spynotes ::
  April 03, 2006
In the think

Today�s Bullet-point-o-rama, in ascending order of length:

� Every morning, as I pour my first cup of coffee, the phrase �sweet elixir of life� dances through my head, to be extinguished only by the first sip.

� The rapid fire panning between speakers in Sleater-Kinney�s �Wilderness� (of 2005�s The Woods) makes me dizzy when I listen with headphones. I reflexively grab the edge of my desk whenever it comes on. Note to self: Do not play this tune in the car.

� While rereading the introduction to my diss, I came across a particularly apt typo that has gone unnoticed for some time: �in the thick of my research� became �in the think of my research.� I find this very appealing�and much more accurate. Alas, both phrases are likely to be cut, as this personal essay version of the intro is getting divided into an acknowledgements section and a more formal introduction and this passabe doesn�t really fit in either place. Pity.

� AJ and I threw an Opening Day party for my husband yesterday. We blew up balloons with the remaining helium from AJ�s party. He inscribed �Go Sox!� on two sides of each. We also decided to make an edible baseball field (hey, it was a rainy Sunday and I needed to find something to keep the five-year-old from whining). Here are the fruits of our labor. And incidentally, AJ ate almost the whole thing � probably his single largest one-time consumption of vegetables:

� I slogged through the 40 mile an hour winds, which made a walk in the drizzle feel like being pelted with tiny sharp pebbles, to the mailbox where I was rewarded with two royalty checks for the husband (just in time for taxes) and a package from Smed containing six CDs. SIX!!! Four of them are mixes of some of his favorite tunes, which, as it happens, are about 80 percent from some of my favorite bands and 20 percent from people I don�t know. It appears, though, that out of all 85 tracks on those CDS I only own 1 of the songs. I can�t wait to give these a listen (at the moment I�m mellowing out to track eight of disk 1: Cowboy Junkies �Misguided Angel,� an old favorite that I�d forgotten about). I find myself wishing Smed could meet my former roommate JS, who�s now a music buyer for a certain online megastore. She introduced me to many of the bands on these CDs and I used to listen to her records a lot when we shared an infernal apartment in West Philly the summer after she graduated while I worked for a certain orchestra there and she went to art school. The other two CDs are of a now defunct Bloomington, IN band I used to love (The band members were friends of a friend), Arson Garden. This should be one big happy nostalgia trip. I will, in all likelihood, do an entry (or two) on these in the near future. But for now, can I just say, Smed, you rock. And also, so do The Meat Purveyors. Because their bluegrassification of three Madonna tunes (�Like a Virgin,� �Star Light,� and �I�m Burnin� Up for Your Love�) is so totally awesome ("totally awesome?" See. The nostalgia trip is starting already). I will make it my personal mission to play it for as many people as possible. I�m already trying to figure out how I can include it in a class. If you have not heard this before (as I had not), you should go look them up iTunes and download "The Madonna Trilogy" NOW. I love bluegrass and I love early Madonna (I did, after all, come of age in the 80s). Who knew they could sound so great together? It's funny as hell and very well played.

5 people said it like they meant it

 
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