yes, I am a ghost

dear friends,

1. so the numbers have gone up on the first official soft communication mix exchange featuring the theme of "covers" so there's no 5 person limit anymore. I'm sorry I couldn't keep the rules in place, I'm no good at being a despot. too absentminded & obsessed with fairness. did I mention absentminded?

remember the deadline is friday, june 3. I'm planning to make a scroll with my predictions as to what's gonna be included on everyone else's mixes which I will unfurl with a flourish (because I will be tipsy) at the library bar unveiling. yes, I am a nerd.

2. someone wrote a springsteen post & it wasn't a member of the hearts
contingent. shockin'! regardless, I'm sure more will be said about bruce in future (insinuating cough). anywho, scroll below to see contributor therese's lovely toast to the bruce. in a related bit o' news, I have fallen in love with a boss number called angel eyes. can anyone offer me any information on this particular track?

3. listening to bbc radio is a bit painful now that peely's gone. nevertheless, if I'm brave enough, I can actually bring myself to grimace my way through the pretension rock & find something decent. case in point, amusement parks on fire. I don't recall what the name of the song playing was but I jotted something on my desk calendar in my spider having a heart attack scrawl & it reads thusly: amusement parks on fire - ferris wheel freed from base flying over the lights, cotton candy (smells?) (spells?)

not too sure about the last word. one or the other, I think they both work. amusement parks on fire are playing nyc on may 20 as part of something called ny2lon: bridging the transatlantic gap at bowery ballroom, along with the amusingly arch ordinary boys, whose album was not the most original or thrilling piece o' work I've ever heard but should prove interesting in a live setting. make or break, children.

4. I have to admit I like guero quite a bit despite the fact that it sounds like an aural essay entitled, "how I spent my summer vacation by methodically writing tracks that mirror songs from my past albums". my two current faves are missing (brasil!) & girl (like a beach boys song written by charles manson...wait, that's been done). perhaps breezy melodies holding hands with serial killer scenarios = the new & improved out of the scientology closet beck. hmmm. maybe the library has a copy of dianetics I can look at. just playin', I can't become a scientologist, I don't have the money.

5. anyone that knows me knows that I have this insufferable habit of playing you a song & refusing to tell you who's behind it until you've given it a good, unbiased listen. it's not fair, I know. I'm sorry. but here's a story that corroborates my theory. firstly, I'd like to thank contributor mike for writing about smoosh on his blog a while back. I provide no link because I heard their song make it through without making the connection between their particular story & the song & was charmed by the earnestness of the performance. basically a pretty, quavering voice hovering over a simple keyboard line singing indecipherable somethings about making it through. then when it was over, I found out who was behind the song & remembered mike's post. & I'm glad that was the order of things. I think that had I gone out & just heard the song knowing who they were, I would have been dismissive because...well, you'll see, if you don't already know what that's all about. haven't heard the whole album yet but it's on my springtime to do list along with 6) buy birdhouse so as to lure back that little yellow bird with the almost-lone ranger mask* & 7) finally unpack that hold-out box from last year's move, ya freak**.

love, d

* american goldfinch

** that's just what my inner voice likes to call me. a pet name of sorts.

ps the stars show is sold out tonight in my little gritty city. which stinks 'cause their song big fight off of their album set yourself on fire is so gosh darn wistful it makes me want to stand by a window on a sunday afternoon looking attractive as I stare at the rain, at least until the keyboards start coming on a little strong, then it's time to do laundry. if you're a noisecore person, listen to this number in private & have yourself a little woolite whimper.

songs to seek: angel eyes/bruce springsteen, smokescreen/amusement parks on fire, missing/beck, girl/beck, make it through/smoosh, big fight/stars