People seem to say goodbye in one of three ways. If they meet a person with whom they have almost no connection, they might wave only. If they meet an acquaintance, they'll shake hands. But if they say goodbye to someone meaningful, they generally hug.
Of the three, I like the hand shake least.
The longest (and best) goodbye I ever received from a friend was in the form of a hug. It lasted maybe 37 seconds (though I wasn't counting at the time), and it meant a lot.
I'm finished now with my four years of undergraduate work. My family came to graduation. A friend drove up from the south. I said my fair share of goodbyes...and I gave one distinguishable hug to a friend I've grown up with for the past 10 years.
Now I have a lot of time on my hands. I couldn't be more pleased.
Here's what I'm up to:
- Listening to a lot of Daniel Johnston. So much that everything I notice has lyrics (Tony mentioned this in his last post).
- The Meat Puppets new album, Sewn Together.
- My brother learning guitar rifts (Modest Mouse, Cake, "Thunderstruck," etc.)
- The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, still.
- Google Reader.
- Reading Palm Sunday by Kurt Vonnegut.
- Picking up Roberto Bolano's 2666 soon, a Silliman suggestion.
- Mapping my move to Arizona
- Finishing a playlist for the drive west...another flung-together list.
- Going to juggling club in Louisville.
- Getting MLB audio.
- Unpacking and re-packing to figure out what I really want to keep.
So on May 31 I'll start my drive to the Southwest United States. Here is the basic map of the journey.
DAY 1: Leave home. Arrive at Jack's apartment. Chill. Sleep.
DAY 2: Leave Jack's apartment. Drive. Arrive in Amarillo.
DAY 3: Chill in Amarillo with my friend, Brad.
DAY 4: Leave Amarillo for Phoenix. Drive. Drive. Drive. Arrive.
Three days later I start working.
The best thing I hear about Arizona, are the wild pigs that run around willy nilly in the streets. I bet someone could make a cool song about them.
Labels: animals, college, Daniel Johnston, driving, maps, music, reading, travel
Is everyone listening to Daniel Johnston without me?
Last night I watched
The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a 2006 documentary on this extraordinary singer/songwriter. It taught me a lot about songs I already love, because so many artists have covered Johnston and so many others want to sing like him.
Johnston, who is still making music, writes musically sparse narrative ditties about silly things and love. He reminds me a lot of the Beach Boys, Mountain Goats, Bright Eyes, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and early Of Montreal. I know Wilco and Tom Waits and Yo La Tengo have recovered covers and tributes. I recommend "
I Had Lost My Mind," as an introduction, unless of course you are already listening to him and never clued me in.
When I think of the artists who have most formed my ear, and the timing of when I discovered each of them, I'm able to piece together pleasant narratives and an acceptable interval between discoveries. I have few ... regrets -- was not often blindsided.
Then I watched this Daniel Johnston doc and was sort of angry and definitely filled with a pleasant wonderment about everything yet to be learned.
I ordered two Johnston tapes, as that was his preferred dubbing medium, and one compilation CD. I've been using
YouTube playlists on 'play all' mode in the meantime.
And I'm thinking a lot about the old 'toy' organ that a friend gave me and which I have upstairs, because I'm pretty sure it's the same kind Johnston used.
UPDATEJohnston's music has so consumed me that I spent the day singing about everything: my abandoned baked potato, my moat and my boat, and my grass (the tallest in town).
He is also triggering connections to music including:
* "If You Can't Give Me Everything," Reigning Sound
* "I Felt Like Smashing ...," cover by Of Montreal
* "Sympathy For the Devil," The Rolling Stones
* "Cheating On You," Franz Ferdinand
* Bright Eyes
Lyric samples:
Tuna Ketchup
I saw her in the street
She was with her family
She didn't say anything
She just stopped and stared
And I like her
In the summer I worked with her
In an oil refinery
She wore a yellow suit in the rain
And I like her
I drew her some pictures
I made her po-oh-sters
I let her walk all over me
And insult me too
Cause I like her
She has red hair
And blue eye-ey-ey-eyes
I was looking for love
But all I got was a bite
And I like her
And I like her
And I like her
Lazy
Well I made some mistakes but
I ain't learned a lesson
that I don't wanna hear about responsibilities
I got less important things to do
An Idiot's End
She looks at me like a gun cocked
And I'm afraid to turn my back
For fear of being loved
She leans forward for me to see
The lights of her majesty
She's tempting me with a razor blade
But time is money at a penny arcade
And there's monkeys in the shadows
And virgins afraid of being laid
The court jester holds up a light bulb and says
"All that is made is made to decay"
To know her is to love her
And I love her, but I don't know her
Labels: Daniel Johnston, documentaries, music
