#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.