i may be a bird in a cage but at least it's your cage

I've been making what I call a Christmas mix -- that is, not holiday songs but a mix made at the holidays -- since 1997; first they were tapes, then for a few years cds, and finally, in the digital age, the last four years have been downloadable zip files, and this year is no exception. These are songs that meant something to me this year, for various reasons, and they are for you. Behind the tag are the songs, each available individually in .mp3, and the whole shebang is available as a zip file [here] (107MB, .zip). The individual tracks will stay up 'til New Year's or so, the zip until it expires.

Happy holidays, happy 2008, happy music sharing -- whatever floats your boat. This is from me to you. 2008 wasn't a half-bad year. I'm not sure this mix says that, but if nothing else, I think it's hopeful.

( still holding on to rock and roll )

If you haven't said hi to me this year and you grab this, it's a good chance to say hi. I'm just saying. Happy holidays, happy December, stay warm and stay positive.

Today, letters instead of numbers:

1. I am an avid reader of Ask Metafilter, via Google Reader, because it is sometimes lolariffic and sometimes gross and sometimes completely baffling (but mostly lolariffic), but the point is, yesterday a question about moving to Raleigh/the Triangle led me to several other questions about random cool free-and/or-cheap shit in do in the Triangle, and then on the spur of the moment, shep. and I got in the car and drove 85 miles east to a tiny township south of Wilson, where an elderly farmer has built these huge -- and not-so-huge -- windmills and whirl-i-gigs out of scrap metal.
   
   It was kind of completely unbelievable.
   
   ( totally worth the drive and the gas )
   
   
   
2. The internets report to me that Brent Best may be breaking up the Drams ... to get Slobberbone back together. This is only meaningful to me and, liek, six other people on the internets, and it is also of course ridiculous because breaking up the Drams to get Slobberbone back together means kicking two dudes out and then calling their old bassist and asking if he wants to go back on the road. But Brent Best is a supreme example of holy shit most musicians are serious crazycakes, so it doesn't surprise me, exactly. And it's not really a big deal, either, since 2/3rds of the time the Drams sound like Slobberbone recording under a different name anyway, the other third of the time being when there's horns.
   
   
3. Speaking of Brent Best, the song that's spinning in my head this morning: [The Drams -- "Fireflies"] 5MB, .mp3. see the beauty where you are/appreciate the fireflies, baby, just in case you never see the stars
   
   
4. I am growing my hair out -- from the short baby bird cut some of you have seen, into ... something else, who knows what, but probably something short-in-back-longer-in-front -- but it's reached that awkward stage that super-curly hair grown out from a short cut reaches, and it looks desperately like I have a poodle on my head. I need a hair cut in the worst way.
   
   
5. Does anyone on my flist have first-hand knowledge of playing and/or touring with a pedal steel? I have questions about it. Like, does it fold up? Does it just go in a big road case all in one piece? It seems like a super inconvenient instrument to tour with, but plenty of people do it, and we know people who tour with a pedal steel in a van, so it's got to be doable.
   
   
6. I had an exhausting but utterly lovely weekend, one of those weekends with moments that are so phenomenal that you want to keep them close to your chest. But it was a good weekend.
   
   
7. Graham Harrell. That's all. He is the quarterback for Texas Tech and he is my favorite.
   
   
8. I have a sinus infection and it sucks.

THE END.

Instead of incisive political commentary, you get music:

[Reckless Kelly -- "American Blood"] 5MB, .mp3. the brass ain't fightin' but they're sure as hell taking a stand/and they'll have to live with american blood on their hands

[Jason Isbell -- "Dress Blues"] 6MB, .mp3. what did they say when they shipped you away/to fight somebody's hollywood war?

[Mike Doughty -- "Ft. Hood"] 4MB, .mp3. i’d rather watch movie stars get fat/i’d rather hang up a flag and be done with it/i’d rather keep the fire and the frenzy out of my mind

[Mason Jennings -- "Ballad of Paul & Sheila"] 4MB, .mp3. hey senator, i wanna say all the things you fought for did not die here today/hey senator, i'm gonna do all the things i can to live my life more like you

[Griffin House -- "I Remember (It's Happening Again)"] 6MB, .mp3. they separate the church and state and keep god out of the schools/so our governments can educate based upon their rules/but people start to wonder if our politics make sense/when religion is our best excuse for national defense

[Drive-By Truckers -- "Wallace"] 5MB, .mp3. Live, Atlanta, GA, 04.27.07. And if you grew up in Alabama when I did, and Lord knows if you grew up when Spooner did, whether you liked it or not, you had to deal with the legend of George Wallace, because George Wallace was the Governor of Alabama for about, ehhh, 24 years or so over a 30 year period. I didn't know you could be Governor for so long. Thank God you can't stay President for that long, if you know what I mean, because as bad as George Wallace was, if he was President right now, it would not be quite as fucked up as it is right now.

[Kate Campbell -- "The New South"] 5MB, .mp3. well that’s the price you have to pay for progress/and to be living in the new south

[Billy Bragg -- "The Great Leap Forwards"] 6MB, .mp3. here comes the future and you can't run from it/if you've got a blacklist i want to be on it/waiting for the great leap forwards

[The National -- "Mr. November"] 5MB, .mp3. i won't fuck us over, i'm mr. november

Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone would have been running for re-election this year, if he had lived; he's been gone six years, he would have hated what this country has become, but he would have loved this election. He would have loved Barack Obama. If you haven't already voted, go out and vote. Make Paul Wellstone proud. I miss Senator Wellstone every day, and when I cast my vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I thought about him. I thought he'd have liked this election.

Let's make sure it has an outcome he'd have liked, too.

Thirteen Bob Dylan covers, a variety of songs in a variety of styles by a variety of artists:

[Lucinda Williams -- "Positively 4th Street"] 4MB, .mp3. Stripped down acoustic with a startling voice.

[Cowboy Junkies -- "If You Gotta Go, Go Now"] 3MB, .mp3. Margo Timmins, tell me more about how I can stay the night in that sexy, sexy voice.

[Jason Isbell -- "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"] 10MB, .mp3. Live. I would pay good cash money to get Jason to come over and sing this in my living room. Sound quality is soft but decent.

[Drive-By Truckers -- "Like A Rolling Stone"] 8MB, .mp3. Four voices for four verses. The first lead singing Shonna did for the band.

[Jason & the Scorchers -- "Absolutely Sweet Marie"] 3MB, .mp3. Country punk. This cover launched Jason Ringenberg's career.

[Thea Gilmore -- "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"] 4MB, .m4a. Girl with guitar and a hell of a voice.

[The Whitlams -- "Tangled Up In Blue"] 5MB, .mp3. This version of this song is far more cheerful than it has any right to be.

[Ani DiFranco -- "Most of the Time"] 4MB, .mp3. Folk. One of my favorite Dylan covers of all time.

[Through The Sparks -- "Lay Lady Lay"] 9MB, .mp3. Piano heavy cover with sing-speak vocals.

[Mason Jennings -- "Tomorrow Is A Long Time"] 4MB, .mp3. Live. I wish Mason still covered this.

[American Music Club -- "Queen Jane Approximately"] 4MB, .mp3. Sadly dreamy rock and roll. Both this and "Like A Rolling Stone" are from Highway 61 Revisited Revisited.

[Redbird -- "Buckets of Rain"] 4MB, .mp3. Single acoustic guitar and plaintive, heartbreaking harmonizing.

[Johnny Cash -- "It Ain't Me Babe"] 5MB, .mp3. You know. Johnny Cash. *heart hands*

I have nothing else of substance to say today, I'm just trying not to blow up the universe for being a complete fuckface.

Three unrelated series of loosely themed songs, three songs per series:

[Portastatic -- "Oh My Sweet Carolina"] 7MB, .mp3. Ryan Adams cover. This is joyful and heartbreaking in a totally different way than the original version from Heartbreaker. i was trying to find me something but i wasn't sure just what/man i ended up with pockets full of dust.

[Chatham County Line -- "The Carolinian"] 8MB, .mp3. Mmmm, home grown bluegrass. she's in richmond with my heart/and i'm bound for carolina

[Old Crow Medicine Show -- "Wagon Wheel"] 3MB, .mp3. Mmmm, New York grown bluegrass. and if i die in raleigh, at least i will die free

[Jason Isbell -- "Brand New Kind Of Actress"] 7MB, .mp3. I love this song enough that I use a phrase from it as a login various places. you're the same old stubborn waitress, baby/you're a brand-new kind of actress

[The Hold Steady -- "Slapped Actress"] 10MB, .mp3. Craig Finn is the only man in the world who can write songs that make reference to John Cassavetes and not look like a total douche. sometimes fake fights turn out bad/sometimes actresses get slapped

[Josh Ritter -- "Bad Actress"] 5MB, .mp3. This song inexplicably makes me really, really sad. she’s a bad actress, but hey/you give her the big lines anyway

[Mason Jennings -- "Never Knew Your Name"] 7MB, .mp3. The new album might very well be my favorite Mason Jennings album ever. i've been loving you forever but i never knew your name

[The National -- "Slow Show"] 5MB, .mp3. Can I name Boxer the best album of 2008, too? you know i dreamed about you for twenty-nine years before i saw you

[Wilco -- "I'm The Man Who Loves You"] 4MB, .mp3. Live version from Kicking Television. with you i couldn't tell if it bring my heart/the way i wanted when i started/writing this letter to you

In exchange, I'm looking for the following things: Jace Everett -- "Bad Things"; Charlie Robison -- "Good Times"; Slobberbone -- Crow Pot Pie and/or Barrelchested; any Reckless Kelly album other than Bulletproof; anything by the LA band Olin & the Moon (if anyone has an advance of 40 Miles of Bad Road, GIMME THAT ALBUM). Hook a girl up?

Today is my second day of in-the-office work and I still don't have my own space. Not that I don't like rocking out in Himself's swanky office while he's meeting with more important people than me, but this chair is uncomfortable.

Also, we have reached that stage of North Carolina fall where it's too cold in the mornings to be wearing sandals but too hot in the afternoons to be wearing a blazer. This stage leads to freezing cold toes and sweat, and I approve of it in all ways except for the way where I have to wait for the bus again.

Seven songs I'm currently digging:

[Jets To Brazil -- "Morning New Disease"] 3MB, .m4a. Noisy late-90's rock. i am dreaming of a life and it's not the life that's mine/in a stolen car i rocket west out past that jersey line

[Leona Naess -- "Don't Use My Broken Heart"] 4MB, .mp3. Sweetly poppy indie rock. don't use the records i played you/to seduce and reduce what remains

[The Old Ceremony -- "God Said I Could Have You"] 6MB, .mp3. Darkly noir-ish indie rock. god said i could have you/you belong to me

[Ryan Adams -- "Oh My Sweet Carolina"] 4MB, .mp3. so i went on to cleveland and i ended up insane/i bought a borrowed suit and learned to dance

[Steel Train -- "Dakota"] 3MB, .mp3. From the Daytrotter Sessions, not the album. we were young and nearly famous

[Firewater -- "Three-legged Dog"] 3MB, .mp3. World-fusion-y indie rock. i've been down so long that coming up is giving me the bends

[Slobberbone -- "Sweetness, That's Your Cue"] 9MB, .mp3. Americana-laced rock. people try but they can't break through/still i won't hold that against you/no matter what you might try and do/hey sweetness, that's your cue.

Comments are good; comments that you're snagging things, or comments that you've listened and enjoyed.

Internets, recommend some short story writers and/or anthologies to me? I'm trying to work through a backlog of non-fiction right now, and sometimes it's nice to pick up something compact to clear my brain-palate. More interested in collections/books with a theme or by a single author than I am in, say, Best of American Short Stories [insert-year-here]. I have read and enjoy short story collections by Lee Smith, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Joe Hill, to name a few.


In exchange, please have the song I was obsessed with over the weekend:

[The Baseball Project -- "Harvey Haddix"] 6MB, .mp3. A song about Pirates' pitcher Harvey Haddix and his almost-perfect 13 inning game. Delightful indie rock from an album all about baseball.

I woke up crank-crank-cranky to the max. NEEDS MORE COFFEE.

First, a PSA: I have been seriously bad at answering comments lately. I promise to try and get better sooner rather than later; regardless, I am always reading and enjoying anything you say. I'm just crap at responding these days.

Anybody who's a fan of the Old 97s should listen to last Thursday's Fresh Air, because Rhett Miller is so fucking amazing, and Terry Gross is such a kind, smart interviewer -- Rhett talks about the new album, and his kids, and why he's glad he didn't marry anyone he dated in his 20s, and his teenaged suicide attempt, and the Kingston Trio, and just. *hearthands beyond belief*

True fact: I can never tire of listening to musicians and songwriters I respect hugely talking about the musicians and songwriters who inspired them. It's one of my favorite ways to discover new bands -- for example, if Jason had never raved about Slobberbone in print, I probably would have eventually discovered the Brent Best Extravaganza That Is Slobberbone, the Drams, And Whoever Brent Plays With The Next Time He Gets Bored And Changes His Band's Name, but I did it faster because someone I respect respects Brent's crazy face. Then after I was done thinking about that, I had to spend some time thinking about my favorite songwriters ever; I think, in no particular order, the top five of all time for me are Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Rhett Miller, Mason Jennings, and Jason Isbell. Mike Cooley would come in on the tail of those five in a very close sixth. You?

(Yes, I know that not everyone thinks of music in terms of songwriters. But if you do, share.)

Internets, what I need today are all your covers of either the Band or the Rolling Stones. Extra bonus points for covers specifically of songs from Sticky Fingers. In return:

[Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit -- "Sway"] 8MB, .mp3. Live soundboard recording.

[Jason Isbell, Rob Malone & Brian Ferris -- "Moonlight Mile"] 12MB, .mp3. Live (but clean) recording.

[Steve Earle -- "Dead Flowers"] 7MB, .mp3. My favorite cover of my current favorite Rolling Stones song.

[Guns N' Roses -- "Dead Flowers"] 4MB, .mp3. This is actually a surprisingly delightful cover.

[Cowboy Junkies -- "Dead Flowers"] 10MB, .mp3. Frustratingly poor cover -- I'd love to hear Margo do this in a studio setting, because her voice is just exactly the right sort of plaintive for this song.

[Townes van Zandt -- "Dead Flowers"] 7MB, .mp3. A lot of people have covered this song, but none so well as Earle and van Zandt. Now if Justin Townes Earle could get on following in his daddy's and his namesake's footsteps ...

Now you share!

... and speaking of my obsessive need to collect all music ever, why is it, internets, that I can desire William Beckett's high school acoustic album and have it within half an hour, but no amount of searching will cough up the power pop album made by Murry Hammond and Rhett Miller pre-97s? FAIL, INTERNETS. (In case any of you are hoarding it and don't know what it is: the band was called Sleepy Heroes, and the album was Under the Radio Sun. GIMME THAT ALBUM.)

[Poll #1221538]

A few other things:

1. t. and I discussed whether there was a better person to put in this poll with Elvis, and we couldn't come up with anybody, but with Johnny Cash at least there's the Sun Records connection.
   
   
2. Sun Records always makes me think of Mike Cooley and [Carl Perkins' Cadillac].
   
   
3. Also, is there a good Sun Records box set out there? I have a good Cash collection and a good Elvis best of set, but I want to know more about Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc etc etc. If there is a good one, what's it called? And will you upload it for me?
   
   
4. Let us discuss concept albums. Two of the albums i've got in reasonably heavy rotation lately are the Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera and My Chem's the Black Parade, and they're such well-done albums, both of them. So. Your thoughts on concept albums. Yes? No? Only in the 70s? Discuss. Not too heatedly.

I am exceptionally lazy today. *flops*

SONGS ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE:

[Patterson Hood -- "The Assassin"] 4MB, .mp3. One of the best songs Patterson's ever written, this is from his infamous recorded-at-the-dining-room-table-post-divorce solo album. Lo-fi alt.country-rock.

[Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit -- "The Assassin"] 9MB, .mp3. Shonna got the band and Jason got this song of Patterson's. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only song written by a member of the Drive-By Truckers and routinely performed by a different (ex-)member of the band. Rock. Live in Charlottesville, VA, 02.23.08. Sound quality is steady but a little quiet.

[Patterson Hood -- "Murdering Oscar"] 6MB, .mp3. The title track from the album New West won't release. Patterson Hood: canonically into writing songs about killing people. Lo-fi alt.country-rock. Live in Athens, GA, 04.16.08. Beware sound quality.

[Future Kings of Nowhere -- "10 Simple Murders"] 5MB, .mp3. Great song by a local-to-me indie pop band.

[My Chemical Romance -- "Kill All Your Friends"] 4MB, .mp3. One of the Black Parade b-sides. Rock.

You guys, so far today I've tromped all over campus trying to get answers to a question that apparently no one can answer because Carolina doesn't have a chemistry librarian anymore and had a soda explode all over my lap while I was driving 50 mph down a heavily trafficked road, pls send naked boys and chocolate. *sadface*