Rediscovering Great Music
Last night I watched NBC's Saturday Night Live in the 90's special and though I loved seeing the best of Carvey, Spade, Farley, Sandler and of course Farrell, I enjoyed the brief snippets of live performances over the years. All the popular bands were featured, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Dave Matthews Band and more but I heard two songs that I'd forgotten about how good they were.
First was Macy Gray's I Try, a song that reminds me of someone back in Columbus whenever I hear it, no matter when, where or whatever mood I'm in. And damn, those lyrics are good but the delivery was even better. She introduced me to the song LONG before it ever hit the radio and I was kinda bummed when it finally became so popular.
I play it off but I'm dreamin' of you I try to say good bye and I choke
I'll keep it cool but I'm fiendin'
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear:
My world crumbles when you are not near
Second was Blues Traveler's Hook, a self referential ditty that is so clever that I get goose bumps every time I hear it. I'm a big lyrics person and these are, ironically, some of the best I've ever heard.
It doesn't matter what I say Because the hook brings you back
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I'll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don't matter who you are
If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
The song is obviously a rant about the shallow lyrics a lot of musicians use and the lemmings that follow them over the cliff and buy their albums year after year. John Popper was a genius.
Sure the above songs aren't cool anymore to have blasting out your car radio but they're timeless and I think it's even more fun to rediscover something old than something new. You gain a new respect for the memories you had and can look back with a new perspective with the experiences you've had in the years since.
In other music news, you can check out what I'm listening to at my Last.fm page- every song I listen to is automatically logged (7,559 songs logged since 8/12/2006).
Stalk Me On My Trip With Twitter
Well, I'm finally leaving now and should be in Salt Lake City sometime after midnight tonight. If you want to track my progress, check out my Twitter Status Page (see tabs on the top of this page) or go to http://www.twitter.com/gigamike.
To view my timeline on my Twitter page, you'll need to have Adobe's Flash 9 browser pluging installed which you can get for free HERE.
Options
I-90 East through Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. I'd have less mountain passes to cross but Eastern Montana and North Dakota have some awfully long stretches of lonely road.
I-84 SE through Oregon, Idaho, Salt Lake City, Denver and the rest of the way on I-70. Lots of mountains here but the weather next week will be great and I'm much more familiar with this territory. This will be my likely route with a sleep over just outside of Denver.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
The Quote
When I logged into WordPress tonight to write a post that I now have forgotten about, I noticed that I had received a link from another blog- Not Without My Towel.
This is highly unusual so I checked it out. And.... Well, instantly, I almost fell outta my seat. In the upper right hand corner lie my favorite quote of all time:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain
During my junior year of high school, I was reading some Twain and came across this. I distinctly remember writing this down on my Centerville Cross Country stat sheet but somehow lost it. I've spent years googling and looking through quote books at libraries looking for it. And now it found me.
Cool. This finding of this quote is incredibly timely and I've often thought about it when moving from place to place. Cool.
I stuck around to read her blog and it's a good read! Fascinating insights from a person that sounds a lot like me. Damn, I love the internet!
Future Me, I’m Lookin’ Out For Ya
Around the second week of August 2005, I sent myself a message from Futureme.org. A message that wasn't to be delivered until 8/13/2006. I sent it and just forgot about it. It contained some warnings and advice for stuff I might be dealing with and turns out I acted on one of the statements I had written to future me.
So I sent myself a new one that I'll get on 12/31/2007. I made it public but won't be posting it here. Send one to your future self and let them know you have your back. And take some time to read the random public mails. Some pretty heavy and interesting stuff.
Happy 2007 everyone and thanks for reading.
