/80s espoused by Buck Owens (I Wouldn’t Live in NYC (If They Gave Me the Whole Dang Town)) and Hank Jr. (Country Boy Can Survive and If Heaven Ain’t a Lot Like Dixie).  What changed?  Maybe it was Nashville sound or something, but I have to say I know a lot more rabid country music fans here than anywhere else I have lived.

Basically if you get the chance to see her, go do it.  And tell me if the audience is 100% gay men and their moms like it is here.

How was I unaware of the NKOTB reunion?  I consider this both a personal failure on my part and on that of my friends for not mentioning it.  HOW COULD YOU?

I have to say, except for the poor facial hair, Danny is far more attractive than he used to be.  Jordan seems like a poor man’s Matthew Broderick now.

Are not something I generally enjoy together. UNTIL NOW!  My favorites are this and this.

Tufte would be proud.

Do you live in DC, SC, NC, TN, PA, KY, LA, or AR? And do you love to listen to rock music? Or perhaps would you like to meet a Jew? Then perhaps you should go see a show by my friend Jared Friedman. He will be playing in your parts, and, in addition to being a smashing musician, he will let you in on how he controls the media for a dollar.  If you bargain with him.

You can listen to his musical stylings here and tour dates are as follows:

Oddly Mr. Friedman will not play alone here in NYC, so I will not be able to hear the awesomeness you can!

Remember when widget commonly meant a generic product and NOT a small piece of software?  What are econ teachers using now instead?
I also kind of miss when you would play music to death and you could see the physical effects/degredation.  That DK tape with the worn off letters and the snaggly bit near “Holiday in Cambodia.”  While this is silly from a preservation standpoint, I kind of miss seeing the physical effects of loving music so much.  The Smiths section of my hard drive will never outwardly show more wear than the other parts.

I just listened to an old NPR interview with Jens Lekman which pointed out that his “I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You Anymore” is a love song to a girl with an asthma inhaler!

so pick up your asthma inhaler
and put it against your lips
oh, those lips i’ve loved that i was dreaming of
they’re still red and soft
i’m so sorry i couldn’t love you enough
so sorry i couldn’t love you enough

Lyrics here. Previously.

I have frequently lamented that allergies are the one dork thing that will never be cool. But MC Chris is trying, god bless him. He has referred to his inhaler before, and robot dog mentions being allergic to all breeds of dog, but this reference in his new song melted my little dorky heart:

She’s wordy and verbose
Prolific and prone to prose
Always sick and has a cold
Stuffed nose she’s got to blow
I’ve got many cold remedies, many old enemies
I’ve got a girl that kick their ass like River from Serenity

–Nerrrd Grrrl

I think whenever anyone asks you what music you listen to, most people say everything.  The last time someone asked me this and I said everything, he said, “Oh yeah, how about klezmer!”  When I replied that I love accordion music, he had to concede.  I am sure we all think we have more eclectic tastes than we actually do, but today when making some end of the year mix CDs, I had to laugh when the Gaither Vocal Band’s “I Catch ‘Em, God Cleans ‘Em” (a beautiful analogy between fishing and evangelism) smacked up right next to Kid Rock’s “Balls in Your Mouth.” (an equally beautiful sentiment about Kid Rock’s apparent sexual activity of preference). Which artist would be more angry, I wonder?

I felt so bad I moved the Gaithers near a cover of “It Is Well with My Soul” and Kid Rock to a cover of “Too Drunk to Fuck.”  Do other people feel their mix CDs might be a ticket to hell?  Maybe I can move some klezmer next to “Ham Beats All Meats” and offend everyone equally.

The band at the office xmas party ended their set with….”let’s get it on.”

really?  did they think that was an appropriate choice for a work function?  i hope they don’t play family reunions….

As a huge fan of George Michael’s body of work, my favorite Christmas song is probably “Last Christmas” by Wham! Last Christmas (and by that I mean the holiday season of the preceding year) I was excited to find out that “Last Christmas” (the song) has been made in many languages, which I find bizarre and hilarious. Why this song? I was going to work on a mix CD of “Last Christmas” covers for my sister (who also loves it) when I found this website, Last-Christmas.com. Apparently last year they collected as many versions as they could, and it seems like there’s around 200 of them!

it doesn’t look like they are currently downloadable, but it’s an amazing resource with links to most of the artists and lots of awesome videos. And if you think *I* am obsessed, someone RECREATED the original Wham video scene by scene. Insane. It seems to be covered in every genre including metal, reggaeton, and hiphop. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Stolen from Grace. I am VERY jealous that she has seen James Brown. Of the three bands we have in common–I went to two of the shows with her and took her tix to another when she was sick! Otherwise we did not overlap so much.

Copy this list; leave in the bands you’ve seen perform live; delete the ones you haven’t, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list.

Dan Bern*
Bitch & Animal*
Maceo Parker*
Stereolab
Prince
Metallica
The Ramones
Cheap Trick
Buck 65
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
They Might Be Giants
Velvet Underground
Beck
The Cardigans
Social Distortion
Wilco
Ben Folds
The Drive-By Truckers
The Electric Six
Tom Waits
MC Chris
Robbie Fulks
Weezer
Tenacious D
Jonathan Richman
The Hold Steady

Mainly this made me think of all the bands I WISH I would have had the opportunity to see. Off the top of my head, in order:

Velvet Underground
The Louvin Brothers
Johnny Cash
The Darkness
Dead Kennedys
Talking Heads
Lifter Puller
Soul Coughing
The Doug Anthony All-Stars
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Bee-Gees (Pre-Disco)

It hurts me that I have to ask this instead of take it as a forgone conclusion, but does anyone want to go see the metal Bee Gees cover band with me? And if not, what am I doing with my life that I have no friends who do want to go to this? An existential crisis!

I have been using Pandora unlike most people. I usually am interested in listening to music by a specific person, so Pandora hasn’t been all that useful for me. But I realized the number of stations I had were getting out of control and so I consolidated. My new channels are:

New Pop Country (Toby Keith! Brad Paisley! Big and Rich! Kenny Chesney!)– Basically Country Hell

Indie Sad Bastards (Stephen Merritt projects, Jens Lekman)

B96 and Dance (Things I like that might be played on Chicago’s B96, bad house music, R Kelly)

Alt-Country Rock (Drive-By Truckers, Wilco, Hank III, Robbie Fulks, Gram Parsons etc)– Country for hipsters

Canonical Sad Bastard (Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Warren Zevon)–Kurt and I have basically invented a genre called “Sad Bastard.” It’s what that depressed, low self-esteem drunk sensitive guy you dated (or were) in college listened to.

Anthem Rock/Metal (Queen, The Darkness, Andrew WK) aka Angry Bastard
Ambiguously Gay 1980s (Morrissey, the Cure, Brian Eno, The Smiths, George Michael, Erasure)–aka Gay New Wave Sad Bastard
Funny Instruments (TMBG, Twink, One Ring Zero, Michael Hearst, Tom Waits)  Nerd Bastard
Old Tymey Country (Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams I, Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam)  Outlaw Sad Bastard

Last night I finally went to my first NYC Opry show (the only opry where you’ll see someone in a Kucinich tshirt and a cowboy hat), which I enjoyed quite a lot. I recently reread the Chuck Klosterman piece on how hipsters who say they like only like old country are poseur scum. His reasoning being that old country spoke to the people that listened to it in the same way that new pop country speaks to the people who listen to it, so when alt-country bands sing about ranches and guns and whiskey, they sing about some culture they haven’t experienced to an audience who also knows little about it.

This has always grated on me, since I like old country, altcountry, AND pop country (which I would like to now refer to as nu cuntry). And I am 100% cityfolk. Like, seriously the country life only holds terror for me (c.f. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
But last night I realized two things. The more broadly applicable being that I think we’ve passed the altcountry phase where people sing about old country themes. Case in point, this amazing song about Ira Glass which mentions librarians. Seriously, is there a song of any genre I could relate to more than one about Ira Glass? Last night I also saw country renditions of “Take it on the Run” by REO Speedwagon and “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue. I would be hard pressed to say either of those straight pop songs speak to me and my situation as much as a song about Ira.

The more specifically applicable point is about why *I* like country music.  My friend, and pop country partner in crime Mary pointed out long ago how most city/suburb kids aren’t into the country music enough to like cheesy pop country.  And I haven’t really figured that out.  But then listening last night I realized that most country has these themes:

• guns
• religion/sin/jesus
• caddies
• drinking to excess/alcoholics

All of these things featured prominently in my childhood, what with the catholic schooling, german mom, and italian dad.  It makes total sense why I like country now!  And my upbringing did involve one horse, namely one my dad punched in the face.  And the only thing my dad ever taught me to draw (yes I realize the cliche NOW, but this is completely the truth) was a horse head.

In my old age (it is birthday month after all)* I have noticed I have begun to forget things.  Having an autistic in the family, my family members and I genetically have pretty good, yet odd memory.  Finding physical objects has been my ability, which is helpful since I have been an utter slob my entire life.  However, I can find my keys in that mess.  Well, not as much anymore.

However most of these memory losses have occurred in a happy way.  Past Me does something which makes Future Me  (or Current Me, depending on your (my) perspective) incredibly happy.  Past Me put all these albums by Jens Lekman on my Amazon wishlist.  Current Me has no idea why, but decided to take a chance.  Way to go, Past Me, you know just the albums I would like!

Today I found a pair of jeans in my closet.  I do not recall seeing these jeans….ever.  They are black and I generally don’t BUY black jeans (I think I have owned one pair).  They are also rolled up, in a way I never do, and creased as if I always wear them this way.  And they are much too long for me.  But they fit me perfectly in other respects, so I cut off the bottoms.   Thanks for the jeans, Past Me!  Also they are very very low rise, so I would assume I would have remembered buying pants where my ass comes out.  Apparently Past Me doesn’t remember to cover her ass.
Oddly, while writing this, Jens Lekman came on my iTunes shuffle.  Now Past Me is freaking me out.

*No worries.  I am not one of those “I am SO OLD” twentysomethings.  I am not worried about age at this time.