Random Friday–Peppier than the law allows

Despite the fact that I overslept this morning and leaped out of bed and into the shower with enough force as to violently bruise my left shin, I am in a ridiculously cheerful mood. Maybe it’s the venti coffee I bought myself in order to wake up, or the rare breakfast sandwich (egg and cheese on a roll) I got myself as a reward for finally getting a repair estimate on the garage-inflicted indentation on my car. Whatever the reason, I’m feeling good. Maybe the pod will pick up on my energy and give me an upbeat set. Let’s see.

(You know the rules by now, but to review: Send your digital music player into shuffle/random mode and report back the first 10 songs it spits out. No skipping or omitting, no matter how strange, eclectic or embarrassing the song selection may be).

1. Lancelot, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar (When I Go)
2. Spin Out Of This, Life After Liftoff (Life After Liftoff)
3. I Want It All, k.d. lang (All You Can Eat)
4. The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed, Dar Williams (Mortal City)
5. Forever My Friend, Ray LaMontagne (Trouble)
6. Rainbow Connection, Willie Nelson (Willie Nelson*Songs)
7. Black Cadillacs, Modest Mouse (Good News For People Who Love Bad News)
8. Eveline, Nickel Creek (Why Should The Fire Die?)
9. Everyday, Rachael Davis (Live In Bremen, Germany)
10. Mercedez Benz, Janis Joplin (18 Essential Songs)

Personally, I think that’s a pretty good set right there.

Favorite Song: Forever My Friend by Ray LaMontagne. I saw him in concert last fall on a fluke. A friend has bought tickets and then wasn’t able to go, so they ended up in my hands. What an amazing show (despite the funky opening act).

Seen Live: Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar, Life After Liftoff, Dar Williams, Ray LaMontagne and Rachael Davis.

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar played a coffee house at my college when I was a sophomore. Knowing that they were folk singers out of Portland, as I was buying a cd after the show, I mentioned that my dad was also a folk singer in Portland. Dave brushed me off before I could go any further and roughly said, “There are lots of folk singers in Portland.” When I mentioned the exchange to my dad, he gave a little chuckle and said, “Of course I know Dave and Tracy.” I think that Dave thought they were too big to be playing a coffeehouse at a small college in Walla Walla, WA and wasn’t up for playing the “do you know” game with a random co-ed. The first spring I lived in Philly, I was listening to XPN as I was getting ready for work, when they announced that Dave Carter had died. I talked to my dad later that day, he was still in shock. Dave have been out jogging, had a heart attack and died. He had been handsome, talented, relatively young and (sometimes) charming and was suddenly gone.

Personal Connections: In addition to the Dave Carter connection, Tracy Grammar played on my sister’s cd that came out last summer. Also, a friend’s boyfriend was once asked to be the drummer for Modest Mouse (he turned the down).

That’s all I’ve got for today. For more Random Friday Tens check out:
Ben

0 thoughts on “Random Friday–Peppier than the law allows

  1. Katey Schultz

    i love ray too. and your blurb about dave and tracy – well, i intervewied them for the walla walla paper when they came. it was a great interview and i cherished the time to be one on two with them. we spent about an hour with the interview, in a back room of the old SUB. i remember when he died too, it was just one week before i was going to go see him play at falconridge folk festival. amazing man, beautiful duo musicians. joan baez once said of dave: “he’s the best lyricist since bob dylan.” phew!

    Reply
  2. Stacey

    Ray LaMontagne … what a find, eh? I stumbled onto him last year myself with a friend who was dying to see him. Little did I know what an unbelievable show I was about to see. Do you think he sounds like Otis Redding at all? He’s hard to pin down. Whatever the case, I can’t stop listening to “Trouble.”

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