The Life Of A Mix Tape

As I have mentioned before, I am a musical whore.... I'll exchange mix tapes and cds with any willing participant. Over the years, my mix tapes have multiplied. The mix cd collection has grown so huge that it filled up an entire shelf in my record cabinet to the point that I had to move a few feet of records out to a closet.

So, a month ago, I decided to clean them out. I filled an entire garbage bag full of old mixes. Yes, an entire garbage bag. Things that hit the can included old cd club mixes, mixes from long lost friends, and hey-I-can-out-obscure-you mixes. I told some folks about this big purge. They looked at me in shock as if I had thrown away the family heirloom silver collection.

But really... how long is one supposed to hang onto these things? Mix tapes and CDs are like greeting cards or postcards: you keep the interesting or meaningful ones and toss the rest. Really. What am I supposed to do with a collection of unlistenable covers of Tori Amos songs? (Thank god I never got one like that.)

Recently, I got a mix in the mail from my cd club. There was no return address. I opened the package and removed the cd. Then, when I opened the cd case, a little slip of paper fell out.

This is what it said:
To improve playback in Itunes:

• Insert CD
• Right click first song and select "Get Info"
• Click on the "Options" tab
• Then make the following adjustments, hitting "Next" to move from one track to the next:
• Track 1: Change "Stop Time" to 3:25
• Track 2: Move "Volume Adjustment" to 100% and make "Stop Time" 6:02
• Track 3: Change "Stop Time" to 5:00
• Track 4: Change "Stop Time" to 3:35
• and on and on and on for each track.

HOPE! I! DO! I have never in my life received a mix cd that came with instructions! And what tedious instructions. BLEAH!!! This mix not only didn't make it to the CD player, but it went straight into the trash. I didn't even read the track listing. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I believe that one should be able to just put a CD into a CD player and have music come out.... without having to send it out to be mastered and tracked. It's that simple.

What is your mix tape/mix cd shelf life? Do you hang onto them forever?

Less Than Forty-Eight Hours

Holy cow! Holy cow! Holy cow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wootie woot woot!

After finishing the really amazing "Cheese Pork!" and banana pudding at Crooks with Maggie and my parents, I jumped into my car and let out a little "woo hoo!" My meal was soooo delicious that I felt giddy. And then I realized, I am not going to work tomorrow and that just made me feel all warm and happy. I clicked around on my Ipod to pull up my Richard Hawley playlist and hit play. (Who am I kidding, I haven't stopped listening to him since this summer.) The beautifully dreamy acoustic version of "Darliin'" came on and I just melted and I just smiled and smiled and smiled. By the time I reached 15-501 headed back to Durham, I was listening to his song "Serious" and I started squealing in the car. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs all the way to South Square. I am so darn excited! I am going to see Richard Hawley perform on Saturday night!



I'm flying to New York tomorrow afternoon in time for supper with the Badgers. Before the show on Saturday, I am going to spend some time eating with Robert. I think I might have even convinced him to come with me to the show. I need to pack my elastic waistband pants so that I can eat alot. I really hope I can make it to Crif Dogs. I haven't been there in a few years and their bacon-wrapped dog is divine.

But the show is going to be great. Seeing Richard Hawley is going to beat watching Duran Duran from the fifth row in the Greensboro Coliseum when I was in middle school. I hope I don't act too freaky. I am going to take Hawley a copy of my hot-off-the-burner Food Mix. Is that weird? Am I being too weird and stalkery? I am a little bit crazy.

Richard Hawley is performing an acoustic in-store set on Monday in New York at Other Music. Should I call in sick on Monday and Tuesday and stay a couple extra days? I feel like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Hawley do this in-store show. I am seriously thinking about it. And who cares, really... I'm quitting this job anyway. Hmmm. What should I do?

The Melody Haunts My Reverie & I'm Once Again With You

Around ten years ago, I regularly hung out in the local record stores blowing entire minimum wage paychecks on music. There was one store on Franklin Street, that I thought was the coolest. The manager, Brett, was so nice and we totally clicked musically. We clicked on a old school level that no straight man had ever clicked with me before. He'd order things for the store with me in mind, especially western swing, vintage country and 1950s pop vocalists. When someone came in selling an old R&B CD or doo wop or some old vocalist CD, he'd save it for me. There was always a little Charlotte pile waiting for me each week.

And the music that he introduced me to was just mind-blowing to me: the harmonies of the Everly Brothers pop hits, the craziness of Billy Stewart's scat, and the cowboy tunes of Tex Ritter. He helped me get beyond the cheesiness of 1950s pop, too, which was no small feat.

And then the mix tapes started. These were all cassettes of course. We traded like mad. And to this day, no one has made a better mix tape than Brett. There was one that contained the most heavenly selection of music that I had ever heard. I loved that tape. I listened to it constantly. Each 45-minute side was perfectly dreamy and pretty. And he made the tape just for ME! I swooned over him. I painstakingly tried to uncover hidden meanings in his song choices and song placement hoping to discover that Brett was in love with me. He wasn't. But we did have a small handful of dates, one of which ended with me dancing in his arms to "Since I Don't Have You" by the Skyliners. Ah...

After that date, things fizzled for Brett. We still traded mixes, but it wasn't the same. Soon the record store closed and Brett moved away. I have no idea what happened to him, but I will never forget him or that mix tape. To this day, it is my favorite mix tape ever.

His song selections included:
Night and Day - Fred Astaire
It's All In the Game - Tommy Edwards
You Belong To Me - Jo Stafford
Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman
Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin
Five Minutes More - Tex Beneke
Give Me More More More of Your Kisses - Lefty Frizzell
Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
Book Of Love - Monotones
I'm A Little Mixed Up - Betty James
Tears on My Pillow - Little Anthony and the Imperials
Love Letters - Ketty Lester
Summer Place - Percy Faith

The tape is old now and very, very played. I am scared to listen to it because I don't want it to break. One day, I'll transfer it off the cassette and onto my laptop. Is there a USB cassette deck on the market yet?

Lunchtime with WKNC

Today, I had to run a couple errands at lunch. I jumped in the car and heard Camera Obscura on the radio. I thought, "COOL!" And then, the dj played some Magnetic Fields, Andrew Bird, Of Montreal, M Ward, and Billy Bragg & Wilco.

I felt like I was listening to one of my own mix tapes. It was great. I just LOVE stumbling across a dj that plays song after song after song of music that I love.

I don't know who he was, but I should find out and try to listen every Thursday around lunchtime. My only complaint was that he talked about every two songs, which I find annoying. But his talksets were short and to-the-point. His playlist was great.

You, too, can listen to NC State's WKNC on the internets.

Please Help Me, Miss DJ

I have three weddings in four weekends coming up. That means that it's dress-buying time. UGH. UGH. UGH. I would rather go to the dentist, clean a litterbox, go bra shopping or mow grass than go dress shopping. (Well, maybe not grass mowing... I really hate that.)

I went to Nordstrom tonight and forced myself to try two on. I didn't like either of them. I couldn't handle trying any more on. I ***HATE*** buying dresses. I hate shopping for clothes and shoes. I really hate it.

But I have to get a dress before September 15th as that is when Craven is getting hitched! I do have this dress that I seem to wear over and over to wedding after wedding. But since I wore it to Craven's sister's wedding, I probably should try to find a different one. I found a picture of me the infamous dress and it is a hysterical photo.

So, I got some emails from Craven today regarding his wedding reception music. He completely stressed and needs help. He asked if I could help him put together a playlist. [Big grin.] He needs four hours of danceable music that will please the parents and the kids and those of us in cocktail dresses. [Bigger grin.] It's the ultimate mix tape!!!!

I am excited to help out with the music and I have a huge playlist ready for him.

But I still have to find a cocktail dress. I am going to brave the boutiques this weekend in search of a dress that I can tolerate. I don't even know where to go. I hope that Modern Times has something. Where else can you find a dress around here?

I Am A Musical Whore

The past few months have provided lots of musical excitement. I've got CDs coming from folks all over and it's absolutely wonderful. I joke with my friends about my many musical affairs. I am such a whore... I'll trade mix CDs with anyone who's willing!

I once met a musical partner in Mt. Airy by accident. I overheard a conversation this old-time banjo player was having about a mix CD that a friend gave him. As he was describing the songs, I realized that it was one of my mine! I introduced myself and we instantly connected musically. We had an amazing ongoing musical affair for a couple years. He would send me multiple mini discs of these crazy old ska 45's that he very roughly recorded and collections of dirty blues songs. I'd send him mixes of food songs, dirty R&B, silly old country songs and indie pop. I haven't heard from him in years, but I still send him a mix CD every now and then.

Christa and I started our affair in the late 90s, when she cohosted a few Thursday Night Features on WXYC with me. We'd do these three-hour shows on dreamy vocalists from the 40s and 50s and we's share tapes or CDs of our favorites. And then there were the tapes of our annual Bettyfest on Divaville at WXDU. Our musical affair continues to this day. She is the only person around who I can geek with on the best decade of Bobby Darin's career, the slur in Sarah Vaughan's voice, or the best version of "The Way You Look Tonight."

Back then, WXYC led me to another musical partner. A listener in Brazil had loved one of my shows and emailed the station to find out who I was. I can't remember his name. He was obsessed with Superchunk and I was obsessed with Latin psychedelic music and Carmen Miranda. Our musical affair was beautiful. He would go absolutely nuts when he received a stack of autographed Superchunk CDs in the mail.

There was also Jason. Over the course of many years, I'd get a phone call every few months: "Dude, whatcha doin' tonight? Well, ya see, I need your help, Charlotte. Can I come over?" We'd pull out the bourbon and cigarettes and I'd listen to his sometimes dire stories of his romantic relationships. His stories would end with "What should I do, Charlotte?!? I really like her!"

My response: "We have to make her a mix tape!" Concocting a mix tape on cassette would usually take us all night since we were recording in real time and we never managed to hit the stop button at the right moment. And then there was the discussion of the lyrics... everything had to be perfect. We couldn't give off the wrong impression!!! Our mix tapes of woo always seemed to work for Jason. I know what girls want. A couple years ago, the night before Jason moved across the country, we made our last mix tape together. We made a pact that twice a year, we'd make mix CDs for each other. It worked for a little while, but alas that musical relationship has fizzled, too. (Jason, come back!!! I need your mix!)

I have been having an ongoing musical affair for the past couple years with my friend, Lightnin'. I saw him about a month ago and found out that when I was going through my Donovan obsession, he was on a Donovan kick at the same time. How cool is that!? He's sent me some great ukulele music, some crazy calypso, yodeling, and we even swapped comfort CDs.

Every now and I then I am invited to be in a musical orgy, more politely called Mix Tape Club. I am currently having musical relations with a bunch of folks in Manhattan, some of whom I will never meet. There's 12 of us and each month one person mails out a CD to the rest of the group. It's thrilling!! My month is July which is National Hotdog Month... heh heh heh.

What's Your Horrorscope?

I used to have a mild fascination with astrology, horoscopes, and numerology in the back of fashion magazines, which I loved to read in the beauty parlor. (Does anyone call it the beauty parlor anymore?) These astrologists were certain that all Capricorns were going to meet the love of our lives and amass large amounts of money through significant career changes that very month!!! I knew it was all a load of crap, but I read it anyway. I was usually reading old magazines with outdated fortunes and I would think to myself... well, I don't remember stumbling across a huge lump of cash on March 5th or having a cosmic encounter on March 27th. But I read them anyway.

Nowadays, I seek my daily horrorscope from my Ipod or Itunes. The way it works is put your Ipod on random. The first ten to twelve songs become your daily fortune. Or if you just need a quickie, just let it choose one song for you. Right now, my quickie is "Letter From Belgium" by the Mountain Goats.

Last night, I had a great fortune... maybe not lyrically, but musically, it flowed extremely well which I interpret to mean that life is great!!!! Hearing a great segue created randomly by your Ipod is the best fortune you can get, in my opinion.

Either Way - Wilco
Where Is My Love - Cat Power
With Whom To Dance? - The Magnetic Fields
Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky - The Blue Sky Boys
Waking Up Baby - Roy Milton
Brown Eyes - Red House Painters
Homebrew Rag - Roanoke Jug Band
Bright As Yellow - The Innocence Mission
Some People Ride The Wave - Devendra Banhart
Man Who Died Of Nothing At All - Crooked Fingers
Martha - Tom Waits
Air -Talking Heads

That's half of it. I liked it so much, I let Itunes continue to spell out my fortune and it formed itself into a mix CD. And I love it. This one is for Lightnin'.

No Mail Days Are Sad Days

I first got an email account in 1995 back when I had some sort of 486 computer. (I am not really sure what the 486 stands for, I just remember that it was old.) I would go days and days without receiving any emails. I put a postcard on my computer monitor that said "No Mail Days Are Sad Days." When I did see a message in my inbox, it was such an thrilling event. Nowadays, I get probably 75-100 work emails a day (which for some people is low) and lots of personal ones and tons of spam. The days of receiving no email are over. And the days of being excited over receiving email are over. Reading and responding to emails are now a chore.

But regular mail is another story. I used to be such a good correspondent and wrote letters to friends frequently, but times have changed. No mail days are not sad days, but just typical days. The only mail that I receive nowadays include bills, pizza coupons and magazines. Who has time to sit down, write out a letter, address an envelope and find a stamp, etc.? I love letters, but I have just gotten out of the habit of writing them. It seems that the majority of letters that I write are post-holiday thank you notes. I also send out homemade mixes every now and then.... usually right after I go to the post office and stock up on stamps. Other than than, my old habit of writing letters is dead.

But it is so exciting to come home to find real mail outside on your porch in your mailbox! When I receive a letter in the mail with a real stamp and a hand-written address, I usually make a little squeal and do a little jig in my foyer as I rip the envelope open. Even better is when I come home and find a *package* with a hand-written address and a stamp. Over the past couple days, I have received three such packages, all of which had music inside: Donovan, 10cc, Woody Guthrie and a couple homemade mixes. GRIN!

Right now, I am listening to this 10cc collection. I love 10cc's song, "I'm Not In Love."

I Heart Mark Bittman

I first have to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has recommended the Mark Bittman cookbook to me. I have been cooking sporadically over the past few weeks and some of my attempts have been flops. But tonight, I chose a recipe from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything and I totally scored. I made stir-fried chicken with spinach. But since I am still very much a novice, I have to add one hour to his cooking time estimate. Despite the time it took to prepare, the dish was divine. This recipe rocks. I could've added a little bit more ginger to the recipe, but the chicken came out tender and the flavoring was perfectly subtle, and delicious. All the chopping and grating really wore thin... but just like the banjo uke, it is all about practice, I guess.

A week or two ago, I decided that I wanted to make a pasta dish using some of the ingredients that I had in the fridge. I skimmed through the Mark Bittman cookbook and was able to modify a couple recipes to come up with my own creation of tomatoes and capers and onions! I did it all by myself. This is a major accomplishment for me since a pasta dish in the past has consisted of ragu + noodles. I think it is safe to say that I will never purchase store-bought pasta sauce ever again.

Tonight, I cooked while listening to a mix cd that I am in the process of creating, which was fun, too. Unfortunately, the meal was much better than the mix. I gotta keep working on the mix CD because right now it is BORING. But while cooking and listening to music, I have discovered that I am on a Ray Charles kick. I think I could put him on every mix that I ever make. And I also discovered that I love cooking chicken dishes.

Golly, working all the time really sucks considering all the other fun things that I could be doing. I love cooking to music and making mix CDs. I need to make more time for these sorts of activities.

Radio Show, Friday, March 23 8-10am

Andrew Bird - Heretics
Stereolab & Herbie Mann - One Note Samba/Surfboard
Dean Wareham - Falling Out of Love (With You)
Beirut - Elephant Gun
Dean Martin - Just In Time
The Dominoes - Sixty-Minute Man
The Style Council - You're The Best Thing
Etta James & Sugar Pie DeSanto - Do I Make Myself Clear
Maria Taylor - Clean Getaway
Louis Armstrong - If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
Gene Kelly - I Got Rhythm
Chet Baker - Like Someone In Love
Lefty Frizzell - Look What Thoughts Will Do
Georgia Gibbs - The Hula Hoop Song

Lots of favorites played today. I played Dean Wareham's "Falling Out of Love" because he is playing at the Cat's Cradle Saturday night. Although that is one of my favorite songs to dance to in my underwear, I doubt he'll play it. Even if he did play it, I most likely would not dance in my skivvies at the Cradle. I won't be there anyway. Lightnin' Wells is playing at the Masonic Temple in Hillsborough on Saturday... I sure hope he brings his ukulele! I am so excited!!!

This morning when I was pulling music for my show, I noticed a new Georgia Gibbs CD in the Jazz section, so I pulled it out. I looked like 1950s pop stuff and I thought "eh, I'll try it." And I totally scored!!! That hula hoop song was nuts! I loved it.

When I was in New York, Ewald introduced me to Beirut, and I have been obsessed with their song "Elephant Gun" ever since. It reminds me of a cross between Arcade Fire and Vetiver. I put the song on my most recent mix cd and I have been listening to it over and over. Beirut's EP Lon Gisland is rotation at the station right now and that makes me very happy. It is a very rare occurrence to find something that I really really obsessively love in rotation.

Although, I am still obsessed with Gene Kelly. I cannot get enough of him. So dreamy. Sigh.

The entire playlist can be found here.

Crash! Bang! Boom!

Friday night, I went to David and Jennifer's rehearsal dinner, which was fine until these female lawyers at my table starting talking about how great their work is, why living in the Triangle is not fun, and then giggled about how their doctors told them that their eggs were old (even though they were 31 and married). How depressing. So, I left. I came home, grabbed a beer and a blanket and watched Gene Kelly movies. I finally went to bed around 2am.

Around 5:30am or so, I heard this huge CRASH! A few seconds later, I heard another crash at which time I saw a flash of light, right before the power went out. I heard a car outside, so I thought that there was some sort of car wreck on Chapel Hill Road and that maybe they hit a light pole. I was groggy and the house was really cold since I had turned the heat down very low, so I just turned over in bed and went back to sleep. I finally got up around 8am at which time I heard chainsaws. I went into the kitchen and looked out my window over the neighbor's fence to see two guys in cherry pickers. They were working on the light pole and cutting a tree that was lying across James Street. I immediately called Myers (who knows everything in Lakewood) and asked what happened. A tree in my neighbor's yard was BLOWN OVER and hit another tree and a light pole and caught fire!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. This was a huge old oak tree that was blown over from the wind. Was the wind really blowing that hard? We were all lucky that there were 4 or 5 houses extremely close to this tree and it didn't hit any of them. It took the power crews until sometime Saturday afternoon to restore power to the 'hood. I had left for David's wedding at that point. The tree was left in the road all weekend.

This morning when I was leaving for work, I heard more chainsaws, so I guess the tree will be removed from the road today. I would really hate to lose one of my trees and I know that the James St streetscape will miss this one, too.

David and Jennifer's wedding was really beautiful on Saturday. The ceremony was one of my all-time favorites. I gave them my latest mix CD for a wedding present. I unknowingly included a Beatles song that was played during their ceremony!

No Radio Show Again

So, I am sitting in the airport waiting on the plane to arrive so that I can get on it and fly back to NC. To pass the time, I watched NC State beat Duke in overtime in a crappy airport bar. Go Pack!

I am excited about tomorrow because I don't have to go to work. Instead, I have another Non-Profit Management class all day. This one is going to teach me about generating new sources of revenue. Whee! But I am sad that I will miss another radio show. But Tim has agreed to cover my shift again, but this time in exchange for a mix CD.

For some reason, this mix CD makes me nervous. He is a dj and a good one at that who has professional sounding talksets and doesn't play track after track of silverware being thrown down a stairwell or camels farting. (Yes, there are CDs of this stuff at WXYC.) He has a really wonderful show, which makes the task of putting together this mix CD a little bit daunting. I started playing around in Itunes last night and put together a rough draft, but I am not satisfied yet. It sometimes takes me several drafts to get a mix CD just right. I guess it is an art form that probably very few folks consider to be an art form.

I once gave a mix CD a title of Fifth Draft simply because it took me five attempts before I got it right. I doubt Tim's mix will take that long, but I never know. Lee and Ewald kept playing new stuff for me that I want to add to the mix.

Gotta board the plane!

Security Blanket CD

Tonight, although I should be packing for a whirlwind weekend in Miami, I am procrastinating. So here I am writing and not packing. I keep thinking about how proud I am that I cooked the other night and I didn't even have to play my comfort, security blanket CD! Anytime I feel sad or anxious or I can't sleep, I play this particular CD. I think that it is my all-time favorite. It is not titled Security Blanket CD. It is actually nameless which is unusual for me since I usually give titles to all my mixes. I know this mix of songs like the back of my hand. I know each segue. I know that the Tift Merritt track is way louder than the rest of the songs. I have played this mix probably a hundred times or more. And, I definitely I remember making it. It was December 2001 and I was really really sad: it was Christmastime, I was sad over a boy, my house was really cold and a pipe burst, and I just come home from eye surgery. I was depressed. This is what I felt:

Beatles - I Will
Percy Sledge - Come Softly to Me
Blossom Dearie - Tea for Two
Azure Ray - Displaced
Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
Rufus Wainwright - Rebel Prince
Aretha Franklin - Skylark
Nick Drake - Northern Sky
Magnetic Fields - Book of Love
Red House Painters - Song for Blue Guitar
Tift Merritt - Trouble Over Me
Elliott Smith - Between the Bars
Al Green - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Radiohead - No Surprises
Big Star - Thirteen
East River Pipe - My Little Rainbow
Ryan Adams - La Cienega Just Smiled
Dump - some prince cover
Rose Melberg - My Heaven, My Sky
Hope Sandoval - Suzanne

A couple friends have told me that it is their favorite mix CD. (Wow. What a compliment!) My friend, Lightnin', liked it so much that he sent me a copy of his own security blanket mix CD. I still have my mix CD somewhere, but I haven't needed it lately. I have been sleeping better than I have in probably 10 years and I don't know why. Maybe it's the blogging. Maybe it is the cooking. Or maybe it is my rekindled obsession with music. Or maybe it my steering away from depressing mix CDs from December 2001. It's time to pack away the security blanket and be a big kid.

I Can Cook! I Can Cook!

I have always been embarrassed about my kitchen skills and as a result I have developed a severe case of cooking phobia. It seems that all my friends know how to cook extremely well and invite me over for exquisite dinners and I have never invited anyone over for a meal that I cooked. But all that is about to change! I want to learn how to cook!!!

I have always hated the thought of cooking... I want everything to be exact and cooking instructions have always seemed vague to me. What the hell do these things mean: "medium heat," "golden brown," "until done," "pinch." It drives me nuts. Is it medium heat over the big burner or the little burner? What hue of golden brown I am supposed to be looking for? What's a pinch?

Up until yesterday, I have only known how to cook three things and I only do it when I absolutely have to. My three dishes are: vegetarian chili, deviled eggs, and pound cake. That's it, folks. I tried cooking something new one time a few years ago. It was a roasted butternut squash soup and it was a disaster. Even with my comfort, security-blanket mix CD playing, it was a horrible experience in which everything ended up in the trash and I ended up on the floor in tears.

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting at work and I found myself thinking that I want to cook myself dinner!!! Now, over the past few months, I have had some crazy ideas, but nothing like this. But after reading Elizabeth's post yesterday about her swank meal, I was inspired. I want to invite friends over for dinner!

So, yesterday when I felt this urge to cook, I decided somewhat randomly on chicken chili. I googled "chicken chili" and printed out the first recipe that I could find. It didn't look too difficult... but it involved alot of chopping which I dread. After I got home from Whole Foods Paycheck with the ingredients and a six-pack, I opened a beer, put on a Devendra Barnhart CD and began cooking. I got all the ingredients chopped and measured beforehand... and I think that helped easy my anxiety. The beer and Devendra Barnhart didn’t hurt either.

I was supposed to pick Sara up to go to the Federal at 7:30, but I ended up calling her to INVITE HER TO DINNER AT MY HOUSE! I was in tears when I was on the phone with her. I have never ever in my entire life called anyone to have dinner at my house that I COOKED ALL BY MYSELF. The chicken chili was amazing considering that I have never cooked meat before in my life. It was actually pretty tasty. The chicken was a teeny bit overdone, but overall, I was extremely pleased with the results. I kept saying “Wow! Wow! Wow! I cooked and it’s good!”

Sara and I ended up skipping the Federal completely and stayed at home and watched AV Geeks DVDs until 2am. We were both too stuffed to make it out of the house! [I was going to post a picture of the chili in progress, but the pictures that I had looked pretty gross... semi-raw chicken doesn't make a pretty picture. So, here is a picture in my cute little apron instead.]

Now, I am ready to try more things. I want to cook dinner for people. I want to use my dining room! Last night, I felt so good. Send me your recipes!!!

Radio Show - Friday, February 16 8-10am

Tom Waits - It's Over
The Cyrkle - We Had a Good Thing Goin'
Kay Starr - It's a Good Day
Erin McKeown - Coucou
Red Ingle and the Natural Seven - Temptation
Lucinda Williams - Learning How to Live
Webb Pierce - Why Baby Why
Golden Smog - Long Time Ago
Pop Levi - (A Style Called) Crying Chic
Perez Prado - Marilyn Monroe Mambo
Calexico - El Picador
Unrest - Make Out Club
Lalo Guerrero - Oh Babe

I was very perplexed by Lucinda Williams voice on her new record. She sounded ROUGH. Really rough. She's always had a husky voice, but this was different. She just sounded scraggly. What's up with that?

Last weekend, Elizabeth gave me a mix cd of dance and pop tunes that I love. I learned about Gnarls Barkley and Wet Willie. I also heard a version of "Temptation" that I did not know existed sung by Johnny and June Carter Cash. I loved it... they sounded like granddad and grandmom. But I still love the Red Ingle version more. It features the vocals of Jo Stafford who had to work hard to develop a humorous hillbilly voice for this track. It worked for me.

The entire playlist can be found here.

Panty Dancin' 2002

Tonight I really really really want to party 'til the sun comes up. But instead, I have to work on 1099s!!!! ... which totally sucks. So, as I slave away at the computer, trying to figure out who I have to stick it to with a 1099, I will have to party in my house alone. I wanted to pick a song for my surprisingly happy mood and I thought "Little Bitty Pretty One!"

So, I dug out a mix CD that I made five years ago for the sole purpose of dancin' alone and dancin' HARD in my UNDERWEAR, thus the CD's title, Panty Dancin'. It's too cold to dance in my panties tonight and I have work to do. Bleah.

Some songs that I recommend for dancing in underwear:
The Spinners - It's a Shame
Thurston Moore - Little Bitty Pretty One
Jackon 5 - I Want You Back
Lambchop - Your Fucking Sunny Day
Unit 4+2 - Concrete and Clay
Solomon Burke - Cry to Me
Harry Belafonte - Jump in the Line
Steve Miller Band - Jungle Love
The Chiffons - One Fine Day
Huey Piano Smith - Don't You Just Know It
Dean Wareham - Falling Out of Love with You
Asylum Street Spankers - Got my Mojo Workin'

But I'll have to dance in my office in front of this computer for now. Please note, that the same Steve Miller track from aerobics class still does it for me.

Music of Your Ex-Boyfriend

On Friday when I was pulling music for my radio show, I came across the Beth Orton CD in the library called Central Reservation. I've never played anything off this record because an ex-boyfriend of mine used to like that record and he put the song "Love Like Laughter" on a mix CD for me. If I played something off that record, I felt like it would just stir up old memories that I would rather keep unstirred. But I played the song on Friday after YEARS and it was a very beautiful song... and it did not stir up any unpleasant feelings for me.

There are other CDs that I have avoided at particular times in my life because of old boyfriend memories. Some are:
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
The Cure - Disintegration
The Reindeer Section - Son of Evil Reindeer
The Sea and Cake - The Fawn
That Lloyd Cole record with "No Blue Skies" on it
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Brian Eno - Another Green World

It's crazy that I gave up these recordings for sometimes years at a time because they brought back memories of ex-boyfriends. Thankfully, I can now play any of these without any pangs of heartache or sad memories, except I still finding myself skipping over Brian Eno's Another Green World on my Ipod. Oh, and anything from the Jam.

And I never ever go back and listen to mix CDs or tapes from ex-boyfriends (with one exception which I'll write about another day). There aren't that many mixes from ex's in my collection. It seems that in my past, I was the one who ended up making mixes as a wooing device. My track record goes to show that the way to a man's heart is *not* through his ear.

Maybe I need to learn to cook.

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

A couple weeks ago I read an memoir of a young widower, Rob Sheffield called Love Is A Mixed Tape. At the beginning of each chapter, there's a mix tape track listing, which upon reading, immediately rejuvenated my sometimes scary obsession with music which seems to have been somewhat dormant over the past several years. I had to read each mix tape before I could even being to read the rest of the book.

I loved reading of someone else's obsession with a single song... it makes me feel so normal. Sheffield's first mix tape was the Beatles' "Hey Jude" that he recorded in a continuous loop on each side of the tape. After polling a few guys I know, it's not uncommon for middle school aged boys to make mix tapes of a single song. Over the past year or so, I have been obsessed with Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind", the Stars covering the Smiths' "This Charming Man," and "Twilight Creeps" by Crooked Fingers. And "Razzle Dazzle Rose" by Camera Obscura was my summer anthem. I haven't gone as far as putting any of these songs on a continuous loop on a mix tape, but I am sure that my Ipod has recorded at least 50 plays of that Camera Obscura song alone.

Saturday, I went to the Father and Son warehouse sale with my friends Skip and Germ who suggested that I start writing about my obsession with music and my radio shows. So here I am. I am scared. I am scared of putting myself "out there" and I am scared of writing. I have always felt that finding words and putting them together coherently is not my strength. But I guess this is a good forum to experiment in, right?

But obsessing over music is something that I am good at... really good. Sometimes when I hear a snippet of a song in a TV commercial, I'll jump up and go try to find it in my collection so that I can hear it unadulterated. (The search for the Of Montreal song in the Outback commercial nearly drove me INSANE.) I can be sitting in a restaurant and sometimes I have to actively fight the desire to zone in on the background music playing just so that I can maintain table conversation. Listening to barely audible restaurant music can be distracting... but depending on the company, listening to the restaurant music may not necessarily be bad. AND if you end up finding out that a restaurant is playing your favorite Bobby Darin song, it makes the food taste better.

So here I am. Writing about music. Writing about me. Let's see how this goes.