1040 Blues

It is tax day and there is nobody on the planet that sums this day up better than Robert Cray's 1040 Blues on his album Shame + a Sin.

Lyrics:

Worried, you betcha
Discouraged, I don't know
Every time I see a 1040
Out of my pocket it goes

Ow, I hate taxes

I work hard for my money
Every April you take it all away
Don't you know I work hard for my money
Every day, people
You take it all away from me

Ow, ow, I hate taxes

Taxes gonna break my back I swear
Don't you know I pay a lot more than my share?
I hate taxes

Can't have any fun anymore
Gotta make plans for everything now
gotta plan for every thing I do, people
Can't go out and have a real good time
Now I've gotta worry about everything
That my little money can buy

oh, ow, I hate taxes

Taxes gonna break my back, I swear
Don't you know I paid a lot more than my share?
I hate taxes

You know I'm thinkin' about movin' somewhere else
But I can't because I love America too much
Especially California, yeah
I guess I'm gonna have to pay these taxes
If I'm gonna live here, oh

I Can Ride My Bike With No Handle Bars...

Over the past several weeks I've gotten in the habit of letting you know what song or album is getting a lot of play time on my player. I don't plan on breaking the habit this week.

This week a Denver band called Flobots is spinning, er... humming?... buzzing?... What in the hell does a song being played on a flash memory stick do?! I easily get off track...

Back to my point; I recently downloaded the Flobots song, Handlebars. When I played it for my wife she laughed and said, "You just like it because it has a bicycle reference in it." I shook my head and said, "That is what makes the song great, but even without the bicycle reference this song has strong lyrics and rhythm. I like it."

If you were listening to CAKE a decade ago, like I was, you'll notice that the first half of this song has a sound very similar to CAKE, which is probably a lot of the reason I like it as much as I do.

I've attached a video of the song if you haven't heard it yet. Enjoy!

Flooding My Ears...

After my nostalgic trip back in time by listening to Crash Test Dummies I opted to resurrect some other old albums I once listened to, which sent me looking for Flood by They Might Be Giants.

Unfortunately, when I went looking for it it was nowhere to be found. I thought, "Damn Karma!" Yeah, I believe this particular CD keeps disappearing as a result of some bad karma I created.

I have bought this CD four separate times and each time it somehow disappeared. Be it from someone borrowing it and not returning it, loosing it in a move, or it could possibly be vanishing into thin air... You ask, "How was the bad karma created?"

This is one of a couple occasions where I borrowed a CD and never returned it. My brother introduced me to the group and I'm pretty sure he let me borrow it. I lost it before I returned it; thus creating the bad karma. I'm pretty sure I'm now cursed to always loose this CD whenever I own it.

Cursed or not, I bought the CD a fifth time. I bought it knowing it will likely disappear in the next several months, but at least I'm enjoying it again as I type this.

Crash Test My iPod...

It is said that old habits die hard... Never is this statement more apparent then when I use a new music device. Whether it be a new CD player, new computer, or a new MP3 player; the first tracks I play on it are from Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet.

God Shuffled His Feet was the first CD I ever bought for the first CD player I ever owned. I remember this distinctly because the first track of the CD starts with a tinny, crackling sound, which made me think, "What the Fuck?! This is a CD and aren't they suppose to have the clearest sound available?! What a load of crap!"

Recently my wonderful wife bought a new iPod for me and guess what the first album I imported was? You guessed it!

Into The Wild and Eddie Vedder

Last night I stopped spinning Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams and put a new CD into the player. The new CD is the soundtrack for Into The Wild featuring songs by Eddie Vedder. I'm loving it.

I really enjoyed the book, I'm loving the soundtrack, and now I'm wishing I had seen the movie. Oh well, I've watched a few trailers and now I have something to look forward to watching when the DVD comes out in March '08.

For those that haven't heard any of the CD, here is the video of my favorite song called Hard Sun.

Take It On A Spin

Wanted to share my most recent CD purchase, which has been getting a lot of spin time in my CD player. The new CD by Ryan Adams called Easy Tiger has been on my "should I get this" list for a while. I've heard a couple of his songs (Two, Everybody Knows) played repeatedly on KBCO for the last couple months. This past weekend I made the decision to buy it.

I've been putting it in my various players these last couple days in an effort to listen to the entire disc. I do this because I don't want the CD to listen to two songs. I want to be able to stick it in the player, forget about it, and enjoy it.

After the first couple plays I was a bit concerned that I wasn't going to like it. However, I've listened to it 6 times now and each time I've enjoyed it more. I have a feeling this will be a regular for a while.

Next on my list is Strangers Almanac by Whiskeytown (also Ryan Adams). A friend/co-worker saw Easy Tiger on my desk and offered Strangers Almanac. He praised it as one of his favorite albums of all time. With that kind of praise I'm going to have to take it on a spin.

Music: The Fray - How To Save A Life

I purchased a CD for my wife a couple weeks ago call "The Fray." This is a Denver band that has finally made it onto my radar. Their sounds is pretty good and fits the musical style that my wife and I are listening to these days. As a side note - I'm stoked to say that my wife and I actually have a musical style. If you were to look at our music collection that we've collected in the last decade you would say that we are rather eclectic in our taste. Not to mention we stopped buying CDs nearly 5 years ago, so some would also say our collection is a bit dated. Say what you will, I've slowly started to purchase CDs that we enjoy and the recent purchases are certainly starting to show a musical style.

In any case, The Fray has a great sound. The thing about their music is that it oddly all sounds the same. I don't know how else to explain it. If you like one of there songs, you are most likely going to like the entire album. Same can be said if you dislike one of their songs. You'll probably not like any of them.

I wouldn't say that it is my favorite or that even second favorite album, but it does help in the quest to update the CD collection and it makes for some good listening at home, in the car, or at work!

Valentine's Day Gift For My Wife

I'm not an overly romantic man and Valentine's Day has never been a holiday that shows up on my holiday radar. However, this year my wife has been on a mission to make me a more romantic man. For the past two weeks she has been reminding me of the coming holiday and post scripted the reminders with a little guilt. She would say "I got you something special!"

Ugh! I didn't have a clue as to what to do for her this holiday until the mid point of the holiday. She stopped by my office and told me about a great song that she heard on the radio. She told me how the lyrics sounded so much like us and how she was going to find out who sang it. I asked her for a couple lyrics to see if I knew what it was. She sang some of the song and I had no idea.

When I went back to my desk I typed the lyrics she sang to me into Google. God Bless that search engine! :-) I found out the group was Snow Patrol and the song she had to have was called Chasing Cars.

After work I swung by the music store and picked up the CD. Needless to say, it was a huge success of a gift!

She quickly put it in the CD player and played the song for me. It quickly became a favorite of mine as well.

"If I lay here, If I just lay here. Would you lay with me and just forget the world"

Those lyrics, which are part of Chasing Cars was great advice for both of us that evening. In a time when our minds don't shut down because of the hustle and bustle of the day, it is easy to forget to take time to lay next to the person you love and just forget the world.