Chronic Listaholic

As seen on Blogography, a long, long time ago

Songs That I Loathe To The Core Of My Being
1. “Boobs Alot” by The Fugs. Too annoying to be funny.
2. “Because Of You” by Kelly Clarkson. If I want to be depressed, I’ll watch the news.
3. “Rape Me” by Nirvana. Whatever it does or does not mean, it offends me.

Musical Artists That I Loathe To The Core Of My Being
1. ABBA. Their songs can change my mood from great to bitchy in three notes. (Sorry, Dave2)
2. Britney Spears. Neither musical nor artist, in my opinion. Blech. See also: Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, et al.
3. James Blunt. A lot of people (my daughter included) really like him. For me, his singing is actually painful to listen to.

Rolling Stones Songs I Love
1. “Sympathy For The Devil.” LOVE it. I know every word, and can barely sit still when it’s playing.
2. “Play With Fire.” Early Stones, almost too melodic to believe it’s them. If you’ve never heard it, do yourself a favor and look it up.
3. “Start Me Up.” A damn sexy song. What woman doesn’t want to be thought so hot she’d “make a dead man come?”

Beatles Songs I Love
1. “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.” The quintessential unrequited-love song, and Lennon’s voice never sounded lovelier.
2. “Norwegian Wood.” A mellow, beautiful song that makes you feel gently stoned even when you’re not. Too bad it’s so damn short!
3. “Don’t Bother Me.” From their first album, written and sung by George Harrison. And he hadn’t even met Eric Clapton yet …

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If every song’s worth listening to, it’s a Perfect Album. I really struggled with this list, and no one is more surprised than me at what’s on it — and what’s NOT on it. Had to dig pretty far back to come up with ten flawless ones!

1. Godsmack, Godsmack. Yes, it includes one of my favorite songs of ever, “Voodoo,” but what earns the album top spot on this list is the raw richness of Sully Erna’s voice, and that no two songs sound the same. Unmistakeably Godsmack, yes, but not cookie-cutter anger rock. The band’s so good, you actually enjoy hearing how pissed off they are.

2. Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits. A live recording from 1975, this is quintessential Waits: raspy-voiced slices from the grittier side of life, served on wry with a whiskey chaser.
3. The Shore, The Shore. Every time I listen to this CD, I decide a different song is my favorite. Lyrically and musically a work of art, you couldn’t ask for a better soundtrack for a night of love. Ben Ashley’s voice gives me warmbumps.
4. 15, Buckcherry. One of my current favorites, there’s not a single track I don’t enjoy. A rare case of one song (”Crazy Bitch”) leading me to an album full of fun stuff. And a surprisingly melodic love song, too. Well worth every penny.
5. Guero, Beck. Since the day I bought it, this has been one of my “feel-good” CDs. I can’t listen to it without feeling upbeat and bouncy. That’s the best thing about Beck: His music makes you feel (usually in a good way). Love, love, love this guy!
6. Blood Sugar Sex Magic, Red Hot Chili Peppers. If someone held a gun to my head and forced me to choose a favorite track from BSSM, I’d pick “Breaking The Girl.” But ONLY if there was a gun to my head, because I love them all.
7. Rubber Soul, The Beatles. To be honest, most Beatles albums would qualify to be listed here, but after 40 years, this one’s still my favorite. It’s also the only Beatles album I own in CD format. That’s right, kids — I’m a child of the Age of Vinyl.
8. Discipline, King Crimson. Less prog-rock Crimson, a masterpiece of musical chemistry infused with the mad brilliance of Adrian Belew. All but two of my favorite KC songs come from this one album, and I never get tired of hearing it.
9. Heartbeat City, The Cars. Five of the 10 songs on this album were released as singles. At least two of the others, “It’s Not The Night” and “Looking For Love,” should have been. I’d name this as one of the five best albums from the ’80s.
10. Synchronicity, The Police. Brilliant and innovative and timeless. Back in the day, I used to keep this on repeat all day long. When I listened to it today, it sounded just as good.

From Chasing Vincenzo, Blogography, Avitable and Kaply, Inc.

1. A strange combination of food you like to snack on: Peanut butter and pickled onions on cheese crackers. I’m serious. No one ever believes how good it is.
2. Something you do that other bloggers who read you might find odd if they saw you doing it: Watching Chinese films. I would totally turn lesbian for Gong Li.
3. When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up, that you never told anyone about: My dream of becoming a famous artist was so short-lived that I don’t think I ever mentioned that ambition to anyone until recently.
4. The thing you don’t tell people at work about yourself: That I actually have another brother besides Jonnie. Well, technically he’s my brother. And that’s enough about that.
5. What you like to do when no one else is going to be home for a stretch of time: Eat. Because calories don’t count if no one sees you eat them.
6. The thing you believe — politically — that you don’t admit to people who think you think like they do: That I have absolutely NO interest in politics of any kind.
7. The one thing from your childhood, outside of your parents, that you try to maintain some kind of connection with, and how: My childhood years in Libya. It’s not so much that I try to stay connected; more that I have a deep affinity for Arabic music and decor.
8. A song or group or singer you secretly like that everyone else groans about: Yanni, but it’s not a secret since I’ve blogged about it before.
9. A secret shame you’ve never revealed: I once totally faked having whiplash in order to get a Vicodin prescription for a loved one who was (at that time) addicted.
10. Do you close the bathroom door when you’re the only one home? No. Should I? Is someone watching?

Following in the blogsteps of Bec, Kapgar and Chase

The rules are simple:

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. List three events that happened on your birthday.
4. List two interesting birthdays and one interesting death.
5. List one holiday or observance (if any).

My birthday: December 7

Events
1941 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the U.S. Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
1971 - The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert; the incident would be immortalized in the Deep Purple song “Smoke on the Water.”
1972 - Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew take the photograph known as “The Blue Marble” as they leave the Earth.

Birthdays
1761 - Marie Tussaud, French-born museum proprietress and waxwork modeller (d. 1850)
1949 - Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor [!!!!!]

Death
43 BC - Cicero, Roman politician and author (b. 106 BC)

Holiday/Observance
United States - Pearl Harbor Day (observance)