February 26, 2009

• The Music Stuck in My Head

  So I have been wanting to do this post for quite some time.  Xanga audio has been giving me some hassles but all is forgiven.  I still haven't been able to upload this song about Minneapolis that I love.  I should just type out the lyrics and let you imagine what the music sounds like. 

  Have you ever had that song stuck in your head and you just can't seem to get rid of it?  Welcome to my world, except I have about a billion songs stuck in my head at any given moment.  If you read my power rankings, you would have seen that memories made it into the top ten.  Well I remember stuff quite easily.  I think that is due to my education at a parochial school from preschool through 17th grade.  We had to do a LOT of memorization.  It has served me well however when I hear songs now they stick with me.  I own at least 1000 cds not including all the stuff I have burned or downloaded.  I have all those songs swirling in my head. 

  Lately two styles of music have been dominating my thoughts.  One is the alternative rock in the style of The Flaming Lips and the other is polka.  Yes, polka.  My father has been in a polka band for the majority of my life.  He sings and plays accordian.  I dug up one of his cds and have been listening to it.  I have tried to upload the songs but for some reason they won't upload.  My dad says some of his other band mates want to regroup but the former lead singer is dead.  I was asked if I wanted to sing.  Oh, for those that don't know, I was a choir boy in college.  I was in choir for 8 of 10 semesters.  I was the most ass kicking choirboy you would ever meet.  Anyway this one song is in Czech so I have started to attempt to learn that language.  Not easy.  I asked if I could just translate into German but that was blasphemy because the town in which we leave is the Czechlosovakian capital of Wisconsin.  Oh well, once the audio gets sorted out I will share those songs and also share a song of my dad wailing on the accordian and singing.

  Right now I am going to share some songs which have stuck with me and have some meaning to me.

  This song was featured in the movie Juno.  Some of my friends have said that I only like it because it was in Juno.  I say, "Fuck you."  I was listening to the Moldy Peaches back in 2002 when a friend at the White House(not the one in DC but the one near Little College on the Prairie) introduced them to me.  I kind of like to think that I was humming that song while Diablo Cody was giving me a lap dance and thus helped inspire Juno.  A guy can dream, can't he?

  The Drunk Injuns were the inovators of skate punk or grind punk way back in 1983.  I love this song.  Remember back in the 80s for a band to release an album it was almost mandatory that they had to have a ballad-type song on said album.  This is the Drunk Injuns ballad.  I love it.  I also loved the Drunk Injuns get-ups. 
  

  This song has been one of my favorites over the last few years.  Steve Burns may not be that big of name but I guarantee that if you ahve children under the age of 10, you will probably recognize this guy.  I will give you a clue.  Please don't make me come out and say it....yes...Steve Burns is Steve from Blue's Clues.
  
  Back in the day...

  
  With Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips

  
  Steve performing today

  The story about how Steve went from kid show host to rocker goes something like this.  He was at a friend's house and the friend was playing an album by The Flaming Lips called The Soft Bulletin and it blew Steve's mind and he had to make music.  It isn't surprising that Steve's music sounds much like The Flaming Lips because they inspired him and he has toured with them and his album was produced by one of the Lips.  Oh and I just got The Flaming Lips most recent album called Christmas on Mars and it comes with the movie and Steve is in the movie.  Another Steve Burns story(remember, I have lead an extraordinary life and have many memories): A couple of guys from my high school have a band called The Umbrella Sequence and I got a notification that they were playing the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis which is on Hennepin just down the street from Baja Sol which I begged Minneapolis people to eat at in my honor for my birthday last Friday.  Anyway a friend and I were drinking some Stella Artois and talking up the bartender about all the music at that bar and he was telling us how before they got big The Flaming Lips would play that bar whenever they were in Minneapolis.  It is one of the few places that books acts on a calendar so many Minneapolis bands can call them up on a Thursday night looking to play on Friday and they could get a gig.  Prince did that quite a bit at the Uptown.  Anyway as we were talking Steve Burns walks in.  The song above is called Mighty Little Man, well Steve is TINY!  I guess I am a huge guy but I had to be at least a foot taller than him and I stand about 6'2".  It was an awesome show.  Steve apoogized to me when I went to buy a CD because they were all sold out and he said those damn Nebraskans made me sell all my cds.  I ended up buying it through his website.

  Ok, this is my absolute favorite song by Prince.  When I was in college we had frat parties that involved the majority of the school and every single one this song was the highlight of the party.  I guess we were supporting a native son of Minnesota.  Has anyone here ever seen Purple Rain?  Yeah, the majority of those place, my backyard.  Have you bathed in the healing waters of Lake Minnetonka?  I did.  When fishing I was struggling to reel in a fish and I fell out of the boat.  I should stick to ice fishing.
  

  I really don't know what this song is about.  I love it but I don't understand it.  I know it was in Bowling for Columbine but that's about it.

  I typically dislike country music but I should elaborate and say I dislike pop-country or most modern country.  This guy is great.  He is Roger Alan Wade and he is Johnny Knoxville's cousin.  He was featured in the movie Jackass in the end credits with the song "If You're Gonna Be Dumb".  Country needs to go back to the days when the songs were about ass kickin', whiskey drinkin', and BB gun shootin'

  This is a Minnesota rapper named Brother Ali.  This is one of my favorite rap songs.  Brother Ali puts on a hell of a show of course the last time I saw him it was on April 20th(4/20).  He sings about being an albino, guess what..
  

  It's almost baseball season so I have to post my favorite Boston Red Sox song.

  Oh and this was the type of music that I sang in choir.

  I hope you enjoyed a little journey into my messed up head.

  • 1:23 PM
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