Here it is, Mom's Roadie Mix '07 Vol. 1. Look at that - 19 songs, not 18! I just can't get over that - I remember how cool it was to get 12 songs on one album. Before it becomes a collector's item, I should explain why I made the CD. You may remember that in one of my other lives I am the "Team Mom" for the Metropolitan State College Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Team. In addition to providing moral support, academic and athletic encouragement, laundry advice and making a mean (or so they tell me) banana bread and the occasional batch of blueberry muffins, I wanted to commemorate the season by issuing the inaugural run of road trip selections for the away meets. They loved it, and put in immediate requests for additional volumes, as well as one for adding chocolate chips to the next batch of banana bread. Of course I'll do it - I love that team.
As I mentioned, a lot of thought goes into the creation of the Mix CD. It's a unique genre; no two will ever be alike. I've added the logic behind the selection. Behold the exposition of my soul
[click on the links to watch the videos in a new window]:
1)
Low Rider - War
Nicholas Cage:
Gone in 60 Seconds. I love Nicholas Cage. I'm a muscle car girl from day one, but I have to tell ya, Nick, I had your move down long before it was ever written for you.
2)
You've Lost That Loving Feeling - Righteous Brothers
Top Gun. No more explanation needed. It's just such a shame that
Tom Cruise is s-h-o-r-t.
3)
Its Tricky - Run DMC
Dot the Dog is partially responsible for this one. I linked in to one of his/her canine blog highlights to see a
video "cover" of this song. I had forgotten how much I loved rap when it first ventured into pop. This song just makes me laugh - "they even bother my poor father/'cause he's down with me", and we could all laugh a little more.
4)
Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson
This number is kind of an ode to the team and their love for bananas in baked goods. There's nothing more any swimmer wants than to sleep in, cuddle up, and skip the pressures of the day (don't think about it yet, guys).
5)
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
An ode to me. Refusing to completely relinquish my party days after the boys were born, I would put this tape in the stereo and crank it to clean the house. I actually did the broom-as-microphone gig, too. Had the long, permed hair - - oh, yeah, I was all over it! I even wore the Zubaz pants.
6)
Mr. Jones - Counting Crows
I've been to New York (New Amsterdam) once, but that was with my mother, and we did the museum thing, not the "he's looking at you/oh, no, no he's looking at me" thing. This song brings to mind one of my other selves in the 'if I had it all to do over again' category. I'd be a tall Marlo Thomas in those great That Girl clothes owning Manhattan. I did, at least, own a pair of white go-go boots - in Montbello.
7)
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
This beckons my inner English major like a Siren.
Dave Matthews' lyrics are so gutturally expressive while maintaining an intrinsic sense of beauty; he's a modern day
John Donne.
8)
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Anthony Kiedis is an incredible talent. I don't get half of their lyrics; and sometimes their music hits me like a Beat poem that is tangible only for a fleeting moment - then just when you think you dig it, man, it's gone.
Flea has a gift that's not often seen in music. His talents are legendary. Put the whole group together, and you have harmony, incredible lyricism, and mixed genres from rap to punk to classic rock to alternative - wow.
Stadium Arcadium is good, but
Californication and
By The Way are better.
Dani California hit the airwaves when I took my mom and daughter to California last year. I earned a wicked tan, drove us in a Jeep up and down the coast, and my mom even enjoyed RHCP! Being a Cali girl is the other version of the
Marlo Thomas in Manhattan life I would have had if the dice were rolled differently.
Dani California puts me right back in the 'bu.
9)
I Don't Want To Miss A Thing - Aerosmith
I watch - make that I prefer - guy flicks. I blame it on my parents taking us to see
Tora! Tora! Tora! in the theater. I did sleep through it, but I believe it permeated my subconscious. Armageddon was a great movie. Let's say I'm a movie director. My plot is astronauts saving the world from its demise by blasting a mammoth asteroid in two. Hmmm, which band should I choose for background music in the love scene between stars
Liv Tyler and
Ben Affleck? Her daddy's, of course! No one can vocally kick it into high gear like
Steven Tyler. This song makes my heart ache - in a good way.
I remember we had a tornado warning in Arvada once after school and my brother and I were the only ones home. We had the radio on with us in the basement, and it was blaring
The Who's
Won't Get Fooled Again. My brother, who actually looks like
Pete Townsend, declared, "Well, if we're going to die, this is the song we should die to." I felt he was so right. My brother, my protector. That song always gives me goosebumps. Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss a Thing is another one of four songs that pimple my arms - definitely worthy of this mix.
10)
Mysterious Ways - U2
Anything by U2. In the summer of 1983, I was 17. I had a ticket to the
Under a Blood Red Sky tour at Red Rocks. The young me was a fledgling punk rocker nee preppy who was trying very hard to define herself. U2 was a part of me, I thought. Mere days before the concert, I broke my ankle. In a cast, there was no way my parents would let me go to the show. I cried so hard my face was swollen for days. I laid on my bed on June 5, 1983, drawing a very cool U2 logo on my cast (never let anyone sign it - just U2, that's all that mattered), holding my untorn concert ticket watching the show on my nine-inch black and white TV. It was magic. The rain,
Bono,
The Edge - - not live. I was miserable. A few days later when Pomona High School had it's first graduation ceremony at Red Rocks, I felt as though I was on hallowed ground. As I limped awkwardly down the steps, creating a huge gap in the line of graduates, I imagined the Blood Red Sky my band had created here just days before. I was disappointed for years afterward. The album came out the month I turned 18. I was one the first in line. But the terrain at Red Rocks proved that Mom was right; a concert would have been a huge mistake. I knew that then, but I never let her in on that. I also knew U2 was more than just an Irish garage band. God, what I would give to sit down with them for an hour!
11)
I Like The Way You Move - Bodyrockers
Simply put, I love the Pentium commercial that uses this tune to move their dancers. Tres chic.
12)
Drive - Incubus
This track was my payment to Tyler for helping me. I know the song, I like it, but I associate a name like Incubus with heavy metal, which I never liked, and then I think of Succubae, which are creepy. It's a good song, but it's Tyler's pick, not mine. He's my son, so it rates.
13)
Jack and Diane - John Cougar Mellencamp
I was 16 that summer, spending a week at the University of Northern Colorado for the Leaders of Tomorrow Journalism Workshop. Students from all over Colorado were selected to convene in this "honor camp" in which we ultimately published a special section to the
Greeley Tribune. Sharing our dorm (Turner Hall) with us were several large, muscular
Denver Bronco wannabes. One was actually named Serge. He didn't make the cut. We all watched FMTV on KBDI Channel 12 in the dorm's main floor TV room at night. What an odd group we must have made - high school students and rookie football brutes! I met
Woody Paige, too - rode the elevator with him. It was so cool to be so close to all that material! (To write about, I mean.) That summer made me think twice about teaching.
One day at the camp, I sat alone at the lunch table and was joined by a group of very nice men:
Dan Reeves,
Steve Antonopulos, and some new guy,
John Elway. I easily struck up a conversation with my team's coach and trainer (who wouldn't?), but I remember that Elway kid sure didn't say much. He was quiet, shy, and concentrating on his lunch. I knew he was supposed to be better than
Steve DeBerg, but, c'mon, he was barely older than me! Ah, youth.
14)
Short Skirt, Long Jacket - Cake
Well, I want "fingernails that shine like justice," too. This song is very, very cool. Makes me channel
Robert Palmer's
Addicted to Love backup dancers in the video.
15)
Beast Of Burden - The Rolling Stones
Nothing rivals The Stones. They, not the Broncos, were my first major news story that earned me a center spread. OK, I was the editor, and it was only my high school paper, but nothing got between The Stones and me or between me telling anybody about The Stones. I even have a recording of their radio interview aired in Denver on January 30, 1983. I think it was on a late night 96.5 FM show called the King Biscuit Flour Hour. I listened to it over and over again - even memorized portions of it. Posters of
Mick were on every wall of my room - even my ceiling.
Keith was on my closet,
Charlie was in my bathroom, and
Ron was everywhere Keith was. God, I loved The Stones, and I still do. I bought a near-perfect copy of
Goat's Head Soup just to hear
Angie.
Exile on Main Street hit my turntable the least often, but
Tumblin' Dice is a pretty close second-favorite for me. I never bought any of their Greatest Hits albums until the CD came around; that just felt like cheating. To experience The Stones, you had to listen to the whole album in one sitting. Beast of Burden is, by far, my favorite song of all time.
16)
Are You Gonna Be My Girl - JET
By now, you may be wondering where the girl bands are. Well, they're just not high on my list. I like the hard-driving, rough sound of the male voice paired with retro guitar and bass licks. Starting off with a tambourine is sheer genius. Newcomer band (they are to me) JET hits that niche perfectly. This song is just - so - cool! I love the throat clearing at the beginning. It's so hot I don't even care if it's staged. I love how JET makes me feel like I'm just sitting in their garage, tossing back a beer while my buddies play their new song for me.
17)
Free Falling - Tom Petty
Tom Petty (sans the
Heartbreakers) sounds crisp and original as ever in this track. Released in 1989, he took me on the road, away from diapers and formula to my sunny southern California. The underlying sadness in the lyrics bring to mind a feeling of pure escapism. Maybe I needed that, with my one-year-old Mike and infant Tyler at hand. Now, it's just a good song that puts me instantly in a '68 convertible Mustang cruising along that favorite coast of mine. Oddly, I'm a passenger in this fantasy. The perfect temperature of the sun is on my bare shoulders, warming my body to feel relaxed enough to float along the surf; my arms extended to absorb every bit of oceanic breeze we create as we glide down the 101.
18)
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Mickey's Big Mouth, a place called The Pond, and a guy who shall remain nameless.
19)
High School Never Ends - Bowling For Soup
This band makes me smile. I can't get over their cleverness and use of rhythm in verse. They are irreverent, funny, and not afraid to call a spade a spade. I think hanging out with them would be like hanging out with actor
Jack Black, which I imagine would be pretty fun. They are right; high school never does end. This song holds the coveted anchor spot because I think it's great advice to young adults. All the pressure they are under to create the "best times of their lives" can be overwhelming. This song lets them lighten up a little. Even I need help with that sometimes.
There you have it: 19 facets of my personality. Some may overlap, reflecting the same desires or emotions, but each artist is needed to fully explain the depth of the feeling. The great thing about creating a mixed CD is that one day, something might cause the mixologist to look at life a little differently, and suddenly, the mix takes on a whole new meaning. It's a microcosm of life, and while philosophers have spent and made millions espousing theories of free will vs. fatalism, this philosophy is practically free. I'd like to think a mixed CD is crucial to one's self-discovery. This is just one page from my book.
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