MAGIC 8POD

1) How will things go for Beth & Peter when they move in together? The first song that came up is by the Wondermints, and i don't know the title (it was on a mix someone gave me) but it's kind somber, talks about day to day getting through, there is a chorus that goes "every morning i wake up/ every morning i sigh." Hmmm... let's be cautiously optimistic.

2) How will the dinner party i'm throwing with Alexis go this weekend? Pano Da Costa (Cloth from the Coast) - Kronos Quartet. This is from 'White Man Sleeps' and has no words. Ok, also kinda cryptic. The piece is really good - it does have a certain amount of turbulence, but ends well. Let's go with that.

3) Will the Red Sox get to the World Series? The Diner/The Slant - Ani Difranco. This is from one of the live albums, and starts with her introducing the band, which is like the way they introduce the players at the Series. Yeah, right.

Maybe i should make these a little more personal.

4) Will I have the career of my dreams? Comedy Tonight - The Trotter Trio. Ok, a brilliant instrumental version of a classic sondheim opening number. 'Something familiar, something peculiar/ Something for everyone..." I'll take this.

5) Will I meet someone special soon? Galgenlied, from Pierrot Lunaire - Ensemble Modern. Ohmigod! This is so funny in a totally twisted way i can hardly stand it. Galgenlied means 'gallows song' and it's all about a withered whore with a stringy neck digging her claws into a guy. Seriously. Someone Special, indeed. Thanks a lot, ipod.

6) What do my friends really think of me? Your Love is King - Sade. Now that's more like it.

7) Is anyone thinking of me now? King of Birds - R.E.M. Hmm, back to cryptic here. Pensive, reflective, not sure how to interpret this.

I'll turn it outwards again.

8) Will there be a shift in the balance of Congress this midterm election? Long Train Running - Doobie Brothers. Ha! This is the one with the chorus "Without love, where would you be now?"

9) Will I find true happiness? Hurley - Pinback. It's a happy enough song, with good hooks, about going out in the snow to go sledding. It asks 'how far will i go to protect myself?' And there's a line about catching your skin in the zipper as you seal yourself into winter gear - so i'm taking this as a message to stay open and not close myself off to people or experience.

No Limit.

Ok, a friend inspired me to start one of these, so here's the first.

The new Dylan cd came out yesterday - i haven't heard it yet, but i'm hoping it's waiting for me in my mailbox. So in the spirit of the moment i named this blog after a dylan song. This song came to me not necessarily because it's my favorite - i'm actually not a fan of favoritism, but it is a GREAT song, and seems somehow appropriate to this drizzly week, a year from hurricane katrina and a different kind of personal shake-up in my life that happened a pretty much the exact same time.

Just the opening:

"My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire."

And just to fill it out, here's the final verse:

"The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers' nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring.
The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows cold and rainy
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing."

Went to a show last night - "Everything's Turning Into Beautiful" at the Acorn on 42nd St. It's good, you should go. It's by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld with music by Jimmie James. Not a musical though, but a play about musicians, played by Daphne Ruben Vega (the original Mimi in"Rent") and Malik Yoba (who's on New York Undercover, which i have to admit i've never seen). They are songwriting collaborators - he shows up at her apartment in chelsea after 2 a.m. on christmas eve for an 'important' talk laced with sexual/romantic tension. There are songs, good ones, that turn up in the course of the show, but it's not the 'classic american musical' format where the emotions get pitched to a point where the character has to express them in song; the characters share the songs in the context of composing collaborators. It definitely has some sentimental elements, but i think it holds up.

Jessica, who went to the show with me, taught me about 'Magic 8Pod' where you ask a question 'Magic 8 Ball' style and then hit shuffle song on your ipod. That'll probably be the subject of my next entry.

'til then,

"She knows there's no success like failure,
And that failure's no success at all."