On the Wings of Love

If I buried my face under that wing/radiation growth/unborn twin, I bet I'd find heaven. 

Richard Swift - Lady Luck (div share)

Richard Swift

Rabbits and Carrots - Everyday People (div share) 

Rabbits and Carrots

Sly and the Family Stone - If You Want Me to Stay (div share) 

I Am the Starfish

A year ago this Monday I woke up at 6 am, shoved my screaming cat into a bag and got on a plane to Chicago. I told myself I was going just for the five months that my free housesitting situation allowed me, because five months would be enough time to get to know a new city and the people in it. Did I know on some level how entirely preposterous that theory was? Maybe it was a way to protect myself against the fears that come with jumping in with both feet, alone. Or else I was just naive and thought I'd instinctively know which direction to head on the el train (I didn't) and that a city of strangers would welcome me excitedly with open arms (they didn't). The past twelve months have brought me a job and a layoff, many new friends that I worked like a damned dog to make, and some painful separation of wheat from chaff in the life I left behind. I'm happy here. I now know that I, and anyone with an ounce of sense, should follow their instincts. I don't *love* Chicago like my bones love Brooklyn, but it still hasn't been that long really. I do like it an awful lot though. And the people in it. And I like myself far more than I did a year ago too.

Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard (div share)

All That and a Bag of Chips

Watch Phone Sex Pranks: Early 90s Slang and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

My buddy Dan made this cartoon with comedian Gil Ozeri, and it makes me laugh. 

I wonder how much it cost him to eventually find an operator good enough to get the job done, as it were.

Candy Man - Knockin' Boots (div share)

Salt N Pepa - Shoop (div share)

Yes, I am ready. A thousand times yes.

The Camp North Star Kids Chorus - Are You Ready for the Summer? (div share)

"Meatballs" recut trailer: I Know What You Did 28 Summers Ago

In keeping with the choral theme, because I saw Blue Ribbon Glee Club perform last weekend:

The Langley Schools Music Project - Space Oddity (div share)

the langley schools music project

Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Bittersweet Symphony (div share)

scala & kolacny

DJing tonight at The Burlington

Tonight (Wednesday the 29th) I'm fake-djing again at one of my favorite places in Chicago, The Burlington. Actually I've only been there four times but both the patrons and proprietors are freakishly nice, and the last time I went Flosstradamus did an Oldies Night where Diplo randomly showed up and played. Wait no, the last time I was there was to meet up with a friend in from Brooklyn, what a delightful time. We laughed, OH how we laughed. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah: Come hang out with me at the Burlington later.

The funny thing is I've been listening to almost no new music these past few weeks - mostly just  Yacht Rock-type smoothness, 90s dancehall, and "Night Moves" on repeat. No one but me wants to hear The Doobie Brothers and these Midwestern crackers don't listen to dancehall for some reason. Like, if you're out dancing and it's 1 a.m., this is usually when the DJ busts out some classic Beenie Man/Mr. Vegas type stuff but here they play...well, this song usually. Which is fine, and there probably aren't any Jamaicans in Chicago (?) but its absence is still odd to me. Oh well, it still gets heavy rotation in club My Room. 

Some songs I will NOT be playing tonight:

Of Montreal - Old Familiar Way (div share)

Bob Seger - Night Moves (div share)

Terror Fabulous ft Nadine Sutherland - Action (div share)

Some songs I probably WILL be playing tonight: 

Starfucker - Girls Just Want to Have Fun (div share)

Lykke Li - Little Bit (Villains Rmx) 

Empire of the Sun - We Are the People (Jimmy2sox Remix) (div share)

beginnings and endings

I'm moving this week and my job ends the following day. As soon as I've settled into my new digs and had my previous roommates Eternally-Sunshined from my brain (Morbidly Obese Southern Shut-In, Crazy Eyes and her husband Out of Work Stuntman, the cat with bladder problems, the old mean cat, the convalescing bunny, the ferrets I never had to see thank g-d: I'll see you all in Hell but Mr. Giant Fish you're ok), I'm hoping to keep as busy as an unemployed person can. 2009 has gone by lightning fast so far, but it's been pretty great. Yesterday I ran my first 8k - in a snow storm, adding another item to the long list of things I never thought would happen in the past 365 days. Now I'm starting to get absurdly excited for the summer even though it's still months away.

Back when it actually felt like spring last week I started listening to a compilation called Fly Girls! B Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers! While they could have picked better songs from some of the artists represented - the Latifah, Lyte, and Missy songs are obvsville and it reminded me that I've meant to post some (more interesting) stuff from Bahamadia - there are some inspired choices like Nikki Giovanni. A couple gems:

Sparky D - I Can't Stop (divshare)

Camille Yarborough - Take Yo' Praise (divshare)

Don't Dance, I'll Pay People to Move You

I fall into the camp of finding pretty much anything Andy Milonakis does amusing, though if I didn't know he is sincerely obsessed and in love with hip hop I would probably like this video less. He also has sick taste in reggae music (seriously, look up his Itunes celebrity playlist it's bananas) so it makes sense that Diplo and Switch invited him into the studio for their Major Lazer album which is FINALLY, alledgedly coming out soonish. I have been looking forward to this for so long that there is no way it's going to live up to my expectations.

More parody-rap by people who actually love rap:

The Lonely Island - Like A Boss (div share)

Hibernational

I've actually been going out a ton lately, but between some Life Transitions and a certain laziness cultivated by the weather I feel like I've been in mental deep freeze for the past two months. Just generally uninspired, leading to a stale wardrobe and a lack of blog posts. Sorry So Self-Involved! This ends now. Time to throw open the windows...I mean the brain-windows, it's still too cold to open the actual windows.

Here is a band I'm liking that Luke Temple is in, Here We Go Magic. Hold a Match for a Gasoline World is one of my favorite albums and if you ever get a chance to see Luke Temple perform with or without this band, you really should.

Here We Go Magic - Fangela (divshare)

myspace

Luke Temple - In the End (divshare)

Luke Temple - Serious (divshare)