SOAP

I feel like crap. Stupid Summer cold.

Last night Jamee and I dropped off the kid and went to see Snakes on a Plane. It's nice to finally see something that lives up to the hype. I was going to do a summer movie round-up, but it's going to wait until I see Little Miss Sunshine this Thursday.

So...

Snakes. On a Plane.

I first heard about it last summer and knew I was going to have to see it. I'd tell people about it and the first thing they'd ask would be. "What's that about?" I think everyone knows what it's about by now. It's about snakes. On a plane.

And it's pretty darn good. Not the best movie ever, but it's not intended to be. It delivers what it promises - lots of snakes attacking people on a plane. I have a feeling the people who go in expecting a campy romp are going to be in for a suprise. It's suprisingly violent and suprisingly gory. Like medical textbook gory. But it's fun and it works and it doesn't outstay its welcome like a bloated pirate... movie.

However, it should be called Snakes in a Plane, because snakes on a plane are not much of a threat once you reach a certain speed.

S'OKAY KIDDO...


...you'll grow into it. 

SHOWS 'N' SHOWS

Jim over at Patriside posted a great query. Head on over to see where it came from originally.

"If you could get your hands on any ticket, who would you see? What music defines you?"

I think I may actually be lucky in that I've gotten to see most of the bands that I've wanted to see live. There's a few I'll never get to see, like Johnny Cash and Warren Zevon, and a handful that I'd have bet that I'd never see, but actually happened.

So if I can remember them....

U2 with Pixies. Zoo TV Tour - I think this is the first concert I ever went to. I remember the contact high from Hampton Coliseum and the U2 condom that someone had blown up that was bouncing around the are I was at. I recall the guy next to me trying to boo the Pixies off stage. It didn't happen and I used to gloat to my sister that I got to see them before they broke up.

Morrissey. Your Arsenal Tour - All I really remember is the ten foot tall shadow of his hair projected against the wall of Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, VA. And that he didn't play "Everyday is Like Sunday." Bastard.

James Brown - They brought him to play at JMU during my Freshman year. I think he played a total of five songs. The show lasted two-an-a-half hours.

James. The Laid Tour - One of the top three shows I've seen. Saw them at the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA, which was destroyed by Hurricane Isabelle, which was possibly predicted by Tim Booth complaining about the wind produced by a giant fan on the side of the stage. Hearing him hit the high note in "Laid" is probably the second best concert moment of my life.

They Might Be Giants. I've seen these guys three times. They're a load of fun, but I think I'm TMBG'd out.

David Bowie with Nine Inch Nails. The Outside Tour - Nissan Pavillion. We did a road trip from JMU for this one. The four song set where they play'd together was incredible, and I managed to find a bootleg of it that may find its way onto a mixmania cd one day (although Bowie's cover of "Hurt" has nothing on Johnny Cash's.) The funniest bit came when some girl behind me asked "Why's he playing Nirvana" when Bowie played "The Man Who Sold the World."

Counting Crows with Live - Jamee and I went mainly for Counting Crows and we met up with a friend who had a couple bail on her, so we got up real close. Jamee actually got to meet Adam Duritz before the show and our mutual friend still has a photo of the two of them together. Our daughter Maddy shares a birthday with Duritz, which I only bring up to mention that she also shares a birthday with Robert Todd "Jinxy McDeath" Lincoln.

Weird Al Yankovic. Running With Scissors Tour - He's a blast in concert. However, the show doesn't change much, so we were a bit disappointed when we saw him a second time during the Poodle Hat Tour. But if he's still touring when Maddy's old enough to appreciate him, I'm taking her.

Tori Amos with Rufus Wainwright. Strange Little Girls Tour - Probably the most disappointing show I've ever seen. I'll leave it at that.

Pixies. Sell Out Tour - I went to this one with my sister and got to brag about getting to see them ten years prior. Then she went to see them again the next summer and got to brag about seeing them get awarded the gold (or was it platinum) record for Surfer Rosa.

And then Maddy came, which you'd think would have curtailed us being able to see shows, or even being able to properly use the word "curtail." But it looks like we'll be seeing four shows in a year...

The White Stripes - Our first outing without the baby. Jamee's sister watched her. And we bought her a lil White Stripes shirt at the mech stand. I'd see them again in a second. You can actually find a recording of the show we saw here.

The Pogues - First US tour with Shane MacGowan in fourteen years. Best show I've seen. And the moment an hour in where MacGowan balanced a half full glass on his head is the best concert moment I've ever seen.

And coming up...

Tom Waits and The Flaming Lips. Not together, but there's a show to consider. I'm going to slep. (It's near sleep. Look it up.)

AUGUST MIXMANIA

It's August 1st and it's my daughter Mathilda's first birthday. Happy birthday kiddo.

Here's the tracklisting with comments for my Hot Mix created for Patriside's mixmania project. (Please note: The comment for track 22 was written before receiving my cd, which had "Ring of Fire" on it. But it was a cover, and I couldn't figure out who by, so I figured it wouldn't be too obnoxious to leave the comment in. I still wish that Merle Kilgore had been allowed to license the song for a hemorrhoid relief commercial. I have a feeling that had Cash been alive at the time, it would have happened.)

So here we go:

1. "Area Woman Tries to Reason With House Fire" The Onion Radio News - There are a couple of almost-by-providence tracks on here. This was the Onion Radio News from June 14th, just after the mix was announced. It seemed to fit and then naturally found a place as the opener...

2. "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down" Warren Zevon - ...followed by the opening song from Zevon's great Life'll Kill Ya album, which is worth the purchase just for the cover of Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life." Seriously.

3. "Why Does the Sun Shine?" They Might be Giants - I'm glad TMBG released a live version of this song (Originally from a 1959 children's educational album) just before I finally got sick and tired of them. I don't know why it happened. I used to love these guys. Saw them live three times. But everything they're released since Severe Tire Damage has not held my interest. So, having said that, enjoy.

4. "Gett Off" Prince - And we move from literal heat into a good old-fashioned dirty Prince song. I think this might be one of the ones he won't play in concert anymore.

5. "Hot Hot Hot!!!" The Cure - My only regret with this one (besides the too-obvious title) is that the remastered Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me will be released on August 8, so there's a much-better sounding version of this that I couldn't use.

6. "Panama Esta Bueno Y...Ma" Los Exagerados - I found this at Oliver Wang's wonderful Soul Sides. Go there now. This song is from a compilation of Panamanian music. Check out the May 24, 2006 entry on Soul Sides for a better description than I can write.

7. "Summer in Siam" The Pogues - I saw The Pogues this past March at the 9:30 club in DC. First US show with Shane MacGowan in something like 14 years (second, actually, we went to the Friday show and a Thursday show was added because our show sold out in about ten minutes). It was a week after my Mother's funeral... You know, I really don't want to talk about that right now...

8. "Got to Get Enough (Of Your Sweet Love Stuff)" Dynamite Singletary - I found this one at this blog called Soul Detective where they track down info about obscure soul musicians. It's great stuff and there's something about the line "There's nothin' wrong with a man making love to another man's wife -- as long as he does it right," that's just wrong.

9. "They're Red Hot" Robert Johnson - Robert Johnson's great, but about every other time I listen to this one I find myself getting irritated about halfway through. It sounds almost like a jingle to me, which may be appropriate if you consider Johnson to be the original sell-out, and runs about twice as long as a jingle should. But it's not a jingle, so I'm aware that this opinion is ridiculous. Great song, though (I just listed to it on one of the good intervals).

10. "Burning Hell" John Lee Hooker - Why not follow a Robert Johnson song with one about Hell? I think my sister-in-law included this one on the Evil Mix, and it's a weird one, because there seems to be an almost atheist slant to the lyrics "Ain't no Heaven, ain't no burning Hell," but what do I know?

11. "The Volcano Song" The Budos Band - I really know next to nothing about this band, but this track showed up as a KEXP Song of the Day on itunes just after the topic was announced and it seemed like a good fit.

12. "Be Thankful for What You Got" William DeVaughan - Seven minutes of cool for a hot summer day.

13. "Cactus" Pixies - I was going to use a live version of "Hey," but it didn't work. Then I tried the studio version, but it didn't work either. Then I tried a live version of this one. Didn't. work. This one might not work either, but here it is. There's an interesting cover of this by David Bowie on of his more recent albums, but I seem to have lost it. And contrary to the back of the Coachella DVD, there is no "The" in "Pixies."

14. "The Girl's Got It" Billy Preston - In memoriam.

15. "Ice Cream Man" Tom Waits - He'll cool you down or heat you up. The Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover sounds a lot dirtier, but the original seemed to fit into the mix better. Now it's just under two weeks before we make the trek to Akron to see the man himself. (Waits, not Hawkins, who is, as far as I know, still dead.)

16. "Dresses Too Short" Syl Johnson - I have no idea where I found this one. Another one of the songs about a hot girl that found its way in here.

17. "Frying Pan" Captain Beefheart - In memoriam... Wait, no. The Captain is still alive. Somewhere. Another song about literal heat that's really just all about sex.

18. "Senorita" James - There's been a slightly Spanish motif that's crept into the mix, so I thought I'd throw this one on. James is probably best known in the US as the one-hit wonders behind "Laid." In the UK they're a semi-popular now defunct cult band. Most of their stuff is worth checking out and this track is from a bootleg from a concert at Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2000. The studio version is on their final album Pleased to Meet You and has slightly different lyrics. And to get completely trivial, lead singer Tim Booth shows up in Batman Begins as Mr. Zsasz. (And though I don't see Heath Ledger as The Joker, I'm sure they'll pull off something interesting with The Dark Knight.)

19. "Malaguena Salerosa" Chingon - To continue the Spanish motif, a Mexican band with a traditional song that I looked up a translation of the lyrics for just to make sure it fit the theme. It does.

20. "Ocean of Lust" DeVotchKa - Currently my most-played band. Their music sounds Eastern European, but they're actually from Denver. A buddy of mine saw them at a beer fest in Colorado last year and was raving about them. I got hooked and am spreading the word. Plus, the song seemed to fit into the latter half of the mix's preoccupation with lust and feminine hotness.

21. "Raspberry Beret" Hindu Love Gods - Zevon again, backed by the members of R.E.M. who are not Michael Stipe, covering Prince. The penultimate hot girl song, just behind whatever song you prefer.

22. "I'm on Fire" Johnny Cash - Because "Ring of Fire" would have been the obvious choice.