Meme: 15 in 15, albums that stick with you

EDITED BY THE EDITOR TO INCLUDE THIS EDITORIAL NOTE: This is a VERY long and self-indulgent post.  Read it only if you are procrastinating. Thank you. -Ed.

Over on Facebook, Cab posted a meme recently.  Usually I resist the memes (and the games), but this one had impeccable timing and I couldn't pass it up.  This one was too much like my 10 Things Game.

15 in 15, Albums

"The rules: Don't take too long to think about it - choose fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. (These aren't favorite albums, necessarily, just the fifteen that will always stick with you.)"

Please play along.  Leave your own list or a link or observations in the comments down below.  

I couldn’t stop at fifteen, and it's my blog so you can’t make me.  Annotating the list turned into a lovely reflection on my 37th birthday.  I present the albums to you in the order they occurred to me.

 Jeff Buckley - Grace (Legacy Ed.)

A few years ago I saw a video of Buckley singing Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah," and it moved me.  I vaguely remembered Buckley, especially “So Real,” and went hunting for more songs by him.  This naturally led me to stories about his death.  I read the biography about Buckley and his dad, Dream Brother.  Inspired by the potential for myth surrounding his death, and by several of his songs, I wrote my first screenplay.  My story is not about Buckley, but questions about Buckley at the tenth anniversary of his death motivate the main character, and Buckley is present as a shadowy/imagined figure in several brief scenes.

Fastball - Painting the Corners

The year after I graduated from college I drifted a bit and spent several months working as a retail chick in a souvenir gift shop.  When I got myself together, I applied to graduate school and ended up in Pennsylvania.  That year in San Antonio, the first year Partner and I were married, I spent a lot of time in motivational limbo, wandering and wondering about different paths I might take.  Hearing “The Way,” the most popular song by Austin band Fastball, always makes me think of that year.  “You’re An Ocean” and “Fire Escape” are two of my favorite love songs.  “I believe I’d buy whatever you would sell to me” indeed.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

When Partner and I first started dating, we spent a fair amount of time drinking and dancing.  In Las Cruces at that time, our favorite local band was Ulcer, made up mainly of engineering geeks.  Their music started out on the computer, and live instruments came later.  NIN influences were heavy.  When we weren’t out with Ulcer, we sometimes went to a club in El Paso.  (NM Aggies, what was the name of that club? Had a number in it? 101?)  One rainy night, the club was fairly empty and the bartender took an interest in us.  He kept us drinking and moving on the dance floor, and I think he’d have taken us both home if we’d let him.  He had the DJ play “Closer” for us several times that night.

Erasure - The Innocents

A good friend in high school gave me this album on cassette.  I still have that cassette, and I think of him anytime I hear a song from the album.  I often listen to this one (on the computer now, not the cassette player) when I’m in an upbeat mood, or at least trying to get myself into an upbeat mood.

Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind

This album is my Now album.  I’m finding the humor and honest emotion of several songs inspirational. “Drunken Poet’s Dream” and “It’s a Shame” are my absolute favorites here, though I would never pass up a chance to listen to “I Got a Gig.”

The Beatles - The White Album, CD2 and Queen’s Greatest Hits, CD1

One of our birthday rituals is to play “Birthday” (very loud) for the birthday person, but we always leave the album playing while we have cake.  Queen is in the big CD player right after The Beatles, so the two albums go hand-in-hand for family celebrations.

The Commitments Soundtrack

When you’ve spent fifteen years with a person, a lot of albums will be remind you of that person.  This one goes back to those pre-married, having-sex-all-the-time days, but this one isn’t about sex.  Partner and I often watched movies with friends from the lab.  The Commitments was a repeat favorite, and I used to know Jimmy’s “interview” speeches in the bathtub by heart.  Besides, it's a great collection of music.  Harvey Keitel theme-nights were also popular.  Imagine watching Taxi Driver, Bad Lieutenant and The Piano in the same night.

Golden Earring - The Continuing Story of Radar Love

Once upon a time, when this band came on the radio, there would be a quiz.  Partner would ask anyone in earshot to 1. name the band, 2. name their other hit, and 3. name the number of years between the hits (answers at the bottom of the post).  He did it so much, that several people we knew would automatically answer the questions without prompting when the songs came on the radio.

Cake - Fashion Nugget

I just love this album. Quick poll, are all Cake songs about sex?  Yay or nay?

No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom

I want to be Gwen Stefani when I grow up. Ok, no. This is another college album that I associate with empowerment and independence and a particular time of change in my life.

Deep Blue Something - Home

Deep Blue Something is a Denton, Texas college band and Home is a quintessential college album.  After about a year of dating and hedonism, Partner and I separated for several months.  No, separated makes it sound like we didn’t see each other.  Let’s just say we moved apart and spent a few dark months being stupid.  I saw Deep Blue Something at the NMSU Student Union by myself.  “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” made me cry.  I’m not sure what woke us up to (my) our stupidity, but a few months later we decided to move to San Antonio together.  On a whim, we got married first.

Prince - 1999

When I was about twelve or thirteen, my aunt gave me a bootleg cassette of Prince albums.  I was horrified and thrilled to find a track called “Irresistible Bitch” and thought my aunt was THE coolest person in the world.  She is still rad and I have loved Prince ever since.  1999 is my favorite Prince album.  Purple Rain is a close second, and in middle school I could frequently be found reciting the Dearly Beloved speech from the beginning of “Let’s Go Crazy” to my bathroom mirror.

The Best of ZZ Top, or perhaps Deguello

ZZ Top is all about Dr. Hoffman and his organic chemistry lab at the end of the hall at NMSU.  I worked in there with Caleb, another undergrad who was trouble then but a dentist now, and Naresh, a post-doc who thought we were crazy, lazy, spoiled American kids.  All true.  I had a pair of cheap sunglasses at the time.  But never a Pearl Necklace.

Paul Simon - Graceland

This album always makes me feel good.  “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes” is one of my favorite songs.  I think it’s the resonant sound of the guitar on the whole album that gets me.

Barenaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle and Dave Matthews Band - Crash

 On Facebook I listed Under the Table and Dreaming, but I switched albums because the songs on Crash remind me of the great group of people I worked with at Blockbuster Video and WaldenSoftware. Together with the Rock Spectacle, these songs remind me of the best parts of those months of darkness and stupidity.  Brian, Erin, Tony, Hector, Cab, Steve, Jason, and several others I can picture but whose names are not coming to me.

Melissa Etheridge - Your Little Secret

This one reminds me all about Partner and the first apartment we lived in together.  And our roommate who had a nervous breakdown.

INXS - Kick

In middle school, my favorite media included this album and Top Gun (the movie and its soundtrack).  Michael Hutchence may or may not have been involved in my earliest sexual fantasies.  But I’ll never tell.

G Love and Special Sauce - Philadelphonic

I discovered G Love in graduate school in Pennsylvania.  I love the mellow, groovy, funk and the playful lyrics.  I used “Rodeo Clown” to demonstrate a rhetorical analysis activity with some college freshmen once.

Joe Ely - Letters to Laredo (or anything by the Flatlanders)

Ely grew up in the Texas panhandle, and much of his music and that of his other band The Flatlanders is evocative of the wide open spaces and the cultural flair of New Mexico.

Spin Doctors - Pocket Full of Kryptonite

“Jimmy Olsen Blues” is a sexy song.  "Two Princes" reminds me Dave.

New Order - Substance

This album is wrapped up in memories of two high school boyfriends.  More one than the other since he was The First and I still have the mix-tape he made me that finishes with “Blue Monday.”  Great tape.  The Beatles, Dead Kennedys, Modern English…. Very eighties.

Smash Mouth - Fush Yu Mang

During my third year at NMSU, within a year of graduating with a B.S. in Biochemistry so I could go go medical school, I changed my mind.  My grandfather died.  My estrangement from my father escalated.  I didn’t want to be a doctor anymore.  Blame grief.  Or blame my awesome Chaucer prof.  I finished the B.S., but took an extra year to finish the credits for a dual degree and earned a B.A. in English as well.  One of the best decisions I ever made, and I did it with “Walking on the Sun” playing on the radio over and over again.  Though the awesome prof once told me that Smash Mouth was too derivative for his taste.

Morrissey - Years of Refusal

This is another album about where I am Now, in this transition back into my own work, separate from my mothering identity.  I’ve written about this one before here.

They Might Be Giants - Flood

I will always think of my best friend in high school when I hear any song by They Might Be Giants.  These are the songs we shouted as we skipped arm-in-arm through high school.

Guns ‘n Roses - Appetite for Destruction

High school.  Driving too fast, being too loud.  The back of the band bus.  The drummers.  Yeah, the drummers.  And, grudgingly, the co-opting of “Welcome to the Jungle” for every major sporting event.

U2 - Joshua Tree

The summer when I was ten, I went to California with my sister and grandmother to visit my cousins, aunt and uncle.  My cousin, a few months older than me, was obsessed with this album and in the throes of his first major crush.  He played it non-stop the whole time we were there.  San Diego is “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

Everclear - Sparkle and Fade

If you’ve followed me on Twitter for any length of time, you might know that I’ll tell you that this one is about upbeat college nihilism, right?

Rick Springfield - Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet

I had a hardcore preteen crush on Rick Springfield, circa “Jesse’s Girl,” and this album is the first one I ever bought with my own money.  I made my dad take me to the mall so I could get it.

Ronco’s Funnybone Favorites

I played Rick Springfield and this album endlessly on my little red and white portable record player.  “Get out of here with that dun dun duh, and don’t come back no more!”  It includes novelty hits from the seventies, all of which I can still sing for you if you want (you don’t).  “Alley Oop,” “Stranded in the Jungle,” “DISCO DUCK”!!!!  Good times.

Observations and reflections:

1. More albums in this list remind me of college than of any other time in my life. 

2. I didn’t include a single mention of my children, unless you count The White Album.  If I added albums associated with my kids, I’d throw in Skip Ewing’s BKB, especially the song “Indian Elephant Tea,” or either album by Gnarls Barkley.  

3. Unsurprisingly, Dan, my Partner of fifteen years and Spouse for a lot of those, features in many entries. 

4. Music and sex belong together. 

5. I'm having a good life.  

Answers to the quiz: 1. Golden Earring, 2. Radar Love or Twilight Zone (there were only two), and 3. ten years.  

Something Gifty

A crafty acquaintance recently got married.  We wanted to give her something thoughtful and yet affordable.  I hoped to think of something homemade to tuck in.  We thought about a gift-basket of some sort.  Then we had a brain wave. 

We took a new terra cotta pot, and tucked in a square table-cloth (I whipped it up with some canvassy fabric in a country print I thought would appeal to Bride).  Partner made two loaves of French bread, and we found some fancy salt, a funky bottle of olive oil, and a pot of jam.  We tucked in a card with a note about wishing them a life full of happiness and good flavor.  We had hoped to include a packet of seeds or a potted herb or something for some symbolism about growth, but our seasonal timing is off there.  We liked the idea of a gift for now (the bread, cloth, some condiments) and later (the pot, plant, cloth, some of the condiments).  It sort of reminded me of that scene from It’s a Wonderful Life where the Baileys give the families bread, salt, and wine when they move into their new homes.  

Flower pot, homemade French bread, table cloth, and sundry condiments recently composed and wedding-giftedBride and Groom loved this gift.  It is one we’ll remember next time someone we know gets married.  It can be dressed up or down with a different cloth or pot (though there is something very comforting about that big terra cotta pot), could include a bottle of wine or champagne and glasses, the aforementioned growing thing, or other items to suit the personalities of the recipients.  We could decorate the pot.  It could include homemade food and objects or nice store-bought items.  It strikes me as a good gift for a couple that already has an established household and isn’t in need of more practical objects.    

Someone Had a Birthday

… almost two weeks ago.

Happy to be one year older? Or ready for lemon-poppyseed pound cake?These faces crack me upImpossible to not make a silly face when waiting for cake

Sailing

We’ve lived near the Gulf of Mexico for more than four years now, though we didn’t come here for the water.  We have great beaches within a short drive in several directions.  The Gulf of Mexico affords opportunities to fish, sail, kitesurf, bum on the beach, or any other water/wind/sand combination you might come up with.  Of course, the Gulf of Mexico is also the stomping ground for hurricanes now and again, but that’s another story.  

We live this close to the sand and the water, but we don’t spend much time at the beach.  We go to the beach a few times a year, usually when we have out-of-town visitors who want to poke their toes in the sand and collect a few shells.  Up until recently, we’d never been sailing here.  In fact, I’m not sure if any of us have ever been sailing. 

Some friends of ours live a much more coastal lifestyle.  They live on the beach, ocean kayak, windsurf, sail, and have a tight connection to the water here.  When they called one morning and asked if we wanted to go sailing, we jumped at the opportunity.  Ok, most of us jumped.  Sonar X4 was less than thrilled at the prospect, and was anxious and cautious throughout our sailing adventure.  The other guys looked like they were born to be on the water.  

L to R: Sonar X4, Sonar X6, our friend the Honorary Sonar, and Sonar X9 (Look at the hair on that one. Gorgeous.) (Photo by Carrie Robertson)We sailed in a sheltered area because the wind was pretty strong.  After a few passes, we dropped anchor and swam to a little barrier island.  This was both the  most fun and the most frightening part of the day for me because I’m not a great swimmer.  The moment before we got into the water was also Sonar X4’s peak panic moment and we thought perhaps he was trying to drown his dad as we swam.

I’m happy to say that I’m a better swimmer than I realized and no one drowned.  We came home with a sunny glow (ok, I was a tiny bit sunburned), and covered in salt, but we had so much fun.  Sonar X9 would like you to know that he now wants to learn how to sail.  No, I’m not buying him a boat.  

L to R: Partner, Sonar x4, Sonar X9, Moi, and Sonar X6, with the wind in our eyes. (Photo by Carrie Robertson)

Happy Heart Day

A photo of a hand-knit, somewhat anatomical heart.  Pattern is from Knitty, featuring fleece artist yarn in a colorway I cannot recall because I cannot find the ball band.  With a cameo by my ugliest towel.