Awful Bliss - Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand - 1994

So I have a really awful story to go along with this song. Like a really, really embarrassing and shameful story, but frankly, it is what I think about when I hear this song and will be what I think about when I hear this song until the day I die...so I pretty much have to tell this story.

The song itself is relatively simple. One of the small handful of GBV tracks sung by reedy voiced "Classic Lineup" guitar player Tobin Sprout, it clocks in at barely over 1 minute long. It's a sad, acoustic ballad in the middle of an album of Pollard's bombastic triumphs. And it's really just one verse and a single line repeated a few times as a chorus, but epic song lengths were not GBV's forte.

So...about that story...it was the weekend before Thanksgiving of 99. I was living my last year in Cincinnati, saving money to move to NYC the following summer. My girlfriend at the time was visiting her family in Ecuador, and I decided to go grab a bite to eat with one of my friends. As there is jack-shit to do in Cincy, we ended up at the TGI Friday's in Kenwood drinking and eating Jack Daniel's Chicken Strips (Cuisine was not high on Cincy's list in the 90's...though my mother assures me it's gotten better). After a few we headed our separate ways.

Cut to Tuesday night by which point both myself and my friend have easily the worst food poisoning either of us have ever, ever had. It was so bad in fact that I couldn't drive to my family's thanksgiving celebration, because I was in the bathroom every 20 minutes AROUND THE CLOCK. And it's this around the clock thing that really brings us back to this song.

Now, I don't know if you've ever gone a few days straight sleeping only in little 15 minute bursts...but let me tell you, you start to go a little loopy. You live in a fog where the whole world is strange. It's like the worst drug you've ever EVER taken. I remember laying on my couch, Thanksgiving Day, trying to watch the Macy's Parade and drifting in and out of consciousness between trips to the toilet. (Again, I apologize for the scatological nature of this post)...and for some strange reason for that whole period, I just had that one single line "And I wouldn't dare to bring out this awful bliss" running in my head...over and over. I'm fairly certain it's what madness feels like. Like maybe Manson just kept hearing "Helter-Skelter" in his head, just like that...granted I wasn't homicidal...if anything I mostly just wanted to die...but still...

Anyway, by Friday I had to go to the ER and be rehydrated and given some anti-biotics. It took me about a week after that to get back on solid food, and I will honestly say without fear of exaggeration that nearly 10 years later...my stomach has never fully recovered...and I will never hear this song again without thinking about that just awful, awful 4 days.

Authority Song - John Cougar Mellencamp - Uh-Huh - 1983

The last bar actually skirted the rules a little bit and let us stay until 215. I guess this is as close as Boston gets to "after hours". Once we were finally given the boot from whatever random sports bar this was, we headed back to the hotel.

However, being who we are, we decided to walk the five miles back...at 230 in the morning. All in all it was an enjoyable time. We jumped in a sprinkler that was watering the lawn of some Boston College building (Well, at least Anand and I did, Skip looked at us like we were idiots). We took some pictures along Commonwealth Ave and enjoyed the sort of freedom that comes with walking through a city that is otherwise completely asleep.

When we got back to the hotel, Skip called it a night. His intestinal unpleasantness had subsided, but it left him a little lagging in the energy department. Anand and I decided to wander around taking some pictures of the city at night...which lead to one of our bigger disappointments of the trip. We walked all the way down up from the prudential building to city hall. We figured it's golden dome would be an awesome site all lit up and glowing in the night. We'd have no tourists in our way to obscure the picture and we'd have the commons between us to keep us entertained on the way there and back.

Upon arrival, we realized one flaw with this plan...they don't light the goddamn thing up at night. Like so many other things about this city, it was a let down. Boston could be so much cooler than it is...

Speaking of which...I'm definitely letting my white trash roots show here. There is almost no criticism one could level at "The Coug" that I wouldn't 100% agree with. Is he cheesy? Is he faux-earnest? Is he derivative? Does he need to wear those ridiculous tight jeans and add "cougar" to his name? To all of those, the answer is No, No, No and one million times NO! But then, you didn't grow up in Indiana, where the man was already considered a state treasure a few albums into his career. You've never actually driven by the Tasti-Freeze in Spencer Indiana (probably...I mean, I don't know you...maybe you have). I'd love to hate The Coug for all of the things mentioned above, for his glamorization of a small town America that never really existed, and for his really bad mullet...but at the end of the day, I'm a Hoosier, and I was born in a small town...and I fought the Authority and the Authority always wins.

At Last The Night - Amusement Parks on Fire - Out of the Angeles - 2006

So there is a restaurant/bar not too far from my office called Edward's. Edward's is apparently owned by a former Cincinnati sports figure and as such has a monthly event called so creatively "Cincinnati Night" wherein they fly in food from 4 different Cincy eateries that do not have NYC locations. They fly in Montgommery Inn ribs (which are good, but I don't crave them), Greater's Ice Cream (Which is good, but it's just ice cream) and La Rossa's Pizza (Which I've never understood the fuss over) I go for one reason and one reason only, it's the only place in this town to get Cincinnati style chili.

For those of you that don't know what that is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili

If you have ever met anyone who is from Cincinnati or spent time there, in all likelihood, they are obsessed with this food. It's more addictive than crack and only slightly less bad for you.

For years I have been considering going and always had other things going on, or it simply slipped me mind...I was going to go in February, but the date was when I was in Europe. Then I tried to go in March, only to discover a line out the door and that only customers with reservations were being seated (Reservations! For Cincy Chili!!! Amazing).

So this month I did it right, I made reservations and showed up on time, and the chili was definitely worth it. Oh sure there were little things off, the spaghetti was too thick, as was the grated cheddar. The hot dog on my cheese coney was a little too thin and red...but the chili itself was a wonderful bit of happiness and I fully intend to go back next month.

At Last The Night is an instrumental...and is really only noteworthy in that it is one of the few Amusement Parks On Fire songs to not sound exactly like every other Amusement Parks on Fire songs.

April Showers - Secret Agent Gel - No Floor - 2006

Well, I'm back from my Christmas hiatus in the land of sweatpants and melted cheese and I managed to come back relatively unscathed. However...

For various reasons, I decided to rent a car and drive to visit my parents this winter. By and large this was a good decision that I do not regret, with one exception.

The drive from NYC to Cincinnati is about 11 hours long, and despite getting a late start and the fact that NYC got snow on the day before, our trips were relatively uneventful. 11 hours in a car can be a test on even the best of relationships, but my lady and I managed just fine enjoying the music and the sites and the road food. All was good.

The drive from my parents house in Cincy to my grandparents house in butt-fuck Indiana (Poland, IN, if you want to get technical about it) is typically about 2.5 to 3 hours. Shortly before we got to Indianapolis traffic began slowing down due to the freezing rain on the highway. By the time I pulled onto 465 (Indy's bipass) I was gliding through curves and clutching the wheel to make sure I stayed on track. Just west of Indy I got on 70 and stopped at the rest stop (which would later prove to be a great idea). Within ten minutes we were in completely stopped traffic. Between the hours of 430 and 1130 we moved about a mile and a half. I have to say both of us kept our temper pretty well (and hats off to my diabetic girlfriend for making it through without a potty break...or killing me). It wasn't until about 830 that I really started throwing my shit out the window (so to speak). For the first couple of hours you just sit there thinking "Well, this is annoying, but I'm just going to hang out with my grandparents, nothing that I can't be late for...surely it'll clear up any minute" And then it doesn't...and it doesn't...and it doesn't.

Even when we finally started moving again the roads were so icy that not much progress was being made. The fifteen mile drive to the next exit took an hour, when we finally got there we immediately went flying to the gas station bathroom and then went looking for hotel. Despite the fact that we were only 15 miles from my grandparents house, it was well after midnight and I wasn't sure I could navigate the country roads in the ice. However, the fact that all 4 hotels in the truckstop town were completely filled (People were even sleeping in the hallways and lobby) meant that I had to try my luck.

By the time I finally arrived at my grandparents it was 1:30...so it actually took me an hour longer to drive from Cincy to Poland, IN than it did from NYC to Cincy. But on the plus side, it's all over now.

This is my buddy Corey performing as Secret Agent Gel. His music is a bit more dancey and electronica-y than my usual taste, but I've gotta give my man credit for sound quality on this stuff and, as always, for having the hussle to produce his own work. That's more energy than I generally exert.

(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?

American Girl - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - 1976

Frankly, The Silence of the Lambs very nearly ruined this song for me. And what that didn't do The Strokes "Last Night" did the rest.

But I guess I can't really blame the messenger. And at the end of the day, this is still one of the finest examples of the mid 70's jangle pop ressurgance. And honestly, despite massive overexposure, this song is still just about note perfect. It's syncopated drum rhythm (which, as I mentioned, The Strokes would ride for dear life), it's half reggea bassline, Mike Campbell's 12 string jangle and the dreamy background vocals (always the Heartbreaker's secret weapon) make the song ideal from driving down country roads with the windows down on a muggy summer night. Stuff like this almost makes me miss Indiana.

All The Nations Airports - Archers of Loaf - All The Nations Airports - 1996

If Iwere to chart a progression in my musical tastes then this album would hold a fairly signifigant place. Not that I loved it that much at the time, or love it that much now, or even listen to it much these days...but Archers of Loaf is the point at which I stepped out from the shadows of Alternative Nation and started actually following "Indie Rock" rather than a corporate idea of what that concept was supposed to be.

I sometimes take some shit/feel self-concious that I wasn't one of those guys you meet who were into the Pixies in 7th grade, that never had bad taste, that were seemingly born cool. But then I think about the circumstances, I had no older brother, there were no college stations in Kokomo Indiana, and no cable tv in the Geary household (I lived with my grandparents in High School, long story). All things considered the path from GnR to U2/REM to Led Zeppelin to Nirvana to Pearl Jam to real indie rock isn't so bad. At least I was never in a Garth Brooks phase. And besides, those people that were always cool...they are generally assholes.

All My Kin - Chisel - Set You Free - 1997

Even though it does have a horn section and a quasi-childrens choir, two things that I am ordinarily pretty oppossed to, I can't help but love this song. Mostly because I completely releate to the subject matter. For some reason whenever I go to visit my family in Indiana, someone invariably wants to engage me in a political convesation that they seem to know will infuriate me and make me think "how in the hell can I be related to these dimwits". Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church, Barrack Obama wants your kids to pray to Allah while learning about gay sex, Hillary Clinton is the anti-christ (I don't even like Hill, yet they seem to cast me in the roll of her biggest fan), gun control would not have stopped the Virginia Tech massacre, etc, etc, etc.

Ugh...but at the end of the day they are my family, and it is good to see them. Even if they are bonkers. Mr. Leo understands, though I can't imagine Jersey ignorance holds a candle to Indiana ignorance.

All By Ourselves - Sloan - Between The Bridges - 1999

I was living in Cincinnati in 1999, and if you need further evidence of why I have such ambivalent feelings about the place, absorb this fact. In 1999 the local independant weekly picked Sloan's Between the Bridges as the best album the year, with The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin as a #2.

Now don't get me wrong, Sloan can be a tremendously entertaining band and they can write a good hook...there are quite a few of them on this album, including this song. And The Flaming Lips have lost some of their cool through computer ads, endless hippy festival appearances and one really bad album. But seriously, don't forget what an amazing pop symphony TSB was at the time...and despite it's charms what an unremarkable power pop album Between the Bridges is.

Anyway...

Alison (Live) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces (Disc 2) - 1978

Okay, it occurs to me that perhaps I've been a touch harsh on Indiana in the past few days. It didn't help that my family spent the entire weekend driving me insane, and that I missed that first beautiful weekend in NYC, but perhaps I was a bit harsh on the Hoosier State. I will say, as lame as it can be, it was absolutely gorgeous there on Friday. And that I had a really great time hiking through the woods with my dad and my brother. Also, in it's defense Indiana did produce both James Dean and Steve McQueen...two of the most classic icons of cool there are. And of course Izzy and Axl of GnR. And then there's the Jacksons...which is obviously a mixed bag. On one hand you have "Rock with You" and Tito...but on the other hand you have Jesus Juice and LaToya.

Anyway, I've also been hard on Elvis Costello...but I've yet to reach any of the songs in which I can wax rhapsodic about him. Sadly, this live version of Alison is yet another precursor to the modern Elvis, stripping away the little bit of grit the studio version has for a torch song rendition. For a guy who could tremendously, wonderfully angry (Despite his protests to the contrary) he could also be a tremendous sap.

Alison - Slowdive - Souvlaki - 1993

More Things I Learned in Indiana:

D) My family talks a lot about the surguries people have had. This is especially disconcerting as they have no objection to doing this during dinner. There's nothing more appetizing than hearing about aunt Zelma's gall bladder surgury while eating potato salad.

Clearly Alison is a very musical name...

Slowdive's Souvlaki is basically the quintasential Shoegazer album, and this is one of the best 2-3 songs on the album. I am continually amazed by the degree to which shoegaze sounds have infiltrated so much of modern music. It seems like everybody loves a delay pedal these days.

Alison - Pixies - Bossanova - 1990

More Things I Learned in Indiana:

C) Fine. You got me. I'll admit it. Baby sheep and cows are pretty darn cute.

I said it, are you happy?

I still have every intention of eating and wearing those animals when they grow up.

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.

Alexander Bends - Butterglory - 5 Rows of Teeth: Merge Records 5 Year Anniversary Comp - 1992

So some other things I learned while in Indiana:

A) The latest in mall design is bizarre. The trend towards open air malls has been combined with the urge to pen your customers in. This has resulted in malls being designed to look like a town block in a hippy village. It's all fake streets with generic names, sort of like "Main Street USA" at Disney World only replace the faux 1900's candy stores with Vicky's Secret and Claire's Boutique. Also, the name of this mall was "Metropolis" which I knew because of the Hollywood Sign size gray steel letters out in front of the entrance to the parking lot. I was unable to find the Daily Planet's offices however.

Alexander Bends is pretty much what Indie Rock sounded like when I was in college. Striped absolutely bare, but deceptively poppy, short and to the point. Pretty much the entirity of that Merge 5 year comp is worth having, but even at a minute and a half, this is one of the highlights.

Alec Eiffel - Pixies - Trompe Le Monde - 1991

Ok, so I was in Indiana less than 12 hours when they had a 5.8 on the richeter scale earthquake...in FREAKING INDIANA...not exactly the earthquake center of the world. Sure, tornados, we get those by the sackful but there are not supposed to be earthquakes there. Clearly this is a sign that God is displeased that I visited the midwest.

One of the more solid tracks off of Trompe Le Monde. My friend Rance is a big defender of this album, I find it mostly lackluster with a couple of winning tracks (No one can deny U-Mass is a great song).

Two songs from 91 in a row...sometimes this project has funny results.

Alcohol - CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy - 2006

Alcohol...what I will be drinking a lot of with my brother over the next couple of days. Despite the occassional theory that I will use my time in the midwest to detox from my decadent NYC existence, I actual end up drinking more in an effort to cope with the tedium.

More CSS, still catchy and fun...and makes me want a drink.

Alarm Call - Bjork - Homogenic - 1997

So, I have to go back to Indiana for my father's birthday. I haven't spent nearly enough time with my fam lately, so I shouldn't be so bitter about it however...I will be missing a 77 degree sunday in NYC...the first one of 2008. Spaghetti string tank tops and short skirts will line the streets, outdoor drinking will be in full effect, and I will be making a turban out of paper towels while playing Risk with my dad and my brother. I will be surrounded by corn and old relatives, while my friends eat, drink and be merry.

There is no justice in this world.

Anyway, Bjork when she still knew how to write a melody. Good stuff.

Air Aid - Menomena - Friend or Foe - 2007

A few nights ago, a friend of mine that I hadn't talked to in seven years got in touch with me via MySpace and let me know that he'd be in town in a couple weeks. Ordinarily, if one of my old friends from the Midwest suddenly dropped in on me, I would conveniently have "The busiest week of the year" scheduled at work...but I was honestly glad to hear from this guy. He's basically one of the most decent human beings I've ever met, and totally look forward to his visit. He called on the phone and we had a good, if slightly awkward chat...anyway, it was a nice touch to the week.

I've been really into Menomena. They are kind of like a less annoying version of The Liars, or The Secret Machines with the Bombast dialed way down.

Across The Avenue - Freedy Johnson - This Perfect World - 1994

When I was in my early twenties, I lived in Cincinnati and hated my life. Like many people my basic age I had caught Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming on cable (not to be confused with the more recent Will Ferrell soccer movie which inexplicably featured Robert Duvall) and on the basis of its use on the soundtrack decided to pick up this Freedy Johnson album.

At the time, having never actually been to NYC, I assumed that these songs were little capsules of what a cool life in the city must be like. Now it all seems a bit trite and naive. Still, I keep this shit around to remind myself of the kid I used to be. There are better songs on this album, though...songs that make me cringe about "90's Josh" less. Serviceable

Acorns and Orioles - Guided by Voices - Under Bushes, Under Stars - 1996

One of the few things I miss about the midwest is the sound of trains. I can think of few sounds more evocative than a train whistle blowing in the night, off in the distance. According to the GBV book, Hunting Accidents, Bob wrote this song after walking along the train tracks late at night smoking a joint. And as a fellow midwesterner, Bob captured it perfectly. The shimmery feedback- y noise in the back ground perfectly captures the sad foreboding that the of the song. And as usual, Pollard's trick of making a seemingly meaningless phrase heavy with implied feeling is wonderfully executed. By the time he's chanting "I can't tell you anything, you don't already know" you feel like the weight of 1,000, 000 fights rests on the back of those lyrics.

Truly a great, great song.