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

the strap that came with six, the D60, is too short for me -- when i sling it across my body, it sits at my waist instead of down by my hip. and so i want to replace it, and if i'm going to replace it, i'm going to replace it with something awesome. you can help me decide!

[Poll #1351957]

( that random questions meme )

and now, i go to a meeting. woo.

Because I have little to say otherwise, a poll.

[Poll #1282546]

Who has covers of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" to send me? GIMME THOSE DYLAN COVERS.

... and I hope I stay this way, it is an A+ good feeling.

1. Can anyone recommend a good, readable history of the American punk scene to me? I am enjoying reading history of popular music lately, and punk is one place where my knowledge is pretty much zero. Well-written and enjoyable and not too srs bsns history are my biggest criteria in books.
   
   
2. I have seen a bunch of amazing shows lately -- Bombadil, Justin Townes Earle, Mason, Okkervil River supported by Crooked Fingers, Caitlin Cary with her band -- but I'm in that phase where I don't really want to talk about them, I just want to sort of roll around in how much I fucking adore Will Sheff and Eric Bachmann's guitar playing and Justin Townes Earle's stupid face and stupid voice and stupid pants and Caitlin Cary's entire existence.
   
   
3. There's this thing happening in Chapel Hill where the football team not only "doesn't suck" but are actually "sort of amazing", and I don't quite know what to do with it. This is not my reality, okay, guys? I know logically that at one point in the '90s we were good (I have a favorite Mack Brown joke, so you know I know that era), but ritual destruction of Top 25 teams on national television Does Not Compute for me and Carolina football. I guess it's really a matter of who cares why they're good -- the team is fun this year and it makes me stupidly giddy to watch them.
   
   [Poll #1273390]
   
   
4. Tonight I am going to see the Rumble Strips, who are the artists behind the best-album-of-2007-that-I-acquired-in-2008, and I was pretty sure that I was never going to get to see them live, and I am so excited I am almost vibrating out of my skin.

Five things make a post, right? Because if they don't, I am too tired to cope.

[Poll #1233404]

This is not the best match-up in the world, but it was the best I could do when trying to think of someone to pit against Zeppelin. As far as I go, I do have some love for Dark Side Of The Moon, but then Zeppelin II <3 and it's not even a battle.

OTHER TOPICS ON WHICH MY MIND HAS BEEN OCCUPIED:

1. Public libraries. I love ours -- they're great on fiction (except the most recent stuff, which you have to fight for, and really old obscure stuff) and good (and getting better) on non-fiction, especially popular non-fiction. They recently stopped charging for holds. They'll almost always buy things if you tell them they should. And it's free! <3 for public libraries.
   
   
2. Digital cable. t. has had digital cable since January (and will only have it for a few more weeks because her deal is ending), and I have developed a real affection for Steven Smith and his stupid untitled rock show. I don't want digital cable myself -- I don't love it enough to pay for it, except sometimes I contemplate all the sports channels and ... but no, I could spent that money on something like, say, more concert tickets -- but sometimes digital cable is delightful. This is on my mind because I spent yesterday listening to Ludo's album You're Awful, I Love You, and I'd never have discovered it if I hadn't seen their video on SURS.
   
   
3. Minor League Baseball. HURRY UP AND PROMOTE THE WIETS, ORIOLES, NORFOLK IS IN DURHAM FOR TWO GAMES IN AUGUST AND IF I DON'T GET TO SEE THE SECOND CATCHER OF SHEP.'S HEART, I'M GONNA HAVE TO CUT A BITCH MELVIN MORA. (I mean, the big club wasn't really using him anyway, right?)

That's pretty much it. I'm boring!

The album I am listening to now is one of my nerdiest guilty pleasures. 20 songs -- some classics rewritten, some originals -- all about cats. We had it on tape as a kid and as I am a nerd who loves this now, I was a nerd who loved it as a kid. It's a happy reminder of good childhood vacations.

[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*

I don't know, internets, it's Monday and it took me forever to fall asleep last night even though I was exhausted, and then I had really weird creepy dreams about vampires -- you lie, Gerard Way! They wanted to hurt me! AND YOU WEREN'T IN MY DREAM TO SAVE ME -- and it took me twice as long as it should have to run my errands because I kept doing stupid things like forgetting my wallet and this is about all that I can cope with.

[Poll #1213721]

You can tell me why I'm a bad person for making you choose in the comments, or tell me why you voted how you voted, if you want. No being mean to anybody for their choice, though. I'm too tired to cope with mean.

(For me it's that I don't dislike the Beatles, I respect them and what they did for rock and roll, but I just vastly prefer the Stones. And also dudes I love covering the Stones. Also also, Trompe Le Monde is totally my favorite Pixies album, which has nothing to do with the Stones or the Beatles but I thought I should share.)

[Poll #1108610]


I just had this moment where I couldn't figure out why I was dizzy and feeling awful, and then I remembered: oh, yeah, I haven't eaten anything today. Whoops. I fail at being a grown-up.

[Poll #1039921]

last week i tried to find andy mcphail's email address on the orioles' website so that i could tell him that if he would just go ahead and give matt wieters all the millions of dollars that mr. wieters wants in his contract, i would personally find a way to provide the orioles with that revenue. i failed to find mcphail's email address, which is probably for the best, as, with the signing deadline looming, i'm reducing to lying on the living room floor wailing, "JUST GIVE HIM THE MONEY, ANDY, AND THEN THROW STEVE TRACHSEL IN AS A BONUS," which i'm not sure is the sort of email andy mcphail wants to receive.

shep.'s only commentary: "what's matt wieters gonna do with steve trachsel?"

ETA: MATT WIETERS SIGNED AT THE VERY LAST ABSOLUTE SECOND. no word yet on whether or not his deal includes any useless starting pitchers.

ETA2: i am going on record, so that when m.wiets hits the majors next year, it is entirely clear who has a claim on him: SHEP AND I SAW HIM FIRST, BITCHES.

before driving back to the nc yesterday, shep. and i made a mix of excellently singable songs, mostly things that dean winchester would listen to on the radio of the impala, and as we listened, the following question was raised: does dean winchester know all the words to meatloaf's "i would do anything for love (but i won't do that)"?

and so i ask the important questions.

[Poll #1030943]
and now, if you will excuse me, i must go back books into boxes.

eta: i have been moving my books in the same standard cardboard file boxes for years and years now -- sometimes literally! i found a box last night that i put in storage at carleton in march 2000 -- and i just ran out of boxes. after packing 19. there are still four shelves of books left to pack. granted, the majority of my apartment is books (which always makes me think about the time traveler's wife: my apartment is basically a couch, a chair and 4000 books), but even so, i keep looking at all my shit and wanting to weep.

but first i have to a) take a nap and b) go buy more boxes.

[Poll #990905]