Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 31 - March 2010

There is a profound drama unfolding on the streets of Our Nation's Capital these days. As you are probably aware, due to the endless bitching and bellyaching of thousands upon thousands of DC residents like me, we have gotten an awful lot of snow this winter. I don't intend to spend much space here adding to the bitching and bellyaching to which I have already subjected you, but I will take just a moment to acknowledge, as a man who spent the longest winter of his life a mile high in the Montana Rockies, we've had some no-bullshit snowfall. Forget for a moment there's no real infrastructure here to deal with even a moderate snowfall; our snowfall has been decidedly immoderate.


I am happy to report, however, that there are signs of melt all around me. Once the city started to gather its wits after the most recent storm - I still giggle a little when everyone starts throwing around the term "snow event" - we collectively put a lot of effort into taking the snow from wherever it had inconveniently fallen, such as on the front walk where it blocked my pedestrian path or in the back alley where it blocked my vehicular path, and started piling it as high as possible in slightly less inconvenient places. As you can imagine, the piles I created were somewhat limited in size by the reach of my shovel and outstretched arm. There were some crazy bastards with bulldozers and front-end loaders and other pieces of industrial equipment that would strike my nephews agog with wonder who did not face the same limitations. Consequently, every corner or so became the site of a pile of snow eight or ten feet high. On the far side of some of the parking lots downtown, they piled snow nearly 25 feet high.


When the piles first appeared, I don't know that I had ever before felt such a strong affinity for a pile of anything before. It took them several days to show up, but their appearance meant the city's vital systems were starting to pump again. I could go places other than my house with a better than even shot at getting there and back without breaking my neck or busting my ass on hard pack and ice. I don't think I would go so far as to say they were gleaming and pristine in their utilitarian edificiary, but they were beautiful.


The past couple of weeks have not been kind to these harbingers of motility. It stands to reason that, in the process of scraping snow off of the street and sidewalk, one is likely to simultaneously scrape everything else along with it. You know what happens to a pile like that when the temperature starts spending some time in the 40s and 50s? The snow melts and, like a huge, twisted advent calendar, the pile slowly reveals its hidden treasures. Thus, with each passing day, I go by shorter and wetter piles of mysterious collections of urban detritus, and I can't stop myself from taking good, long looks to see what new stuff has surfaced since my last visit.


It turns out what appears in the eye and in the mind as a pile of snow is, in fact, a pile of snow and dirt and shoes and beer bottles and CD cases and juice boxes and plastic bags and dogshit.


I bet you if you tried to sell advent calendars with that stuff in them, you wouldn't do too well.


Title - Artist

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
I've Got a Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
The Cowboy Mambo (Hey Lookit Me Now) - David Byrne
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
Slutty Girls in Slutty Costumes, a Tribute - cracked.com
Please Don't Stop the Music - Jamie Cullum
Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus
Pressing On - Bob Dylan
Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
Modern Drift - Efterklang
Against All Odds - Genesis
Hey Na Na - Katie Herzig
Ali in the Jungle - The Hours
Angel - Iguanas
Who Did You Think I Was - John Mayer Trio
Don't Get My Bad Romance Wrong? - Marc Johnce
Heartbeat - Don Johnson
Boy Lilikoi - Jónsi
Go Do - Jónsi
Tik Tok - Ke$ha
Love is My Disease - Alicia Keys
The Alphabet - Patti Labelle
Speechless - Lady Gaga
Bed Rock - Lil' Wayne
Goin' Back to Cali - LL Cool J
Heartbreak Warfare - John Mayer
Stupid - Sarah McLachlan
Pressure Time - Mighty Mike
I'd Rather Fuck You - NWA
Kandi - One eskimO
1901 - Phoenix
Where is my Mind? - Pixies
Summertime - Red Molly
Trunk Fulla Amps - SeLF
The People in Your Neighborhood - Sesame Street
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
Sing - Travis
Horchata - Vampire Weekend
The Things That I Used to Do (Live at Carnegie Hall) - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - XTC
My Little Pony theme
O Canada
Team Umizoomi Theme
When the Saints Go Marching In