2005-07-06 - 8:12 p.m.
I should add links from my main page to MP3s of these as a soundtrack to my diary, but here�s the proposed track list for now. I�m not sure these are sequenced in the best order (crucial to me as a former DJ):
Bishop Allen � �Things Are What You Make of Them�
Is this my theme song now? It comes up several times in this journal, like here. Things are what you make of them.
Fat Day � �King�
Probably my favorite Fat Day song.
Big Black � �Kerosene�
C. actually got me into Big Black and other Steve Albini bands (she took me to the original Wax Trax store when I visited her in Chicago, too!). I think it was my transition from the industrial music I was into as a kid to punk rock, although she actually went on to much artsier music herself. The live cut of this on Pigpile is better than the version on Atomizer.
U2 � �Bad�
U2 was my favorite band as a kid. The first concert I ever went to was the Joshua Tree tour at Madison Square Garden in 1987. They recorded a gospel take of �I Still Haven�t Found What I�m Looking For� live for Rattle & Hum, so I guess I�m the 23,479th person cheering in the background on that album. �Bad� used to make me cry.
Mission of Burma � �Academy Fight Song�
The greatest band from Boston, ever. This song is probably most appropriate for my school daze.
The Donnas � �I Don�t Wanna Go to School No More�
Speaking of school days� Could I be more enraptured with the Donnas? Many years ago Donna A. and I had plans to go to a dance concert together, but she ended up having to fly to LA to film Jawbreaker that day. This song wasn�t actually written by them, but it comes up often, like here.
The Showcase Showdown � �Tonight, Tonight�
Probably the best pop-punk from Boston ever. They were hilarious, a terrific send-up of faux �77 bands. This one is about getting older as a punk. How did I wind up here tonight?
�So this guy comes up to me in the elevator the other day and asks if I want any of his fine wine magazines because he didn�t need them anymore. I said no thanks. He said are you quite sure? They�re really quite fine fine wine magazines. I said no, I don�t want any of your fine wine magazines!�
The Queers � �I Met Her at the Rat�
I�m a sucker for pop-punk. See here for memories of the Rat.
The Trashwomen � �The Date�s on Me�
When Spend the Night with the Trashwomen arrived as a new release at the Record Hospital, one comment written on it by another DJ was just �Geoff music�.
Palomar � �Lesion�
I listened to this a lot while writing papers my first year at Brown at that house in Wayland Square. I don�t think it�s actually about having a lesion like I do, but I�ve thought a lot about how �there are so many warning signs; thank God this is not one of them.�
Bishop Allen � �Eve of Destruction�
I asked them (via email) to play this for me at a show I couldn�t go to shortly after I broke up with Alithea, but Christian said they didn�t really know how to play it anymore and dedicated �Things Are What You Make of Them� instead. That�s absolutely right.
Kraftwerk � �Radioactivity�
In like 1996, I did a 24-hour comprehensive radio �Orgy�� of this group. At the end, a listener called who claimed he had listened to the whole thing and asked what I�d do next. Cabaret Voltaire? Yes, I decided on the spot, and then Throbbing Gristle and then Einsturzende Neubauten. And that�s what I did.
Matthew Sweet � �I�ve Been Waiting�
Fine, having a song for your relationship is a little corny. But she picked it. I didn�t think I�d find you, perfect in so many ways.
The Selecter � �Carry Go Bring Come�
This is a standard originally sung by Justin Hinds in 1963, one of the earliest recorded ska tracks (the title is a Jamaican term for rumor and idle chatter). It was eventually covered by almost everyone. The Selecter is my favorite band from the early-80s Two-Tone era.
I used to listen to �Rockers� a lot, a dancehall show on Emerson College�s WERS. On my very last night in Boston in 2002 before moving to Providence to start Brown, I suddenly realized there would be no more �Rockers�. I called in to request �Carry Go Bring Come�. The DJ dedicated it to me and wished me good luck in Providence. I realized I had never before gotten a request, except on my own station. It was unexpectedly moving.
� 2005 Geoff Gladstone
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