Finals Soundtrack

I downloaded the freebies from Ghostly yesterday. They've been good for that ambiant music in the background this finals.

But after a bit I need lyrics again. Today I went back to last year's TEDActive Entry Mix. Which I should know by heart by now, but because it's almost always listened to in moods like this, there is always a moment where I go, "oh, that's here?"

[Edit]
After posting this I realized that there was a TEDActive Entry Mix for 2010. Know what I'm listening to next.

In the streets our heads are lifting

Driving home. Stopped at the traffic light. I'm playing one of my mixes on the stereo. It's on a favorite song (because they're all favorite songs) that I associate with a friend who I don't get to see often enough. We had quality time last week though, so I'm riding that high. And, of course, dancing along.

Waving my hands in the air, I raise my head. There's a guy coming down the middle of the street with a sign. He's looking at me and smiling.

I keep dancing and smile back at him.

I didn't share my money. But somehow we shared a moment.

Sweetie Pie

Heard this song on the radio, and had to find a version worth listening to again.

Love how this song connects homes for me.

Pecan Pie is a Thanksgiving requirement in my parent's tradition (and that home)

Sung about by Golden Smog who played at the Obama rally near college home

which I attended during a crisis during my teaching home

but didn't discover until at my grad school home.

I'll edit with a pecan pie recipe if I remember.

Send me on my way

Last night was a mini-reunion. People who I haven't seen in two years catching up and hanging out. It's funny, most of them weren't my crew at the time. But being back together was comforting. Our shared experience something that needs no explanation.

~~~

The Adult Alternative TV music station was our soundtrack for the night. The Rusted Roots came on and someone mentioned the video.




I hadn't seen it before. But it's "trippy" to quote one of the guys.

Between the sounds of Ice Age which I watched far too many times at the camp that was home after graduating from high school and the scenes that became home after graduating from college, there are tears in my eyes. But it's so out there that I'm laughing instead.

Cutie Pies

Other teaching roommate was requesting cheesy love songs for a play list. I sent her a playlist. But then started on the videos of songs I don't have.



"Crayola doesn't make a color to draw my love."
Plus, I love patty-cake.



Cute-ness in this video. And they lindy. And adorable couples. Thank you mm for sending it to me. Now I can't listen to the song without wanting to watch the video. (Which is okay, because I don't really hear The Weepies that much otherwise.)



Felt like I needed a third song. And it's a party of a video. Seems like a good way to end the night.

A Blessing of Sorts

May your hands be strong and willing
May you know when to speak and to listen
May you find every friend that you're missing

~~~

Again, love NPR music for introducing me to new songs from old favorites. And the feeling of fascination with a new song. It's too early to tell yet whether I'll listen this to oblivion or just a dozen times. But for now, I'm trying to figure out how to go back and forth on the video around the 13 minute mark so I can listen for a second time.

~~~

May you lose what you offer gladly
May you worship the time and it's passing
Stars won't ever wait for you to watch them fall.

Lyrics from Iron and Wine
Biting Your Tail

Unwritten Goal #26

26. Listen to all of the SXSW download tracks during the calendar year I download them.

~~~

I made it through the 2009 tracks, but didn't complete until sometime this summer. Secretly I'm hoping that I'll finish the 2010 tracks before December 31.

I have 361 tracks left to go.

~~~

I have a rule to only save the tracks that get 4 or 5 stars. Occasionally one with an awesome name or story will get by.

But mostly, as soon as I decide that I don't really like the song, it moves to the trash. Free up some memory for my poor computer.

~~~

I love when I fall in love with a song (and later a band) that I first heard on the downloads. A quarter of the songs on this year's review CD are from SXSW.

I should probably start the process of sending those. At least write the letter to go with...

~~~

Some awesome names I wouldn't have heard of otherwise. Written here because I'm not keeping the songs, so I'll forget them after tonight otherwise.

Band: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
Songs: 100 mph (in 2nd Gear)
It's Better to Spend Money Like There's No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like There's No Money

~~~

Been listening to songs as I've typed this up. Down to 354 to go. Yikes, this one gets deleted. 353 songs in the next few weeks.

Growing cooler, not older

In middle school I thought it would be a sign of how out of it I was when I learned about new music from NPR. I'm choosing to think NPR is that much cooler now and submit the new All Songs 24/7 stream as evidence.

(Also, ever in love with the Current. Which, let's face it, has been a major source of new music for me since it was founded my sophomore year of college. [Is that right?] )

Puddles on a Clear Day

Though here's proof that water was involved (for part of the day).


Some days I marvel at how much I've changed.

This evening's been a reflection at how much some things stay the same.

Listened to the new Belle and Sebastian album. (Thanks NPR!) Flashback to junior year. Writing a paper for Annette. Listening to their live concert as it streamed on NPR's website. Driving to the coast to talk to my parents' friend about her career. Hanging out with D. It's been a while since I listened to them on repeat. I didn't realize how much I still liked them.

I've listened to Ghost of Rockschool over 5 times now. (Probably over 10 times. It ends and I click over and start it again.) I'm pretty positive the song would have been my favorite five years ago too.

I've seen God in the sun
I've seen God in the street
God before bed and the promise of sleep
God in the puddles and the la-de-sum-eise
I've seen God shining up from her reflection

Feet are mine
The car is someone else's
Both photographed this afternoon

Song for writing final papers

It worked better when I misheard lyrics in this video as "When I Dream" instead of "When I Drink." But still love The Avett Brothers.



Just do your best
It's the only way to keep that last bit of sanity
Maybe I don't have to be good but I can try to be
At least a little better than I've been so far

Best Playlist Ever? Perhaps...

It's not that I don't like making mix playlists. The screenshot isn't even half of my handbuilt ones.

Lots of variety for various moods. But not so good when I want a mix. And the shuffle is never quite the right mix. I have different mixes of smart playlists that I go to sometimes, but, nothing that I was loving.

And then a Lifehacker genius shared a system of playlists to randomly play music based on a combination of how much you love the song and when it was last played, and, well, I'm liking this.

----

I'm going to tell you how I adapted it. So either follow the link above first or stop reading now.

---

My biggest tweak was setting my initial playlist to exclude songs that had been played 0 times. I have a bunch of SXSW songs that I haven't heard yet. I like doing listening/rating/trashing marathons with those. Don't want them sneaking into random mixes, so they're banned.

Unlike the original poster, I've ranked songs in iTunes for years. Different threshholds for different artists. I might prefer a 2 star Jars of Clay song to a SXSW song with 4 stars. But Jars songs have to be rated so that my favorite songs show up on top when I'm in Jars mood. And SXSW songs that don't get at least 4 stars get deleted.

Related, I have lots of kiddy music that gets top rankings, so my initial playlist was overtaken by songs that I like, but don't want to hear every week. But there's a playlist called "kids." Woah. Kick that out of the 4 and 5 star unplayed music lists. Still shows up, but it's a trickle, not a flood.

But no matter, there is one thing you should know

I went to a close-out sale at Borders this weekend. Picked up the latest Sweet Honey in the Rock cd. It was perfect for my drive back. Especially the track "Indaba: We Believe In You." I can't find the lyrics online, and I'm too lazy to type them up. You can stream it from the website or just take a guess based on the title.

A large part of this weekend was just needing to hear the messages of affirmation. From the, "We're rooting for you," and "We're proud of you," to the, "This letter is junk, let's burn it!" Hearing this cd on the drive back continued in that theme.

There are definitely people here who help build me up, but there's something about hearing the messages from people who have known me longer. Being able to get actual hugs. Being able to take the time to talk about things and to not talk about things.

I'm doing better having faced today. We'll see what tomorrow has in store.

All around the world

Thanks for suggestions on music. So far I've found electronic to be a decent compromise.

But my current plan, that I'm nerdy excited about, is to get music from different cultures and feature a place and style each week.

The trick is that my collection of world music is pretty minimal and my budget for this isn't happening.

So places that I've found that I'm excited about.

Greenstar Music-- I used to have all of their samplers downloaded, but then my harddrive died. This was a good chance to get them again. (Sidebar. I found out about Greenstar because they advertise on PovertyFighters.

Global Rhythms-- 10 free downloads a week. In a variety of musical genres. But the music isn't offensive (and usually not just because I can't understand it). I found it through Afropop Worldwide. Warning, you have to register and this site is not very user friendly. The downloads are there. Read the FAQs to get directions. For a CD a week, it's worth it. And I'll find a way to budget some to support they system.

The students' reaction so far is mostly along the lines of, "You're crazy." "Why are you so old? Even the old teachers at the school let us listen to hip hop." I get some sort of perverse pleasure from this. I just don't think they have a clue of how all-around nerdy I am.

What to listen to?

First thing, today was a better day. Now on to what I want to write about.

Some of my students want to listen to music in class.

That's great. Sort of. Maybe. I mean it seems like something I could do. But I'm having trouble figuring out what to listen to.

They like hip-hop. me, not so much. Never did get into that.l And the songs they like, even when there aren't swear words, are way too sexual for me to be playing in my class.

Part of me is tempted to do classical music. But I don't really have any. And am not sure where I'd want to begin. Or how they'd react to it. I like classical. But really, I like watching it more than listening to it. It has to be that entire experience. I got so spoiled in college. Going to the concerts with AMAZING performers (free with tuition) and sitting wherever I wanted. I can listen to a concert by Joshua Bell, but I can't be fascinated by his hair over streaming audio. (He has really amazing hair.) I can't see the performers and imagine their grandchildren. I can't giggle throughout at how a friend's demeanor shifts while playing.

More later on my students already mocking me for being old before my time with taste in music. Not that they even know that I listen to Taize during my prep and that the other math teacher asks me if I listen to anything else.

And I do. But I find myself agreeing with today's Slate article that the indie music I listen to may be a bit snobby. So do I play that for them? (That seems more odd than letting them play their music.) My feeling is no.

Is there some good world music to listen to (a different country each week!)? Do I see about more local music? What helps focus? What just distracts?

What do you listen to when you study?

i should buy this song

wake me when the sun is not a secret
and all of its reflections speak in color
collapse the letters, perhaps they're better unknown
convenience via industry is deceiving
we can travel so far in seconds, but we're covering cars' complexion
protecting our investments

the luxury of salary is rewarding
improving conditions, improving efficience
but all the corresponding course of reaction
and equal distraction is a burden
it's a burden

we are blessed, we are cursed in our abundance
we are pressed to have worth in terms of tangibility
we are blessed to be settled without worry
we are cursed to forget we are in need
we are blessed, we are blessed upon our knees
we are blessed, we are blessed upon our knees

the market will fluctuate with hopes to manipulate our need
the patterns of the sun remain concrete
beauty is simple but we, we find favor in a mess of synthetics
we are hungry
beauty is simple, but we, we find favor in a mess of synthetics
we are hungry
beauty is simple, but we, we find favor in a mess of synthetics
we are worried

i heard that the economy is receding
but the sun still warms my skin

~Joel P West, Settled Without Worry


It would figure that the song featured on NPR's Open Mic is my least favorite of his songs. I'm not convinced to buy the whole cd, his sound is too consistent. One song blends into another to the point that I almost don't realize that I've switched. They're pretty simple sounding, but I like the lyrics of this one and the other one I've quoted. They seem to fit my life right now in one way or another.

wanting a clever boy

By the time I got back today from getting license and plates and all (drove well over an hour to get to the big town, in another county, population well less than 5,000), I was getting pretty tired. So I decided not to go to the fair today. Instead spent the night at home, procrastinating by listening to music.

I found this Swedish label that has a policy of having free downloads for title singles. (The "reason" I started browsing was because Pelle Carlberg was the featured Open Mic on NPR recently and I decided I needed to find more music.)

This was my alternative to doing work (that I'm supposed to do for workshop tomorrow). So bedtime and shower and maybe some work? meh

Arrival

This won’t go up until I get internet access but it’s currently 9:39 my time zone. (Which means my cell phone thinks it’s 9:39 sometimes and 8:39 other times and my watch says it’s 10:39. My body just knows I’m exhausted and my brain is alternating between being zombie, being terrified, and being excited. Right now, I’m afraid the terror’s winning.

Comfort music, obviously necessary. Since I’m at the computer, I’m listening to Marion McPartland’s Piano Jazz. I’m pretty positive I won’t be able to find her on the radio here, but podcasts are amazing. Her voice is just so calming. The conversations make a comfortable background. And then the jazz plays soft and smooth.

Okay, so I’m not being eloquent right now, too many clichés and such, but I did mention the exhaustion right?

Also on the music front, a special thank you to those who made me CDs for my drive. I listened to music from all ya’ll today. Every new CD (and sometimes more like every song) feels like a hug. Just that sense that you were thinking of me at some point. Big hugs to you!