Jukebox

I’m missing Friday pint — I enjoyed that particular springboard for storytelling and general rambling about in my own attic. Since I don’t have any more archives, I thought I’d share music for a while, along with whatever it happens to bring to mind.

Music is so much part of the fabric of my day, an ongoing conversation with myself. Songs become stories about me, or stories about what I’d like to be, or pathways to certain parts of me. Music charges me up, talks me down, soothes me, keeps me on the boil. I have a fairly eclectic music library, so it’s hard to predict what will come up, which I suppose is my way of saying that if you don’t like what I’ve got today, wait a week… If nothing else, maybe we’ll all get some new music out of it.

If this gets boring, I’ll throw it on the floor¹. But now I think I’ll just get the party started with a playlist to Get Things Done By. I have more work to do in the next two days than is actually possible, which just means that I have to get TCM (The Crystal Method) on its ass. “Born Too Slow” is one of my earliest TCM favorites; and to keep it company, I’ve added Cocteau Twins and Juno Reactor.

These are all blood-pumping boots-on songs with just a little bit of the ecstatic overtones that I often enjoy in music. Nicola first introduced me to Cocteau Twins music at Clarion, and much of Solitaire was written to a couple of their albums. “Persephone” is something of an anomaly in their oeuvre, much more direct and in-your-face than the usual dreamy fare. Both kinds of CT are good; but today, this is better.

Juno Reactor also has a Clarion connection: our friend Mark, whom we met at Clarion, introduced me to this music years ago.

And The Crystal Method — well, I found them all by myself (grin). They are still my go-to band for getting down to business. Which is what I’m going to do. Starting with grocery shopping, including adding a few extra cans of this and that to the pantry because, oh joy, swine flu has come to Seattle. Not that I’m panic-stricken (or even panic-prone), but if the WHO raises the pandemic threat level to 6, I guarantee that staples will vanish from store shelves, just like they do when there’s more than an inch of snow in the forecast.

[Edited at 5:14pm to add: Yep. Hand sanitizer = already gone….]

Enjoy the rest of your day, whether you’re revving up or winding down. Stay flu-less.

Edited to add: I’m sorry to say that I don’t have enough server space for all my audio, so most jukebox playlists become inactive after a few months. This is one. Very sorry. But the music is worth seeking out, it’s great!

¹From the “Uncle Simon” episode of The Twilight Zone, in which the unpleasant Uncle S demands that his poor niece Barbara wait upon him hand and foot, including the immortal line Barbara! Bring me some hot chocolate! And if it isn’t hot enough, I’ll throw it on the floor! This has become the buzzword in our house for if we don’t like it, it’s outta here pronto.