I'm listening to Dance Music, Dance Music

Listeming to...
New Beirut.
Muswell Hillbillies (but I'm a twenty-*first* century man & I don't wanna be him/die here)
Fall mix from Derek Fenner
Mix from Zac Martin
New Radiohead (but not so much...as I sd I'm a twenty-first century man but I don't wanna be him. O.K. Computer made me feel uneasy as did Kid A in a different way. I don't feel uneasy anymore. Now it just sounds like a style, a sound. That shift--that shift that quickly--seems to be part of being a twenty-first century man. see also: commodification of dissent, conquest of cool, etc.)
I could listen to Mt. Goats Get Lonely all day long & still be chilled by the last song.

What are you listening to?

The Pogues Here and There

Ides of March in Boston with the Pogues

Streams of Whiskey * If I Should Fall from Grace with God * The Broad Majestic Shannon * The Turkish Song of the Damned * Young Ned of the Hill * A Pair of Brown Eyes * Boys from the County Hell * White City * Tuesday Morning * Old Main Drag * Sayonara * Repeal of the Licensing Laws (?) * Sunny Side of the Street * Body of an American * Lullaby of London * Thousands are Sailing * Dirty Old Town * Bottle of Smoke * The Sickbed of Cuchulainn * Sally Maclennane * A Rainy Night in Soho * The Irish Rover * The Star of County Down * Fairytale of New York * Fiesta

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St. Patrick’s Day in New York City with the Pogues

Though I didn’t have my notebook with me for much of the NYC show, I think that the set list was the same except for “Rain Street” instead of “Sayonara”. Of course, I could be entirely wrong about this.

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I needed some help finding the name of the Spider-led instrumental performed at both shows. Seems it’s “Repeal of the Licensing Laws” which was the B-side of “The Boys of the County Hell” & which now appears on a remastered version of Red Roses for Me.

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Some banter from Boston…
Shane: Did you see Brokeback? {Pause.} Best western ever made. {Pause.} They’re usin’ sex pistols.

Shane: “Never fear the devil.”

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Did Spider say “Viva Zapata” during Fiesta?

Mardi Gras w/ Belle & Sebastian

Set list:
Act of the Apostle * Another Sunny Day * The Stars of Track & Field * Sukie in the Graveyard * Expectations * Electronic Renaissance * The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner * To Be Myself Completely * Slow Graffiti * Funny Little Frog * White Collar Boy * Century of Fakers * Your Cover's Blown * Judy & the Dream of Horses * I'm a Cuckoo * Jonathan David * You're Just a Baby * Get Me Away from Here I'm Dying * The State I'm In * Caught in Love

Music in Ireland

USAmerica is a land of G.I. Joes & Barbies & He-Men & She-Ra & Transformers. Ireland, in my dream life, is Playmobile.

On RTE 1 around eight o'clock I hear a cover of a Jonathan Richman song. It's a song I don't know. It's performed tenderly. It's a song about summer. The dj -- who sounds middleaged but such sounds are often deceiving -- says that anyone who is not moved by such a song should check his pulse.

On RTE 1, in between songs, the dj talks about five-minute philosophers. Gets emails from listeners about Dylan, Cohen (pro/con), Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, and so on. D.J. throws his own two (Euro) cents in too. Sure it's an oldfogey list but can *you* imagine a discussion of these artists on mainstream American radio? I can't. But I *can* imagine such a discussion on NPR & that's what RTE is. Public radio. But I'm not here for politics I'm here for music & I must say it was pleasant driving along the Dingle Peninusla listening to the Irish argue about who is the best five-minute philosopher.

On RTE TV heard Belle & Sebastian on a jockish show (though one of the pretty boys is gay) about travel. (In the episode I watched they traveled to Lisbon & "Get me away from here I'm dying" played while they sped around on scooters.) Lots of ogling. Lots of drinking. Lots of stupidity. But amidst it all was B & S not Kid Rock. Does this matter? How so? I'm not sure how it matters but it is significant somehow. But not surprising. B & S have a half dozen to a dozen top forty singles across the ocean.

The One Shoe Cocoa Dance

Abigail likes to dance to music. When I am lucky she toddles over to me grabs me by the hand & leads me out on to the kitchen dance floor. This will be a space for writing about the music that I listen to & that Abby dances to.