Away From The Numbers - The Jam - In The City - 1977

And so The Jam continues it's odd stranglehold on the "A's"...with a solid rocking number from their first album, when they were still a post-punk band. Though again, the preponderance of Jam songs in the first letter of the alphabet gives the impression that I'm a bigger Jam fan than I actually am. Still this is a good song.

So, I ran into a former co-worker on the street...and it just baffles me how some people's lives are just destined for drama. Granted, I occasionally have an interesting and exciting life, I live in NYC: I go out a bit and work at a somewhat unorthodox company...but most nights I go home and watch movies with my girlfriend, watch soccer with my boys, or play video games alone...but this girl...well, granted, she's 11 years younger than me and most would consider her a looker, but the amount of crazy things that happen to her do tend to leave me shaking my head.

On this particular occasion she informed me (I hadn't seen her since April or so) that she had recently gotten married. Though I'm used to her surprises, this one definitely caught me out of the blue, as last time I saw her she was complaining about the fact that she hadn't had a date in years. Additionally she was not wearing a ring. When I mentioned this fact to her, she just laughed and pointed out that she was marrying an old family friend so that he could get his papers and that she was being very well paid for it.

Now why doesn't this shit ever happen to me? Baffling.

At The Feast - The Congos - Heart of the Congos - 1977

Antartica, the bar that has the distinction of being about ten feet from my office has a curious phenomenon they call "name night". At the begining of every month they publish a calendar with a name assigned to every day of the week (except Sundays when they are closed). If you enter the bar on the night corresponding to your name you can drink that night until 11 free of charge. Granted, there are restrictions on what you can have...but still, it's free booze...and free booze served by very attractive and friendly ladies...so you can hardly turn that down.

So, I'm sure you've gathered by now that last night was Josh night, and honestly I have to say that I pulled it off with some aplomb. 3 Pints of Vodka and Soda, 1 Pint Rum and Coke, 2 vodka shots and 2 Stellas....all in all a good showing and with very little day after nastiness. Other than a powerful thirst, I was in good shape this morning. My friend Josh also came out to take advantage of the free booze, and lost his hat...literally, but hey...in war there are always casualties.

I've never been a huge reggea person...I tend to find it monotonous, but occassionally I try. My friend Corey put the Congos on my iPod...I keep them there for historical purposes.

Art School - The Jam - In the City - 1977

With our bellies full of schnitzel, we walked from Alexanderplatz back to Museum Island, enjoying (and photographing) of the city as we walked. By the time we reached the museums it was nearly 4PM and we realized that we only had so many hours of daylight left in Berlin and that we were rather enjoying walking around the city more than we'd enjoy spending the time inside of a building viewing old art. As such we made the decision to just do some walking.

Anand wanted to get a chance to photograph the Brandenburg gate during the daytime. Additionally it had occurred to me that we'd spent all of our time on the east side of Berlin without seeing the West at all. So off we went.

In the middle of Berlin there is a rather large park shaped like a sideways oval, The Brandenburg Gate/Reichstadt/Museum Island forms it's eastern border while the West Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenberg is the western border. As there is a palace from the time of Fredrich the Great in Charlottenberg this seemed like a good way to both check out some of West Berlin and to get in a good walk.

The park itself was really beautiful, and it was interesting to see Berliners in there day to day life. It probably took us 2 hours to walk the width of the park, during which time we saw the locals doing what they would do on a cold and snowy late afternoon Friday. Some were walking dogs, others jogging, a few young couples strode by holding gloved hands. As with everything in the city, there were tons of statues, monuments, sculptures, and bridges to beautify the already beautiful natural landscape. During the times in which we were in the woods to the point where we could not see the city, it was easy to imagine these woods in Roman times. Centurions marching through to put down the Germanic tribes, the first step towards a German national identity. The history dork in me smiled.

Finally, we emerged on the other side, with the last bit of sun setting in front of us and a new neighborhood to explore.

As I've stated before, The Jam is one of those bands that I find easier to admire than to enjoy. This song has abundant energy and attitude, and maybe even a little more melody than usual...but considering this is from their first album, it's hard not to view this as a simple Ramones copy cat song.

Art Decade - David Bowie - Low - 1977

Ahhh, very appropriate, a bit of Bowie's Berlin period to go along with my tale of debauchery in Berlin. Arty, instrumental, and super cool...it is the Bowie/Eno combo at it's best/worst.

After we managed to ditch the Icelanders and took a moment to compose ourselves we tried to find another bar on my itinerary. Two separate people had recommended this bar to me. You simply entered, paid 1 euro to "rent" a glass and then drank as much as wine as you wanted. At the end of the night, you paid what you thought was fair for what you drank (again, the Berliners seem to be very big on the honor system) but by the time we got there it was well after midnight and quite closed. We ended up drunkenly attempting to photograph a beautiful, snow covered church at night with mixed results.

We finally ended up in some bar called The King Kong lounge where we stayed till about 330. The King Kong Lounge was the kind of bar that would have looked in no way out of place on Ave B. It was a faux dive done in red light, with old time American movie posters on the wall, and Cronenburg's Crash (as opposed to the Oscar winning crap from a few years ago) being projected on a back wall. We sat on one of the couch, nursed some beers and took in the talent before finally calling it a night.

Wow...and this was all day one...sheesh.

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True - 1977

You know it's really easy to think of Elvis Costello as a punk. He certainly had the attitude and came out of the same scene...but with the passing of time, it's easy to see past the attitude and the clever lyrics and see how in line with his contemporaries in the AOR scene. Often I'll listen to My Aim Is True and think "Wow, he sounded so much like Springsteen".

And everytime I hear the intro to this song? I think I'm about to hear a Tom Petty song. I mean sure, they both owe a debt to Roger McGuinn...but it's taken the passing of time to realize that they were cut from the same cloth. Yet try telling that to my fifty year old "rock and roll" uncle who loves Petty and dispises Costello as a wussy british dork in nerd glasses.

Great story about this...my uncle went to go see John Cougar Mellencamp in Indianapolis in the late 70's...he walked out of the concert because he couldn't stand the opening act...who was...Elvis Costello. This of course raises the bigger point, what the fuck was Elvis Costello doing opening up for Mellencamp (Back when he was Johnny Cougar) in Indianapolis?

Always Crashing The Same Car - David Bowie - Low - 1977

For my most recent birthday I made a mix with one song from each year I had been alive. I started the mix with this song (the mix was not chronological).

Between the ages of 16-24 I managed to have 4 moderately serious car accidents. I drive too fast and usually with the radio on too loud, and when you are young and think you are indestructible, this is a bad idea.

The first one was literally my first day out driving by myself, I changed lanes without checking my blindspot and a pick up truck barrelled into the passenger side.

The second I was driving home in the rain, and a bunny jumped out in front of me. Rather than simply saying "tough luck Buggs" I swerved to miss him and fish tailed right into a mail box.

The third is the only one I will debate my guilt in. I made a left turn at a yellow light just as a suburban mom gunned it to make the light. She admitted to having taken cough syrup, but she was a mom with a baby in the car and I was 19 and scruffy. This is also the only wreck in which the air bag deployed...dispite the impact occurring at maybe 20 mph. If this has never occured to you, let me tell you...the explosion that causes the air bag to burst through your steering wheel is basically a shot gun shell. If you are gripping the wheel, be preppared to have powder burn on your fingers.

The forth was actually the scariest. I was driving my father's mid life crisis mobile. It was another rainy night and I was driving the notoriously hilly and windy streets of Cincinnati on balding tires. I took a curve WAY TO FAST and the luxury sedan fishtailed. The entire car swung around and smashed into a telephone poll. When it was over, I put my hand behind my head and felt a telephone poll in the back seat, as if it were the driver's side passenger. As it stood I got away with a broken rib, some cuts from the broken glass, and a yelling at by my father...but another foot further down the hill and I don't know that I'd be blogging right now.

I haven't had a wreck since. Granted, I now rely almost exclusively on public transportation, and have been doing for the past 8 years, but also anytime I have been behind the wheel, I have been very aware of the potential dangers of a car.

Anyway, that was the humor of me starting the mix out with this song.

Oh shit...I've already written about this:
http://ocdipod.blogspot.com/2008/04/airbag-radiohead-ok-computer-1997.html

Oh well...

All Saints - David Bowie - Low - 1977

Ok this little bit of Bowie weirdness isn't much fun to listen to more than once, but if nothing else, you really should just marvel at how far ahead of their time Bowie and Eno were at crafting soundscapes. When the track first hit my headphones, I honesty thought it was going to be turn of the millenium turntable stuff, only to check the pod and determine that it was actually late 70's Bowie. Amazing sounds, even if there isn't much to the actual song.

All Around The World - The Jam - All Around the World Single - 1977

Sorry to all five of my readers for the lack of updates. It's been a busy week.

Anyway, I was hanging out with one of my lady friends on Sunday playing video games (yes, I am exactly that cool) when I discovered that she gets the munchies like a 14 year old girl. We go on a simple beer run, and I buy one six pack and one bag of chips. She on the other hand bought an entire log of cookie dough, a pack of honey roasted nuts, and a bag of swedish fish.

I'm not sure if there is a fetish for watching tall, skinny vegan chicks eat an entire log of cookie dough, but if you want photos, I could probably arrange that.

Anyway, more of The Jam doing their thing.

Alison - Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True - 1977

More Things I Learned in Indiana:

B) Apparently, there is a desperate shortage of early 30 something men in Indianapolis who are neither fat, bald, or saddled with 37 children. Here in NYC, in a sea of the model thin and perfectly coiffed, I'm a drunk slob coasting on Irish charm and Midwestern "Aw shucks" manners...but back there it was like I was Brad Freaking Pitt. Waitresses, clerks, and bar tenders were all over me. One poor cashier at Trader Joe's was basically ready to jump me across the counter.

Look people who know me know that I am not a vain man (intellectual vanity doesn't count)...I'm not a "She was all over me" kinda guy...this shit was just really happening. It was a tremendous ego boast. If I weren't also a principled man (and staying with my grandparents) I might have nailed a swath right through the city of Indianapolis.

Anyway, Allison...what was once the pretty ballad on an angry album has become the prototype for any new music Elvis puts out. Still a great song though.