A Week in Music

It’s amazing the soundtrack you can amass and encounter over a week:

Monday
Wake up from a dream involving Jennifer Hudson singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Christ, is that gonna be the theme for the week?

Tuesday
Schizo music day:

1. It’s OMD Appreciation Day: “Dazzle Ships,” “Architecture and Morality,” and especially “The Peel Sessions.” Delicious ’80s avant-garde synth pop.

2. It’s Old-School Rap Appreciation Day: Drive back from business lunch with Jessica and listen to Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s “Hot, Cool, and Vicious,” telling her about how Susan and I bonded over “Tramp” in, oh, 1988…

Wednesday
Slightly morose and tired. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all. But that evening, at The Spotlight–a dive of a hustler bar in Hollywood–Jeremy and I grab Coronas and hear some delicious jukebox tunes. Why am I surprised to be hearing The Pixies in a divey gay bar in Hollywood? Oh, RIGHT, because it’s a divey gay bar in Hollywood and the Pixies, of all things, are on the jukebox. What the…?

Thursday
Jody Watley’s “I’m Looking for a New Love” is on 92.3 FM. I totally think it’s Whitney Houston for a minute and then change the station.
I keep listening to “Big Judy: How Far This Music Goes, 1962-2004” by Judy Henske, one of the most criminally underrated female singers ever. I am lucky to have met her, too, which makes listening all the better.

Friday
Morning: “Love Is a Battlefield” is on the radio. Turn it up.
Gym midday: “Divorce Songs” playlist. Split my eardrums listening to Sleater-Kinney’s “The Fox” *and* “War” by Celebration (during which I make a total ass of myself by singing out loud my favorite line in it: “Got more guns than anybody!”). Oops.
Evening: Stop talking in the midst of the going-away party for Matt to listen to “Furious” by Throwing Muses on Tim’s stereo. Upon leaving and driving home, the iPod shuffles: M. Ward: “Headed for a Fall”; Lavender Diamond: “You Broke My Heart”; “Dirtywhirl” by TV On the Radio; Belly: “Low Red Moon”; and (ahem) Expose’s “Point of No Return.”

Saturday
Kristin Hersh live at Amoeba Saturday afternoon–get chills listening to “Winter.”
Neko Case live at the Henry Fonda Saturday night–get chills during almost every song. The vocals make me melt.

Sunday

Catch up on new purchases: Lucinda Williams’ ‘”West”; Band of Horses’ “Everything All the Time”; Beirut’s “Lon Gisland” EP”; Nina Nastasia’s “On Leaving”; Bows’ “Cassidy.” Make new playlists for iPod. Look at my CD collection and think, “Fuck. Maybe I should stop buying stuff.”