(no subject)

[jfb]

allegraslade made me do it:

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:

iTunes says: 5368 songs, 16:03:13:04 total time, 24.47 GB. Not counting my own project files.

2. The CD you last bought is:

Richard Swift's The Novelist, at his show in Costa Mesa. I keep thinking his name is Richard Wright, you know, like the novelist. But it isn't.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message [entry]?

"So We Can Rest," from Paul O'Reilly's gorgeously quiet album First Thing in the Morning. Part of the process of retroactively telling iTunes what I think of every song in the collection, so it can cull my collection down to what will fit on my iPod.

Why aren't there more records by this guy? This is a songwriter worth starting a music series for: "... we were pissed off going to gigs and seeing support acts which were bring talked over, such as Paul O'Reilly, who needed to be heard. The great thing about this is people come, they sit in the same room, and they listen to the music, and it's what we wanted and we really really love it." Finally found some MP3s. Try the "unknown" track, which is actually called "Winter".

Okay, back to work:

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:

This changes from month to month, and lately I haven't been obsessed with anything in particular, but:

1. Gemma Hayes, "4:35 AM". Another Irish singer-songwriter; this, the quietest song on her CD, perfectly captures that night ride home after a long hard day. It first grabbed me driving around Marin County after dark, looking for a stranger's house and a party that had been postponed.
   
2. Ida, "Blizzard of '78". Stage fright, vulnerability, cold weather and a driving beat. The first time I really heard this song, I couldn't sing for a week. Epitonic has an MP3. I see now that Ida's MFA show was postponed by the Blizzard of '05.
   
3. Buffalo Daughter, "Cyclic". Just a total trip. There's a truncated video on their web site but it takes some hunting.
   
4. Nadine, "So That I Don't Miss You". Getting over a crush near the turn of the millennium, I suddenly heard this song, a semi-articulate rumination about sleeping with the radio on. Then I learned to play it and learned to sing it, and after the ball dropped, I took it to an open mike and started being a folk singer.
   
5. The Blue Nile, "Over the Hillside". Scottish synth-pop and somehow a companion to the Gemma Hayes song. Working and waiting and hoping despite everything.
   

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?

Listen, I'll accept a stick once in a while in time of need, but I'm no stick-passer.