I still haven't listened to the whole CD all the way through because I haven't been home at night lately, and I don't like to listen to new CDs in my car. I distract so easily.

However--I listened to about half of Up the Bracket last night (I got as far as "one for the boys in the band," and now dachelle's journal layout makes more sense to me) and now I think that, rather than futzing around with the library, or downloading files to iTunes and all (I really appreciate the trouble you took, dachelle, but for some reason downloads on this thing take forever)--anyway, I think I'll just buy a couple of CDs on Tuesday when I get the new Trews one. I have a list!

Also, as the CD was playing I noticed that Coney was missing. I found him here:



Note CD player in the background. Yes, he went over to listen. (Coney has previously been mostly a U2 fan.)

So, we agree!

In that entry on the Trews' listening party I mentioned that my friend and I chatted with Sean the drummer (I either have to drop the modifier or hyphenate next time) about the importance of the running order of a record. At the time I was both interested and also spinning out the conversation a little so my friend could find a spot to jump in and I think I said something about my desire, occasionally, to alter the order of some records because I was getting a different story.

Which was a psycho remark, but it's true. My first copy of Appetite For Destruction was actually a cassette a friend made for me from her vinyl. She accidentally taped the second side first, so my copy began with "My Michelle," which just felt wrong. I mean, I knew "Welcome to the Jungle" should have been the album opener even before I actually knew it. However, it also meant that my copy ended with "Paradise City," which I have always felt was a much stronger statement to end the record with. I like "Rocket Queen" fine but it feels more like a middle-of-the-record song. One of these days I'm going to make myself a new copy of that CD with my own hinky running order.

(No, I didn't tell Sean all of this!)

However, a much better example of the power of running order is my reaction when I got a CD version of Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, which remains one of my all-time favourite records. The Wikipedia entry I've linked to actually gives the running order of both the LP and the CD. While I understand putting the three additional tracks at the end of the CD, I don't understand why the other songs were resequenced, and in fact I've owned this CD for about five years now and I still haven't gotten used to the standard tracks not ending with "Utah Carol." The new order doesn't tell me the same story.

I often put CDs on shuffle in the car to keep me alert, and I have my Shuffle on... shuffle... but it's a fact that certain CDs really work best in their proper order. (A lot of the older music I have came from compilations so there's no real order anyway, so my Johnny and Kris and The Band stuff is not part of this discussion.) For instance, When the Angels Make Contact, as a "soundtrack," really does tell the story. And Matt Mays & El Torpedo has a running order that works well, particularly the leadoff track "Stand Down At Sundown." The opening chords sound like a mission statement. As an album opener, it seems to be telling you everything you need to know about the band right there in the first few bars. (It's also a great opening track for their show, because even on the CD you can imagine how they'd play that opening riff two or three extra times to increase the build and then come crashing into the first verse.)

Anyway. Running order. I just thought of the Marty Robbins thing the morning after the party and thought I'd mention it. I guess it's my Tea For the Tillerman.

( Here are videos of Marty singing both El Paso and El Paso City. )

( And, guess what--the Grateful Dead also covered El Paso! )

In the original draft of my festival-murders story, Kowalski made friends with a Texas band called El Paso. Because, they explained, they were from El Paso, and they couldn't think of a better name. Jordy, who has never been to Texas before and knows nothing about the state, asks,

"El Paso... that's in west Texas, right? Because I think I heard something somewhere about the west Texas town of El Paso."

And then he wonders why everyone looks at him like they think he's making fun of them.

El Paso morphed into Button Constituency in the current draft, but I actually do think El Paso would be a good name for a band. Which is why I changed it--I figure someone else must have thought the same thing already!

Inspired by the last couple of birthday parties I've attended, I'm sort of throwing myself one this weekend.

Okay, it's not really a birthday party.

It's a "help me eat my cake" party. Because I like to bake and my birthday has become my excuse to do so. Only... well, then I have a cake, right?

I need to get a cake stand so I can do the thing properly. I found a recipe for home made butter cream frosting last year that frees me from pre-made icing which just is never as good.

And the same folks who came to the other parties, for the most part, are coming to this one. So barring catastrophe, this should be fun!

... the page that shows all the entertainment news was leading with a big picture of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and the headline: "Tom's Plans for Valentine's Day!"

Okay, I have no plans for Valentine's Day aside from going to Tribeca tonight. But if I were the sort of person who got depressed about having no plans for Valentine's Day, I'd be able to comfort myself with the knowledge that at least I didn't have to spend it with Crazy Tom Cruise.

There's always a silver lining!

Their necks are almost a heart!

"People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around." (p.8)

"...a story, once started, takes a shape. It picks up all the vibrations of all the other workings of that story that have ever been." (p.9)

"Stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats. Or, if you prefer to think of it like this: stories are a parasitical life form, warping lives in the service only of the story itself." (p.9)

Which explains a lot, really.

Remember the snow post about two days ago? Well, it's rained pretty much steadily since Tuesday afternoon and now the snow is nearly all gone. Truly, a weird climate.

On the plus side, I didn't have to shovel out my parking space after all. Done!

After posting the Allman Brothers' video it occurred to me, I don't think I've ever posted a Guns N Roses video here. I shudder to think of what's become of that band, but I really liked them once upon a time.



(It was all downhill after Izzy left.)

And while we're at it:



Damn, they were a good band before it all went to hell.

(This is from an MTV performance in the late '80s. I assume it's wonky because of the transfer from VHS to digital. Anyways.)