The sky was lavender this morning when I quietly slipped out the front door to head to the train. I paused in the driveway to stare. I�ve never seen a sky that color before. I am hoping it is a good omen.

Today will be all about comingling red and blue, at least politically speaking. I live in an extremely conservative, very Republican district that finds itself suddenly changing its colors. I can tell this is a big deal because newspapers across the country have been writing about one of our local races and also because we've been getting calls from the governor and a certain ex-president. We had to take our phone off the hook last night. Even our local papers are expressing amazement � for the first time EVER (imagine!) we have a complete slate of democratic candidates for local races. Usually we are choosing between Republicans only.

I have been as big a pain in the ass to my congressman in the last few years as I can be. He is pretty much opposed to everything I believe in �welfare spending, education spending, governmental arts support, Roe v. Wade, equal rights for gay and straight couples alike, civil liberties in general -- and I make sure to tell him so on a regular basis, thanks to e-reminders from Women Employed and the Human Resources Campaign. I get regular rubber stamped letters from him that apologize to me for being opposed to my point of view, a metaphoric pat on the head. They never fail to piss me off. I am going to do my part to vote him out of office today.

I have no great optimism that my district full of evangelicals and immigrant paranoia is going to make major changes today, but a slate of liberals is a step in the right direction. We are all voting today. AJ will go with his dad this morning. He will get a sticker that he will proudly wear to school saying, �I voted!�

While they are voting, I will be discussing Beethoven with my students. We will talk about the notion of composer and genius, composer as hero, composer as political activist. We will listen to what we perceive as his soul. We will listen to his fate knocking at the door � the inevitable fifth symphony. We will listen to his heart on his sleeve.

But this morning I am not listening to Beethoven. I am listening to another new mix, one I made for myself. It lives in iTunes under the slightly misleading rubric of �Guitars.� It consists of music that is largely dominated by guitar, with one big exception that includes no guitar at all, but seems to fit the mood.

�Welcome to Acousticville� by Janis Ian. RS536 alerted me to this song, which she�d heard on the radio, although I�d already been eying it on the library shelf. It begins with a voice over and backs into a strummy song lauding acoustic music.

�In Thoughts and Dreams� by Zach Brock & The Coffee Achievers. This is the exception to the guitar rule. But it is the perfect song for train riding and the tune gets stuck in my head for days. No words here (although there are vocals) and the double bass seems to echo the quality of the guitars I�ve found in other tracks. Various parts of it remind me of two of my favorite movie soundtracks -- Tom Waits' accompaniment to Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth (it's the opening bassline of "In thoughts" that hooks to Waits) and the soundtrack to the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (piano riffs in the middle).

�Farewell to Bitterroot Valley� by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer. Dave Carter died tragically early, which is a shame, because his guitar-playing changeds the way Grammer sings. This is a beautifully sad song. melwadel is the one who introduced me to Grammer and Carter.

�Wicked Game� by Chris Isaak. This was a radio favorite of mine eons ago when it first came out. I�m not as fond of his more countrified tracks, but this one is wonderfully evocative.

�Pastoras Da Estrela� by Cristina Branco. Branco is not, perhaps, the most beloved of the many performers of Portuguese fado � she has a tendency to slip into that grey area between tradition and �world beat� � but she is still right up there and has quite possibly the most beautiful voice in the world.

�Walking Blues� by Bonnie Raitt. This is off a CD burned for me by RS536, who has always been a big Raitt fan. I came to her late and missed out on her early years. Now I�m making up for lost time by playing this CD over and over again. She definitely belongs on the guitar mix.

�Too Much Between Us� by Jules Shear. I first heard this tune on AJ�s George Winston CD and fell in love with the chord changes. The original is a rock ballad originally recorded by Procol Harum, but I really like this version. I had no idea Shear used to be married to Aimee Mann. Perhaps that�s why I like to listen to their music together

�The End of the Summer� by Dar Williams. This was another RS536 recommendation, a haunting tune about my favorite time of year with beautiful guitar accompaniment.

�God's Gonna Cut You Down� by Johnny Cash. The guitar in this song is possibly less obvious than in just about any of Cash�s other tunes, but it�s still there, solid as a rock. I learned this tune as a kid off an Odetta album, but I love this version. Cash�s voice and the audience stomping make it the perfect blend of American slave song tradition and Queen�s �We Will Rock You.� Don�t ask, just listen.

�Assim Que Te Despes� by Cristina Branco. More Branco. Her songs are so short, that I squeezed three of them on the mix.

�(Until You) Return to Me� by Sheryl Bailey. Sheryl�s the former friend of mine I wrote about a few weeks ago. Here�s one of my favorite tracks off the CD I�ve been listening to of hers.

�Ca Mi Queria� by Cristina Branco. This is the last Branco tune, I swear.

�Invisible Ink� by Aimee Mann. I love the whole Lost in Space Album, but this song is particularly notable. Its intimacy drew me in immediately and it�s still my favorite.

�No Love Today� by Chris Smither. I wrote about Smither a couple of days ago. I first heard this song last weekend on the radio. It fits perfectly with the bluesy guitar theme of the mix.

�Causeway� by Alex de Grassi. Alex de Grassi records for Windham Hill and his music tends to be a little lightweight, but his technique is unimpeachable (does that make it peachable? Or perhaps simply peachy?). This is a beautiful song that for me doesn�t end the way I want it to, which is why I moved it from the end of the mix back a couple of slots.

�Blue Melody� by Tim Buckley. This is the other guy I wrote about a couple of days ago. I heard this song while driving home late at night and almost pulled off the road to listen (fortunately I hit a very long traffic light that made the detour unnecessary). I knew he was going on here as soon as I could track down the tune. This song also inspired the inclusion of Chris Isaak earlier in the mix, as it reminds me a little of �Wicked Game.�

�Stunned and Frozen� by Mark Eitzel. I really need to get some more Mark Eitzel tunes loaded onto the computer � they�re all on CD. At the moment this is the only one on there and it gets used in a lot of mixes. But it�s also a perfect mix-ender. Elliptical music at its best.

6 people said it like they meant it