#222: Little Secrets

We had a New Year's party! It was a hilarious mix of people who didn't know each other at all, and a bunch of St Mary's girls. Also, Passion Pit = party. That's math.

I stole this picture from AWith - it's the feet of all of the Whitman people, who didn't talk to anyone they didn't know all night. Not that I'm bitter.

#221: Tighter

Went to the Jazz @ Blazers game with BS and Gribs and her bf. Super fun! We also went to Spirit of 77, which was a tad bro-y but mostly great.

My love affair with Fitz and the Tantrums continues. GOD I LOVE SOUL MUSIC. Also, skip to 0:40 in this video if you don't want to hear the cheesy intro.

#220: When I'm Alone

Cobbay is really into Lissie. In fact, I've been listening to her music all month without knowing it. Perhaps I listened to it on this day because I was missing Cobbalobb and his return was imminent.

#219: Moonshadow

Kiddos. This song will still always remind me of going to karaoke at the Golden Horse in Walla Walla, and the Japanese native speaker (who I had never met) demanding I help her sing it (mid-song, of course) because she suddenly realized she didn't know it at all. You've got to be more discriminating in your karaoke picks, people!

#218: Resurrection

Spoon likes to leave his music on all day. But that's ok, because he has good music.

Does this player work better or worse than the old one (that I used, for example, here)? I switched to Chrome and the old one is slow and weird in my browser now. But it worked well in Firefox. Opinions? No? No one reads my blog? Ok.

#217: Who's Gonna Save My Soul

Baking apple pie with BS!

#216: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas!

#215: The Cave

Mumford and Sons sometimes blows my mind with their wildly successful combination of alternative stylings and bluegrass skills. This is their other incredibly over-played song.

#214: We Will Rock You

Specifically requested by the kiddos! The other day Soap asked me who sings for Queen and I launched into a very long biography which she was not at all interested in.

#213: I'll Come Running Back to You

Sam Cooke! This is a shower staple for me. Also, have you read dubious internet articles about his death? YOU SHOULD. Also one of those articles refers to the lesser known Princess of Soul, Urethra Franklin. Internet!

#212: A Hard Day's Night

My great accomplishment is making this one of the kiddos' favorite songs.

#211: All of the Lights

My roommates are crazy into Kanye. TELL ME YOU'VE SEEN RUNAWAY.

#210: Bully

Cobbay gave me Lissie, she (or is it they?) is pretty great.

portland is a city where young people go to retire

Ok obviously we've all given up on the idea of me blogging daily. INSTEAD, WATCH THIS VIDEO.

#209: Don't Gotta Work It Out

Went snowshoeing with BS and then watched movies and drank cocoa.

#208: If I Could Build My Whole World Around You

MY BIRTHDAY! I listen to this song at least 5 times a week. Every week.

#207: Cooler Than Me

Terrible top 40 hits. Absolutely terrible.

#206: Me and Bobby McGee

#205: Bulletproof

#204: I've Got the World On a String

Missin miss Kati!

#203: Hurricane Drunk

#202: Birthday

My dad's 70th birthday dinner!

#201: Criminal

More Kink introductions.

#200: Light You Up

#199: Romancer

94.7 featured this band from Australia during their Passport Approved show. I'm obsessed! I couldn't download the tracks off their myspace for some reason, and desperately emailed them about it. I quite honestly can't stop listening to it. It's just blissfully fun pop, but without the complete lack of talent that usually comes with "fun" pop. It's infectious. Still waiting on the track but until that time, you can listen to it on their myspace. Seriously, do that right now.

UPDATE: Here's the track! Give it a good seven listens.

#198: Walk on the Wild Side

#197: Replay

BS foolishly likes this song, so it got stuck on my head.

#196: Grenade

Bruno Mars, you are good looking but write silly lyrics sometimes.

#195: Give a Little More

One of Maroon 5's new songs, heard it on the radio.

#194: There's This There's That

We Barbarians opened for Passion Pit on Dec 1st and were pretty great. Also Michael Cera's band?!

#193: Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart

Yet another Frank sing-a-long in the car.

#192: Moneygrabber

ACK I heard this song on Kink and then got my entire friend group hooked on it.

#191: Best of My Love

#190: Magic

#189: Please, Please, Please

Harry's birthday!

#188: Busted

#187: I Second That Emotion

Oh I love singing along to this song.

#186: I'd Rather Go Blind

Etta is the best. Listened to this on the way home from Thanksgiving dessert with the Silvers.

#185: A Girl Worth Fighting For

BS and I roadtripped up the coast from Eugene to Portland.

#184: Power

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out this week.

#183: You're All I Need to Get By

Cleaning to soul music.

#182: What Goes On

#181: The Times They Are A-Changin'

I read The Help during my trip to visit PHC in Santa Fe. It's very intriguing but maybe not the best writing. Great story though. Also it quotes this song.

#180: Howlin' for You

#179: Soul Man

#178: Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Again, inexplicably wasn't in my 365 before this.

#177: Only Girl (In the World)

I really listen to far too much Z100.

#176: If I Ain't Got You (live)

From Unplugged.

#175: Sweet Soul Music

C-Stim visited me and I came home from work to find her listening to my "sweet soul music" playlist.

#174: 1983

94.7 introduced me to this one.

#173: Loves Me Like a Rock

The kiddos don't like this one much, but it's my favorite to force them to listen to.

#172: Cruisin'

Technically I already have the Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow version of this on an old 365, but this version is so much better that I can count them as different songs.

#171: California English

#170: That's Why (I Love You So)

Folding laundry to soul music.

#169: Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel

Dance party in the car.

#168: Shine

#167: Wild World

Kiddos got me on a Cat Stevens kick.

#166: If Not For You

#165: Then Came You

Oldies radio is a bit repetitive but the beauty is, I'm a song killer anyway.

#164: A Cockeyed Optimist

One of the musical numbers that best describes me. I loudly sang along to it while doing dishes.

#163: Love the One You're With

And the eagle flies with the dove!

#162: Girl With One Eye

#161: Dream Weaver

#160: Stuntin' Like Mufasa

Halloween party!

#159: Welcome Home

Eugene with BS again!

#158: Cracklin' Rosie

Neil Diamond is ideal for car singing on indian summer days.

#157: We R Who We R

God this song is horrible.

#156: Everlasting Love

I love this song but all I ever sing of it is "berdi derdi derdi EVERLASTING LOVE!"

#155: Womanizer

Remember when Britney Spears had a comeback?

#154: Amie

#153: Come Fly With Me

Always Frank Sinatra.

#152: Hold it All at Bay

#151: Runaway

We watched Runaway for the first time today - and would watch it again every day for the next six days.

#150: Tururu

This is on the "kiddos" playlist I made for driving the girls around.

#149: Sweet Jane

KGON gave me this one.

#148: Spirit in the Sky

#147: Just the Way You Are

Bruno Mars was on SNL in Buddy Holly suits, and it was awesome.

#146: Danny's Song

Listening to Oldies 106.7 while driving kiddos around, like always.

#145: I'm Confused

From LSTN #3.

#144: Death of the Party

A Whittie friend has a blog about NW rap and hip-hop, and he posted about this song and got me intrigued.

#143: Barbra Streisand

Probably the best song I've heard all year. Now that you've seen the title, the first time you listen to it won't be as magical as it could have been.

#142: Mother And Child Reunion

Dance party in the car, I believe.

#141: Father's Son

Heard this amazing song on Kink.

#140: The Park

Last day in Eugene.

#139: Club Can't Handle Me

Jurassic Park themed dance party for BS's birthday.

#138: Skinny Love

Eugene with BS!

#137: Spiderbite

Cooking and listening to Football's new music.

#136: Keep the Car Running

Arcade Fire from BS.

#135: Blame it on the Boogie

From a genius playlist straight into the most played song in my itunes.

#134: Brothers and Sisters

I don't know if this is the song I was referring to, but I wrote down "10/4 brothers & sisters." The problem is that there are a lot of songs called that and also an artist! So this is a guess of what I was referring to when I wrote that note down two months ago.

#133: Harold T. Wilkins, or How to Wait for a Very Long Time

From Urban Outfitters' LSTN again. I have to admit.

#132: Souls of Gold

I think this was a radio find?

#131: Why Can't This Be Love

Gah! This song is hilariously great.

#130: Take Me Home, Country Roads

This was a big mistake. I accidentally put it on for Bean in the car, thinking it was the John Denver version. She fell in love and now she and Soap incessantly demand it. I am haunted by it. It is terrifying.

#129: Under African Skies

#128: Mine's Not a High Horse

#127: Any Time At All

#126: Gotta Understand

#125: Save Me, San Francisco

#124: If I Had You (Dr. Pack Extended Remix)

Listening to too much Z100.

#123: Rock Me Gently

Ahhhh I heard this on the radio and am now obsessed. I rock out far too hard in the car for a disco pop hit.

#122: World at Large

#121: If it's Love

Radio!

#120: How Do You Do It

#119: Teenage Dream

I hate Katy Perry, but I love this song.

#118: Feelin' Alright

#117: Seven Words

Poker night with the boys.

#116: My Dick

Sang along to this while driving through Hood River on the way back to Portland.

#115: Ridin' Solo

Driving to Pendleton, we theorized that this song is actually about Jason Derulo's desire for Han Solo.

#114: I Am Over It

Listened to the Dandy Warhols while we made dinner in BBR.

#113: Sweet Baby James

After a lovely day of bike riding and hammock swinging around Black Butte, BS and I watched Silence of the Lambs during a hail storm. I made it through ok but I had to turn on all the lights, eat ice cream, and listen to James Taylor for a while.

#112: F*ck You!

Alex gave this to me and I immediately became obsessed. Just like everyone who hears this song.

#111: If We Ever Meet Again

BS gave this to me, by way of his sister.

#110: Hit the Road, Jack

Today, I read Bean a book that contained the phrase "hit the road" and she immediately started singing this song.

#109: Little Light of Mine

Yaner sent this to me!

#108: Can't You See

#107: I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)

Portland Oldies pulls out something I haven't heard before? Unheard of.

#106: Evacuate the Dancefloor

BS infected me with this one. This might have been the day we hiked in Mt Hood Natl Forest and couldn't stop singing it.

#105: I'd Rather Be With You

#104: Top of the Bottom

#103: Tighten Up

Hard to miss on the radio.

#102: 1901

Took me long enough to pay attention to Phoenix.

#101: Keep Fishin'

Weezer on the radio.

#100: Mushaboom

#99: Taxi Cab

I was getting pumped for Vampire Weekend and Beach House at Edgefield, I believe.

#98: Shower the People

Driving back home, listening to James Taylor.

#97: Resistance

Singing on the trail, maybe? After camping near the summit of Silver Star, we did a little 3 mile loop and mostly napped this day!!

#96: Kick Ass

This is BS and my adventuring song. Day 1 of backpacking!

#95: Pumped Up Kicks

Heard it on the radio and then I got it from NPR! I love All Songs Considered.

#94: I Heard it Through the Grapevine

#93: Do Your Stuff

Eccentric Soul again!

#92: Slow Down Chicago

Listened to this during a long day of traveling.

#91: Dynamite

Sang it to and from the camp with Yaner.

#90: Satellite

#89: Down Under

Singing in the car with Yaner.

#88: I Saw the Sign

Karaoke night at Cuzzy's!

#87: Celebration

Landed in Maine singing "Maine Maine Maine Maine I am in Maine RIGHT NOW!" to the tune of "Celebration."

#86: 25 Miles

Oh man! Excellent satellite radio find.

#85: Witchi-Tai-To

Realized this wasn't on my 365 and immediately added it. I listened to it daily for about a month.

#84: Sweet Inspiration

Heard this on the way to brunch in Seattle!

#83: Vehicle

Claire and I decided this is creepiest song ever. "I'm a friendly stranger in a black sedan won't you hop inside my car."

#82: It's a Shame

#81: Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Pt. 2

Heard it on Kink.

#80: 5 Years Time

You NEED this song.

#79: What's in the Lovin'

Somehow I got this awesome album called Eccentric Soul. I don't know where it came from, but I love it.

#78: You Ain't Going Nowhere

Radio reminder of Bob Dylan.

#77: Feel Like A Natural Woman

This song plays in my head all the time.

#76: Mess Around

#75: Holiday

#74: 22

#73: Bring it On Home to Me

Sang along to this on my way home from a gathering of SMArians.

#72: One Good Man

We had a neighborhood picnic for SB's district! I planned ALL of it. It went swimmingly!

#71: Little Lion Man

A staple of 94.7 this summer.

#70: Khauleza

#69: Hot in Herre

Austin was SWELTERING. So naturally, since we were once brainwashed by the 90s and Nelly, we intermittently mutter, "it's gettin hot in here... so take off all your clothes..."

#68: Trouble About My Soul

We saw this incredible girl bluegrass band open for Reckless Kelly. They were selling their EP for the first time!

#67: Cotton Eyed Joe

Although we did learn the two step at a honky tonk, we did not dance to Cotton Eyed Joe that night. But it was the closest song I had to anything we heard there.

#66:Ojala Que Llueva Cafe

On my way to Austin, I listed to this excellent and hilarious song that Yaner gave me, in anticipation of seeing her.

#65: Marathon

AKerr sent me this song while he was in the middle of nowhere. Yet still ahead of everyone with his hipster music. It was on Urban Outfitters LSTN in November, so clearly he can't like them anymore.

#64: Jack & Diane

While driving up the gorge to hike Angel's Rest, right in the middle of an intense discussion of something, probably in fact in the middle of a sentence, I stopped to passionately sing along "HOLD ONTO 16 AS LONG AS YOU CAN, CHANGE COME AROUND REAL SOON MAKE US WOMEN AND MEN" and scared BS a little bit.

#63: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Surprised this wasn't already on a 365 somewhere...

#62: Chan Chan

Can't remember why - but it was probably a dinner party. BVSC is my favorite dinner party music.

#61: Danke Schoen

Watched Ferris Bueller at Flicks on the Bricks. SO GROOD. Great and good.

#60: You Are My Sunshine

Sang it to Bean before nap! And also a lot while agonizing over the potty.

#59: Your Hands (Together)

So, Marika was right, Together is an amazing album.

#58: Non, je ne regrette rien

I like to sing this defiantly after making bad decisions.

#57: Pleasure for Your Pleasure

Although we had been listening to them for a long time, Harry had just given me Pleasure (har har), which is why I put so many Pleasure songs on in the same week. Also I just love funk music.

#56: Tell Me Something Good

This is going to be one of my karaoke songs. Resolved.

#55: Please Send Me Someone to Love

Satellite radio find.

#54: Testament to Youth in Verse

The New Pornographers at the Crystal Ballroom! With BS and other excellent people!

#53: Let's Dance

Pleasure again because they are excellent. AND FROM PORTLAND!

#52: Too Pooped to Pop

Cleaning to Chuck Berry is oddly motivating. Try it out.

#51: Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)

Back in the days of me having satellite radio, I heard this one on The Groove!

#50: Fly Me to the Moon

I love Frank Sinatra! I especially love making soup while singing along to Frank Sinatra.

#49: Say You Will

#48: Sweet Disposition

I got this from the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack. Temper Trap is pretty great.

#47: Bouncy Lady

This incredible funk band is from PORTLAND! What? There were funk bands in Portland in the 1970s? Now you know.

#46: Apology Song

BS introduced me to this gem, and then I made him sing it while we hiked.

#45: King of Anything

This is my song of the summer. I am wildly obsessed for the following reasons:
1. Horns
2. The chorus includes the line "you annoy me"
3. POWERHOUSE VOCALS

For the uninitiated, (the very manly) JJ introduced me to Sara Bareilles by handing me a cd, saying "You're going to love it. Piano and powerhouse vocals."

#44: Happy Man

This is from a BS mix that I had on while puttering around with Schaefenator. Warning: not as happy as the title suggests.

#43: Animal

Mondo obsessed with this song. It keeps coming on 94.7 and interrupting my constant dial-searching with joyous music. Also for a long time I was sure the chorus was "say goodbye to my heart tonight" but I have recently realized it is "take a bite of my heart tonight." Much better, in my personal opinion.

#42: Don't Pull Your Love

Catching up, very slowly...

OH MAN I canNOT stop singing this song. It has nothing to do with the fourth of July, but it has a lot to do with me singing it very loudly in the car on the way to Brush Prairie. I'm convinced this would be a hilarious karaoke song, but I think I might be the only one who would enjoy it.

iTunes thinks this is rock? Skeptical.

#41: Trapped By a Thing Called Love

I heard this one on Soul Town quite some time ago, and it popped up on my iPod again on the plane back to Portland. Did you know that they will just keep bringing you champagne for the entire 6 hour flight? They will. Use this knowledge carefully.

#40: The Jody Grind

From my Pandora jazz/swing station. It was our last day in Hawaii, so it was full of mai tais and mahi mahi. Also classy jazz!

#39: This Tornado Loves You

Morning yoga, afternoon at the north shore, tapas for dinner. Mix from BS as a soundtrack. Pretty great.

#38: You Get What You Give

Franzia gave me a bunch of KBCO studio recordings which are amaaaazing and I was listening to them by the pool (this pool) while reading East of Eden. Have you ever had an avocado milkshake? I highly recommend them.

#37: Pink Bullets

Drove to Waimea Canyon, finished The Road, listened to the Shins by the pool. Rough life.

#36: Sophisticated Side Ponytail

Stuck inside due to my horrendous sunburn, I read The Road and listened to a mix from BS... get ready for this one, if you haven't heard it before. It's pretty awesome. This video is nutso.

#35: Won't Let Me Go

Our second night in Hawaii, there was a wedding reception on the lawn outside our bedroom. I was pretty over hearing their horrendous band do Hawaiian-style covers of "Shout," so I had to drown them out with Amos Lee on the iHome.

#34: Ninna nanna

Ok, so I didn't exactly keep up with my updates. It turns out that although it is summer and I don't have homework or a full time job, I do have a lot of things to do that are more exciting than being on my computer. Like hiking and swimming and generally being awesome.

Anyway. We flew first class (!!) to Hawaii and after my complimentary glass of champagne at 10 in the morning, I passed out for most of the flight with Pink Martini blaring through my headphones. This is from Splendor in the Grass, their latest.

#33: Lovely Rita

BS gave me Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band in a package a few weeks ago and today on the drive back from the beach we listened to it all the way through. It is a reggae cover of Sgt Pepper, and it is really incredible! As hopefully this song will demonstrate. It's best as an album, but just imagine what the album would be like after hearing this.



Well I'm off to Hawaii for the week, but I'll be back with updates (probably...) on July 3rd. Try not to be too jealous of my amazing life.

#32: Breakin' Up

So while making omelettes, I made a Genius playlist based on "Portions For Foxes" and iTunes, as it often does, was intuitive enough to suggest more Rilo Kiley. In iTunes' defense, it also put many songs by other artists on the playlist, this just happens to be the one I picked out. Anyway this song is great.

#31: You Look Better When I Drunk

OH MY GOD HAVE YOU HEARD THIS SONG? I heard it on the ever-classy Z100 and oh my god it is amazing. Also it is UNHOLY TERRIBLE.

In unrelated-to-this-song news, I went to Cape Meares on the first perfect summer day of Portland, where it was cloudy and 55. AND YET IT WAS PERFECT.

#30: The Preacher

Work work work! I went to the gym and then the office and then I was a grown up. I like to listen to jazz at work to be even more of a classy adult, and so I was listening to my "Jazz, Blues, Swing" station and ended up buying this gem by Horace Silver.

#29: I Need More Love

My wonderful wonderful man friend came back to Portland at last! It was a magical day - we watched Jurassic Park (turns out I did not remember ANY of it) and had amazing Lebanese food at Habibi - also we listened to some Robert Randolph!

#28: Break Your Heart

Schaef told me that her friend decided this song was her theme song, and then it was stuck in our heads for a collective 36 hours (at least). When she dragged me out for a run (what.) I sang it quite a bit. It's really terrible but very addictive.

Also it was Father's day! I had a lovely dinner with my family and then there was drama. WHAT ELSE IS NEW.

#27: (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

This Weezer song came on KINK while I was driving to meet Congressman Wu (!!) on Saturday. In addition to my burgeoning career as person-who-knows-what-she's-doing-sometimes-in-politics(?), I also hung out with some awesome people, including my best friend of 17+ years and then a few Whitties and St Mary's people at a dinner party that I (sort of) threw. Mostly Schaef threw it, since she did all the cooking, but it was at my apartment, so I'll take the credit.

#26: Homecoming

On Friday, I attended only the GREATEST CONCERT I HAVE EVER SEEN. Robert Randolph came to the Crystal Ballroom and Mr Football and I rocked out like we have never rocked out before. Seriously, if you have the opportunity to see him live, do NOT pass it up. It was incredible. Three straight hours of dancing my ass off - I was actually sore the next day. By the encore I wasn't sure if I could dance any more. But he sat down at the pedal steel and all of the sudden I found the energy to dance harder than ever before.

#25: T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)

Yet another Soul Town find - MFSB (it stands for Mother Father Sister Brother) is a pretty sweet ass funk band. Apparently this song was the theme to Soul Train for a while? It's a good thing the dj said who the artist was, otherwise all I would have had to google of the lyrics would be "let's get it on, it's time to get down" which would probably have yielded EVERY FUNK SONG EVER.

#24: Israelites

I was listening to my reggae/ska assignment from History of Rock and Roll (not actually late, it was never assigned since we never made it to reggae... I think) and man, did you know that reggae is great?



In other news, I finally figured out what song should have been #364 in my last 365 - it was "Fatback" by J.J. Johnson. GO LISTEN TO IT. It's awesome.

#23: Grazin' in the Grass

I was yet again listening to the 1970s station when I discovered (rather embarrassingly) that "Grazin' in the Grass" is actually a kick ass instrumental that Friends of Distinction foolishly wrote words to. Apparently this whole time I have been listening to a jazz song that someone wrote lyrics for later. I'M SORRY, EVERYONE. I know this a heinous crime.

#22: Down to the River to Pray

I don't know if I've already mentioned it, but I have the best life ever. On Monday I went to the gym then the office THEN MULTNOMAH FALLS! Schwadam, Football, Lisa and I went on a 5 mile hike above the falls and then over to Wahkeena Falls. Schwadam started singing this while we were in the middle of the best scenery ever. How will I ever move away from Oregon?

#21: Bertha Butt Boogie

Yet another radio find from the 1970s station. Get excited. Anything called "Bertha Butt Boogie" has got to be good, right?

#20: The Love I Lost

Oh man! Yet another radio find thanks to XM radio. So Soul Town has nothing but classic soul and motown, and there's also a station dedicated JUST to the 1970s, and one JUST for the 1960s! What?!? I never have to listen to anything recorded after 1985 again!

#19: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I went to the Beavers game on Friday night and they brought me on the field to play a trivia game! I had to name 10 kinds of cheeses, which I did with no problem because I am the cheese queen, and I won a hat, a shirt, a bobblehead, AND a viewmaster! WHAT WHAT. After that we went out to happy hour and if I may say so, it was AWESOME.

They kept playing this song that sounded like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but definitely wasn't... but it still made me sing Cyndi Lauper a lot.

#18: New Morning

This came on KINK while I was running errands for work. It's really awesome. I'm super excited to finally bestow new music upon my friends who always give me music.

#17: Fire

Football and the bro and I were listening to Florence + the Machine when I made them pause the music so I could put on Ohio Players. I was really needing some funk, I guess.

#16: Devil with the Blue Dress

THIS ONE TIME, I WAS AN ADULT. I mean, not actually at all, but I'm well on my way at least. I got up and went to the gym before work, then got Chinese takeout on my way home from work. Pretty grown up, I would say. This song came on Soul Town, the epic XM station to which I previously referred. Apparently it's the original? It's WAY better than the Mitch Ryder version.

#15: Giving Up the Gun

On Monday I spent all day going through videos of manhole dance parties and making a sad little video of all of the wonderful parties we had. It's not sad at all actually, except that it's sad how I spent most of the day reminiscing about college when OH HEY I have an awesome life RIGHT NOW and I could have been wandering around Portland. I did eventually leave the house, I went out for drinks with St Marys girls! It was pretty great considering that I invited people who hadn't seen each other since graduation.

Anyway this song is in the video I made.

#14: Stagger Lee

So the CD player in my car is broken and I forgot my iPod player on this particular trip. That meant I got to know my XM radio very well. I had one of those "free for a year" deals when I got my car originally, and then they never turned off my XM radio! And yet we're not getting a bill for it. Not too shabby.

Did you know there's an entire station devoted exclusively to classic soul and motown?!? I AM WAY INTO XM RADIO! It's amazing. Why listen to anything else ever? I found lots of fun new songs, such as this one by Lloyd Price.

#13: Dayvan Cowboy

Ok, I know I said the Saturday before graduation was maybe the best day ever, but this Saturday was the best day ever in a completely opposite way. Again, best life ever?

I realize I'm being quite vague. But it is the internet after all. You'll just have to wonder about what magical things could have been happening. I'll give you one lone detail. I played hearts with Mel and Cedar and BS. TANTALIZING!

#12: Take Me to the River

WHAT WHAT Talking Heads covering Al Green! Awesome! This came on the radio whilst driving... maybe to breakfast? in Eugene. I'm wildly obsessed.

Now this is sort of cheating, because I already have a version of "Take Me to the River" on 365 senior year, but I decided to break the rules anyway because it's too great.

#10: The Wind

Off to Eugene again, this time for a longer trip. I don't know if you know this, but I have maybe the best life imaginable.

#9: No One Does It Like You

I started work on Tuesday! Barely. I "worked" for about an hour and a half, and it consisted of one meeting and one trip to Radio Shack. Later that afternoon, I put "Jade" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros into Genius, and it made a shockingly great playlist. So great that I saved it. this was one of the songs in it, which I happen to have acquired via Urban Outfitter's LSTN #2.

#8: Money, Money, Money

Wildly embarrassing, I know. I woke up with ABBA stuck in my head and sang it to people a lot. Sadly, unlike the movie Mamma Mia, I never suddenly found myself on a yacht with a twenty foot scarf blowing in the wind while singing it.

#7: Wavin' Flag

Football, Franzia, Spoon and I wandered around the Saturday market and Portland State and the Pearl on a lovely Sunday afternoon. This song is also from putting my iTunes on shuffle and unpacking - it took a while.

#6: Teeth

I was unpacking to my iTunes on shuffle and HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THIS LADY GAGA SONG? It's straight up CRAZY.

#5: Take Care

MOVE IN DAY! We moved into our beautiful new apartment in Goose Hollow and then I went over to ECM's for dinner. We made amazing risotto (I really need to convince ECM to move in with me) and had a lovely first evening in the Manhole 3.0.

#4: That's the Way

Although it was a wildly short trip to Eugene, it was also a fabulous trip. I put on a genius playlist based on this song and it turned out pretty well, I'd say. Although it's not tough with classic rock - just put on more classic rock. Good job iTunes.

#3: Swanee River

This song came on while I was driving down to Eugene on Wednesday and I'm sort of into it. Sometimes I listen to jazz!

#2: Swimming

You know what is terribly sad? Saying goodbye to people. Harry and I packed up the car and drove to Portland together. We are really great at mini-road trips. He played a bunch of Florence + the Machine. They are always incredible, but they are especially incredible when they are the soundtrack to closing a chapter of your life and complementing a drive through the gorge.



It was also Kyle's 21st birthday! We went out to dinner at Silk downtown and then Galen and Harry and I hung out all evening. It was great.

NEW 365?!? #1: Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Well, I decided to keep it up. So 365 #3 has begun. Last year was my "senior year" 365, so this one is my "real life" 365. I don't know if you know this, but I have an amazing apartment in Portland and an incredible job working on my state senator's re-election campaign, and real life is AWESOME. We're making a Cribs video so that everyone can see how great our apartment is. Don't worry, many of the manhole classics came along - the zebra print snuggie, the 80s Whitman poster, and the "Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned in the Manhole" poster, although it is modestly hidden inside the closet because we're pretending to be grownups now.

Anyway. On with the 365, I suppose! Monday was my last full day in Walla Walla, and I spent it cleaning the apartment. We had a big cleaning party and listened to Abbey Road and Vampire Weekend while we polished away the beer stains.

#365: My Old School

Graduation went pretty smoothly. Juan Williams was pretty good, the weather was ok, and I found most of the people I wanted to see after the ceremony. I sent my parents off with most of my stuff, and had a terribly sad evening with my lovely friends.

Football had the best idea ever - Steely Dan to finish off the 365. Cause I'm never going back to my old school!

#364: Fatback

Saturday was maybe the greatest day ever. I had breakfast with my family at their bed and breakfast, then we went to the farmer's market and then to the Museum of Unnatural History, a surreal art exhibit which is AWESOME. Then we went shopping for fancy clothes for my bro and food for our picnic, I got a haircut, we went to a senior recital in which Football was amazing at singing (as usual), then to a picnic with the manhole and their families, then a nap, then out to a winery where Franzia's band was playing jazz! And finally I went out to the wheat fields for one last night under the stars. Seriously. Could a single day be better? I say nay.

This is one of the songs on Franzia's jazz for the masses mix that was on quite a bit this semester. His band played this at Sapolil and frankly, it was AMAZING. If you haven't been listening to the audio files I occasionally post, today is the day to begin:

#363: Rocket

Friday my family arrived! It was awesome. I spent all morning (and most of the afternoon) packing, then had a lovely evening with my family at Saffron. This song is from the Paste Sampler 61, which I had in my head all week thanks to my lovely weekend drive with Franzia.

#362: Rude Boy

Thursday was Franzia' birthday! We threw a truly epic party for him and Spoon (whose birthday was the following Tuesday), and SOMEONE took control of the music and played Rihanna over and over. Rude Boy came on some five times at least. Five if not fifty. We already had our kick ass setup, with the mixer and two big speakers, but Franzia also borrowed a sub for the party. Suffice it to say, our neighbors continued to hate us right to the last days of school.

Also, have you seen this video? It's AWESOME!

#361: Location

More stolen music - I don't remember much of what I did this week, since it was mostly laying around, throwing the frisbee on Ankeny, occasionally working, and never packing. This is an awesome band too, you should look them up RIGHT NOW. Great electronica rock sort of stuff.

#360: Ynys Elen

I spent most of Tuesday stealing music from Cobbay and Football, including this awesome band, Banco de Gaia.

#359: Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

REAL ANALYSIS FINAL! You were terrible. But after it was over, I was done with my scary math adviser for EVER! I came home and sang "na na na na NA NA NA NA, Russ Gordon, GOODBYE!" at the top of my lungs.

#358: Harmony to My Heartbeat

Franzia and I had an awesome day together on Sunday. After not nearly enough sleep, we decided to watch Star Wars but neither of us own it, so we went to rent it. On the way back home, we gave up on the movie and went for an epic drive through the wheat fields. This song is from the Paste Sampler 60, which we listened to on the drive. That afternoon is probably what I'll miss most about Whitman - epic drives through the wheat fields with the greatest people EVER.

Sally Seltmann used to go by the name New Buffalo, if you have any of that music. YOU PROBABLY SHOULD.

#357: Endless Hookup

Saturday, BS's sister came to visit Walla Walla and got to enjoy the incredible weather. We went out to lunch at Graze (always INCREDIBLE), I gave her and her parents a wildly boring tour of Whitman, and she spent the night at the manhole. It was quite the evening. We tried to have a second cover party, but no one really came. So it was a nice small bunch, which turned out to be an extraordinarily good thing.

This song is one of the many mashups Cobb found - R. Kelly and Rogue Wave. R. Kelly was always on those last few weeks. He's the coolest human being ALIVE!

#356: Put Out the Fire

Friday May 14th, I turned in my math thesis! GLORY! As usual when I need to buckle down and finish something (ok yes, I was still editing it on the due date), I put Queen on shuffle. I found this weird song from Hot Space, an incredibly eighties album, oddly enticing.

#355: 40 Day Dream

Stole this from Cobbay. The whole apartment turned into a hole of unproductivity since classes ended on Wednesday.

#354: You're Beautiful

Moment of truth: time for my thesis presentation. It wasn't super intense or anything, it wasn't a defense or an oral exam, just a presentation. My lovely roommates and friends and even co-workers came! My practice one went a lot better, but I didn't think it was too bad. I started with this AWESOME Sesame Street video clip which you should watch at your own risk, it may be stuck in your head for quite some time:

#353: Good Intentions Paving Company

C-Mags blew through Walla Walla this week! I had been highly anticipating meeting him, since everyone couldn't shut up about how awesome he was. And he didn't disappoint, which would have been easy to do given the amount of build up he received. We were listening to Joanna Newsom in the kitchen when AKerr whipped out his Joanna Newsom impression, which consists mostly of imagining her as an old woman with a walker. You'll never listen to her the same way again.



Also the night of my final Beer Mile! I had a truly epic evening with my favorite dudes, then some wonderful ladies (for the actual nudity part), and finally back home with my true love - the manhole.

#352: Generator (First Floor)

Cobbay was just slaying bitches this year when it came to finding new music. He absolutely crushed. Freelance Whales is one such find (although actually it could have been Football that found them?).

#351: I'm a Flirt (Shoreline)

After the Donner Party, we became wildly obsessed with mashups. Which led to Franzia and Cobbay becoming obsessed with R. Kelly approximately 10 years late. Late is better than never? Not in this case. Soon there was nothing but R. Kelly on in our apartment, and nothing but discussions about how he was the coolest person alive ("He has a party after every show!") happening in our kitchen. Before it became insufferable though, it was pretty funny.

This is a mashup of R Kelly and Broken Social Scene by The Hood Internet, who have some SWEET ass mixes.

#350: Sexual Healing

I went on my second river trip this Saturday, to the Lower White Salmon (just north of Hood River). It was AMAZING. I fell out in almost every rapid, spent a full 20 minutes holding onto a log for dear life in a really strong eddy, for a while wanted to cry and be in warm clothes and not a wet suit and far away from nature, but then by the end I wanted to drive back up to the top and go again! It was a major Murphy's Law sort of trip - everything went wrong all the time. We lost gear (but found it later!), had all four of the non-guides fall out on the same rapid (at close to the same time), and were often cold and miserable, but in the end it was just awesome! I almost bought a kayak after this trip. It was seriously epic.

And why is Marvin Gaye my song for the day you ask? Well, it came on during the 3 hour drive and personally I will take any excuse I can to put soul on my 365. Also, any song whose plot consists of waking up their girlfriend in the middle of the night for sex.

#349: I Want to Break Free

OH MAN. So I spent all day working on my Rock & Roll final project, a video analyzing the "Bad Romance" music video. It has a lot of references to other music videos, including the STRAIGHT UP CRAZY video for "I Want to Break Free." I'm really obsessed with my video, so I'm posting it here so you can be impressed with me. Also so that you can watch the crazy ass clips of lots of weird videos.

The 21st Century Freak: Glam Rock, Pop and Punk in Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" from Andrew Witherspoon on Vimeo.

#348: Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats

Los Campesinos! came to Whitman - WHAT. We rarely get bands from outside the northwest, let alone outside the country. It was awesome, besides YET AGAIN going to an event alone because my roommates were too busy playing Modern Warfare. Totally worth it though! I ran over after my evening class got out and was just in time. They were super fun and at the end tried (unsuccessfully) to crowd surf on the TINY crowd that was there. When it failed, the singer just walked through the crowd to the back of the room and we all ran up to him and danced around him and had altogether too much fun. For the encore, the lead singer, guitar player, and a guy with a tambourine (they're a huge band, it's totally excusable that I have no idea who these people are) came out in the middle of the crowd and played the song from there, with all of us dancing and singing around them. It was SO much fun. Probably my favorite concert of the last few years, even though I am not a huge Los Campesinos! fan. They were just so fun!

#347: Stand Up

Ralph Nader came to Whitman! It was pretty cool but also, as AKerr pointed out, he didn't really say anything new or impressive. But it was pretty inspiring, and he told everyone to start actually going to town hall meetings and calling our senators and get involved. I liked it, regardless of being unceremoniously ditched by my friends before the talk even began. I put this on my 365 because although it's not actually saying get involved, "Stand Up" sounds sort of like a call to political arms, right?

#346: Gatorade Has Evolved (Extended)

Sometimes, I'm a marketing wuss and completely give in to whatever the advertising gods decide I should like. Such as this stupid commercial.



That extraordinarily catchy song was actually written FOR Gatorade. Crazy. You can also download it from their website! And I totally did. And now I regularly listen to something that was written to SELL GATORADE. Here's the full version:



Also, what's the deal with that commercial? Gatorade, you can't take credit for Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan, and I'm pretty sure your new squeezy drinks aren't responsible for Dwight Howard or Peyton Manning, either.

#11: What a Girl Wants

I MUST STRESS that this has nothing to do with anything that happened on Thursday. If it did, I would be terribly embarrassed with myself for relating Christina Aguilera to real life. Unfortunately, I still get to be embarrassed because I woke up with this song stuck in my head. WHAT. Sometimes I hate my brain for keeping these things around.

#345: (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I

I'm pretty sure this was one of those evenings when I realized I was in it completely over my head, and had little to no chance of surviving, let alone graduating (but I totally did survive AND graduate!). And I was listening to my music on shuffle and ended up on Elvis (because... why not). I totally love Elvis. This song is rife with his soulful decorations and "uh-hhuh"s. It's great. I highly recommend it.

#344: Reason to Mourn

Ok, back to me having no clue what happened. I know Kyle made us EPIC brunch complete with homemade hollandaise for our eggs benedict, quiche, and mini cheesecakes. But other than that, I'm pretty sure it was just another senioritis-riddled Sunday.

#343: Whiskey in a Jar

Kyle likes to listen to metal while cooking. Well actually, all the time. But I let him put metal on in the apartment because he was making us delicious food. I really don't get it, but I am trying. Not very hard. But a little.

Anyway this one is great because it's a song we sang at Arbor! But it's Metallica.

#342: Walk in the Park

Kyle came to Walla Walla! On his first night though, I didn't force him to cook. Instead, we ate delicious Walla Walla burritos from La Monarca (I'm crying a little realizing I can't eat these anymore) and hung out in the Manhole listening to Beach House - wild night, as always.

#341: White Sky

Basically I'm just trying to get all of Contra on my 365. Actually, I don't have to try, because it was on EVERY DAY in the Manhole 2.0.

In case you were wondering, it's currently in version 3.0, available exclusively in Portland.

#340: Strange Man

My brother gave me this song something like two years ago. Dorothy Love Coates is pretty much the definition of badass. For a gospel singer, at least.

#339: Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)

I really have no idea what to tell you on this one. Apparently I was listening to Jim Croce. Since it was a Tuesday, I can also confidently say that I watched Glee. And a weird heist movie (Sexy Beast) staring Ben Kingsley which made me have nightmares about men in bunny suits. You would too:

#338: Pick it Up, Lay it in the Cut

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings were on the Colbert Report! Amazing! I have been majorly obsessed ever since Pandora sent their awesome funk my way. Sadly I only have a few songs, and I am about 72% sure I meant to replace this with a song from their new album, which they played on the show, but I still haven't bought the new album. So you're going to have to settle for this song from Dap-Dappin'.

#337: Mish Mash Soul

Most likely a day of ANTM marathons, Gatorade, and procrastination. I was looking for mashups in my iTunes and ended up listening to this song, which was not at all what I was looking for but it is a great soul song! So there's that. I got it from Pandora a few years ago while perusing my Marc Broussard station.

#336: Any Way You Want It (Syntax Error Remix)

DONNER PARTY 2010. It was a smashing success. I baked red velvet cupcakes which we (sort of) assembled into the shape of a man, as well as sugar cookies in the shape of various body parts (including the head of a baby!), and of course we had the requisite blood punch and dehydrated skin. We also had twinkies labeled "severed manhoods." A very impressive number of people dressed up, too! We had beer pong outside, dancing and quarters inside, and something obscene like 50 people in our tiny apartment.

I made the rookie sorority girl mistake of not eating dinner because I ate a huge lunch at 4:30, and had the pleasure of spending 20 minutes of each hour of the night in the bathroom. Truly terrible. I thought I was done with that part of life... oh well. Sometimes we all have to relive freshman year, I guess.

Cobbay found TONS of amazing mashups which were definitely the highlight of the dancing (which I did a LOT of). This is a Journey remix and it's increeeedible. Cobbay found it on bootiemashup.com which has tons of mixes, but you can also check out Rhythm Scholar's site for more goodness.

#335: Norway

Ok, so. It has been more than a month, but school is over (like, COMPLETELY over) and now I have all the free time in the world to blog. WOO HOO! And so begins my epic attempt to catch back up.

Let's see. April 23rd. Day before the Donner Party. I know I bought an awesome Kdub t-shirt designed by Sam and listened to some truly terrible student bands, but that's about all I've got. We probably put on Beach House and hung out at home. Very exciting. But really. Have you listened to Beach House yet? THEY'RE INCREDIBLE.

#334: River Deep, Mountain High

And this is why my 365 is so great! Because "Tik Tok" is sandwiched by Vampire Weekend and a soul classic. This was also from our soul listening assignment, and I had honestly never listened to the entire thing. Tina Turner, you are seriously awesome.

Ok... back to homework now, I swear. Good to see you again for a bit though, dear blog of mine.

#333: Tik Tok

Oh my. Have you seen the video of Ke$ha (what kind of name is that, really) performing "Tik Tok" on Saturday Night Live? It is maybe the most hilarious thing I have ever watched. First of all, there's the ridiculously dramatic introduction, in which we definitively learn (in case we didn't already know) that Ke$ha cannot sing. Then there's the abundance of American flags... I'm sure you think there was a super hip point to that, Ke$ha, but you were wrong. Were they ironic (I "love" America... :/ )? Do you love America, and that is why you brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack? How is this in any way related to partying or to THE ASTRONAUT COSTUMES EVERYONE IS WEARING? Then of course we must discuss the dancing. Or severe lack thereof. Um... what are those astronauts doing, exactly? It looks like they are at some sort of hoedown but their upper bodies are frozen in robot position. And then they do exactly ONE move of the robot and return to Ke$ha's overarching theme of her career: THROWING YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR. And we can't ignore the awesomely dramatic "Did anyone ever stop to think maybe we are the aliens?" Again, I have to ask, what does this have to with your song about partying all night?

Anyway the point is, I found this video extremely hilarious and spent all day showing it to people and doing the lovably awkward astronaut dance in public with Cobbay. Yaner and I also had a pretty great dance party at home to Ke$ha and Lady GaGa. Except somehow, one was massively superior to the other. Because Lady GaGa may not be writing any symphonies, but that doesn't mean she's stupid.

#332: Horchata

As per usual, Franzia put on Contra in the afternoon and we were positively enveloped in their awesomeness. I love the manhole. Moving out is going to be such a sad day.

#331: The Midnight Hour

I forced myself back into the library on Monday night, accompanied by my lovable sidekicks, Franzia and Cobbay. I was listening to our listening assignment on the beginnings of soul music, and found myself on youtube for the next hour or so watching videos of Jackie Wilson. That dude is a performer, let me tell you. If I put as much energy into my homework as he puts into one song, I'd probably graduate with honors rather than with glee at having somehow pulled it off. I know I don't say it much, but I LOVE SOUL MUSIC.

#330: Our Lady of the Underground

I was supposed to be in Seattle hanging out with my AWESOME brother this weekend, but I told myself I had to stay home and be productive, since I had spent two straight weeks avoiding work and was officially in way over my head. Of course, as anyone could have predicted, I was way less productive than I should have been. I spent most of Sunday sleeping in way too late and then being amorphous on the couch with my roomies, listening to excellent music like this folk opera!

#329: Drumming Song

Hoo boy. Not sure about this... but I mean, I'm always listening to Florence + the Machine. Probably with Football.

#328: Tear It Up

I spent much of the next day complaining about my lack of sleep to everyone around me (even though I had heartily slept through class because of my sudden late night dedication to my thesis) and then telling them about all the great Queen songs I had found in the middle of the night. Great stuff. This one would be much more recognizable as a Queen song on the radio - Freddie killing the vocals, heavy beat (and clapping!), and killer guitar lines cutting through everything else.

#327: See What A Fool I've Been

Is there anything Queen doesn't make better? I stayed up approximately all night working on my thesis to the soundtrack of nothing but Queen. It was excellent. Also, I discovered several gems which are not in my regular rotation of Queen songs. Like this sexy little ditty from Queen II.

#326: Eye of the Tiger

So, one time, senioritis had me by the throat. It was seriously running my life, and there was nothing my professors or my conscious could do to remedy the situation. Luckily, there was something Survivor could do about it. And so, I listened to "Eye of the Tiger" on repeat for a solid 10 minutes (ok fine, twenty) while walking to the library and sitting down to work. Because there's really no other way to sit down to two weeks of ignored work that feels completely insurmountable than with the most inspirational music you can think of. It's too bad I can't use "The Final Countdown" for this purpose anymore - Arrested Development has completely re-appropriated that song.

#325: Hello, I Love You

OMG GLEE. Glee returned in all of its glory, and Finn sang the Doors. It was a pretty boring cover, but I am pretty obsessed with this song anyway. I quite often want to text the chorus to people for no reason. Other than the fact that I love them, of course.

#324: You've Got Growing Up to Do

And here goes a whole lot of trying to make up the reasons I chose these songs... man this blog would have been a great idea if I had actually kept it up.

Yaner gave me this song, and it is excellent. It probably just came up on shuffle while I was futilely attempting to do work. I don't know what else happened except that I was majorly overwhelmed by school, as usual.

#323: American Pie

Sunday I went on my first river trip! My beginning kayaking class went to a part of the Snake river outside Asotin, WA and spent a few excellent hours learning to navigate eddies and rapids. It was extremely nerve-racking and at times exhausting (even though our leaders were visibly bored by the Class II water) and THE BEST THING EVER. I want to kayak forever. Except that I am still majorly scared of it.

On the way back, during one of the few hours in the trip in which we actually had radio reception (when we didn't, the radio would just scan straight through the entire FM frequency over and over. It was eerie), we caught some Don McLean. I was half-asleep in the very back of our minivan, staring out at the rolling fields in the sun, and for some reason, it was a very perfect moment.

#322: You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'

Listening to the Righteous Brothers... Ron Witcosky must have been in town. That he was. My parents brought me pastries at work, then we all went out to lunch with Claire's parents and later that day went out to dinner at Whoopemup, the extraordinary soul food restaurant inexplicably located in Waitsburg. Yes, the town with a population under 1500 in extremely rural eastern Washington has an amazing soul food restaurant. Who knew.

[Yes, avoiding work again... 11 days until my thesis is due]

#321: You are the Sunshine of My Life

Friday morning, I sang my little heart out in the shower, much to the chagrin of the three other people at home at the time. I sang nothing but soul classics. Mostly duets. It was fabulous. Other happenings of Friday: my parents arrived in Walla Walla and took me out to a fabulous dinner at Saffron!

Ok, time to return to math... I promise to put up this week sometime very soon.

#320: Try Me

Another remnant of the glorious weekend - clearly this week was very boring, as I was mostly listening to things from the weekend and things that were new to me a month ago. I was definitely not working very hard, I can tell you. Not that I didn't have work to be doing. I DID.

Anyway. In case you STILL haven't noticed, Marc Broussard is my one true love.

Update

Just so you know, I do have 365 songs for all of the still-missing days, and I will continue to update in bursts like tonight whenever I am avoiding my thesis (so... all the time).

Also, if your Google Reader is like mine, the Quicktime files don't show up! There aren't songs for all of the entries, but just so you know, if you're reading this on an RSS reader and haven't seen any audio files, they do exist on the actual site. If you're interested.

One more also: Football recorded another EP, and if you're interested in hearing it, click here to download 5 new songs by him.

Finally, sorry that I have completely forgotten about the supposed purpose of this blog - talking about music - in order to talk about myself. But talking about myself is fun. I'm going to do some more of it right now.

FIRST THE GOOD THINGS! I practically have my roll in kayaking - I get up every time, I'm just doing it wrong. Also, I made the most chocolatey cupcakes EVER today, and mopped our revolting floor, and made guacamole. All in all, a successful afternoon, considering the morning, and now the evening, have been wildly unproductive.

Then the bad things. Primitive Pythagorean triangles are sort of busting my balls this week. Not actually, but I'm just so not motivated to work that having to do anything at all feels ridiculously insurmountable. ALSO, when you have a weekend like I just had, regular life is decidedly monochrome in comparison. Six weeks (and a bit) til freedom and a glorious reunion. That's not that bad, right?

I need this shirt. -->
It's only about every 5th word that comes out of my mouth anyway.

ALSO - I should probably invest in a thesaurus.

#319: Howl

Surprise, surprise - more Florence + the Machine. Did you know that Walla Walla tourism's slogan is "Surprise, surprise"? I'm not sure that they can appropriate that to be just for Walla Walla... but ok. I'll take it, "town so nice they named it twice." Clearly originality is not in your blood.

#318: Way Down Hadestown

SO. Cobbay found this awesome folk opera, Football stole it from him, and on Tuesday I didn't have class until noon and so I woke up at 11 to Football playing this craaazy music in the living room (that is, the tiny common space directly outside my bedroom). Um, it's amazing. -ly weird.

#317: Where'd You Go?

Jamie Lidell. I am seriously obsessed with you. Let's hang out.

I put this song on over the weekend, and then of course ravenously replayed my recently played songs in order to hold on to the glorious sensation of the weekend for as long as possible.

#316: Hang On Little Tomato

Pink Martini is already all over my 365 - but somehow I missed "Hang On Little Tomato!" I have a "morning" playlist which is just happy songs like this one, and this morning I slapped it on the speakers while making breakfast. I didn't really need musical assurance that everything was AMAZING, but it was great nonetheless.

Then I spent the rest of the day being a waste of space, watching ANTM, and moaning about the weekend being over. Great stuff.

In addition: any ideas on genres for this song? It's not really jazz or world, which are two common genres I use for Pink Martini.

#315: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

In the middle of an epic drive through the wheatfields of Milton-Freewater and Walla Walla (apparently they don't mark state lines on meandering gravel roads through fields?), EJ serenaded BS and I with this kick ass piano line. It was a very fitting soundtrack for driving away from hail and into the hills.

#314: The Wind Cries Mary

GREATEST DAY OF ALL TIME! BS came to Whitman! I think that the moment he and Franzia hugged in greeting was my favorite 2 seconds of 2010.

We got some live serenading by Franzia and JJ, which was endlessly embarrassing and hilariously great. They played sexy tunes, like this one, directly outside my bedroom.

The manhole also threw a great party, which we haven't done in quite some time. It was a great, great day all around. On terribly sad evenings like tonight, holed up in the basement of the library in my death cubicle (facing a corner), I just dream of this weekend coming back to me... it was so glorious.

#313: Sixteen Tons

Thursday was marked pretty heavily by History Rock & Roll - we watched footage of horrible things from the Civil Rights movement, and it was on my mind all day. Watching people get beaten and hosed for literally NO reason is very depressing. We also listened to some excellent folk music, though! "Sixteen Tons" is from our folk roots of rock & roll listening assignment, but it also happens to be an Arbor staple. So I already knew all of the words. I love Arbor.

#312: The New Love Song

Cobbay gave me a bunch of Joshua James, and HI, it's awesome. I couldn't really tell you what else happened on Wednesday, March 31st, but I'm betting it involved not doing homework and moaning about having too much homework.

#311: I'll Come Running Back to You

Boy, it's a good thing I picked such excellently indicative songs, otherwise I would have trouble remembering why these were the songs for TWO FULL WEEKS AGO.

I happen to know that this Sam Cooke classic was inspired by History of Rock & Roll, because two Tuesdays ago was our soul day in class. We watched videos of Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, and James Brown. Probably my favorite day all semester. And then I came home and listened to a bunch of soul music!

#310: Dog Days Are Over

Again, I fully realize that we've already discussed this, but Florence + the Machine continues to rock my world more and more every day. This song is actually in the trailer for the Eat, Pray, Love movie, which means they are going to be mainstream approximately 2 days ago. Apparently they're already huge in the UK? Quote from Mr Football: "I'm excited to be pissed about their commercial success because I liked them before they were cool." Such a good faux-hipster.

I don't remember where this came from, but: "I was into being into things before they got popular before being into things before they got popular got popular."

You know what's hard about coming back from break? DOING ANY WORK EVER.

#309: Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day

We ended up taking Kyle's car back to Walla Walla because mine was trapped in Les Schwab. Although that's awesome, because his cd player actually works, we didn't get to take advantage of it because we had no cds. Or ipod adapter. So we spent four hours searching for a radio station between canyons and non-existent towns, and listened to a very weird mix of songs. Including some excellent Jethro Tull! I even called the flute solo! It wasn't actually this song, but upon returning to the Manhole I put on even more Jethro Tull and found this one. It makes me want to skip, sort of?

Jethro has some epic lyrics. "You didn't stand a chance son if your pants were undone"

#308: Cousins

I know I've already said this, but OH MY GOD Contra is such an amazing album. Procure yourself a copy stat. This song is so fun and just runs along so quickly that you can hardly sit still listening to it.

#307: The Fame

Ah Lady Gaga, you are far too good to me. Harry and I spent far too long driving around listening to her, because he has finally come around to the genius that is Gaga. I never really listen to this track, but I don't know why not! It's a lot better than I originally gave it credit for. Maybe not the most addictive track from this album, but addictive does not always equal good, even in Lady Gaga's case (see: "Boys Boys Boys").

Also, have you seen this making-of video about "Telephone"?

#306: Fred Jones, Pt. 2

Schaef was far too nice to me and drug me all the way to the Cleveland airport at 7 in the morning on Thursday, and by 2pm I was back in Portland. A wonderful end to a truly epic spring break. I had Joseph's car mix in my head, so I spent a good amount of time in the airport humming Ben Folds to myself.

#305: Halo

On Wednesday, the Schaefenator and I had epic nachos before I retreated to work on my thesis (but really just watched Cashmere Mafia for quite some time), met up with her for a lovely dinner of pierogis, and then honed my bowling skills for about two hours. I finished the night watching Julie and Julia while Schaef studied for a midterm. All in all, an excellent day at Oberlin - and very reminiscent of days at Whitman. Apparently rural, small liberal arts schools are very similar. Schaef's roommate Joseph shares my deep love for Beyonce, and so Wednesday's song is "Halo" - even if I mostly hear the Glee version when I listen to it.

"If there are two things that America needs right now, it is sunshine and optimism. Also angels."

#304: Between the Rows

Tuesday, I woke up in the Schaefenator's glorious bed and had an amazing day of sleeping in, Chinese food, actually going to the gym(!), exploring Oberlin, sushi and a very little bit of studying in the weirdest library EVER. In the ten minutes or so that I started editing my thesis, I turned on bluegrass and listened to this gem from my man friend.

#303: Ko-Ko

Give Merk the name of any jazz great, and she will instantly break into song (and by "song," I mean very creative humming of instrumental lines). It is very impressive. The night before she had to go back to school, we made cookie dough and did homework together, and Molly and I tested this theory by throwing names of jazz musicians at her. We caught her on a few, but when stuck, she would simply name different musicians for herself, and sing entire songs. Charlie Parker was one she got through quite a bit of before we all lost interest in the game.



Monday the 22nd (now more than 2 weeks away! Sorry, loyal readers, for my silence) was an epic day full of topology classes, panic attacks in meetings with grad school professors, canceled flights and glorious reunions. Except actually there was only one of each of those things...

#302: Old Friends

Sorry to be using this so heavily as a travel blog, but unfortunately for you, I don't care at all about pleasing my (small) audience. I only care about writing whatever I feel like. SO... yes.

New York is SO AMAZING. Merk has an incredible apartment in Morningside Heights with hardwood floors and she leads the most fabulous life imaginable. We went out to brunch this morning and then spent way more time in nature than I ever imagine when thinking about New York. We explored Riverside park and walked along the Hudson, and then got Magnolia cupcakes and ate them in the park. It was incredible! And we ended up talking about how wonderful it is to be with old friends.

MK is terribly unlucky, because her vacation ended A FULL WEEK! before mine. But her sentiments echo what my own will be on Thursday. I am way in love with my lady blues, and will be very sad to part with them. They know me in a way that few people do, and I love getting to spend time with them whenever I can. Merk said that this song always makes her think of Portland friends, and I agree.

"Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a parkbench quietly..."

#301: I've Got a Woman

Merk and I had the greatest day in New York of all time (OF ALL TIME! I promise to stop using that super old joke now) on Saturday. We did all of her favorite things, including meandering past 30 Rock (If the bucket drummers are on strike, Tracy Jordan is on strike!), shopping at J. Crew, a very short dip into MoMA, espresso machine envy at Crate & Barrel, a walk through the park, several hours at the Met followed by a glass of wine at their balcony bar, amazing Indian food, a walk to Union Square, fruitless shoe shopping, and finally an exhausted collapse at home.

While perusing the Temple of Dender, Merk and I heard someone referred to as a gold digger, and found ourselves singing a little Kanye (but primarily Ray Charles) for the rest of the day. Wait... is that Kanye video trying to imply that Jamie Foxx sang that, and it isn't just straight up sampled? It sounds straight up sampled...

#300: Empire State of Mind

We got up nice and early to leave New Orleans on Friday, and ordered a full dozen (TWELVE!) beignets at the airport. Themes of the trip included: eating far too many beignets, singing Lady Gaga in the street, being far too fabulous for our own good, eating until we exploded, developing obsessions with New Orleans and the South, making the same joke over and over again (Snug Har-bor! Harbor of snug! -and- Nola 2010: not as many feelings), and napping.

Merk and I landed in New York around 4pm, then had an... experience? with a crazy cab driver who could barely work the meter, didn't seem to know where 125th and Broadway was, AND stopped for gas on the way. I was epicly excited and sang Alicia Keys to myself quite a bit as the skyline came into view. We then had amazing Greek food as well as maybe the best baklava ever made, and met up with some friends of Merk. All in all, a success.

In other news: 65 days until I am a college graduate. Bah.

#299: Basin Street Blues

Thursday night we went to Preservation Hall which is this amazing old building where you can listen to incredible jazz in a tiny tiny room. We saw the Tornado Brass Band, who were amazing(!!), after an epic dinner at the Gumbo Shop. I had crawfish and pasta in this epic cream sauce which just about stopped my heart. We were so full and tired (and wearing heels), we could barely make it through the set, but it was totally worth the three toes I lost to the cause. The songs that I remember they played (I wasn't as diligent as the night before and didn't write down the set list) were "Hot Dog Man" (an original by the sax player), "Go to the Mardi Gras," and "Basin Street Blues." I'm obSESSed with Sam Cooke's version of Basin Street Blues:



but I guess the version I actually have, by Louis Armstrong, is good too. The band kept trying to get people to clap and sing along, but the crowd was painfully jazz illiterate. They had a call and response in "Hot Dog Man" and the girl next to me would always sing back "HOTDOGMAN" approximately four beats too early and with no rhythm at all. And there was an older gentleman would consistently clap on the wrong beat - even when he started off correctly, he would switch to the offbeat slowly, as if he was counting just a little bit slower than everyone else.



Other Thursday events: sleeping in!, Emmy's exploration of Tulane, souvenir shopping, croissants, baked clams and beer, and about 10 minutes of reading and 60 of taking pictures by the Mississipp'.

#298: Whoopin' Blues

And then, I had a religious experience. Not on the day when we saw Catholic bric-a-brac, went to mass, and looked for voodoo, but on the day we went to Snug Harbor. We saw the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, led by Delfeayo Marsalis, and I quite literally lost my mind. It was incredible. I don't know what was best: the five saxophones battling it out during "Oleo," Delfeayo's sexy "I Thought About You," or the EPIC piano intro to "Blues in B Flat" but if I have to pick, I will pick "Whoopin' Blues," their closing number. It was straight up INCREDIBLE. I bought this version, by the Onward Brass Band, based on the iTunes preview, which is short and probably not at all indicative of whether or not they are awesome. But luckily, it's a pretty great version.



Other Wednesday events: cooking class (we ate gumbo, jambalaya, pralines, and bread pudding), shopping with Merk, dinner at Evelyn's (I had red beans and rice), St Patrick's Day parade, beads beads beads, more beignets, and the drunk dude who proclaimed that "there is nothing to do in New Orleans." WHAT A FOOL.

#297: Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)

Theme of the trip: singing Lady Gaga. Sadly, I cannot include the two songs we sang the most ("Boys Boys Boys" and "Telephone") because they already appear on my 365. But this one is excellent as well, because it sounds like Aqua!

Tuesday's happenings: beignets for breakfast (bad idea), excessive exploration of the French Quarter, a Voodoo "temple," visited a convent ('cause we love our Catholic education like that), went to mass, saw a drunk girl in a tube top (holding a Long Island ice tea) wander onto the altar and try to get into the pulpit, ate the best food of our LIVES at Coop's (I had rabbit and sausage jambalaya), met a lovely bartender who had excellent life lessons to give at Molly's, were exceedingly classy at Arnaud's French 75.

#296: That Was Your Mother

New Orleans is officially my second favorite US city (after Portland, of course). We listened to too much Graceland and walked around singing "Standing on the corner of Lafayette, state of Louisiana" quite a bit. Other events of Monday: our first encounter with beignets, the St Charles streetcar, the Garden district, Lafayette cemetery, shrimp po'boys, free jello shots, eating Italian food in a desperate search for vegetables, and wussing out early to go to bed.

#295: Any Way You Want It

Bourbon St loves Journey. So do I. So do my lovely friends MK and Merk. Things we have learned in our first day of vacation:
1. No frozen drinks
2. Gay bars throw napkins in the air on Sunday nights (best tradition ever)
3. Responsible, middle-aged adults turn into embarrassingly drunk college students on Bourbon St

New Orleans = awesome.

#294: Nikki's Walk

I was listening to the smooth jazz station in Seattle while attempting to find my friend's house (got it on the second try) and heard this song, which I liked a lot, by Jeff Golub. Which is a terrible last name. Smooth jazz just sounds like the worst genre of all time (OF ALL TIME!). But I like this song anyway.

#293: Blue Ridge Mountain Blues

I was actually wildly productive on Friday morning, and got all of the errands done that I needed to do before I left for Seattle! I had already been planning on not getting them done, so that was a lovely surprise.

Then I spent at least a third of the drive to Seattle listening to bluegrass. SO GOOD. This one isn't from my new bluegrass cd (sorry, BS), but it's still excellent.

#292: Diplomat's Son

Franzia and Cobbay have been listening to Vampire Weekend's album Contra almost nonstop in our apartment lately. And with good reason. This song blew my mind last night. I'm probably going to listen to Contra the whole way to Seattle today.

#291: Zebra

Cobbay just found this band last night, I believe, and he slapped some headphones on me in the library and made me listen to them. I listened to almost all of the album before I realized he probably wanted his headphones back. The first track is still my favorite. I don't know how to categorize Beach House, so I'll go with Wikipedia's description, which is dream pop and indie rock. It's certainly dream-like.

ALSO! I love this including-the-song thing. I might go back and slap audio files on posts where the song is crazy or not on youtube or DEMANDS TO BE HEARD BY ALL.

#290: Coal War

Cobbay just gave me Joshua James' album Build Me This. I haven't listened to much of it yet, but everything I've heard has been incredible. Especially this song.

Unrelated news: I totally KICKED ASS on my logic midterm today. Which is good, because I had my ass kicked by real analysis on Saturday. Yes, we had a midterm at 11am on Saturday, so that we didn't have to sacrifice any class time.

I'm attempting to include an audio track here. Let me know if it works!

#289: Driven By You

OOSH. This song is straight up terrible. You can find out just how ridiculous it is in this excellent video. Plus it has some excellent Freddie montages. Really, what could be better than a succession of clips of Freddie Mercury doing exaggerated pelvic thrusts?



This song came on a genius playlist based on "Misfire," which I really don't think is anywhere near as terrible as this song, while I was bookin it to Beginning Kayaking (also known as the best class EVER). THEN! I actually did the roll TWICE (without my knowledge, because I thought the instructor - an awesome dude who legally changed his name to Salmon - was turning my boat. But he totally wasn't!)! It was a great day.

"Driven By You" is on disc 3 of the Queen's Greatest Hits Platinum Collection - two cds of their greatest hits followed by the WEIRDEST CD EVER. It's terrible and full of things like Queen + George Michael, this song, and a terrible, terrible remix of "Under Pressure." This song will NOT be added to my "365\{unique}" playlist, which is a combination of both of my 365s with all of the terrible songs taken off. It's a 365 for public places.

Good way to detect math nerds: those who use set notation in their iTunes.

#288: Long As I'm Here With You

Ugh. I spent all day Sunday in the theatre, for closing and then strike, which took approximately forever. I didn't even think about my 365. But I've decided to have "Long As I'm Here With You" from Thoroughly Modern Millie be my song for the day, because it is the song I always find myself singing (ahem... belting) when I cross the stage to leave (and there's no one around, of course). Muzzy has the best songs AND it's an alto part. Amazing. Also, randomly, St. Mary's just put it on! Literally this weekend!

#287: Kiss With a Fist

AH. This band is INCREDIBLE. You should buy Lungs RIGHT NOW. A mutual friend turned Cobbay on to them a while ago, and he got Football and I totally hooked. Seriously, every song on this album is flat out amazing. I want her voice. Although I could put the whole album on here, Saturday will be "Kiss With a Fist."

Oh man did you guys see Zach Galifiniakis' monologue on SNL? SO GOOD. This is still my favorite bit of his though.

#286: There Are Listed Buildings

Yet again, I must confess to taking musical advice from Urban Outfitters. LSTN #8 is sort of amazing. This one is from Los Campesinos!

#285: Tiny Dancer

Opening night! The show went really, surprisingly, exceptionally well. The audience was eating it up. Also, on THREE separate occasions, I got in my car to find that "Tiny Dancer" was on the radio. So, since I haven't yet immortalized EJ nearly enough on my 365, here it is. Only the 2nd of this year (but there are 4 on my 2008 365).

#284: Can't Help Falling in Love

It turns out, sometimes I'm ridiculously sentimental. This isn't exactly a surprise, because I love to tell people that I love them all the time (regardless of their comfort level with this - see: Football), and am in general very expressive of my feelings, but also, I'm ridiculously sarcastic.

But today, I'm just going to be ridiculously sentimental, and so this Ingrid Michaelson cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" is going to be Wednesday's song. Popped up in the same Genius playlist from yesterday that I never finished listening to, based on Greg Laswell.

PS: Because I haven't had a chance to discuss my insane obsession yet, OMG INGRID MICHAELSON. BE BETTER. Oh wait. You can't.

#283: Bridge

Lucy Wainwright Roche is this particularly wonderful singer who opened for Girlyman when I saw them in Portland on Halloween. She is somehow related to all those cool Wainwright dudes, and accordingly, has an incredible voice. This song (which somehow ended up coming to me via Yaner, even though I bought the cd and it wouldn't load on my computer...) came up in a Genius playlist based on Greg Laswell's "The One I Love," which is a 365 staple from last year.

#282: Rainbow Veins

AH OWL CITY. You are so great. On Monday (only the best day EVER), I listened to a Pandora Owl City station at work while I mildly harassed a prospie who goes to St Mary's (and is in Ms Nyland's TA!). I love Owl City. And this song.

#281: Apply

I got this song from Urban Outfitter's free downloads, "LSTN," quite forever ago. I (rather foolishly) didn't listen to most of this when I first got it (this song is from LSTN #2), and every time I do whip out this playlist, it's AWESOME. Even though I sort of hate Urban Outfitters, they have some damn good music on these playlists. Also: they had Passion Pit before anyone else I know. I mean, my friends aren't the most up to date on current electronica music, but still. I don't know why this is Sunday's song - Sunday was spent completely indoors, sitting beneath a little blue light back stage at Harper Joy.

#280: She Moves Me

Saturday was wildly unproductive, just like most days of my life. After barely sleeping at all, I sat at a desk for four hours in the admission office with no tasks other than checking people in occasionally. I ended up learning quite a bit about Purim and watched the video of Nancy Kerrigan getting attacked by Tonya Harding's thug friend. All in all, a success.

The rest of the day: not so much. I mostly lied around and watched ANTM, and then fell asleep on top of my homework at 6 pm. And slept right through until 9 the next morning. Except at midnight, when I was woken by my roommates returning from the epic party (attended by 10% of Whitman College) I had slept through, at which point I put on my headphones to fall back asleep and listened to a little Muddy Waters. SO, really long story short, Saturday's song is "She Moves Me."

#279: She's a Rainbow

Great way to figure out if your friends read your blog: casually refer to a group of them which they may or may not be a part of (or may feel similarly about).

Anyway. If you haven't figured this out yet, I get on musical kicks quite a lot, and binge on artists (or just songs, in the case of "Bad Romance" and some other less embarrassing examples). So I've been listening to a lot of the Rolling Stones. This song is part of the quest to figure out what song I was thinking of on Sunday - but "Love in Vain" is going to stay put because it is awesome. And this will be Friday.

#278: Don't Think Twice

Full disclosure: I totally hate Bob Dylan. For many reasons. First of all, he can't sing. Second, I happen to know a LOT of people who like to make a huge deal about how obsessed they are with him. Actually those might be the only reasons. But they are both big deals! Vocals are my primary interest in a lot of music (sorry. I know this is shameful. But it's a lot easier to sell me with Freddie-level vocal improvisation than Slash-level guitar solos. Perhaps because I like to sing along so much, and interesting melodies and singers I will never be able to emulate make it way more fun for me to sing). I really despise it when people think they can just yell or grumble or moan and pass it off as singing.

The friends are a way bigger deal though. SERIOUSLY. It does NOT make you cool or peace-loving or alternative or special to be a fan of Bob Dylan. He is WIDELY considered one of the best songwriters of the last forty years, so NO, I am not impressed that you listen to him. So maybe stop telling me that you were born in the wrong generation. Because you are not a flower child.

ANYWAY. This is a Susan Tedeschi cover of "Don't Think Twice," and it is INCREDIBLE. Bob Dylan writes amazing music. That topic is not up for discussion. But I highly prefer it when other people sing his songs (another great example: Johnny Cash & June Carter singing "It Ain't Me, Babe," which is a wonderfully sassy song), and in general I just love Susan Tedeschi. So... perfect union? Yes. I got this song from Jane on accident. I loaned her my old iPod when hers broke, and when she got a new one, I plugged my old iPod back into my computer and WHAM tons of new music. This came on in the middle of a blerg-paper-writing middle of the night moment, and I fell in love with Susan Tedeschi all over again.

I just got so much sass from Football for writing about singing. Just so we're all clear, I don't know much about singing, certainly MUCH less than the PROLIFIC singer I am so BLESSED as to share a wall with, but that doesn't mean I can't have opinions about what is and is not fun for me to yell along to (very poorly) in the car. Those 7 years of being in choir and taking voice lessons do, however, make me completely unqualified to discuss any aspect of singing unrelated to personal taste.
[Yeah. Don't even TRY to out-sass me. IT CAN'T BE DONE. Ok Football will probably do it now.]

#277: Nuestra Fe

This is an electronic rock song from Soda Stereo, a kickass Argentine rock band that my host Sofi gave me when I lived in Buenos Aires the summer after freshman year. I probably hated this song then, but my taste has since expanded to include a lot more electronica. And this is electronica with sweet acoustic guitar lines, too. I recently divided all my music among two iPods and my old, almost broken one got all of my Spanish language music. I was listening to it on shuffle today and this popped up and Football made a face of maybe-approval at it.

Also today, I have listened to a bunch of country rock and have enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I might! Which means that I have SO few genres left that I don't really listen to - especially thanks to someone's insistence that I give metal a chance. In the last 5 years, I've added rap, bluegrass, jazz, electronica and blues to what must have been a VERY limited musical taste at the time. Yay pop rock!