The Misspent Life

Suddenly

I don't know which song called Suddenly I like better.  The one by Olivia Newton John from Xanadu or the one by Billy Ocean.  This is what I have to deal with, people.

It is NOT Random

That's it.  iTunes is not random.  I've been listening to my music for a few hours this morning and I had three Snow Patrol songs, two Supergrass songs, two Divine Comedy songs, four songs from a best-of-the-60's CD, and two Phantom Planet songs.  That means it is basically playing a song and then playing a song from one of the five CDs above.

This Makes Me Cry

Please, don't let this feeling end.  Its everything I am.  Everything i want to be.  I can see what's mine now, finding out what's true.  And now, I do believe that even in the storm we'll find some light.  Knowing you're beside me, I'm alright.  Please, don't let this feeling end.  It might not come again, and I want to remember how it feels to touch you, how I feel so much. Now I can take the time. I can see my life as it comes up shining now.  Reaching out to touch you.  I can feel so much since I found you looking through through the eyes of love.

Right Now

I am listening to the Celine Dion cover of Roberta Flack's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.  I must say that this cover is heads and shoulders above George Michael's and also, dare I say it?, Anne Murray's cover of Killing Me Softly.

Oh, my iTunes just changed to Donna Summers' Love to Love You, Baby.  This song really is quite scandalous, I should NOT be listening to it, let alone listening to it at work.

Can I also make a complaint here, please?  I don't know why I'm asking you, its my damn website I can do what I want.  iTunes' shuffle feature is crap.  Sure it shuffles, but it shuffles within an unshuffled grouping.  I find it will shuffle only between four or five albums or artists and not through my whole collection.  For instance, this afternoon I hear a number of Teenage Fanclub, Alan Jackson, Jessica Simpson, and Modest Mouse songs.  Just about every other song would be from one of those.  Statistically this does not follow.  I can only hope that they fixed this flaw on the iPod Shuffle.

The Guitar Man

Based on my many decades as a successful record producer and promoter, I've come up with a few rules for success.  I've decided that it is time for me to share this wisdom with you, my dear, dear friends and complete strangers and random perverts.  So, without further ado, here are The Misspent Life's Rules for Starting a Band RIGHT NOW

1. Be skinny
2. Are you foreign? If not, pretend
3. Dress in old clothes and are not tucked in
4. Pout
5. Use AdLib to name your band: The [Noun]
6. Pretend to shun conventions
7. Are you gay? If not, be ambiguous
8. Strut
9. Don't sing into the microphone
10. Prepare to be forgotten quickly

You may be wondering where my advice about music is?  To you I say, "Fools."

Disappointing Album

Yesterday I went out an got the new Doves' album, Some Cities.  I was a fan of their preivious CD, The Last Broadcast. I listened to Some Cities this morning and didn't like it.  It struck me as being just white noise.  The Last Broadcast had some this same feeling, like it was being sung far away from the microphone in a windstorm, but balanced it with some melodies and the like.  I'll give it a few more listens before I really condem it as not good, but I'm not counting on it.

Oh, and I've also picked up the earlier Snow Patrol albums (Songs for Polar Bears and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up) and don't like those as much as I like Final Straw.  That is something of an odd point, as I usually like earlier CD better (e.g., Travis, Stereophonics, Doves, Duran Duran, Berlin).  Given my obsession with Final Straw, perhaps this disappointment is not surprising.  I should point out, however, that I'm not as disappointed in them as I am in Some Cities.

Do You Remember

Do you remember that bit in "My Lovin' (Never Gonna Get It)" when En Vogue just toally breaks it down?  "Now it's time for a breakdown."  Damn yes, it is.

Say It Isn't True

Did you know that is it impossible to purchase any Spandau Ballet on iTunes?  You just cannot do it.  I was considering today that while I have their greatest hits on vinyl, I did not have any on my computer (and am technologically incapable of transfering vinyl to digital) other than True.  Don't get me wrong, I love True. It is probably my favorite Spandau song, but sometimes you just need to hear a little something else.  Something like Gold.  And I can't do it.  Thanks iTunes.  Thanks for not coming through on that one.

(PS. One can also not get Pat Benatar's We Belong or Bette Midler's cover of In My Life)

Creepy, but Cool At the Same Time

Today I got several packages from Amazon.com. I’m getting a least one a week as I funnel my money into books. Anyway, along with my Early Theological Writings of GW Hegel I got a DVD of a Phantom Planet that took place in Chicago late last year, which is strangely difficult to purchase. I just so happened to attend said concert. You often see these concert DVDs for sale, but they usually are shot in a big arena, not a small club that had about fifty to seventy five people in it, max. Thankfully I was standing directly behind a camera man so there aren’t any candid shots of me with my hair hipster-ed up and wearing an ironic tee (the one of choice that evening was an olive green tee with the picture of a tractor undercarriage and the word “WORK”) with my hands folded about my chest. This is not to say that there are passing and dim shots of the back of yours truly’s head and a full on head shot when the lead is crowd surfing, however. Anyway, can I just say how strange it is to watch a DVD of an event you went to and hear the crowd that you were a part of?

First They Give Us Hitler, Now This

Ja, ich immer liebe Schnappi.  Für das Musikvideo, klicken Sie bitte hier.