kicking it root down
What a week. Good LORD.
Apparently the Independent Film Channel did not know that I needed some lighter fare. They're showing a pretty good movie, but it's so fucking sad I actually had to TAKE A BREAK from it. It's called Half Nelson, and so far I've managed thirty minutes of pure drug hell. Ryan Gosling is supposed to be a teacher with a really bad heroin/cocaine/whatever else habit. I think what's supposed to make him appear to be something other than a dude in his twenties is that now he has a beard.
I mean, it's good. I guess. I just don't feel like being hit upside the head with Finding Forrester Meets Requiem For A Dream right now. Isn't Dolemite putting out a movie soon? Jesus...
I'm sitting here thinking about what kind of music reminds me of home. In my case, home is Gwinnett County, Georgia, ten years ago. Gwinnett County circa right NOW is pretty much alien to me. I always forget how long of a time period ten years is. Gwinnett's always sort of been "feh," but now it's just terrifying every time I go there. I feel like Morgan Freeman did when he got out of jail: "Boy, they a lotta cars out here!" or something.
So here's what I have for home-feeling music, and it's funny how dated it is:
The Beastie Boys: Ill Communication. I got this right after high school at Tower Records. There used to be one in Duluth. I believe it is now a Rooms To Go. The song "Get It Together" sums up about a year of my life.
Reservoir Dogs soundtrack. I drove a Volkswagen Beetle for a while; it was the first car I ever had. It didn't have a radio, so I seat-belted a ghetto blaster to the passenger seat. This was one of the tapes I had.
The Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, I was usually working a thankless retail job. It was usually near a mall. This was usually pumping out of the ghetto blaster.
Collective Soul. I don't like this band and never did, but for some reason they just SCREAM Gwinnett County to me. That song that goes "Duhhhh-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-NUH--YEAH!" in particular...
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Don't Know How To Party. This was about as punk as the mall suburbs got for a while. Between this and my friends who listened to aggro shit in the parking lot of a KFC while trying to convert a bunch of chicken-eating motherfuckers like me, I was "hardcore." RIGHT.
Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend. He was from Atlanta, so I always thought it was cool to have something "local" in my collection. Plus, dude...that album is REALLY good.
Seal: that song "Crazy." Also, "Kiss From A Rose," because this totally psychotic girl I dated for a while was trying to convince me that "we were that song." Huh? Seal is like what Coldplay is now to me. Except that I own some Coldplay shit.
Orbital: In Sides. This was the first techno album I ever bought, and really, one of the last ones I ever bought. I still think it's a good album. But look at what followed it--that era where techno was going to save music? Apparently not, unless you lived in London at the time. And even then, more people were buying Oasis records. Leave the techno to the junkies in Trainspotting.
(Speaking of which...)
Trainspotting soundtrack. Yes, it's a good soundtrack. But if it were a record, it would have worn out its groove a long time ago. I played the holy shit out of this, all the while knowing that Underworld were NOT going to save anything at all. In fact, all they were going to do was bring down the party.
And then, I moved to Athens, and my music taste expanded. And it got better. So that's what college towns are here for, I guess.
Apparently the Independent Film Channel did not know that I needed some lighter fare. They're showing a pretty good movie, but it's so fucking sad I actually had to TAKE A BREAK from it. It's called Half Nelson, and so far I've managed thirty minutes of pure drug hell. Ryan Gosling is supposed to be a teacher with a really bad heroin/cocaine/whatever else habit. I think what's supposed to make him appear to be something other than a dude in his twenties is that now he has a beard.
I mean, it's good. I guess. I just don't feel like being hit upside the head with Finding Forrester Meets Requiem For A Dream right now. Isn't Dolemite putting out a movie soon? Jesus...
I'm sitting here thinking about what kind of music reminds me of home. In my case, home is Gwinnett County, Georgia, ten years ago. Gwinnett County circa right NOW is pretty much alien to me. I always forget how long of a time period ten years is. Gwinnett's always sort of been "feh," but now it's just terrifying every time I go there. I feel like Morgan Freeman did when he got out of jail: "Boy, they a lotta cars out here!" or something.
So here's what I have for home-feeling music, and it's funny how dated it is:
The Beastie Boys: Ill Communication. I got this right after high school at Tower Records. There used to be one in Duluth. I believe it is now a Rooms To Go. The song "Get It Together" sums up about a year of my life.
Reservoir Dogs soundtrack. I drove a Volkswagen Beetle for a while; it was the first car I ever had. It didn't have a radio, so I seat-belted a ghetto blaster to the passenger seat. This was one of the tapes I had.
The Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, I was usually working a thankless retail job. It was usually near a mall. This was usually pumping out of the ghetto blaster.
Collective Soul. I don't like this band and never did, but for some reason they just SCREAM Gwinnett County to me. That song that goes "Duhhhh-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh-NUH--YEAH!" in particular...
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Don't Know How To Party. This was about as punk as the mall suburbs got for a while. Between this and my friends who listened to aggro shit in the parking lot of a KFC while trying to convert a bunch of chicken-eating motherfuckers like me, I was "hardcore." RIGHT.
Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend. He was from Atlanta, so I always thought it was cool to have something "local" in my collection. Plus, dude...that album is REALLY good.
Seal: that song "Crazy." Also, "Kiss From A Rose," because this totally psychotic girl I dated for a while was trying to convince me that "we were that song." Huh? Seal is like what Coldplay is now to me. Except that I own some Coldplay shit.
Orbital: In Sides. This was the first techno album I ever bought, and really, one of the last ones I ever bought. I still think it's a good album. But look at what followed it--that era where techno was going to save music? Apparently not, unless you lived in London at the time. And even then, more people were buying Oasis records. Leave the techno to the junkies in Trainspotting.
(Speaking of which...)
Trainspotting soundtrack. Yes, it's a good soundtrack. But if it were a record, it would have worn out its groove a long time ago. I played the holy shit out of this, all the while knowing that Underworld were NOT going to save anything at all. In fact, all they were going to do was bring down the party.
And then, I moved to Athens, and my music taste expanded. And it got better. So that's what college towns are here for, I guess.