Friday, January 04, 2008

Hazy Shade of Winter Friday Random Ten

Well, Christmas is done, and now begins the job of slogging through the rest of a tough Chicago winter.

The impossible happened-- not one, but two people left Jury's, so I picked up three lucrative night shifts there. I'm cutting back on shifts at the Evanston place, but will still work there a couple of shifts a week. My finances are finally recuperating from the fiasco at the downtown restaurant. It's a big relief.

I'm looking forward to a new semester of school. I've already signed up for Biology 122 online, and have to go in next week during open registration to talk to an advisor to get an okay on Chemistry 201. I'm going to be a busy guy for the next few months. That's ten credit hours worth of classes. It'll get me warmed up for later in the program, when I'll be taking a full fifteen hour class load. And working full time. With one kid in college and one kid in high school, by then. Yikes.

1. Hazy Shade of Winter- Simon and Garfunkel
2. Creeper Is a Lowrider- Manic Hispanic
3. Blues Is King- Marshall Crenshaw
4. Outsider- The Ramones
5. Gas Station Women- Phil Ochs
6. Coming Up Close- 'Til Tuesday
7. Roadhouse Blues- The Doors
8. 1968- Dave Alvin
9. Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad- The Clash
10. The Fight- The dB's


Notes:
1. Love this original, but also liked the Bangles' version, done for the movie Less Than Zero.
2. A cover of the Ramones' "Sheena Is A Punkrocker," by the latino punk group Manic Hispanic.
3. This guy should have had way more success than he did.
4. What's a Friday Random Ten without the Ramones?
5. Phil Ochs loved country music, and it shows on this song.
6. This lovely song defines "bittersweet." I've always assumed this song, their second hit after "Voices Carry," was an epitaph for her relationship with singer-songerwriter Jules Shear. I especially love the line about sitting in a car listening to a Dylan tape. She's happily married these days to singer-songwriter Michael Penn (brother of Sean and the late Christopher Penn).
7. Love this racuous song.
8. Former Blaster Dave Alvin singing about a Vietnam War vet.
9. The Clash sing a song about betrayal.
10. From "Like This," one of my favorite records of the eighties, finally available again on cd.

7 comments:

Traveling Matt said...

i think i will sing 'hazy shade of winter' at karaoke. i really do love both versions... thanks johnny yen!

Cap'n Ergo "XL+II" Jinglebollocks said...

NONONONO, DAMMIT!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA SAY IT?! ☧-MAS AIN'T O'ER UNTIL TWELFTH NIGHT ON JAN 6TH!! Then comes Distaff Day (Jan 7th) and Plough Monday (the Monday after 12th Night) and finally Pensive Tuesday (th' day after Plough Monday).

Jeeez, people, it's like you've gotten enuff of ☧-mas by the time 12/22 has rolled 'round, or somethin...

an' you've inspired me to start Flashback Friday o'er at my place.

Cap'n Ergo "XL+II" Jinglebollocks said...

NONONONO, DAMMIT!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA SAY IT?! ☧-MAS AIN'T O'ER UNTIL TWELFTH NIGHT ON JAN 6TH!! Then comes Distaff Day (Jan 7th) and Plough Monday (the Monday after 12th Night) and finally Pensive Tuesday (th' day after Plough Monday).

Jeeez, people, it's like you've gotten enuff of ☧-mas by the time 12/22 has rolled 'round, or somethin...

an' you've inspired me to start Flashback Friday o'er at my place.

Cap'n Ergo "XL+II" Jinglebollocks said...

NONONONO, DAMMIT!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA SAY IT?! ☧-MAS AIN'T O'ER UNTIL TWELFTH NIGHT ON JAN 6TH!! Then comes Distaff Day (Jan 7th) and Plough Monday (the Monday after 12th Night) and finally Pensive Tuesday (th' day after Plough Monday).

Jeeez, people, it's like you've gotten enuff of ☧-mas by the time 12/22 has rolled 'round, or somethin...

an' you've inspired me to start Flashback Friday o'er at my place.

Tenacious S said...

Revelation. The first album I played was Marshall Crenshaw "Downtown." I played it solely to hear "Blues is King." I love Marshall Crenshaw. His music is definitely part of who I am. Same night, later, and you can check with Lulu, I chose my favorite breakup album of all time, 'Til Tuesday/Coming Up Close. Long story, British dude, dreams crushed, narrated by Aimee Mann. Well, and you already know the Ramones and The Clash addictions of mine, topped off with sprinkles of "I lived in the South dB's." Sweet list.

Distributorcap said...

PHIL OCHS!

another person who knows PO!

he killed himself in the late 70s -- always liked phil ochs --- in many ways better than Dylan

Johnny Yen said...

Monica-
That's the sign of a great song, that it can be covered and still be great. Great imagery in that song.

Hot Lemon-
I'd had enough of Christmas music by the first day of the Christmas season.

TenS-
I saw your post about the turntable. I saw one of those at Urban Outfitters. Very cool!

Another of my Marshall Crenshaw favorites is "Your My Favorite Waste of Time." It's on "Attack of the Killer B's," a collection of great B-sides from the seventies and eighties.

Distributorcap-
Not only do I know Phil Ochs, I'm a huge fan! Do you have "Farewells and Fantasies," the great box set that was issued in the mid-ninties? It's wonderful-- most of what was ever issued on his records.

Phil took his own life in 1976. Tragically, his country idol, Faron Young, also did so a couple of years ago.

On the LP "The Essential Phil Ochs," Ed Sanders, normally a very irreverent guy, wrote a beautiful piece about Phil. It's worth seeking out.

I agree with you on him re: Dylan. You've probably heard the infamous story of Dylan kicking Phil out of his car during and argument. It's in the Wikipedia article about Phil.