All posts tagged real life

Burned on Valentine’s Day

February 21, 2008

…is the title of a mix CD I recently made for some friends. It’s not autobiographical — I just had a bunch of heart CDs that I needed to use up, and it was timely. Tracklist:

  1. Parentheses — The Blow, Paper Television
  2. Groove Me — King Floyd, King Floyd
  3. “…Sudden Stars” — Stereolab, Margerine Eclipse
  4. My Love For You — ESG, A South Bronx Story
  5. Dog — El Perro Del Mar, El Perro Del Mar
  6. I Can’t Hardly Stand It — The Cramps, Bad Music for Bad People
  7. Prism Break — Orgone, The Killion Floor
  8. Useless Information — Apparat, Walls
  9. Don’t Want to Get Over You — The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs, tip to Sam
  10. Rock My Boat — Dntel (feat. Mia Doi Todd), Dumb Luck
  11. Gotta Pull Myself Together — Takako Minekawa, Chat Chat
  12. How We Do — Mount Sims, UltraSex
  13. Let Your Love Grow — Modeselektor (feat. Paul St. Hilaire), Happy Birthday!
  14. Baby [1971] — Os Mutantes, Jardim Eletrico

I’m a firm believer in the rule (which I made up, actually) that mix CDs should be 10 songs or less, but the narrative wouldn’t quite fit in 10 songs. And 14 is appropriate of course.

My name was Jorge Regula

February 18, 2008

A year ago, at the talent show of a big young Quaker conference in Burlington, New Jersey, I wanted to play a song called “Jorge Regula” by the Moldy Peaches. I chickened out though, because I wasn’t sure I’d remember the lyrics. But last weekend I played it at the WinterCon “Talent Optional Show,” and a good time was had by all.

It’s about nothing, really, but it captures something of the “food & creative love” vibe of those sorts of gatherings. It’s also call-and-response, which, with the audience on response, allows it to be participatory. Which I like.

Saving the self-deprecation for the end of the post, musically it was nothing to write home about. The guitar part is pretty much ape-simple, but I could still feel my musical rustiness in the strumming. It’s good to get practice being on stage though.

Extroversion and ego at a UU conference

February 18, 2008

I read a story once about a famous Chinese musician who was visiting the West, and was taken to a concert hall to hear the finest in European classical music. After the concert, he was asked what piece he liked the best.

– The first one, he said.

– You mean the Beethoven? his hosts asked, humming a few bars of the first piece.

– No, he said, the one before that.

Eventually, they realized he meant the period when the musicians were tuning their instruments.

Something similar happened to me at the conference I went to last weekend. Continue reading →