Friday Random Ten For a Three Day Weekend

It was a pretty good week. There's a lot going on in the alternative school I work at, stemming from a huge fight the week before Christmas break. I'm keeping my fingers crossed-- it looks like they're making some positive changes. I made it to Friday and now have a three day weekend.

1. Jean and Dinah- Robert Mitchum
2. And I Moved- Pete Townsend
3. The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In—Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll
4. Mandocello- Cheap Trick
5. Balloon Man- Robyn Hitchcock
6. Kiss and Say Goodbye- The Manhattans
7. I Will Not Go Quietly- Don Henley
8. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee- Bob Dylan
9. Dirty Old Man- Fugs
10. Perfect Blue- Lloyd Cole

Comments:
1. Yes, a calypso album by Robert Mitchum. And it's pretty good! The first time I heard this one, my friend Dan brought it over. He'd found it on vinyl at a garage sale. He gave it to a another friend as a gag gift. The friend found out, much to Dan's chagrin, that the album's a rarity, and worth a bundle.

When I first started dating Kim, who's now my wife, I discovered that she owned the cd version. I knew then that I was dating the right girl.

2. From Pete Townsend's "Empty Glass" album. It came out shortly before his realization that he was an alcoholic. What a surprise-- the album title, the fact that nearly every song is about drinking, and that even the little markers showing who played on what track were noted with different shaped glasses. The album is still amazing.

3. This is a song from the Hair soundtrack, done by the couple probably best known for their great cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch."

4. Tenacious S just posted about Cheap Trick. They were a group I was so-so with from when I was a teenager, and suddenly some time in my thirties realized how great they are.

5. This song has one of the great lines ever: "And it rained/Like a slow divorce." Reminds me of living with college buddies Dan and Mark in Wrigleyville in the eighties. Mark loved Robyn Hitchcock.

6. Holy guilty pleasure, Batman!

7. I was just quoting this song recently. "I will not lie down/I will not go quietly." It reminds me of Dylan Thomas' admonition not to go quietly into the night...

8. When I went to Shanghai with co-best friend Viktor Zeitgeist in May of 2002, we ended up finding a bar within walking distance of our hotel owned by a young Chinese guy and his mother. The guy was a huge Dylan fan, and every night would play the entire "Love and Theft" cd.

The picture of me at the top of this blog was from that trip. I ran in to an old friend right in the middle of Shanghai, and had Viktor take a picture of us together.

9. The Fugs were sixties pioneers in political incorrectness. If you've ever listened to Dr. Demento, you've probably heard their locker room anthem "Boobsalot." Ironically, Fug Ed Sanders, who went on to form the Holy Modal Rounders (who reformed a few years ago) wrote beautiful touching liner notes to a Phil Ochs best-of album some years ago (I'll be mailing those to you this weekend, Dale!)

10. The perfect dream song.