We’ve been having an incessently rainy spring here in Philadelphia. It feels like it’s been raining for months (the only time out from the grey drizzle being the three-day heat wave we had in April). Having grown up in Portland, I try to remain outwardly unaffected when it comes to the rain, mostly because I still harbor a embryonic desire to live there again someday, and I don’t want to give this man I live with any further ammunition against the place (the chances, however, of us moving to Portland are narrow to none, so no one freak out). It is starting to get to me though.

I am grateful for one thing that this drizzle brings with it, and that is the return of the local salad greens. They love these cool, wet days and so have been turning up in abundance at local farmers markets. I bought two bags last Saturday at the Rittenhouse Market and I desperately wanted to purchase more Sunday at the Headhouse Market (I wisely refrained as even when salad greens are delightful, there is still a limit to how much we can eat before they turn slimy).

Tonight’s dinner was a simple one, that took all of two minutes to throw together (once the chicken was cooked). It was two big handfuls of salad greens (the farmers I buy from pre-wash their greens before bagging, so they are ready to go, just like the ones you buy from the regular grocery store), three inches of chopped English cucumber, some slivered red onion, a few spoonfuls of garbanzo beans, some feta cheese and a few chopped chicken tenders that I cooked on a countertop grill (like a George Foreman, only bigger).

I predict many more meals such as this one before the salad green season is out.

Song that paints the best visual image: Loxmi’s Song by the Skymonters (this one was written and sung by Hamid Camp, the musician about whom I waxed on two weeks ago).

Musician who is the subject of my latest musical crush: Mason Jennings.  My sister introduced me to him when she was in town in April and I immediately became smitten.  Check him out, I think you’ll probably become enamored as well.

2. What People Are Made Of – Modest Mouse (The Moon and Antarctica)

3. You Could Be Her – Jonathan Coulton (Thing a Week)

4. Cold Day in July – Dixie Chicks (Fly)

5. Criminal – Fiona Apple (Tidal)

6. On The Bound – Fiona Apple (When the Pawn…)

7. Do What You Have To Do – Sarah McLachlan (Mirrorball)

8. Banking on a Myth – Andrew Bird (Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs)

9. Fuel – Ani DiFranco (Little Plastic Castles)

10. Just Can’t Last – Natalie Merchant (Motherland)

Songs that made me briefly question my ability to read: Having two Fiona Apple songs pop up, one after the other, confused me for a moment.  I looked at the iPod screen and had a intentional thought process that went something like, “I did press the ‘next’ button, didn’t I?  I thought I did, but wait…oh.”

Music I acquired from others: Jonathan Coulton (Scott), Fiona Apple & Andrew Bird (my sister) and Natalie Merchant (Cindy).

Others who play along…

Ben
Brian
Ellen
Fred
Howard
Rachel

2. Groovin’ – Aretha Franklin (Lady Soul)

3. C.C. Rider – Grateful Dead (Dick’s Picks)

4. Something Real – Indigo Girls (All That We Let In)

5. Lucky Ball & Chain – They Might Be Giants (Flood)

6. Marx & Engels – Belle and Sebastian (Push Barman to Open Old Wounds)

7. Opening – The Kinks (One for the Road)

8. Best of My Love – The Emotions (Boogie Nights)

9. Not Fade Away – Grateful Dead (Dick’s Picks)

10. Civil War Trilogy -Gibson & Camp (Live at the Gate of Horn)

CD I bought because I needed it for an assembly during high school: Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul.  During my junior and senior years of high school, I was the assembly commissioner at Lincoln High School in Portland, OR.  This meant that I was responsible for planning and executing all the school assemblies (a fact that confirms Mara’s assessment of me as a bit of a geek in the PW article this week).  This included setting up all sound equipment and providing the music that would play in the gym while the students came in.  My senior year, our school theme was “Respect” (it was actually an acronym, although I would be hard-pressed to come up with the different statements that went along with the letters of the word at this juncture) and so we played Aretha’s rendition of that song on repeat at the beginning of every assembly.  I still cringe just a little when I hear it.

Two degrees of separation: From way back in his hippie days, my dad knew a guy named Hamid Camp.  Hamid had several names over the course of his life, some days he went by Hamilton and when he was born, he was known as Bob (his parents were probably going for Robert, actually).  Bob grew up and became a folk singer, at the time when folk singers were breaking ground and shaking the music scene pretty thoroughly (think about the time when Bob Dylan was first making music, long before he went electric).  He teamed up with a guy named Bob Gibson, and they made an album called Live at the Gate of Horn.

For most of my life, I was only aware of Hamid a friend of the family, occasional cameo-maker on Startrek: Next Generation and member of another band, a thing called the Skymonters.  My dad’s friend and former business partner, Lewis Ross, had also been part of that group, and the album was always on the shelf when I was growing up.  Hamid died a couple of years ago, and I happened to be out in Portland right around when it happened and got the opportunity to hear Lew talk about Hamid, the music he made and how hearing Hamid play music was in large part what had propelled him into music.

I continue to be a big fan of the Skymonters (several years ago, my dad took the time to record the vinyl album into the computer so that I could have it digitally) despite the fact that they broke up long before I was born and only made one album.  The story of that band is a good one, filled with intrigue, hardwork and downfall brought on because David Geffen didn’t like Hamid (I believe they went to high school together).  It would make a really interesting piece of writing (if anyone is interested in paying me to put it together, let me know).

Anyway, enough of that!  On to the links…

Ellen
Howard
Jeff
Rachel

2. Forever For Her – The White Stripes (Get Behind Me Satan)

3. Some Day You Gotta Dance – Dixie Chicks (Fly)

4. Can’t Take Love For Granted – Mary Chapin Carpenter (Shooting Straight in the Dark)

5. Jaybird March – Classic Old Time Music (from the Smithsonian)

6. Oh, Sister – Bob Dylan (Desire)

7. Mary, Mary – Paul Butterfield Blues Band (East-West)

8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Frank Sinatra (It’s Christmas Time)

9. Sights and Sounds of London Town – Richard Thompson (Mock Tudor)

10. I Still Miss Someone – Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (VH1 Storytellers)

Most incongruous song for the set: Frank Sinatra singing a Christmas carol. To be honest, when this one popped up I was sort of confused. I have no idea where it came from or how it got on here. An iPod mystery.

Live event I would have very much liked to witness in person: The filming of the Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson Storytellers. I imagine that it was a singularly spectacular moment of music-making.

More music…

Ben
Brian
Ellen
Fred
Howard
Jessica

2. Romance in Durango  – Bob Dylan (Desire)

3. Save Up All Your Tears – Cher (Greatest Hits)

4. Blue Moon of Kentucky – Elvis Presley (The Sun Sessions)

5. Finest Lovin’ Man – Bonnie Raitt (Live at the Philly Folk Fest)

6. My Dog Jesus – Mare Wakefield (Girlfriend)

7. Sweet Dream – Dana Robinson (Midnight Salvage)

8. Somnambulist – Raina Rose (Despite the Crushing Weight of Gravity)

9. My IQ – Ani DiFranco (Puddle Dive)

10. Our Town - Willy Mason (Where The Humans Eat)

Artist I like mostly because he sounds like Cat Stevens: Dana Robinson (Okay, so he’s actually good in a great variety of ways, but the similarity is unsettlingly close).

And since one of my sister’s songs found it’s way onto the list today:  Raina was a finalist in the Kerrville New Folk Competition this year, but I just found out that she didn’t win.  Only six out of 16 were able to take home prizes, but damnit if I didn’t want her to be one of them.

Other players…

Brian (only it’s Matt this week)
Ellen
Howard

2. Hard Times in New York Town – Bob Dylan (The Bootleg Series)

3. Wings of Angels – June Carter Cash (Press On )

4. Dublin Boys – Antje Duvekot (Boys, Flowers, Miles)

5. Shelburne – Cross-Eyed Rosie (Lookin’ Up)

6. Least Complicated - Indigo Girls (Live at the World Cafe, Vol. 1)

7. Nothing Can Be Done – Joni Mitchell (Night Ride Home)

8. Pre-Road Downs – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (4 Way Street)

9. Streets of Glory – Classic Old Time Music (Smithsonian)

10. Best Imitation of Myself – Ben Folds (Ben Folds Live)

Song that feels the most like going home: Least Complicated by the Indigo Girls. This particular song has been part of the soundtrack of my life for going on fifteen years. It feels familiar in the same way that my favorite old green sweater does–warm and comforting and hopelessly out of style. I’m not particularly willing to give up either of them.

Band that I love, despite the fact that they disppointed me with their new album: Cross-Eyed Rosie.

Random Friday friends and family…

Ben
Brian
Ellen
Fred
Howard
Jeff
Jessica
Rachel
Troy

2. I Like It – Dixie Chicks (Taking the Long Way)

3. Some Days You Gotta Dance – Dixie Chicks (Fly)

4. Little Comfort – Beth Amsel (A Thousand Miles)

5. A Higher Place - Tom Petty (Wildflowers)

6. Not a Pretty Girl – Ani DiFranco (Live at Falcom Ridge 99)

7. Six O’Clock News – John Prine (Souvenirs)

8. Playin’ It Safe – Tracy Nelson (Move On)

9. From  a Balance Beam – Bright Eyes (Lifted or the Story is in the Soil)

10. Blue Orchid – The White Strips (Get Behind Me Satan)

Seen Live: The Dixie Chicks, John Prine, and Ani DiFranco.

Wish to see live: Bonnie Raitt (because I heart her) and Tracy Nelson (because her voice seems to soar effortlessly from her body.  I do hear that she’s a bit of a strange one, though).

Best song to run along Kelly Drive to: Blue Orchid by The White Strips.  This was the first song on my running mix when I was training for the Broad Street Run a couple of years ago.

The rest of the Random Players:

Ben
Brian
Howard
Jeff

2. Move Closer to What Deaner was Talking About – Various Artists (Sounds from the Sixth Borough)

3. Track 09 – Ani DiFranco (Live at Falcon Ridge 99)

4. Which Describes How You’re Feeling – They Might Be Giants (Apollo 18)

5. Morning Theft – Jeff Buckley (Sketches for my Sweetheart)

6. My Life – Dido (No Angel)

7. The Gaze – Reverend Tor Band (Whatever it Takes)

8. One Good Man – Janis Joplin (18 Essential Songs)

9. Freedom For My People – U2 (Rattle and Hum)

10. Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash (Super Hits)

I’ve been trying to get this list up all day, and haven’t had much success, so I’m going to post without analyzing the songs that the pod spit out this week.

Linkage will come later, when there aren’t people sitting in my living room drinking wine and eating sushi!

2. Attics of my Life – Grateful Dead (American Beauty)

3. The Trouble with Love – Maria Muldaur (Meet Me at Midnight)

4. Wrecking Ball – Gillian Welch (World Cafe Old Crow Medicine Show)

5. Sweet Baby James – James Taylor (Sweet Baby James)

6. Fire and Rain – Jonatha Brooke (Back in the Circus)

7. Downtown – Chris Thile & Bryan Sutton (Chris Thile & Bryan Sutton Telluride)

8. Girl – Beck (Guero)

9. In the Waiting Line – Zero 7 (Garden State)

10. Hold On – Sarah McLachlan (Mirrorball)

Song that I knew every word to from the age of 11: Sweet Baby James by James Taylor. I started my love affair with JT at a young age, when I began borrowing the cassette tapes my mom made from LPs in the early 1970′s. I would pop those tapes into the tape player that came in my clock radio (it was pastel pink, blue and gray) and rock out in my little bedroom. They migrated to my car when I was in my late teens and I still have them even now, in a plastic container under the bookshelf in my living room. Her handwriting on the labels is deeply familiar although still just a little foreign, as she stopped writing the letter ‘e’ like that sometime before I was born.

Artist that I discovered through my dad: Maria Muldaur. Towards the end of my freshman year in college, I sent a plantive email to my dad, asking him to introduce me to some new music (I realize that most 18 year olds would ask their friends, but I’ve always trusted my dad’s taste in music). He sent me a cluster of old tapes (of the same vintage as the James Taylor ones I mentioned above) and Maria Muldaur’s “Waitress in a Donut Shop” was one of them. There’s something about her
voice that I still find appealing, even now.

Favorite moment in the set: The fact that Jonatha Brooke’s cover of Fire and Rain appeared directly after a James Taylor song, as it was his originally.

Need more Random Friday? Check out these folks…

Autumn
Ben
Brian
Howard
Jeff
KB
Lauren
Rachel
Troy