Elijah Foxface Maxwell

This cartoon from The New Yorker is one of my favorites. All hail Bruce Eric Kaplan for coming up with what I feel should have been the vanguard of pretentious baby names.

Sadly, I keep forgetting to scan in last week's playlist. I'll have to scan them both in after tomorrow's show. I can tell you this, though: I plan to play more of OK Jones and will revisit a few songs from Rilo Kiley's newest album.

Now, onto one of my obsessions. The Making of Aja by Steely Dan is one of the most fascinating music documentaries you can own, especially if you really like Steely Dan. If you merely respect them, but don't particularly love them, you'll still love this DVD. I was blabbering about my love for Bernard "Pretty" Purdie in this video earlier today.

One of my favorite parts of the DVD is when Purdie demonstrates the Purdie Shuffle (which he used when playing drums on the song "Home at Last"). I've found a video of him demonstrating it on YouTube here. Find me a cooler man. Go ahead. Try. "Don't worry about those ghost notes! Ain't nothin but rebound. Ta make it sound... and feel... good."

My other favorite part of the video is when Donald Fagan and Walter Becker discuss and deconstruct "Peg." See the video below or click here to see the Peg deconstruction on YouTube. At about 4 minutes and 55 seconds, you'll hear the guitar solos that they rejected for Peg (played by musicians other than Jay Graydon, who ultimately did the solo used on the recording).



This same Peg YouTube video [above] will also remove any possible lingering doubt that Michael McDonald is, in fact, a shiny, glistening robot with razor-sharp mandible pincers and a neck filled with buzzing, sparking electricity where vocal cords should be. Listen to his hauntingly lovely and undeniably eery backing vocals on the above Peg video at about 6 minutes and 20 seconds in. Again, one of my favorite car-trip pastimes is trying to imitate Michael McDonald's singing voice. "Minute by Minute" by The Doobie Brothers is my favorite and I'm not bad at doing it. Of course, it makes sparks shoot out of my throat, but it reduces me to giggles shortly thereafter.

Darnit, I have to rush off to a meeting. Oh, WVUD.

Don't Call it a Comeback

Here, significantly more slow than a one-two punch, are playlists from my last three shows:


Log for first part of
November 1st, 2007 show

Log for second part of
November 1st, 2007 show


Log for first part of
October 25th, 2007 show

Log for second part of
October 25th, 2007 show


Log for first part of
September 27th, 2007 show

Log for second part of
September 27th, 2007 show


That's right, listeners. I've been back on the air for a few weeks, after a few weeks off. My triumphant return last week was marked by the laziest playlist I've ever compiled. On yesterday's and last week's shows, I played a lot of CDs from my home collection. I figured I'd take it easy and give myself a chance to do less running back and forth to the library. A few listeners called in to say they liked the shows, which was wonderful. I'll admit, I loved them because I got to play songs that I've loved for years and not played for a while. I usually try to avoid my own collection because it's comprised of so much of the music I've played at WVUD over the years. You've all already heard a lot of it if you've listened to the show much.

But for the folks who don't get to listen regularly, and for me, it was a nice diversion. I even played Haircut One Hundred, a favorite band of mine from when I was a kid and put my Walkman to good use on the school bus every day. I distinctly remember Brian Turpin asking me why I listened to jazz on the way home from school (he could hear only the distant shriek of the brass section from his seat near mine). But who doesn't enjoy a little new pop in the afternoons?


In other news, it's marathon season in many cities. I'm pleased
to say that, though I am back on track with my workout routine, I am also participating in a sleep marathon, every night, in my bed. After a solid eight to nine hours of sleep, the world is a pretty simple place. I recommend this strategy to all people. Running actual marathons can flat-out kill you. Instead, break the tape reaching for the snooze button, then exercise in a way that won't make your heart explode. These and other tips for maintaining your health available in my new book, Please Keep in Mind That I Hold a B.A. in Communications.

Down to One Musical Dime

I've played and enjoyed a few songs from Fountains of Wayne over the years. They've been around for a long time and know their way around a pop song, certainly. I also enjoy that they named themselves after this store, in Wayne, New Jersey.

During today's show, I played one of my favorite songs. It's not by Fountains of Wayne, but it is an homage, of sorts. Alt country hero Robbie Fulks released a pop hook monster of a tune in 2005 that not only sounded remarkably like Fountains of Wayne, but lovingly chided them for seeming, on occasion, formulaic.


Fulks's song is called "Fountains of Wayne Hotline." Click on the song title to read a bit more about it *AND* to hear an mp3 of the song in its entirety. Robbie Fulks and this song were introduced to me in 2005 by Steve Klinge (also of WVUD 91.3), a hero by anyone's standards.


And here, faster than you can try a wider
interval, is today's playlist:

Log for first part of September 6th, 2007 show

Log for second part of September 6th, 2007 show

Hardcore workout update: I caught a little cold, so the last day that I worked out was Monday. Don't you worry, though. I'm on the cusp of being done with this little setback and will resume kicking rump tomorrow morning.
Bonus: The workout is working! I saw ABS and LOTS OF 'EM in the mirror on Monday. Then I sneezed until my pancreas shook loose. Sicky. The Lady is going to be so mad at me tomorrow. Stop yelling at me, Workout DVD Lady. I'll crunch it when I'm good and ready and not sooner.


P.S. My friend Ryan has just informed me that he's "decided to start a dogfighting circuit in Philadelphia. Except instead of having dogs fight, it's going to be babies. I'm going to run the first babyfight circuit in the U.S. One year or younger ONLY." You may send him hatemail (and babies) at hamster.nutz@yahoo.com .

Panda

Oh, children, I do apologize. I am not doing a show this week. Instead, this Thursday morning, you'll hear Gary, who has graciously offered to fill in for me while I pack and panic. He normally does the Roots show on Mondays, from 8:30am to 11am, but is invaluable to the station in several ways beyond that. He is also a master of puns. I know not what he'll play for you, but he is kindly and you'll find him pleasant. As long as he doesn't play that Crispin Glover album all the way through.

I'm not sure if Gary will play my sort of poppish rockish music or if he will go more Rootsie. If he tries for my genre, I hope he plays Grand National, a spiffy band from London. I'm hooked on their song "Drink to Moving On". I had this perfect "they sound like blah but with a bit of blah" kind of description of them that I've forgotten. If I remember it, I'll post it here. Suffice to say, they're polished sounding, almost cold, but still entertaining. Maybe they remind me a little bit of Phoenix mixed with some Erlend Øye. It's not difficult to think of these two musical entities being related to one another, as their sounds can be similar. Erlend Øye even remixed a Phoenix song called "If I Ever Feel Better" (Listen to the original here on Phoenix's MySpace page)on his 2004 album, DJ Kicks.

I hope you enjoy your Thursday, folks. I'll continue to clean out my apartment. I'll be on the air next week.

In my show's stead, please enjoy this picture of a panda eating bamboo near his hammock. He's in Atlanta, Georgia.





Sometimes*, I watch the panda cams. There are four pretty good ones in the U.S.

National Zoo in Washington D.C., Camera 1
National Zoo in Washington D.C., Camera 2
Panda Cam at the San Diego Zoo (California)
Panda Cam at the Atlanta Zoo (Georgia)

*way more than sometimes