so i was in dissmore's, perusing the Lazy, Poor, Studio-Apartment Guy aisle for something to eat earlier, when "Wind Of Change" by the Scorpions came on. and aside from trying to improvise the harmony part out loud in the aisle, which was my bad, i started thinking about epic ballad-type songs, specifically ones from between the late 70s and early 90s (which is guess covers almost all of them), and how a lot of these songs refer to or take place in some weird alternate fantasy-world or another. in particular, i was thinking about how a lot of these songs take the bridge as an opportunity to explain, in an extremely declarative way, how the fantasy world works. "Wind Of Change" isn't necessarily the best example, as it appears to actually be about Moscow, but the bridge fits my theory:
The wind of change blows straight
Into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring
The freedom bell for peace of mind
there's this thing called the Wind Of Change, see? and HERE'S HOW IT FUCKING WORKS!!
i'm currently mining the rush discography to find better examples to fit my theory, but that'll probably take the rest of the night. good thing i'm in full-on insomnia mode again.
i got shot down by the university of iowa yesterday, but honestly it wasn't much of a shock (unlike the WSU thing), so i guess i'm okay with it.
listening to the new vampire weekend album at the moment. i wanted to dislike them, as i do most popular things, but they're really good and, more importantly, interesting. anybody can get good at guitar or drums through brute force or by practicing 20 hours a day for a year, but to actually create something unique with said instrument takes something else, so i guess i'm more intrigued by creativity than chops. though chops help. and there's a song called "oxford comma". how could i be an english teacher and a music fan and not love them? anyway, it's weird music. it's like paul simon meets indie rock meets something vaguely resembling the clash (maybe). and even that doesn't really describe it at all. i need one of pitchfork's audaciously pretentious wordsmiths to jump in here and tell everyone how it's "a confabulation of latinesque serenade, arpeggiated peter gabriel pop-rock, bubblegum-sticky reverb, and a light sprinkling computerfied techno-goth-emo-hardcore-post-punk-neoacoustic-murder-folk". and i like it. even if it is just music, which isn't all that great anyway.
just now listening to that Scorpions tune again. i freaking love the guitar tone at the very beginning of the song. also, i really want to buy a fancy tremelo pedal as soon as i have some money. my fender amp reverb is as silky and perfect as becky's hair at the junior high dance, but i can really only listen to it for...well, like seven months without stopping before i wish i had more effects pedals.
i didn't do much today. for once. i scheduled a car appointment for godawful early in the morning, which should determine whether or not i keep my car and get it fixed or get rid of it and do something else. either way, it'll cost a lot of money i don't really have. but one thing i will finally have is a clear answer about what i'm doing with it. which is nice.
i was also going to do my taxes, and got as far as figuring out that i don't have to use my extraneous form like i thought i did (thanks sarah), then got bored and started burning more of my 8 million shows that i'm trying to get off my hard drive. in the process of doing this i decided that i need to see wilco live, very very badly.
also, if any of you out there are fans of ryan adams, movies, weird poetry, or stream-of-consciousness writing (actually, you probably aren't reading this unless you like all of those things), this site just went up the other day. very very cool.
i also just finished listening to mike doughty's new album, which is sort of a big deal because i'm a huge doughty/soul coughing fan. so i'm gonna do a review of that. but i'll do it in a separate post, because this one's getting out of control. be right back.
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