SongO’TheDay

“Ridiculous marching band started playing / Got me singing along with some half-hearted victory song…

The trumpet has obviously been drinking / ’cause he’s fucking up even the simplest lines”

-Elliott Smith “Rose Parade”

 

That is how I feel, and have felt more often than not, when trying to find the words for whatever it is I mean to say.  Fucking up even the simplest lines.

Shit, now what am I going to do? 

That thought has gone through my head quite a bit the past few weeks knowing that things are wrapping up.  I’ve always wanted to be creative, and while admittedly my submissions have often skewed more journal than anything artistic, this has been an outlet for me that I really have loved.  My goal was to see it through- which is something I have not done in a long time when it comes to anything close to creativity. 

I say I, yet it isn’t me that saw it through.  Forty-eight people contributed write-ups for the site this year.  About twice that participated with comments.  Scores more were members.  Plus, since this was a members only site, we have no idea how many people read it. I am grateful to everyone who participated.  Thank you.

One of the things that I loved so much about this site is that everyone was so decent.  Nobody talked shit or took anybody down.  I know that shouldn’t seem like a big thing, but I imagine I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that the fact that people refrained from being assholes, hell, were kind, basically encouraged people to take a step to write when they might not have otherwise.  We need more of that.  I’m happy to have been a part of something where people felt free to write what they wanted.

And the music…such good selections, and so varied.  The fact that we got away with this is pretty cool.  Check out the list of artists that were featured:

13 Engines, 22-Pistepirkko, A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000, Andrew Bird, Andy Barr, Animal Collective, Arlo Guthrie, Augie March, Basehead, Beck (2x), Ben Folds Five, Ben Harper, Big Star, Billy Bragg, Billy Joel (2x), Bishop Allen, Black Wire, Bob Dylan, Bobbie Gentry, Boris, Brad Melhau, Brother Ali, Buffalo Springfield, Butterfly Joe, Camera Obscura, Carole King, Charles Mingus, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Climax Blues Band, Clipse, Cody Chesnutt, Corky and the Juice Pigs, Cracker, Dan Bern (3x), Daniel Johnston, Dar Williams, Dave Brubeck, David Bowie, De’Briah, Destroyer, Devin the Dude, Digable Planets, Dire Straits (2x), Diverse, DJ Casper, DJ Unk, Don Byron, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, Dr. Dre, Dr. Ray Hagins, Dramarama, Duke Ellington, East River Pipe, Eggplant Casino, Electric Light Orchestra, Elliott Smith, Ellis Paul, Elvis Costello, Eminem (2x), Erik Truffaz, Evan Dando, Farmers Market, Fatlip, Feist, Film School, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Black, Frankie Valli, Frederick Knight, General Public, Gillian Welch (2x), Gordon Lightfoot, Gram Parsons, Guggenheim Grotto, Habib Koite, Hank Williams, Hans Zimmer, Happy Mondays, Harry Nilsson, Hayden, Herb Alpert, HEXA, Hot Chip, Human Sexual Response, Ice Cube, Ima Robot, Jack Logan, Jackson Browne, Jairamji, Jamie Lidell, Jay-Z, Jeff Buckley, Jermaine Stewart, Jesus Jones, Jets to Brazil, Jim Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Lovano, John Barry, John Coltrane, John Denver, John Martyn, Johhny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Journey, Junior Murvin, Kate Bush, Kermit the Frog, Kid Koala, King Tubby, Klaus Nomi, Kris Delmhorst, Lansing-Dreiden, Laurie Anderson, LCD Soundsystem, Leadbelly, Lemon Jelly, Leo Sayer, Leonard Cohen, Lindsay Buckingham, Loretta Lynn, Louis Armstrong, Love & Rockets, Love Is All, Low, Lucero, Luther Wright & the Wrongs, Madness, Marilyn Manson, Mark Lanegan, Marshall Crenshaw, Martin Sexton, Marvin Pontiac, Max Roach, Maxine Nightingale, MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Men at Work, Miles Davis, Modest Mouse, Mos Def, My Bloody Valentine, Neutral Milk Hotel (2x), Nicola Conte, Nina Simone, Oasis, Of Montreal, Okkervil River, Old Crow Medicine Show, Olivia Newton-John, Otis Redding, OutKast, Paul Westerberg, Pavement, Pedro the Lion, Peggy Lee, Pele Juju, Persephone’s Bees, Peter Gabriel, Pianosaurus, Pink Martini, Porno for Pyros, Primal Scream, Public Enemy, Queen, R. Kelly, Radiohead (3x), Ray Charles, Ray LaMontagne, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regina Spektor (2x), REM, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Rilo Kiley, Roger Williams, Rossini, Ryan Adams, Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, Sam Beam, Sam Cooke, Scissor Sisters, Seals & Crofts, Sean Lennon, SFJazz Collective, Silver Jews, Simon & Garfunkel, Smoke City, Sparklehorse, Spinal Tap, Spiritualized, Spoon, Steely Dan, Steve Reich, Stevie Wonder, Supertramp, Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, Teenage Fanclub, Television, The Animals, The Arcade Fire, The Beach Boys (2x), The Beatles (3x), The Beta Band, The Breeders, The Butthole Surfers, The Clash, The Cons, The Cure (2x), The Dead Milkmen, The Divine Comedy, The Doves, The Drinks, The Dynamortals, The Faces, The High Dials, The Hold Steady, The Infants, The Jim Carroll Band, The Kinks (2x), The Knife, The Muffs, The National, The Pixies, The Pointer Sisters, The Psychedelic Furs, The Replacements (4x), The Rolling Stones (3x), The Sea and Cake, The Shins (2x), The Skatalites, The Smiths, The Soft Boys (2x), The Stooges, The Suburbs (2x), The Sugarcubes, The Suicide Commandos, The Velvet Underground, The Vince Guaraldi Trio, The Violent Femmes, The Virgins, The Wallets, The Weakerthans, The Wood Brothers, Thievery Corporation, Three Dog Night, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Tom Waits (4x), Too Short, Trio, Tulip Sweet and Her Trail of Tears, UGK, Ugly Casanova, Weezer, Wilco (3x), William Shatner, Wu-Tang Clan, Yaz, and Zhane.

That’s one messed-up mixtape.  By the way, each of you who have contributed will receive one of those.  I’ll be sending an email to you asking for your addresses.  The discs will also include every write-up.

I always envisioned having a party for the people who have participated.  The tracks that we’ve covered would play while we drank and met each other- “Oh, you’re JJ Navarro- you made me laugh so hard milk came out my nose” (seriously, that guy is a funny motherfucker, and I’ve never met him)- and we’d end up, through a series of incidents- I doubt we’d be a well-behaved crew- being 86′ed from six or seven bars in San Francisco.

But there wouldn’t be enough time to listen to all of the songs.  I even thought of a Burning Man “SongOTheDay” camp.

Of course, it is all fantasy.  I know that.  I just like the idea of the community that was built, however slight, through this thing.  I feel like I know some of you that I have never met.  No doubt, if you’ve read this site relatively often, you feel the same about me.  I’ve actually met and become friends with a couple of you, and I’ve gotten to know some of my prior friends even better.

I don’t want to make a roll-call of everyone that has contributed for fear that I would leave somebody out.  Besides, the site is still up.  Just look through it again.

The pleasure has been mine.  So there it is.  Thank you!

…

As for the song to wrap it up, yeah, I picked one that is a little downbeat.  Are you surprised?

I don’t look at it as a downer.  Of course, I like the song, but I actually picked it because I’ve been thinking a lot about Kurt Vonnegut lately.  He passed away this year.  I’m not sure that enough people took notice.  My friends Ricky and Karlene did.  Karlene loaned me one of his later books, Timequake, recently.  It was supposedly a second attempt at a failed novel.  I liked that.  Vonnegut failing- if he can, then I shouldn’t feel so hopeless.  The resulting novel- the second, published, version- was part story of a novel, part novel, and a lot of autobiography.  It struck me that Kurt, who was known by his friends as being somewhat depressive (I believe he labeled his smoking as slow suicide), would have probably liked this song.  Is that all there is?

So it goes.

The premise of the original Timequake was this:

At 2:27pm on February 13th of the year 2001, the Universe suffered a crisis in self-confidence.  Should it go on expanding indefinitely?  What was the point?

That was what was printed on the back of the book.  What happened that February day in 2001 was that the entire planet went back ten years.  Everyone jumped back to where they were and while they were cognizant of reliving everything that happened during the ten years prior, they couldn’t change a thing.  It resulted in people just living their lives again like it was a TV show.  They lost their free will. What happens when free will returns? 

It was the perfect book for me at the perfect time.  Knowing Vonnegut lived and thought the way he did makes me more optimistic.

There is a passage in the book that I am particularily fond of- leading up to it he writes about how he hired a friend of his to help rebuild a part of his house, in particular, the part where he does his writing.  His friend does all of the work on his own and does it well, afterwards:

And then he asked it: “How the hell did I do that?”

That question remains for me in the summer of 1996 one of my three favorite questions.  Two of the three are questions rather than good advice of any kind.  The second is Jesus Christ’s “Who is it they say I am?”

The third is from my son Mark, pediatrician and watercolorist and sax player.  I’ve already quoted him in another book: “We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

One might protest, “My dear Dr. Vonnegut, we can’t all be pediatricians.”

And there it is.  One of our greatest American writers, world weary and cynical, still finding room for the sentiment, the truth as he sees it, that maybe the answer to why we are here is to help each other get through it.  Whatever it is.

We made it through 2007.  Thanks for the help.

So long, see you soon.

-shlepcar

 

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