That there is a Baseball Research Center surprises me. But that’s beside the point. Not that anything I ever post here is actually on the point. If there is even such a thing.
Recently I was putting together a CD for a friend to listen to with his young daughter when I was struck with a sudden sense of nostalgia.
The reason behind the CD is inconsequential, but I’ll tell you anyway. I’ve been listening to a lot of Wilco lately. Don’t know why, just seemed to hit the spot I guess. However, I kept listening to two particular songs, “My Darling” and “What’s the World Got in Store” and was marveling at how lullabye-ish they sound. So, that led me to find a bootleg of Jeff Tweedy singing “Be Not So Fearful” and then an entire CD was born. I wanted my friend to be able to find songs that he could sing to, with or dance to with his daughter.
Music is a constant in our home and I think the girls are better for it. They listen to a variety of styles and genres and often pick up good things from them. Gertrude will dance when the song she needs comes on and will fall asleep almost on command when we sing “God Only Knows.” Matilda is incredibly musically aware and often will request songs (sadly, the most recent was “Token Irish Drinking Song” by The Pogues) and can sing along to Wilco, The Wondermints, Beach Boys, Apples in Stereo, Flaming Lips and more. She’s a cool kid.
On any given day you can hear a mix of rock, jazz, latin, electronic, folk and classical ringing through our halls, thanks to some great investigation, generous friends and general curiosity.
I’m sure my friend’s home is much the same, but leaning more toward a certain avante garde flair that he has. So, I wanted to add a little of my personality to his rotation. Plus, there are some really great songs on there by a variety of great performers spanning the last 70 years of music. Fun!
Whilst I was preparing the disc I came across a song I hadn’t listened to in quite a while and suddenly I was transported to a parking spot outside of a friend’s apartment circa 1997 listening to a tape in my slowly deteriorating Toyota Corolla. Honestly, I can’t remember the songs on the tape nor where the tape is. However, I do know that I listened to two songs repeatedly. Fountains of Wayne’s “Radiation Vibe” and Jellyfish’s “Sebrina, Paste and Plato.”
It’s the Jellyfish song that sent me back in time. It’s amazing how a song can have such a sense of place, such power over memory. It’s amazing and wonderful. I was thankful for that sudden flashback (despite the fact that it was a relatively shitty time in my life . . . but this tape made by a friend was a high point during that time).
So, by means of memory I want to say a hearty hello and thanks to Angie. To thank her for the tape, sparking my affair with these to bands, let her know I visited her past self recently and to apologize for spilling the lemonade in my musical reverie. I didn’t actually spill lemonade in real-life, but in my memory of that evening at the Smoking Monkey Theater, I do believe I spilled something.
And I didn’t win the Smoking Monkey. Damn it. But I did eat pancakes at Uncle Bill’s. There’s always an upside.
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