Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 32 - April 2010

I talked myself in to going down to the Lincoln Memorial on Easter morning for the annual sunrise service. If you ever get the chance to watch the sun rise from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I strongly suggest you take advantage of it. I would also suggest, however, that doing it any other day of the year would probably be more enjoyable, unless, of course, you prefer to be part of a crowd prone to celebrating leaden rhetoric and the evils of intellectualism.

That aside, the adventure was hardly a loss: dragging my ass out of bed in time to get down to the Mall before sunrise resulted in being down there early enough to take a stroll around the Tidal Basin before its paths were completely choked by throngs of people looking at DC's famous cherry blossoms. Katie and I took a leisurely stroll under the cherry trees, got just enough crowd-dodging in to fill our quota, and got back up to our neighborhood brunch spot just in time for them to open the doors.

The cherry blossoms are world-renowned for good reason. They are beautiful, and, even though I can generally only stomach the crowds every other year or so, I am always surprised to find seeing them takes my breath away. What I really like about the cherry blossoms, however, is their appearance signals the imminent onset of one of my three favorite things to do in DC: walking through the azalea collection at the National Arboretum at the height of their bloom season. The azaleas usually come out a week or two after the cherry blossoms, and, while the cherry blossoms are breathtaking, the azaleas are dumbfounding, flabbergasting, thunderstriking, agogging. I grant that my fascination with azaleas may be a peculiar outgrowth of my childhood in Savannah, where azaleas figure prominently in the civic landscape, but the array of colors and the sheer volume of blooms on the 10,000 azalea shrubs at the Arboretum during the two weeks or so when they're out is a sight to see even if you have no childhood memories to pluck with them.

I went out to check on them this morning, and the early arrivals are already here. The warm weather and rain we've seen this past week should be pushing them almost all the way out in the next week or two, although the Arboretum itself is claiming the 23rd and 24th as the peak season; however, whether you take my word or theirs, like sunrise in Lincoln's lap, if you get the opportunity to go out to the Arboretum to see the azaleas in bloom, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of it.


Title - Artist

It's the Hard-Knock Life - Annie and the Orphans
Across the Universe - The Beatles
You Can Leave Your Hat On - Joe Cocker
Why Should You Come When I Call? - Counting Crows
Don't Stop the Music - Jamie Cullum
Cover of the Rolling Stone - Dr. Hook
Cold Beverage - G Love and Special Sauce
Hands in the Air - Girl Talk
Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - Elton John
The Front Porch Song - Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
Need You Know - Lady Antebellum
Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga
California Dreaming - The Mamas and the Papas
Pavlov's Bell - Aimee Mann
Imagine One Day (so far away) - Matisyahu vs. John Lennon vs. Blink 182 vs. Bob Marley vs. Gentleman
Dear God - Monsters of Folk
Sometimes It's Our Mistakes That Make for the Greatest Ideas - Norma Jean
Fear the Boom and Bust - John Papola and Russ Roberts
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
Underwater - Tegan and Sara
Ukelele Lady - Traditional
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Piece of Crap - Neil Young
Dancing With the Stars theme
Give Me Back That Filet o' Fish

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 29 - September 2009

I had a strange sense of deja vu at work yesterday.

One of my colleagues asked me a simple, offhand question about something I hadn't committed the least energy to worrying about: (When I thought about telling this story, I incrementally convinced myself I would include this sentence: "I'll spare us both the indignity of telling you the exact topic of the question." Then I realized you faced no indignity whatsoever, and I canned the sentence.) colored paper.

That's right. Nothing fancy. Just regular old colored printer paper, the type you use for your little CYO dance flyers or your lost kitten posters. No big whoop, right?

Inexplicably, however, my mind turned it into, not only a big whoop, but a whole ream of hootin' and hollerin' colored paper dolls. I wound up spending the better part of a day defining, debating, dismissing, denouncing, and deifying countless facets of colored paper, its uses, its sources, its costs, and its proper place in the universe. I woke up yesterday morning with anything but colored paper on my mind, but a passing word led me down a rabbit hole where I can think of nothing but. It felt so familiar, but I just couldn't place the sensation.

Until today.

I had a physical therapy appointment this afternoon. (The therapy is going quite well, as a matter of fact. I would put my ankle at about 88% capacity. It does most of the things it's supposed to do, although going down stairs still presents a little tinge of adventure. This week brought yet another progression at PT in to new arcane and horrifying tests of corporal flexibility, and the back of my ankle sort of feels like it has been sanded by a shiatsu master. But, as they say, the pain means its working. Thanks for asking.) As I was walking in to a nearby convenience store afterward for my celebratory bottle of Gatorade-brand sports thirst quencher, I suddenly placed where the pre-vu had happened.

The year was 1986, and I was sitting in a pew at St. Francis Xavier Church in scenic and historic downtown Brunswick, Georgia. (There's a lovely park across the street where I learned a few lessons over the years. The most important is that I should avoid participating in organized relay races. Running a close second is that the phrase "War of Northern Aggression" isn't just shouted in redneck bars, as evidenced by the inscription on the monument to Civil War dead erected there by The Daughters of the Confederacy in 1902.) One of the Marist priests who ran the parish was delivering a homily about something or another, and he drove a point home with this question: "How well do we, as a community, emulate Christ when there, next to the counter in every Jiffy Mart, is a rack of pornography for sale?"

Why hadn't I been informed of this? From that moment on, no longer was my focus on the Jiffy Mart's gas pumps or its Slush Puppy dispenser or even its Mortal Kombat machine. No, I always dutifully checked to confirm my spiritual leader had spoken the truth. Over two decades later, I have continued to confirm it on convenience store visits on backroads and interstate highways in countless towns, in forty-eight states and well over a dozen countries. I suppose that quest for affirmation, inspired by a passing comment, will continue for decades to come.

I just hope, for any number of reasons, I don't find colored paper to be as compelling.


Title - Artist

Tribute to the Beast - Bagger 288
Arcadian Driftwood - The Band
I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
Obsessed - Mariah Carey
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow
Year Ten - Kimya Dawson
I Thought You Should Know - Steve Earle
Elmo's World - Elmo
Telephone Line - ELO
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Waiting for a Girl Like You - Foreigner
Paris (Aeroplane Remix) - Friendly Fires
Red Rain - Peter Gabriel
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Centerfold - J. Geils Band
Walk This Sampa - Grandpamini
Standing on the Moon (1989-7-17) - Grateful Dead
Flux and Meter - Tommy Guerror
Million Dollar Bill - Houston
Nasty - Janet Jackson
Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
LoveGame - Lady Gaga
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Cherish - Madonna
No Leaf Clover - Metallica feat. San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Introducing Palace Players - Mew
Dirty Pop - *NSync
Fireflies - Owl City
Consoler of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Vegetable Car - Joshua Radin
Subterranean Homesick Alien - Radiohead
Islands in the Stream - Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
Wetter - Twista
Feel It All Around - Washed Out
I'm Bound to Pack it Up - The White Stripes
Toes - Zac Brown Band

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 28 - August 2009

Perhaps you didn't get the announcement that I was going on sabbatical for the month of July. That is most likely because I never made an announcement to that effect. Consider this that announcement.

Nothing really happened in July. I went back to work for the first time in two months. It turns out getting through a day while trying to retrain a leg how to work is really tiring. Consequently, I spent most of my time and energy doing that in July.

August, on the other hand...man, there's some shit going down in August. I kicked the month off by turning 33. Then, I went on a little vacation that took me through Rochester, Niagara Falls, Toronto and the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. There were oodles of highlights of that vacation, but the two you need to know about are the $500 I won playing roulette at Casino Niagara and my first introduction to the delectably unholy dish commonly known as poutine. God bless those Canadians!

August's fun hasn't stopped there, however. My orthopedic surgeon (in stereotypical curt, dismissive fashion) finally removed all activity restrictions stemming from my shattered ankle. Vermont became the 48th state I have visited. I woke up overlooking the water on Cape Cod after a wedding party that would put those lazy bastards at Cana to shame. And, there are still two weeks left...

I hope August is making you feel the same way.

Title - Artist

Right Where I Need to Be - Gary Allan
Fuck You - Lily Allen
A Certain Romance - The Arctic Monkeys
Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
Gloria - Laura Brannigan
Ice Cream and Cake - Buckwheat Boys
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
Seven Spanish Angels - Ray Charles and Willie Nelson
Tenderoni - Chromeo
Lovers in a Dangerous Time - Bruce Cockburn
Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus
I Be Blowin' - De La Soul
Big John - Jimmy Dean
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Brooklyn Rocks - DJ Lobsterdust
I Don't Believe You - Bob Dylan
Unemployed Boyfriend - Everclear
Blame It (on the Alcohol) - Jamie Foxx
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
Castles Made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix
Human Nature - Michael Jackson
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Mason Jennings
Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
Lovegame - Lady Gaga
Put Your Lighters Up - Lil' Kim
Airplanes - Local Natives
Relight My Fire vs. Let it Rock vs. Let There Be Rock - Mad Mix Mustang
Ray of Light - Madonna
Dream a Little Dream of Me - The Mamas and the Papas
Ain't No Sunshine - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Tuesday Afternoon - The Moody Blues
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Muppet Show Theme - The Muppets
Heartbreak World - Matt Nathanson
Apologize - One Republic feat. Timbaland
Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam
Suzy Greenberg - Phish
In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley
Keep on Lovin' You - REO Speedwagon
Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones
Baby Britain - Elliott Smith
Looking for a Job - Todd Snider
Kielbasa - Tenacious D
ICU - They Might Be Giants
We Walk - The Ting Tings
Tessellate - Tokyo Police Club
Touch the Sky - Kanye West
Vagabond - Wolfmother
Unknown Legend - Neil Young
Toes - Zac Brown Band
Desperados Under the Eaves - Warren Zevon

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 27 - June 2009

Holy shit. Sometimes the more time you have to lie around, the less inclination you have to do anything else. Which is to say:

Holy shit. Sometimes the more time I have to lie around, the less inclination I have to do anything else.

It hasn't all been out of straight-up lassitude. Part of the delay has been the result of having too many ideas, having too much time to mull over them, having too much opportunity to feed my recovery by napping. Another part of the delay has been finally going off the pain medications, which, among other things, has done wonders for my attention span. I briefly considered telling you about the other things among which my attention span has rebounded, but, as a dear friend recently expressed, "it's all so terribly undignified."

Rather than go mucking about in that sort of information, let's just settle for an update on my recovery. The orthopedic surgeon told me not to walk on my right leg before my next appointment with him on July 1. After a few days of trying to negotiate the three-story house where I live on one leg (and a close call or two on the stairs), I decided my recovery would be better served by a location a little less adventurous. Last week, I flew back to my mom's house in coastal Georgia where I will stay until the end of the month. I've been going to physical therapy twice a week since I got back here. Although my ankle isn't allowed to bear any weight for a few more weeks, my physical therapist has been focusing on regaining my ankle's range of motion and stretching out and realigning all of the muscles and ligaments and such that have been tightening up or wasting away since the fracture. (One of the exercises involves tracing the alphabet in the air with my toe. Never before in my life have I hated the letter Q so intently.) My hope is my doctor will clear me to bear weight on my ankle on July 1, which means I should be back on my feet shortly after my return to DC. Of course, that's all conjecture right now.

In the meantime, I'll be kicking it in coastal Georgia, rehabilitating some soft-tissue structures, and watching the wood storks and roseate spoonbills feeding in the marsh.

(Hey, DC sparrows, they're way more interesting than you are.)

Title - Artist

Let It Be - The Beatles
Polythene Pam - The Beatles
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window - The Beatles
Rainy Night in Georgia - Brook Benton
Halo - Beyonce
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
Weather With You - Crowded House
The Climb - Miley Cyrus
We Used to Be Friends - Dandy Warhols
Against All Odds - Gavin DeGraw
Stillness is the Move - Dirty Projectors
Lord Give Me a Sign - DMX
Most of the Time - Bob Dylan
Glamorous - Fergie
Bones Don't Bleed - Thomas Function
The Break Up Song - Greg Kihn Band
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Reproduction - Tab Hunter & Cast
Parents Just Don't Understand - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
Mudfootball - Jack Johnson
How Long Do I Have to Wait for You? - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
Feeling that Way - Journey
All Summer Long - Kid Rock
Homesick - Kings of Convenience
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Rockstar - Nickelback
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
The Reeling - Passion Pit
Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) - PitBull
I Hate This Part - The Pussycat Dolls
Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol
I Love You, Ono - Stereo Total
Go, Diego, Go! Theme Song - The T-Boppers
Gypsy Woman - Crystal Waters
NYC Ice Cream Truck Melody

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 26 - May 2009 - The Bonescrew Edition

You may recall I included in last month's Stuck In Our Heads collector e-mail a brief apology for being late in sending it out. It was something lame about getting caught up in other things and letting the collector message slip until I found myself too far gone to pull of the miracle it would require to make up for my tardiness.

This month started out much the same way. (It also continued along that path.) Last Monday was the first Monday in May, and I found myself engrossed in some other small issues that led me to push back sending out this e-mail. Because of the poor showing of April, however, I swore to myself I wouldn't let it go any further than Wednesday evening. I even put it on my calendar to ensure I made good on it.

Then, of course, I broke my ankle on Wednesday afternoon, and that sort of put a crimp in my plans.

The story goes like this:
On Wednesday, it was Field Day at my place of employment, and I was a contestant in the Balloon Pop Relay Race. The race essentially consisted teams of 6 racers running, one at a time, about 50 feet to the finish line. Once a racer crossed the line and successfully popped a balloon by sitting on it, the next racer had to run to the finish line and pop a balloon by sitting on it, and so on until all of the racers had crossed the finish line and popped a balloon. Somewhere in the transition between running and popping a balloon with my ass, I managed to pick up what the doctor's call a closed trimalleolar ankle fracture. In layman's terms, there are three points of contact that make up the ankle joint, and I got all three of them. In visual terms, it meant that when I was lying on my left side waiting for paramedics, the sole of my left foot was facing the wall next to me, while my right foot, which rested comfortably on top of the left, faced its sole up to the ceiling.

After my first ambulance ride ever, I spent a few hours in the emergency room where two separate teams of medical personnel reduced the fracture (or, for those of you who prefer the colloquial, "popped it back into place"), but it turns out, despite their respective badmouthing of each other's work, neither of them got it sufficiently right because my orthopedic surgeon called me up on the drive home to tell me I had to come back in the morning to get what they call an external fixator installed. It is about as gruesome and effective as it sounds. So, now I have five pins screwed in to various bones in my left leg to stabilize the joint while the soft tissue swelling goes down so I can go back in for surgery to actually repair the ankle. That is currently scheduled for Monday, May 18th, at which point the clock starts on the official six- to eight-week recovery period for this injury.

So, I'm sorry I'm late this month. I've been awfully busy breaking my first bone, which apparently I've done with style. While I'm waiting out the swelling so I can get on with the surgery and the subsequent recovery, my girlfriend and her roommates have kindly ceded a sizable portion of their living room and patience for my use. I expect the next week and more will give me plenty of time to catch up on all sorts of things like capturing your Stuck In Our Heads submissions and the Rob & Big marathon that I appear to be about two-thirds of the way through right now.

And, do me two favors.

Forgive my egregious tardiness, and watch your step out there.


Title - Artist

I Want Alabama Back - 2000 Fred
Around Your Neck - Annuals
I'm Making Eyes at You - Black Kids
Once in Love with Amy - Ray Bolger
My Maria - Brooks and Dunn
Down - Suzanne Buirgy
Turpentine - Brandi Carlile
Bad Liver and a Broken Heart - Hayes Carll
She Left Me for Jesus - Hayes Carll
John Saw That Number - Neko Case
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Coming Home - Cinderella
I Want You D.A.N.C.E. - ComaR
Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies
One Less Set of Footsteps - Jim Croce
I Was Once a Loyal Lover - Death Cab for Cutie
Come Back - Depeche Mode
Mykonos - Fleet Foxes
Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
My Left Foot - Stewie Griffin
Concerto for Cello in C Major, Adagio - Haydn
Atlantic City - The Hold Steady
Money Honey - Lady Gaga
Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne
Back When I Was 4 - Jeffrey Lewis
Footloose - Kenny Loggins
Like a Boss - The Lonely Island
Little Bit - Lykke Li
Samson and Delilah - Shirley Manson
Refried Dreams - Tim McGraw
All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople
Treat Your Mother Right - Mr. T
Ruby Blue - Roisin Murphy
Spoiled - Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Apologize - One Republic
Mama, I'm Coming Home - Ozzy Osbourne
Olde Tyme Mem'ry - Erik Petersen
Anywhere - The Presets
It's Late - Queen
Science Fiction Double Feature - Rocky Horror Picture Show
Soul Man - Sam and Dave
Sleepwalk - Santo and Johnny
New Slang - The Shins
The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Artists Only - Talking Heads
Mad World - Tears for Fears
Tokyo Drift - Teriyaki Boyz
They'll Need a Crane - They Might Be Giants
Thomas' Anthem - Thomas and Friends
Mother Lover - Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Red Hill Mining Town - U2
Ball and Biscuit - White Stripes
Be My Baby - Yayahoi
The Biggest Loser theme
The Noble Duke of York
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 25 - April 2009

Since I moved to our nation's capital, I have spent much of my time writing and revising my "5 Favorite Things To Do in DC" list. The last two slots on the list still see a good deal of movement, but the top three are pretty well locked in.

#3 - Spending a gorgeous spring afternoon across the street from the main entrance to The National Zoo at a sidewalk table at ZooBar. For those of you not familiar with the layout of The National Zoo, it sits on a substantial hillside in Northwest DC, and the main entrance is at the top of that hill and fronted by the widest crosswalk in DC. The main entertainment is watching families leave the zoo. Needless to say, families generally leave the zoo because they're tired of dealing with each other and the other thousands of people drawn to the zoo on a beautiful day. There is endless entertainment in drinking beer and watching tourists winded from the hill snipe at each other and approaching drivers on Connecticut Avenue. The cheese fries are pretty good, too.
#2 - Renting a canoe and watching the Fourth of July fireworks from the middle of the Potomac.
#1 - Visiting the National Arboretum during the peak bloom of their azalea collection. The first director of the Arboretum spent most of his career breeding azaleas. When he came to the Arboretum, he brought tens of thousands of azalea plants with him and planted them on a hillside. For the past half-century or so, those azaleas have run wild and grown into massive walls of vegetation. For a week or two in late April, the hillside is afire with reds, whites, magentas, and oranges. It is a sight that is truly breathtaking to behold.

For those of you in the DC area, go to the Arboretum in the next week or so. Even if you don't give a damn about flowers, it's worth a visit once in your life.


Title - Artist

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
My Girls - Animal Collective
Seahorse - Devendra Banhart
The Wizard - Bat for Lashes
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyonce
I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You - Black Kids
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
All We Have - Brett Dennen
Right Round - Flo Rida
Around the Sandman - G3rst
Always a Bridesmaid - The Good Life
Lovers Need Lawyers - The Good Life
St. Stephen - Grateful Dead
Radio - Jurassic 5
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
The Boy from Ipanema - Diana Krall
Devil Town - Tony Lucca
Simple Man - Lynrd Skynyrd
Late for School - Steve Martin
Daylight - Matt and Kim
Filet o' Fish Commercial - McDonald's
Barnacle Bill - Me
The Hat - Ingrid Michaelson
Smaller Taller - Nervous But Excited
I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
Invisible Sun - The Police
I Hate This Part Right Here - Pussycat Dolls
100 Yard Dash - Raphael Saadiq
Lamonts Lament - The Sea and Cake
Graceland - Paul Simon
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Jacksonville - Sufjan Stevens
Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Stinkfest - Tool
Stand Up Comedy - U2
Red Red Wine - UB40
Chickamauga - Uncle Tupelo
Fisher of Men - M. Ward
Clementine - Washington
Sesame Street Theme

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 24 - March 2009

Not so long ago and for no particular reason, I decided I needed 69 rental vehicles.

I want you to take a moment and put yourself in my shoes. You've rented a car before. You know what it's like to stand at the counter while someone in a rumpled polo shirt stares at a monochromatic screen that makes you think about doing spelling drills while listening to a dot-matrix printer spit out its ratatatat innards in the form of a rental contract. Go through the whole process. Initial in five places. Sign your name at the bottom. Pick up the two sets of keys linked together by an apparently indestructible coil of small-caliber steel cable. Now, turn toward the door to walk out.

Now, do that 68 more times.

Kind of makes you wish there were a hammer lying around so you could hit yourself a few times in the eye, doesn't it?

Oddly enough, it wasn't that bad. Sure, I spent the better part of a work day signing and separating documents that come in triplicate, but it was a much smoother process than I expected it to be. Between the mass of steel and plastic that required moving and the soulless mouth-breathers I expected to find at the counter, my expectations were admittedly very low. Besides, you do anything 69 times, and you have to factor in at least 5% time loss due to giggling.

It turns out returning 69 rental vehicles was a little more challenging. I'll spare you the peaks and valleys of the whole process. Let it suffice to say one of the vehicles I rented was parked in a very safe and sheltered and expensive parking spot for a week or so longer than it needed to be, and it got returned well after the other 68.

When I finally wrangled #69 (god only knows what keyword searches are going to start leading users here now) back to the ranch, I cleaned out roughly one carload of stuff that didn't need to go back with the car. In addition to about 15 pounds of trash and about $5000 in telecommunications equipment, I scavenged, tucked into the pocket on the back of the driver's seat, a wallet.

The wallet contained pretty standard wallet contents: driver's license, photo of The Beloved, credit cards, receipts, old lottery tickets, about $50 in cash.

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I'm prone to some moral ambiguities. The wallet sat on my desk for a couple of weeks before I figured out what to do with it. I checked to see if any of the lottery tickets were winners. At one point, I even had a $10 bill in my hand because I was short of cash, and I considered buying lunch with it. In the end, I mailed, intact, it back to the name and address on the driver's license, and I promptly forgot about it.

A few days later, I received a package in the mail that contained four items:
1 - a collection of poetry authored by the owner of the wallet
2 - a card trumpeting the women of SGI-USA (nowhere near the same vein as Playboy's Girls of the SEC issue) and urging me to add items to my "Bucket List" amidst a sunflower motif
3 - a $20 bill
4 - a greeting card featuring the Times Mirror Hall of North American Cultures at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County with the following handwritten message.

"Dear Paul,

I received my wallet last evening when I returned home. To say I was surprised is an understatement. What a great blessing! I don't know how I could adequately thank you for what you've done. Your kindness and generosity will always be in my memory bank.

There were a few ironies connected with this. I lost the wallet after attending an inauguration event on the 20th of Jan. I received it back from you on the 20th of Feb. You sent a very nice card with a sunflower print on the front. My wife, who was entertaining friends who happen to be Buddhist (SGI), like us, had just finished admiring and discussing a card with a sunflower. Lastly, my wife was just diagnosed with breast cancer. The artist of your card came up with the inspiration while undergoing chemotherapy.

So...you see, this benefit was far reaching.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to cross paths with you one day. If you are ever out in Los Angeles, please give me a call. I'll try and contact you if and when I'm in the VA area.

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

PS - $20 for the postage."

It has been a few days since I first read this card and the accompanying poetry, and I still haven't settled on what I think of it. Don't get me wrong. It's a sweet card, and it sure beats the grand silence I got from the last guy to whom I returned a wallet. (In that case, I had found it on the floor of a cab in 2004 with nothing but a couple of credit cards and a receipt for a $1400 dinner at Charlie Palmer's.) I can't help but think, however, that it is sweeter than befits the occasion.

I've lost my wallet before, and it's a real pain in the ass to cancel credit cards and replace insurance cards and driver's licenses. I would love to avoid all of that hassle, and I would be effusive in expressing my gratitude to anyone who swooped in and saved me from it.

Let's be honest. I sat on this wallet for weeks. That's not a swoop-in kind of timeframe. I figure the best you can say for taking that long to return a wallet is that it puts to rest the concerns about when you should expect to see evidence of identity theft start popping up.

Of course, I'm an unrepentant curmudgeon. Perhaps my sense of an appropriate default setting for expressions of gratitude is lower than the general public's. Still, I think that's a sweeter response than I deserve for letting a guy's wallet sit on my desk for a few weeks before getting it back to him.

All that aside, it's refreshing to get a card in the mail from a stranger saying nice things.

Title - Artist

Wiggle It - 2 in a Room
Big Balls - AC/DC
My Same - Adele
Straight to Hell - Lily Allen
My Girls - Animal Collective
If I Were a Boy - Beyonce
Fiery Crash - Andrew Bird
The World Turned Upside Down - Billy Bragg
Longneck Bottle - Garth Brooks
Funky President (People It's Bad) - James Brown
It's a Man's Man's Man's World - James Brown
A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
Save Me - Dave Matthews
Laundry Day - Dr. Horrible
Live and Let Die - Duffy
Dead on Arrival - Fall Out Boy
Right Round - Flo Rida
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Peter Gabriel and Hot Chip
Riding in My Car - Woody Guthrie
Football (It's the Sport of Kings) - Goldie Hawn and the Wildcats
How Do You Talk to an Angel? - The Heights
Mony, Mony - Billy Idol
Hot Tequila Brown - Jamiroquai
Rodeo Clowns - Jack Johnson
Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Seventeen - Ladytron
I'm On a Boat - The Lonely Island
Jizz in My Pants - The Lonely Island
Go-Getter Greg - Ludo
Dance Dance Dance - Lykke Li
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
My Old Man - Joni Mitchell
This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik II. Romance - andante - Mozart
New Soul - Yael Naim
Take On Me - A.C. Newman
AC/DC Bag - Phish
Peter Theme - Prokofiev
Seventeen Years - Ratatat
Kelly's Hardware Store - Chris Rodriguez
More Than This - Roxy Music
Sugarking - Bob Schneider
Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
1969 - The Stooges
Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2
Magnificent - U2
Moment of Surrender - U2
Honey Bee - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Heartless - Kanye West
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Spongebob Squarepants Theme

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 22 - January and February 2009 - Second Anniversary Doubleheader Edition

Today I learned something from someone I don't like very much.

As is my wont, I spent a small slice of this morning drinking coffee and staring out the window that opens on to my backyard. It has been a pretty rough stretch of winter here in Our Nation's Capital, and the little germ-barges who seem to inundate the backyard have not been immune to it. As I lingered over my joe, one of them flitted down out of the trees with a chunk of cornbread about the size of a golf ball in his mouth. Now, I'm no physicist, but even I can see that a sparrow-mouth cannot take down a morsel that large without some work. It turns out the sparrow agreed with me, but not before I realized, though I had often seen a bird in that very situation, I had never watched one long enough to find out how it approaches the task. How does a little bird manage to consume a relatively huge chunk of food?

Interesting. I suppose you watch birds eat all the time. In that case, this is no news for you. As it turns out, the bird shakes its head until the small chunk in its beak breaks off. The mouthful gets tossed back with a quickness, while the remainder of the large chunk gets thrown to the ground to await the next go-round. The bird picks it back up, shakes something manageable loose again, swallows it, and repeats.

Sure. Makes sense. We've all been there. How else do you deal with biting off more than you can chew?

The thing that really got me, however, was that the sparrow didn't seem to be very good at it. He would pick up the cornbread, shake it around, claim his prize, and go back to work, but there didn't seem to be any skill involved. Sometimes the larger piece would shake loose and fall right at his feet, but it would more often bounce away far enough that the little guy had to hop over to its resting place before he could take his next cut. Had there been any competition at all, he surely would have lost the lion's share of his meal to any able-winged opponent.

I know what you're thinking. It's just a mangy little bird going about his mangy little bird business. Sure, but this is what he has to do to LIVE. It's not like this is a hobby he's just picking up. It's not some sort of avian croquet or feathery cross-stitch. This is physical sustenance we're talking about here. Why, in the name of all that's holy, hasn't this damnable winged vermin figured out how to get his grub on without it bouncing all over God's green earth?

And, that, favorite, is when I realized something: we all have to hop after the necessities some time. Just because you need it doesn't mean it's immediately at hand. Sometimes your food rolls away from you, and there's no choice but to hop on over and take another bite.

How do you deal with the cases in which another mouth is waiting to jump in your place?

Peck out an eye.

[Stats from the past year forthcoming here, along with forced champipple reference.]


Title - Artist

Chasing Pavements - Adele
Crush - David Archuleta
When I Drink - The Avett Brothers
Remote Control - Beastie Boys
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyonce
Black Grease - Black Angels
I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You - Black Kids
Raise Your Hands - Bon Jovi
Smokin - Boston
Bang On - The Breeders
16, Maybe Less - Calexico and Iron & Wine
I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick
Holidae In - Chingy, Ludacris & Snoop Dogg
Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Son's Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope
Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline
Sunny Came Home - Shawn Colvin
My Other Car is a Spaceship - Commander Venus
99 Problems - Cookie Monster
November 2008 - CPR
I'm Going Home - Tim Curry
The Garden - Cut Chemist
I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
Hush - Deep Purple
The Watcher - Dr. Dre
Hampton Inn, Room 306 - Pete Droge
Mercy - Duffy
Warwick Avenue - Duffy
New World Symphony - Dvorak
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Walking on a Dream - Empire of the Sun
Hocus Pocus - Focus
Bad Mouth - Fugazi
Song #1 - Fugazi
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Peter Gabriel and Hot Chip
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
The Promise - Girls Aloud
Feed the Animals - GirlTalk
The Letter - Macy Gray
Sun is Shining Down - JJ Grey and Mofro
Gold to Me - Ben Harper
Littlest Birds - Jolie Holland
Love You Down - INOJ
Blood Bank - Bon Iver
Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Elton John and George Michael
The Good That Won't Come Out - Rilo Kiley
Sundress - Ben Kweller
Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr. - Lambchop
Slipped Dissolved and Loosed - Lambchop
The Ketchup Song - Las Ketchup
Hey Hey What Can I Do - Led Zeppelin
While Keytar Gently Weeps - Lemon Demon
Don't Watch Me Dancing - Little Joy
Cha Cha Cha - The Little Ones
Lady - Little River Band
Jizz in My Pants - The Lonely Island
One More Drink - Ludacris
What a Man - Linda Lyndell
Dream a Little Dream - The Mamas and the Papas
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
In Your Atmosphere - John Mayer
Pony (It's OK) - Erin McCarley
Kids - MGMT
Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
In a Big Country - Moe
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
The Bones of an Idol - The New Pornographers
Shattered (Turn the Car Around) - OAR
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse - Of Montreal
Love Train - The O'Jays
Burn and Rob - Paleface
Fuck and Run - Liz Phair
Where is My Mind? - The Pixies
Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
Pussy Control - Prince
Angel from Montgomery - John Prine w/ Bonnie Raitt
Reckoner - Radiohead
un gaou a oran - rai'nb fever
Delicate - Damien Rice
Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones
Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf and Lil' Wayne
Devil With a Blue Dress On - Mitch Ryder
Sycamore Trees - Jimmy Scott
T-Shirt - Shontelle
Couldn't You Wait? - Silkworm
Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
Gin and Juice - Snoop Doggy Dogg
Womanizer - Britney Spears
Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen
Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen
Mrs. McGrath - Bruce Springsteen
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Puttin' on the Ritz - Taco
The Cuckoo - Taj Mahal
Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
Ya Ma Le - Thievery Corporation
Not Too Soon - Throwing Muses
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
So Cruel - U2
Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me - Keith Urban
Just a Gigolo - Van Halen
Untouched - Veronicas
Singapore - Tom Waits
Love Lockdown - Kanye West
Stronger - Kanye West
Rump Shaker - Wreckx-n-Effect
Cheers Theme
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
Spongebob Squarepants Theme
The Bula Song
The Facts of Life Theme
University of Florida Fight Song

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 21 - December 2008

As I type this, I'm watching what I am sure is only the first of this season's many many viewings of A Christmas Story.

Yes, the holiday season is officially upon us. I know, I know. The real officials declared it open this past Friday when countless retail outlets opened their doors to bilk from us what dollars they could in this less than promising consumer climate, but I've always had a problem with authority. The holidays are no exception.

Given my iconoclasm, which is really just simple contrarianism, I suppose it may seem odd that I have such a pronounced affinity for something that, with the possible exception of National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, is the most overaired movie of all time. Who can possibly think it's okay to run a single film - back-to-back-to-back - for 24 hours at a stretch, much less to do so at least once a year for nearly as long as I can remember? I even get sick of watermelon Jolly Ranchers somewhere around the sixth one in a sitting. I, for one, don't think such a programming choice is okay. Despite all that, there's a soft spot in my heart for A Christmas Story.

"Why?" you ask.

Because that movie, unlike Vegan Vacation - that was a typo I don't want to correct. How long do you think it will be before Chevy Chase's career has descended to the point of signing on for that project? Or, perhaps, it has already slid past it.- rather, unlike Vegas Vacation, led me directly to countenancing my own complicity in the base human drive toward senseless, lumbering destruction.

When I was about ten years old, I was one of those obnoxious and obnoxiously lucky kids who begged and tantrumed my parents into buying me a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. (To be fair, my older brother brought his considerable powers of persuasion to bear on the matter, as well.) That's right. The one with the compass and sundial in the stock. (By the way, the peg on the sundial was so painfully inconvenient that it lasted almost 45 seconds before I broke it off and pinned my time-telling hopes to the digital number strapped to my wrist.) In scenes you may recognize from the movie under discussion here, much of that particular Christmas day was spent gleefully hurling small copper pellets at various targets, mostly the formidable loblolly pines in our back yard.

It didn't take long for my fascination with shooting trees to wear off, and I, ever the high-achiever, cast my eye about for more challenging targets. Thus did I start setting my sights on the neverending stream of small woodland creatures that made those trees their home. Shooting squirrels was pretty entertaining. The spring-loaded air rifle didn't pack enough punch to break skin, particularly not at the range my youthful stalking skills permitted me to approach anything alive. No, the BB would smack them in their squirrel ass and send them bolting up a tree, which provided a brief spate of moving-target practice. (I never got enough of that to get any good.) But, then there was the fateful day when there was no squirrel around to terrorize and my eye lit on what turned out to be a young blue jay perched on a low branch about halfway across the yard. I put the bird directly in my sights and hesitated a few long minutes before pulling the trigger. In a final second of misgiving, I raised the barrel just a bit, thinking my shot would consequently startle the little guy and inspire him to fly off, thereby satisfying my urge to disturb whatever living creature happened to be in the area.

Alas, I hadn't quite gotten a grasp on the whole concept of how gravity affects projectiles. (Damn you, Professor Perry! You were a decade late!) My shot hit the mark I thought I had avoided, and the little bird erratically fluttered to the ground where it continued to flail until I sped my sudden sinking feeling by putting it out of its misery with a handful of mercy BBs. I buried it a few minutes later in the vacant lot next door and lived a one-boy version of The Telltale Heart for several days while waiting for my parents to discover the crime.

(They never did, although there's a good chance my mother is getting in the car right now to drive up here and slap me in the mouth.)

That event still makes me a little sick to my stomach when I think of it, which I do fairly frequently, particularly when TNT starts running its A Christmas Story marathons and mini-marathons.

But, how do the sparrows know?


Title - Artist

Big Balls - AC/DC
Jessica - The Allman Brothers Band
Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers Band
The Internet is for Porn - Avenue Q
Dear Grandma - Bear and Tutter
Blackbird - The Beatles
Spent on Rainy Days - Bright Eyes
You'll Never Catch Him - Buffalo Tom
Christmas Island - Jimmy Buffett
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day
Never Ending Song of Love - Delaney & Bonnie
Meheadsoon - Digital Underground
Imagine Santa - DJ BC
Elmo's Song - Elmo
A Message to you Santa Claus - FAROFF
Song #1 - Fugazi
The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
Do They Know It's Christmas - Bob Geldof and the Band-Aid Gang
Cry - Godley & Crème
Mind Left Body Jam - Grateful Dead
Ah, Leah - Donnie Iris
Human - The Killers
Complicated - Avril Lavigne
Hollywood - Los Lonely Boys
Toby, Toby - Mega Mindy
Butterfly - Jason Mraz
Computer Blue - Prince and the Revolution
Intimate Secretary - The Raconteurs
Level - The Raconteurs
Baby, It's Cold Outside - Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel
I'll Be Home With Bells On - Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
Hljómalind - Sigur Rós
Í Gær - Sigur Rós
Titty Bangin' - Bob Schneider
Womanizer - Britney Spears
Bad Girlfriend - The Theory of a Deadman
A New York City Christmas - Rob Thomas
Live Your Life - TI
Spires - Umphrey's McGee
Break My Stride - Matthew Wilder
Father Christmas
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Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 19 - October 2008

Autumn is tricky.

There was a time in my life when autumn meant little more to me than the end of summer, with its lazy days of nerd camp and decidedly un-Spartan Book It! promotions at the local library. (If you think I didn't knock down more than my share of personal pan pizzas, then you know nothing about my physique in grade school nor the origins of my eating habits today...) Of course, that would have been the time in my life when I was excited about the beginning of another new school year: new shoes, new pencil case, virgin workbooks with which I could have my way for three full quarters! Still...

Autumn is tricky.

My attitude toward the season has evolved over the years. Going back a couple of decades, my fondest autumn memories are of early nightfalls that brought on chilly and dangerous post-twilight one-on-none basketball games (which I often won), one fateful streetlight tussle with the insufferable Jimmy Jackson from down the block (during which I threw my first - and possibly only - closed-fist punch to the face), and nearly incontinent marathons of computer Jeopardy! that aggregated so excessively that it eventually blew our poor Commodore 64's memory. These days, however, my autumnal diversions are, if not more sophisticated, then at least more complicated.

More recently, the early dusk and its accompanying chill in the air puts me on something of a nostalgia jag. The widening palette of the foliage throws the cyclical nature of life in my face in puffs of leaves no longer living. Right on schedule, I've found myself lately lost in reverie, more often pleasant than not, of faded conversations over campfires, of drifting off to sleep in the back seat of an Oldsmobile while the in-dash eight-track performed the magic I still don't fully understand, of sitting quietly on various porches and patios as the stars slowly peek through my breath fogged in the gathering cold, of vistas gradually visible through the shedding trees, of the earthy aromas of decay.

It makes me wish I had sweaters I liked. It makes me wish aimless drives down blustery backroads didn't cost a small fortune in gas. It makes we want to eat soup. It makes me want to turn big piles of leaves into ticker-tape parades. It makes me wonder where I'll be when the azaleas bloom. It makes me wonder who will be with me then.

And who won't.


Title - Artist

Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy
Heard It All Before - Sunshine Anderson
Boston - Augustana
Love Shack - The B-52s
Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix) - Beastie Boys
Live Wire - Beastie Boys
My Humps - Black Eyed Peas
More Than a Feeling - Boston
Smokin' 100's Alone - The Bottle Rockets
Pop Champagne - Ron Browz and Jim Jones
Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles - Captain Beefheart
If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
Operator - Jim Croce
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - Alfred Drake
I'm So Sick - Flyleaf
Life, Love & Laughter - Donavon Frankenreiter
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
The Man That Got Away - Judy Garland
Can't We Try - Graham BLVD
Morning Dew - Grateful Dead
We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel
Open Arms - Journey
Dangerous - Kardinal Offishall feat. Akon
The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog
Maria - Larry Kert
Demolition - Kinks
Hoodie - Lady Sovereign
Another Suitcase in Another Hall - Patti Lupone
Don't Call Me Baby - Madison Avenue
Like U Crazy - Mates of State
Hang On Sloopy - The McCoys
Sweet Freedom - Michael McDonald
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia - Reba McIntire
Please Don't Go Girl - New Kids on the Block
Eagle on a Pole - Conor Oberst
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - The Offspring
Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Ol' Dirty Bastard
If You Leave - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Nine in the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco
rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam
Dirty Mind - Prince
Motion Picture Soundtrack - Radiohead
Bhang Your Bhangra (BBC Radio/Friction mash up) - Radiohiro
Pistol Grip Pump - Rage Against the Machine
Bartender Song (a.k.a. Sittin' at the Bar) - Rehab
The Noble Duke of York - Sue Schnitzer
You'll Accomp'ny Me - Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
Wasted - Martin Sexton
Normandie - Shout Out Louds
Eight Piece Box - Southern Culture on the Skids
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
DLZ - TV on the Radio
At This Moment - Billy Vera and the Beaters
Liquid Confidence - Warren Brothers
Bananas and Blow - Ween
Your Party - Ween
My Doorbell - The White Stripes
Fast Car - Wyclef Jean
Out on the Weekend - Neil Young

Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 16 - July 2008

I spent most of today toying with the idea of making this month's Stuck in our Head collector all about Rock Band. This is about how far I got:

"Because you're my favorite, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There's something big on the horizon, and I want you to hear about it before everyone else does: Rock Band.

It's a video game, see? And, you and your friends can make beautiful music together by mimicking musical instrument gestures in order to press one or a combination of several buttons, each designated by a specific color..."

It was going to be awesome. I was going to sell you completely on the idea that I had discovered Rock Band before anyone else, even though you already know about it and, further, have probably spent a good chunk of time fact-checking the Wikipedia article about it.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get going on it. There were all sorts of things distracting me. First, there was The Episode of the Lost Pieces of Paper, and that took up a good hour or so this morning. Then, there was the Case of the Verbally Abusive and Uninformed Rental Car Guy, which mysteriously sucked up about three hours this afternoon. Interwoven through those gems was the Mystery of the Dwindling Copier Toner and the comedy of errors known as The Hassle You Can't Refuse and that ol' rerun of A Bad Idea That Keeps Getting Worse. Somewhere in there, I took some time to eat lunch, too.

So, I didn't write my hilarious and cuttingly insightful tongue-in-cheeker about Rock Band, and, I know, we're all a little spiritually poorer for it, but there are real tragedies out there: let's not cheapen them and our experiences of them by getting too worked up over the Rock Band shtick that never was. This Project is about exploration, discovery, exploration, discovery, and repetition.

Let's keep our eye on the ball, no matter how surprisingly hard the Easy drum part on Margaritaville is to play virtually.


Title - Artist

Senegal Fast-Food - Amadou and Mariam
So Rich, So Pretty - Mickey Avalon
Feel Like Making Love - Bad Company
Kokomo - The Beach Boys
Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
Timebomb - Beck
Walls - Beck
Screaming Target - Big Youth
Yes We Can - Bob the Builder
Golden Years - David Bowie
It's the Love - The Breeders
On No, Not My Baby - Maxine Brown
Bubbly - Colbie Caillat
Say Won'tcha - Chocolate Milk
Sailin - Christopher Cross
Lovers in Japan - Coldplay
Afro Blue - John Coltrane
This Shit Will Fuck You Up - Combichrist
Solid - The Dandy Warhols
Damaged - Danity Kane
Say My Name - Destiny's Child
Fire Smoke and Tone Loc - DJ Scholli
Est-ce que tu - Dusty Trails
Paranoiattack - The Faint
Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters
Virginia Moon - Foo Fighters
God Bless the USA - Lee Greenwood
Maneater - Hall and Oates
Private Eyes - Hall and Oates
Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby and the Range
Run for the Hills - Iron Maiden
Bad Reputation - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
All Summer Long - Kid Rock
Do You Hear the People Sing? - Les Miserables
The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack - Liars
Prostitute 2 - Lil' Wayne
It's a Mistake - Men At Work
I'm Alright - Joe Dee Messina
Kids - MGMT
Little Green Apples - Roger Miller
Sweet Dreams - Roy Orbison
Fuck and Run - Liz Phair
You'll See - Rent
Don't Stop the Music - Rhianna
How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes
Chocolate Milk - Scribble Monster and His Pals
Talkin' Seattle Grunge Blues - Todd Snider
Suits (Are Picking Up the Bill) - Squirrel Nut Zippers
America, Fuck Yeah! - Team America
Man! I Feel Like a Woman - Shania Twain
Holding Out for a Hero - Bonnie Tyler
Red Red Wine - UB40
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3
Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh
(Past Due) - The Weakerthans
Your Party - Ween
Pork and Beans - Weezer
Ebony & Ivory - Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney
Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs