16 Things You Don’t Know About Me

My favorite never-seen gal pal Katie tagged me with this on Facebook. I’m double-dipping, publishing this here and on Facebook. Maybe this will start a trend: blog posts at Cup of Coffey! I’ve listed a lot of things you once didn’t know about me throughout the blog years, so you may recognize a couple of these; just act surprised.

1. R.E.M. is my favorite band in the whole wide world.

2. I have a scar along the edge of my chin. Having the scar isn’t weird, although I have no idea how I got it. What’s weird is, until I was in junior high, I thought it was the seam for my skin … as if The Good Lord knitted my flesh Himself.

3. I cannot sit through a scary movie, except for vampire flicks. Dying to see Let the Right One In at the Plaza Theatre this week.

4. Shows like “The Bachelor” make me angry. Competing for a man? Puh-lease. If the Mormons are so concerned about the sanctity of marriage, why aren’t they going after that crap?

5. I have arthritis in my right big toe. The aches come and go, but it’s cool to crack the toe knuckle.

6. I could not say “goddammit” — not even sing it in a song (always replaced with “hot damn”) — until I started working at an ad agency in 1984. Those two years ruined my wholesome vernacular. Now, when this graceless creature drops something or bumps into something (a regular feature in my day-to-day life), it’s always “Oh, goddammit!”

7. I bite my nails. I occasionally quit, but I’ve been in mega-gnaw mode since August.

8. I haven’t been to a concert in six months. No wonder I can’t stop gnawing my nails.

9. One of my favorite songs ever is Wham’s “Everything She Wants.” Still treasure the 45. I throw my arms wide and belt it out every time I hear it, whether I’m in the car or in a store. Used to embarrass the hell out of the Beloved Ex.

10. I can go for a year without a date, but I get very depressed if I go more than two weeks without a flirt object.

11. I’ve never been married, and I don’t ever see myself getting married. I have, however, fallen madly in love more times than I have fingers. Who needs a ring when you’ve enjoyed so many fingers?

12. Jimmy Carter and his family went to our church when he was governor. One morning between Sunday school and church, I was drinking at the water fountain outside the sanctuary, and kept hearing my mom apologize to someone. When my thirst was quenched, I found that my little black patents had been stomping the hell out of the tips of Jimmy’s wingtips. Much to my great disappointment, the future president’s bodyguards didn’t wrestle me to the ground; I guess my twelve-year-old self wasn’t very threatening.

13. I kissed Warren Zevon.

14. I also kissed Rufus Wainwright. But only on the cheek.

15. I’ve been in the hospital just once, for a staph infection in my sinuses at the end of my freshman year in college. Never been through an operation, and I still have my appendix and tonsils.

16. 16 was my favorite number when I was a tweenie. Why? Because it represented being a full-fledged teenager. And 16 Magazine was my fave.


I'm not going to tag anyone on the blog. If you want to play along, type up sixteen things we should know about you.

And if you're on Facebook, friend me.

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My Six Degrees of the GMMP: Boom Boom

I was thrilled with Splotchy recently announced the return of the Green Monkey Music Project. I love putting together mix tapes, but have been too busy the last six months to get back into the swing. When he offered those of us who’ve earned the highlight covered GMMP Master badge, I jumped at the chance to head up a mix. I wanted something challenging, something to make the fellow mixers think, a theme that would open up to different genres 1 and to just plain see how interesting the connections could be.

Lord, here I go again, sounding like a Kurt Loder wannabe.

And so I came up with Six Musical Degrees. Like the Kevin Bacon game, our GMMP musicologists had to connect six musicians, or songs, or covers. Splotchy has posted the track listing, and will soon have the files ready for download.

So let’s get to my six. I wanted to cross genres, to include some of my favorite covers and artists — and of course work in R.E.M. Let’s see where that got us:

John Lee Hooker: "Boom Boom"
I’ve always thought “Boom Boom” was one damn sexy song, and it’s one of my top five favorite blues classics. “I love to see you strut, up and down the floor / When you talking to me, that baby talk / I like it like that.” To quote Mr. Hooker, whoa, yeah!



Van Morrison feat. John Lee Hooker: "Gloria"
You can’t help but love the original “Gloria” by Them — but two covers are actually my favorite versions. This is one, from Van’s album Too Long in Exile (1993) — and, g*ddamn, is it sexy with Van and John Lee. My toes curl and I get a shiver up the back of my neck to the hairline whenever I listen.


Patti Smith: "Gloria"
And this is my other favorite version of “Gloria,” from Patti’s debut album, Horses. Love it when Patti snarls “Jesus died for somebody’s sins — but not mine.” I always play this song when I’m pissed off. It helps. Man, I remember when this album came out and I heard this song for the first time. I just stopped. Played it over and over and over before I could listen to the rest of the tracks. Sometimes I wish I were Patti Smith.


R.E.M. feat. Patti Smith: "E-bow the Letter"
Even if you’ve read just one or two Rolling Stone articles about R.E.M., you know that the much-beloved Michael Stipe always calls out Patti Smith as his biggest influence. So it was a big thrill for us fanatics when New Adventures in Hi-fi — a much-underappreciated album — came out and we heard Patti singing with Michael. R.E.M. doesn’t have many guest vocalists, so this was particularly powerful for us.

Hindu Love Gods: "Wang Dang Doodle"
What a thrill when two of your favorites come together. Throw in a drunken recording session, and you have music gold, my friends. My R.E.M. boys Peter, Mike, and Bill supported the beloved (and kissed) (and missed) Warren Zevon on his 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene. The foursome got a bit blitzed on beer, and started playing around with all sorts of songs. It’s not a stellar album, but it’s damn fun — and you gotta hear their cover of “Raspberry Beret.”

Warren Zevon: "Boom Boom Mancini"
Here’s a track from the aforementioned Sentimental Hygiene — bringing “Boom Boom” full circle. That’s Peter, Mike, and Bill backing Warren. Brilliant album; this is maybe the sixth-best cut on it.




Here are my six songs, mixed by Splotchy. Want the rest? Then head on over to Splotchy’s spot.

So. Enjoy. Debate. See what our other musicologists strung together. And visit their blogs, too.

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Mix Tape Friday: The Monster Mash Mix

Halloween, next to Christmas, was my favorite holiday when I was a kid. When you spend those first ten years (well, okay, nearly fifty years) living in an imaginary world, there’s nothing better than getting to wear a costume — and you got candy, too! I spent weeks thinking of just the right costume. My favorite get-up was as a gypsy — mainly because I got to wear lots and lots of Mama’s (1970s-era, mind you) baubles.

And so I also spent weeks pulling tracks for today’s Halloween mix tape. Splotchy smartly jumped the gun with his (now, sadly, defunct) Green Monkey Music Project’s Can’t Wait for Halloween mix. This posed a bit of a problem, as several of these (brilliant) tracks were on my initial list. But I love a challenge. And I set some rules:

• Cannot use any song included on the GMMP Can’t Wait for Halloween mix — or “Monster Mash” or “Thriller.”
• Must include the same number of tracks as on Splotchy’s mix (51).
• Cannot use any track featured on previous Mix Tape Fridays. (Damn my rules and OCD tendencies; “Attack of the Ghost Riders” and “Blood Makes Noise” would have been cool on this mix.)
• Cannot include an artist twice — except, of course, for R.E.M. Because R.E.M. is always the exception to the rule.

And now, dear music zombies, here’s your Halloween weekend mix:

NAHPI: Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?

The Specials: Ghost Town

David Bowie: Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

The B-52’s: Devil in My Car

The Black Lips: I Saw a Ghost (Lean)

The Minus 5: Dr Evil: Doctor of Evil

Beulah: A Good Man Is Easy to Kill

Natalie Merchant: Sympathy for the Devil

Roky Erickson & The Aliens: Night of the Vampire

R.E.M.: I Walked with a Zombie

Wilco: Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: I’m a Ghost

The Pixies: Ed Is Dead

XTC: Poor Skeleton Step Out

Daniel Johnston: Casper the Friendly Ghost

Serge Gainsbourg: Bloody Jack

eels: My Beloved Monster

Belle & Sebastian: Sukie in the Graveyard

Imogen Heap: Spooky

Talking Heads: Psycho Killer

Suicide: Ghost Rider

Neutral Milk Hotel: Ghost

The Rocky Horror Picture Show OST: Over at the Frankenstein Place

Jeff Buckley: Witches Rave

Elvis Costello: Spooky Girlfriend

John Wesley Harding: Your Ghost Don’t Scare Me No More

The Mountain Goats: The House That Dripped Blood

Pavement: The Killing Moon

Neko Case: Ghost Wiring

Guided by Voices: Bright Paper Werewolves

Jenny Lewis + The Watson Twins: Run Devil Run

The Decemberists: Shankhill Butchers

Annie Lennox: Love Song for a Vampire

Belly: Witch

Badly Drawn Boy: Bewilderbeast

The Patti Smith Group: Ghost Dance

Kingsbury Manx: Baby You’re a Dead Man

Richard & Linda Thompson: Wall of Death

Robyn Hitchcock: My Wife and My Dead Wife

The Replacements: Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghost

Sufjan Stevens: They Are Night Zombies

The Lollipop Shoppe: You Must Be a Witch

Afghan Whigs: The Vampire Lanois

New York Dolls: Frankenstein

Count Five: Psychotic Reaction

R.E.M.: Burning Hell

The Sonics: The Witch

The Vaselines: Monsterpussy

George Clinton: R&B Skeletons

Gorillaz: Dracula

The Rolling Stones: Dancing with Mr. D

Here are your zipped bags of tricks and treats, kiddies — so don’t TP my lawn or egg my car.

UPDATES

1. Because there are so many tracks on this mix, I split the songs among two zipped files. If you want all 51, you’ll have to download the tricks and the treats.

2. Another site copied the links to many of my Dylan covers, which is eating up my daily bandwidth at MyDataBus. You may need to come back this weekend to complete your downloads. Sorry!

Be sure to listen to The Minus 5’s “Dr. Evil: Doctor of Evil.” Rumor has it the song is one of Little Steven’s fave tunes. BTW, if you haven’t heard Little Steven’s syndicated garage band show, track it down; always something cool spinning on those turntables.

"Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?" was a great eMusic find two years ago. It was released in 2005 by Vice Records, under the band name The North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative (NAHPI). All proceeds were donated to UNICEF. The NAHPI includes appearances by Arcade Fire's Win & Regine; Redd Kross' Steve McDonald; Beck; R.E.M.'s one-time drummer Joey Waronker; Buck 65; Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis & Blake Sennett; David Cross; Roky Erickson; Devendra Banhart; Sloan's Chris Murphy; Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; Smoosh's Asya & Chloe; Feist; Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore; Gino Washington; Sparks' Russel Mael; Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler; Subtitle; Islands’ J'aime Tambeur; Sum 41's Stevo; Malcolm McLaren; Inuit throat singer Tagaq; Peaches; That Dog's Anna Waronker; Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello; Wolf Parade's Dan & Spencer; Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O.

R.E.M.'s "Burning Hell" has one of the most cerebral opening verses ever recorded in Athens: Women got legs / Men got pants / I got the picnic / You got the ants.

Don't miss the very end of Daniel Johnston's "Casper the Friendly Ghost." It’s my favorite five seconds of this mix.

Because I shot my Zevon wad back in September, I was unable to include “Werewolves of London” or “Excitable Boy” on this mix. It’s always fun to find the loophole in rules — even those you set for yourself — so here’s the promo video for “Werewolves of London”:

And now I'm off to get a big dish of beef chow mein. Happy Halloween, kids.

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Mix Tape Friday: Excitable Boy

When you love music as much as I do, when much of your life revolves around that passion, you tend to fall in love with a musician or two, someone with whom you feel a connection because of his music and performances.

One of the great loves of my musical life is Warren Zevon. Warren died four years ago today. And so today’s mix tape (actually, two mix tapes) is all Zevon. The first tape includes favorites from Zevon’s catalog; the second tape has covers of his songs and covers he performed.

Interesting mix of folks who covered Warren: The Pixies and The Pretenders, Hank Williams Jr. and Van Dyke Parks, the father/son duo of Bob Dylan and The Wallflowers — even Adam Sandler. Impressive mix of folks who recorded with
Zevon: Neil Young and Bob Dylan, my R.E.M boys, that Eagles crowd, even Emmylou Harris.

Don’t shrug off this mix tape as filler by a one-hit wonder from the mid-1970s; give Warren’s songs a listen. I have cried and laughed and lived a life during the fortysomething minutes of a Zevon album. He was one of the most literate songwriters to spin on my turntable, my CD player, my iPod, one of the best performers I’ve seen on stage. Take the time to listen to the lyrics — some of the best rhymes and lines put to music you’ll ever hear — as well as the intricate piano and guitar.

God, I miss him.




Side A: The Ballads

Warren Zevon: Bill Lee
Warren Zevon: Mohammed’s Radio
Warren Zevon: Genius
Warren Zevon: Desperados Under the Eaves
Warren Zevon: Suzie Lightning
Warren Zevon: Carmelita
Warren Zevon: Please Stay
Warren Zevon: Reconsider Me
Warren Zevon: Accidentally Like a Martyr
Warren Zevon: You Don’t Know What Love Is
Warren Zevon: Searching for a Heart
Warren Zevon: Don’t Let Us Get Sick
Warren Zevon: Keep Me in Your Heart

Side B: The Brawlers

Warren Zevon: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Warren Zevon feat. Neil Young + Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Sentimental Hygiene
Warren Zevon feat. Bruce Springsteen: Disorder in the House
Warren Zevon: Ain’t That Pretty at All
Warren Zevon: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Warren Zevon feat. Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Detox Mansion
Warren Zevon: Frank and Jesse James
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon feat. Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Bad Karma
Warren Zevon: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Warren Zevon: Renegade
Warren Zevon: Play It All Night Long
Warren Zevon feat. David Letterman + The World’s Most Dangerous Band: Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)
Warren Zevon: My Shit’s Fucked Up
Warren Zevon: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Warren Zevon: Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead

Side A: He Covers

Warren Zevon: A Certain Girl
Hindu Love Gods: Battleship Chains
Warren Zevon: Back in the High Life Again
Warren Zevon: Cadillac Ranch
Warren Zevon + David Lindley: Casey Jones
Hindu Love Gods: Mannish Boy
Warren Zevon + Jill Sobule: Jackson
Hindu Love Gods: Raspberry Beret
Warren Zevon: Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger/Bo Diddley
Warren Zevon + R.E.M.: Up on the Floor
Hindu Love Gods: Wang Dang Doodle
Warren Zevon feat. Ariel Zevon: Laissez Moi Tranquille
Warren Zevon: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Hindu Love Gods, in this instance, is Warren Zevon, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry. It was a band name R.E.M. used a lot in their earlier days when they played surprise shows around Athens.

Side B: They Cover

Grateful Dead: Werewolves of London
Bruce Springsteen: My Ride’s Here
The Pixies: Ain’t That Pretty at All
Hank Williams Jr.: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Jackson Browne feat. Bonnie Raitt: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Bob Dylan: Mutineer
Pete Yorn: Splendid Isolation
The Pretenders: Reconsider Me (monitor mix)
Linda Ronstadt: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Magnolia Electric Co.: Werewolves of London
David Lindley + Ry Cooder: Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse
Billy Bob Thornton: The Wind
Jill Sobule: Don’t Let Us Get Sick
Jorge Calderon + Jennifer Warnes: Keep Me in Your Heart
Don Henley: Searching for a Heart
The Wallflowers: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down the Wind
Steve Earle + Reckless Kelly: Reconsider Me
Bob Dylan: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Adam Sandler: Werewolves of London
Van Dyke Parks: Keep Me in Your Heart

I hope I turned a couple of you into fans.

I published a post about Excitable Boy about a year ago, in case you haven’t had enough of my Zevon gushings.

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