Talking 'Bout His Generation

Tonight, after sushi with my parents, I went back to my dad's house, where a bizarre instance of father-daughter bonding occurred.

My stepmom was having trouble with her stereo receiver, so dad was trying to get her to understand what was going on. He had the stereo cabinet open, and I noticed some records, including an original release Beatles LP I had found in a thrift store before I had a turntable.

This led to a discussion of records, which led to my dad showing me his vinyl for the first time. He has quite a bit, all meticulously alphabetized in a window seat on the landing of the stairs.

I went through them one at a time, with my dad standing over me, telling me about the records. For example, he has a nearly pristine copy of "Thriller" that he said he bought because everyone was saying how great it is, and it broke some record. I pointed out that it was the number one selling record of all time.

Tucked among the Rod Stewart, Grateful Dead and CCR records were some things I'd actually like to have. He has a copy of "Sgt. Pepper's" with the original inserts. He has T Rex, and "Abbey Road", and "Born in the USA".

There was some overlap - we both own Jethro Tull's "Aqualung", and my copy of "The White Album" is in much better shape than his is. We talked about records we had missed - he had sent back a copy of John Lennon's "Imagine" with a B-side that was apparently nothing but John and Yoko making noises, and over the holidays, I passed up a copy of Dangermouse's "Grey Album" on vinyl.

It wasn't all sunshine, though - I made fun of him quite a lot when he deserved it. Supertramp? My dad is a Supertramp fan. He might be Ian from High Fidelity in disguise. Also, though he has lots of Dylan, he doesn't own "Blonde on Blonde."

Sometimes, it's all too easy to forget that my parents are people. For Christmas, I gave my dad three mix tapes with handmade liner notes. He said that he wanted to talk about them, but he wasn't quite finished absorbing them.

The whole evening reminded me how much I'm like my dad. Normally, when I say that, I'm thinking of the traits that we share that I'm not too proud of. But tonight was good - it reminded me that there's a lot of him in me that's good. And though he is quick to point out that of course my musical taste came from him, (because if he hadn't been around, I'd still be listening to the Beach Boys) I'm ready to remind him that he hasn't ever listened to "Pet Sounds", and that he should give the Beach Boys another chance, in mono, with headphones.

just like Brian Wilson,
Kerry

If You're Going to Throw Your Life Away, He'd Better Have a Motorcycle

There's been a lack of updates recently, largely because I've got the flu, and my major activities over the last few days have included sleeping, watching bad TV on the internet, and having crazy Tylenol PM dreams (like the one where it was my birthday, and my ex gave me a copy of "69 Love Songs" and a Scottish fold kitten).

This is the first time I've ever had the flu, and let me tell you kids - you don't want it. Get up from your computer right now and go get a flu shot. If you don't, you'll be like me, quarantined in your house for 3-5 days, not eating solid food, wearing sweatpants and drinking lots of Gatorade.

Some good things have happened, though. A local coffee shop / bar is looking for DJs, and I've volunteered myself. I've been asked if I can do a 2 hour set of lounge with dance music to follow. I'm not sure I can bring quite the brand of lounge / dance that they're wanting, but I told the guy what I typically play, and he seems alright with it. I'm thinking some Feist / Stereolab / Kid Koala type songs followed by the usual girl groups, garage bands, French songs, and songs that make people want to shake their asses.

I'm really hoping that this works out. It's been a long time since I've been able to DJ. My record collection has grown exponentially since the last time I played in Muncie. If you've got any song suggestions for the lounge part, I'd love to hear them, as I tend more toward the dance party end of the spectrum.

My stepmom showed up this afternoon with British Cosmo and Australian Vogue. I don't typically read either of those magazines in their American versions, but I think I can justify them today. I'm sick. And if the trashy girl mags are foreign, then they're a cultural learning experience.

Besides - this Jordan lady on the cover of Brit Cosmo is just too campy not to be awesome. She's more camp than a row of tents.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be here, in my house, watching lots of Gilmore Girls and trying to figure out if I have any songs that qualify as lounge.

like a Hello Saferide song,
Kerry

I Turned My Camera On

Friday, after work, the Benferno and I went to Nashville to see Spoon. While I can't say much for the opening band (other than that all of the songs had what appeared to be the exact same bass line), Spoon kicked ass.



They played pretty much everything I had wanted to hear (with the exception of "The Way We Get By"). The venue was weirdly laid out, but very spacious. Here are some more pictures, before I start sounding like a dork.




In other news, I'm up at the coffee shop, and the choice of radio station is a little interesting today. It's a soul station, which is great. For every good song they play , there are at least three terrible ones. Like right now, there's a song that reads like a how-to guide for what to do once the girl has a agreed to go home with you. Seriously - "Let's take a shower. Shower together," followed by "Rub some hot oil all over me, baby!"


I really should get out of here. I've got other things that I should be doing, but this song...it's like glue that's welded my jeans to this old dinette chair.

Rub some hot oil on me!,
Kerry

Double Whammy Cardigan Love

So, if you've been around me lately, you know I'm more or less obsessed with Okkervil River's "The Stage Names", particularly the song "John Allyn Smith Sails". It's another fantastic song about John Berryman offing himself, only with a generous portion of the folk song "Sloop John B."

For those unfamiliar, "Sloop John B." is a classic tale of familial turmoil set on the high seas. Everything was going delightfully for the narrator, who was sailing to Nassau with his grandpa. Everything was lovely, that is, until they got drunk, and the narrator engaged in some fisticuffs with Grandpa. Then the captain of the ship steals the narrator's grits, and the trip immediately becomes the worst trip that the narrator has ever been on.

This leads me to believe that there is possibly an entire sub-genre of music about family vacations gone terribly awry.

Really, I wish I had discovered these songs sooner - I could have used them as a kid on some of the family vacations I went on.

****

Enough record geeking.

-In other news, I made my first post-Nasty Couch Incident trip to Graceland, Too this past weekend with a friend who had never gone before. I told him very little, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself despite the 20 or so loud, drunk Ole Miss douches that showed up in the middle of the tour.

- Tomorrow night, the greatest trivia team ever, "Frampton Comes Inside You" will rise again. And hopefully, this time there won't be around on airport codes. We must have been the only person in the room without a FedEx pilot or scheduler or something. However, the 80's One-Hit-Wonder round was incredible. Here's to more of the latter and less of the former.

It's late, and I think I'm going to be a good girl and try to go to bed before midnight. I think I'm finally starting to feel like staying in my house again, and reading books or watching movies, or knitting. I don't think I'll revert back to the homebody I was four months ago, but I think I've struck a nice, happy balance. Here's to that.


raises a glass to grandpa,
Kerry


PS - Happy belated birthday to my brother, Kevin. He's 21 now! Woot!