1. Pump it Up – Elvis Costello. I’m pretty sure this was a suggestion. Besides, how have I made it this far without having this song in my collection? (There was also a version by Danko Jones in iTunes. Good, but not better than the original.)

2. Little Secrets – Passion Pit. This was going to be the axis around which all the other songs spun. I can listen to this song on constant repeat and not get bored of it.

3. El Scorcho – Weezer. I feel like I know exactly what they’re singing about. I’ve been the person doing the pleading, while being simultaneously exasperated with the person in question, and hating myself for being in that situation ONCE AGAIN.

Ahem. Moving on…

4. Make Me – Janet Jackson. You know those times when you don’t want to clean the kitchen, or the laundry is piling up but you don’t want to do it. Or sweeping – ugh, sweeping. Put this song on, and just dance through the housework.

5. Dancing in the Moonlight – Toploader. This song is unrelentingly, almost agressively, cheerful. Another good song for doing housework. Or, you know, cruising around while blaring the stereo.

6. Tightrope (feat. Big Boi) – Janelle Monae. Thank you CBC2 for bringing this to my attention one morning a few weeks ago.

7. Steal My Sunshine – Len. No, I did not get sick of this song during the early 00′s. Okay, maybe I did, but when I heard it the other week I didn’t realize that I’d sort of missed it.

8. Someday Baby – R.L. Burnside. This was in one of my wish lists, and I have no idea how long it had been there, or even who had recommended it. Bluesy, funky, kind of awesome, really.

This is it, so far. At least until I find that damn list.

Not everyone is irredeemable. Now and then, someone will ask me for a recommendation, and based on questions I ask the person about their musical tastes, where they will be listening to their music, if there is a particular occasion, etc, I can make a calculated suggestion based on their answers [1]. Blue Rodeo is one of my top suggestions, along with a classical music compilation that’s pretty awesome. I’ll pitch Canadian Indie bands, modern torch singers like Duffy and Adele, and bluegrass music for those weary of new country. For those who inquire about our lack of Tori Amos, I point them to Regina Spektor or Royal Wood; for those wondering what ever happened to the B-52′s, I tell them I still haven’t been able to find their latest release and give them The Scissor Sisters to tide them over.

Sometimes I feel a little like an evangelist when someone asks what I think about a particular movie or book or CD. If I don’t like it, I don’t come right out and say “I hated it!” – I’d probably just say that it wasn’t to my taste and suggest something similar. It’s such a great feeling to have someone come back later on and say, “Wow – I really enjoyed your suggestion!”

[1] Also, depending on what we have in the collection. I’m not above pointing to the suggestion box and telling them to leave me a note about something I want to give them but we don’t have.

1. Sam Roberts, Them Kids – I caught myself dancing to this at the movie theater one night. True story. It’s fun and infectious, and it’s hard to stand/sit still while listening to it.

2. Snow Patrol, Run. Which is odd, because I haven’t listened to it recently. However, I listened to it at least 77 times since July, so apparently I listened to it a lot at some point.

3. The New Pornographer, Use It. I find it difficult to resist the urge to sing along with any New Pornographer’s song, or bop along happily. Unless I’m in public. Except if I’m in my car with the windows rolled up, and then it’s fair game.

4. OK Go, Here It Goes Again. I predict that synchronized treadmill dancing will be an official Olympic event in 2020. A great song to listen to while walking to work on a grey, rainy morning.

5. Fatboy Slim, Jin Go Lo Ba. Two things about this song. First, this does not sound like a Fatboy Slim song. The first time I heard it I thought it was the Chemical Brothers, and to me, it sounds more like one of their songs, or even The Orb or The Crystal method. Second, I thought it would be higher on the list. There were many days where I’d have this song on constant repeat on my way to and from work. Also, I want to take up running or rave dancing when I listen to this song.

6. MGMT, Electric Feel. I listened to this song 44 times in a row on the bus to Toronto once. (I might have been asleep a few of those times, thought.) (Ditto my other favourite of theirs, Time to Pretend.)

7. King Cobb Steelie, Luckily I Keep My Feathers Numbered For Just Such An Emergency. Ah, my misspent youth listening to 102.1 in Toronto, which played this song often at one point. Best bass line ever. Catchy, and it’s hard to not be cheerful after listening to it.

8. Jason Forrest, War Photographer. I would have never heard of this song if it hadn’t been for Randal, who posted the video on his blog. And now I’m posting it here, because your life won’t be complete until you’ve seen a true Viking Battle of The Bands.

9. Gwen Stefani, Wind it Up (Original Neptunes Mix). I blame So You Think You Can Dance for getting this song wedged in my brain.

Speaking of music, this weekend while I was shopping for an appropriate gift for my nephew’s pirate-themed birthtism [3],[4] I came across a display for the Rockabye Baby CDs. To save you the trouble of opening the link, it’s a series of CDs for children featuring lullabies versions of popular songs from bands you might not expect to have great bedtime-appropriate music. I bought The Beatles Rockabye Baby for the library, and the general consensus was that we were disappointed they chose songs that lent themselves well to lullabies in the first place. Where’s Lullaby Helter Skelter? Lullaby I Am The Walrus? Lullaby Lovely Rita? Sheesh!

I was going to write about how when I saw the Rockabye Baby versions of the music of The Cure, I almost choked on my coffee – seriously? Lullaby Cure songs? [5] Is that kind of… depressing? And then I was going to mention that if I were going to get one for The Neph, it was between this and Lullaby Led Zepplin.

However, then I looked at the complete list of bands they cover – Metallica? U2? The Pixies? Nine Inch Nails? Tool? The Ramones? Queens of the Stone Age? DUDE. I’m not sure whether to run out and buy them all for The Neph or despair that some of the most hardcore bands of our times have been turned into sleepy-time music for babies [6].

What do you think?

[1] Someday, I may enumerate the other four in my top 5 desert island CDs, and how I got almost everyone in my office at the time to write down their top 5 desert island CDs on post-it notes, which I stuck on my monitor. That I got into trouble for “wasting time” goes without saying, and is one of the top 10 reasons I left that place – having fun and doing team building was strictly verboten.
[2] Now, if I were doing taxes, chatting online with my sister and cousin, and sending a Facebook message to The Furious Redhead about my day and how I suck at everything, I’d be listening to Arcade Fire or The New Pornographers because THAT’S HOW I ROLL.
[3] I only found out at almost the last minute that there was a theme, and it was pirates. For a one-year old.
[4] This weekend was not only his first birthday but also his baptism. Hence, birthday + baptism = birthtism. Let it never be said that we’re not creative in this family.
[5] I am sort of tickled by the fact they’ve turned The Cure’s Lullaby into a lullaby. It’s so self-referential!
[6] It’s not listed, but Lullaby Henry Rollins can’t be far off.

• Introductions
• the Alphabet
• Numbers (and then Economics)
• Biology
• History/Politics
• Language Studies
• Geography
• Home Economics
• Autoshop
• Class Dismissed!

~ Weezer – My Name Is Jonas: Can’t hear this one without remembering epic Guitar Hero weekend. [To me, for some reason, it sounds like a sea chanty.]

~ Blackalicious – Alphabet Aerobics: Frickin’ awesome. By the end, I want to collapse.

~ Look People – Five: Weirdest. Band. Ever. Not their weirdest song, though (that would be “Guido”) [Actually, "Guido" isn't their weirdest song, but that was all I had room to write. Their weirdest song is somewhere between "I'm a Lousy Lover, I'm a Lousy Lay" and "Sunday Driver on a Saturday Night." Sadly, I have neither of those songs in my collection.]

~ FemBots – Count Down Our Days: Was surprised to find they weren’t a techno group.

~ Carol Channing – Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend: No one does it like Carol! [I love this version - tres campy!]

~ The Dandy Warhols – All the Money or the Simple Life Honey: Love them in small doses – like this. [I think I only like three or four of their songs, but I like them a lot.]

~ King Cobb Steelie – Luckily I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency: Big Bird called. [It's in my top ten most played songs, so you know it's good.]

~ Modest Mouse – Worms Vs. Birds: A struggle even more epic than cats vs. dogs.

~ Hot Hot Heat – Eyes Ears Mouth (Demo): 50,000 sounds played in tight formation at the right time. [The percussion on this song sounds complicated, but neat.]

~ Buck 65 – Kennedy Killed the Hat: More Buck 65? Why, yes – I think I will! [For whatever reason, I keep thinking there's a Dr. Seuss reference in here, but there isn't.]

~ Starkicker – Neil Armstrong: Hometown boys from early ’90′s. This was their 2nd biggest song. [I'm somehow distantly related to the drummer. Another useless fact: they were originally called blue.bottle.fly.]

~ Death from Above 1979 – Black History Month: The only song where crossing guards get to represent. [It's amazing how much sound two guys can make. Also, really doesn't have anything to do with Black History Month, in case you were wondering.]

~ Dimitri from Paris – sacre francais: Saw the video in a fever dream, and didn’t believe it at first. [It was kind of trippy and weird, so I thought I imagined it. Then I saw it again, and said, "oh."]

~ Elliott Brood – Oh, Alberta: Alternate title: “All The Provinces, w/special guest, South Dakota”

~ Ocean Colour Scene – Hundred Mile City: This song makes me feel old and British. [Was this ever used in a Guy Ritchie movie? Because that's what it makes me think of.]

~ Ron Sexsmith – Gold In Them Hills: ‘Nother hometown boy. Not the Mr. Paltrow version. [For the love of little green apples (heh), couldn't remember Chris Martin's name. There is a version of them dueting on this song.]

~ Zuul’s Evil Disco – Pancakes: ‘Nother obscure band. I blame Steve for this one, and so should you. [For visuals of the band, go here.]

~ Buck 65 – Country Cooking: Don’t listen if you’re hungry. Nothing is left out, even gnocchi.

~ Ministry – Jesus Built My Hot Rod: Ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long. Hee! [Admit it, it's just fun to say!]

~ Van Halen – Hot for Teacher: What playlist about education would be complete without this song? [Sadly, I never had a hot teacher. Not even a hot student teacher.]

Without further ado, here’s playlist #1.

~ Big Sugar – AAA Aardvark Hotel: Old skool rock/honky tonk. My fav Cnd. band during the 90′s

~ Buck 65 – Wicked And Weird: All road trips should be this carefree and aimless. [But with a better car!]

~ Sleater-Kinney – Entertain: What sarcasm and anger should always sound like. Done for love, not $$ [Not sure what I was getting at; perhaps that there's a difference between making music for the love of it and making it for the money.]

~ Loud Lucy – Ticking: Still reminds me of high school. Should be listened to at max volume.

~ Sloan – She Says What She Means: Love love love Sloan. It’s hard to say the things you need to say. [It was also hard to pick one Sloan song.]

~ Average White Band – Pick Up the Pieces: Everyone needs to just get the funk out!

~ Joel Plaskett Emergency – Nowhere With You: Song about my Friday nights in the ‘Fax. [Not all of them - just the ones that ended at Pizza Corner at 2am.]

~ The Inbreds – You Will Know: Long lost jem of a band. My sis and I fought over this CD for years. [That's the short story. The longer story is that I loved this CD, and I didn't think she ever listened to it, so I "borrowed" it. Apparently, she noticed its absence and "borrowed" my Portishead CD until I gave The Inbreds back.]

~ Blur – There’s No Other Way: In battle of Blur vs. Oasis, I always side with Blur. Song from gr. 9 [As in, this was one of the songs that got me through the first year or two of high school and cemented my love of the Madchester scene when everyone else was listening to grunge.]

~ James – Sit Down: Another high school flashback. Quirky and an oasis from grunge music saturation.

~ Modest Mouse – Jesus Christ Was an Only Child: Simple but charming. Folksy and weird.

~ Mötley Crüe – Dr Feelgood: To be part of my posse, you must headbang to this song at max volume. [Hee. There's a story about how this is the song that Karen and I bonded over on our way to my first staff retreat in Sault Ste. Marie when I worked in Sudbury. It's long, and you'd need to see the flailing that accompanies the telling.]

~ Soul Coughing – Screenwriters Blues: Amanda Bishop, debating bud, where are you? You gave me this! [Amanda was a friend of mine from my high school years as a model UN debater; she went to a different high school, but we always hung out at competitions with a couple of other people. One day we were hanging out at her house, and she played this CD of a band she thought were teh bomb - and she was right, they were. This is the song that always reminds me of her.]

~ Zildo Ildo – Workin’ Class Blues: A secret band who were not-so-secretly awesome. [They were one of those bands you had to know someone who knew someone in the band to have every heard of them - it was through Julie's ex that I knew them. Back in the Napster years, I would get really excited messages from people wanting to know how I'd heard of them.]

~ Wonderstuff – Closer To Fine: WAY better than the original. This is what it should sound like. [It's a song about disillusionment, and should be sung by someone who can pull of the pissed-off sound, which Miles Hunt always could.]

~ Alanis Morissette – So Pure: I dare you not to dance or be happy listening to this song.

~ House of Pain, Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Butch Vig Mix) – You know that scene in Formula 51, where Samuel L. Jackson’s character is driving away from the warehouse he’s just blown up? This is the song that’s playing. And it’s a kick-ass St. Patrick’s Day song (definitely not traditional.) Plus, “shenanigans” is a word that just doesn’t get used enough these days.

~ Jesse Dangerously, Righteous Badass (Fancy’s 45s Mix) – I first heard this one on a CBC Radio 3 podcast, and was charmed. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I decided I loved it, but it was somewhere between the line “badder than the Necronomicon” and the mention of his resemblance to Hacksaw Jim Duggan (oh, the flashbacks to the Saturday afternoons of my childhood, watching wrestling with my dad).

~ Apollo Sunshine, Magnolia – This is one of many songs added to my cart that I can’t remember why I added it in the first place. Ultimately, it’s not important because it’s a great little song – there’s layers on layers of sound carefully pieced together in 3/4 time. (It also makes me think I should do a playlist of songs about flora, except that the only songs on it would be this one and Sarah Harmer’s Oleander. I’ll get back to you about this.)

~ Tiga, 3 Weeks (12″ Mix) – A very fine break-up song. And you can shake your booty to it.

~ John Frusciante, Omission – Every time this song starts, I think it’s Jane’s Addiction. It’s also the one I skip every other time around.

~ Electronic, Get the Message – A song from my high school days. I have fond memories of this one, let me tell you. What those memories are… well, that’s a different story. Let’s just say I can vividly recall parts of the mid-1990′s when I hear it.

~ Prodigy, Spitfire – Loud and raucous. Good for a chase scene or a beatdown scene in a movie. Also skipped every other time around.

~ Tiga, You Gonna Want Me – Despite the poor grammar, it’s another fine booty shaking song, with the added bonus of the keen vocal stylings of Jake Shears (of the Scissor Sisters.)

~ Busta Rhymes, Touch It – I’m not at all fond of the lyrics. The reason I downloaded it is because it has an interesting beat, and I could use it to practice some of the smaller, more controlled moves we learn in bellydancing. That is, if I ever get around to going back.

~ Brazillian Girls, Jique – Different-sounding. Not recommended for driving, especially on the 401 in moderately heavy traffic, because it feels right for a stunt-driving attempt. Which, because I am always a careful and considerate driver, I didn’t do. No siree.

I also spent considerable time listening to Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, which is just phenomenal. It’s brassy and tough and honest, and she’s got an incredible voice.

And on the last few trips I’ve taken, I’ve taken a few podcasts to break up the monotony. This time out, I had a various episodes of CBC Radio 3, Savage Love, and the official Grey’s Anatomy podcast.

I can’t remember with whom I was having the conversation, but if it was you, I finally just remembered the band name – The Inbreds.

Ta-da!

(Oh, and today was St. Valentine’s Day. I got a heart shaped cookie at work and a cute heart shaped box from my mother.)

The other seasonally appropriate occurance was the considerable snowfall we had between my leaving Tuesday and my arriving home last night, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood of two or more feet. I had to dig my poor little car out of a considerable snowbank when I got back to the train/bus station. And this was on top of the snow we already had.

So! The conference! I’m sure you’re waiting with baited breath to hear how it went, since I was not so much writing about it while I was there. I’d have to say that this was one of the better OLA conferences I’ve been to in recent years. I went to many excellent sessions, and only walked out of one which was largely irrelevant to my interestes (in addition to being not at all what I hoped it would be.) If I were to list all the people I met and want to extend greetings to, I’d be here until tomorrow – suffice to say, if we talked, I’d just like to say “HI!” and I look forward to emailing/speaking/meeting with you over the next little while.

The biggest problem with these conferences is that I always come away with a million ideas which I’d like to implement (A wiki for the employee manual? Sure! A blog for my department to publicize our recent aquisitions? Very necessary! Genealogy podcasting? Why aren’t we already doing that!) However, I feel like Cinderella – I can work on a plan for these things, but only when I’ve finished the library stats for this month, and the January vacation/overtime logs for the department, and writing the scripts for the virtual library project, and the other hundered or so things that crop up on a daily basis.

I love my job, and the administrivia is just part of the job. I just need to manage my time better. And be more organized.

* * *

The night before I left, I downloaded some iTunes-y goodness to listen to while on the train. Regina Spektor’s “Begin to Hope” got heavy airplay – most noteably, “Fidelity,” “Samson,” and “20 Years of Snow.” And I’m sort of embarrased to admit how many times in a row I listed to Mika’s “Grace Kelly” – it’s just that perky and infectious and fun.

• I am already perfect and need no further improvement (Yeah, I couldn’t keep a straight face typing that either…)
• I would rather do the things that need to be done without announcing them to the world. If I need to tell people about it, it’s because I should already be doing it.
• I’m so lazy that I know I’d break them within a week, so better not to start at all.

However, I hit upon a perfect compromise this morning while getting ready for work – I’ll combine a resolution list with my favourite pasttime – making a random playlist! So, hitting “random play” on my iTunes, here’s what my resolutions for this year are:

Resolution #1: Paul Simon, Late in the Evening
Go out more often, hang out with friends more often, and go to bed later.

Resolution #2: Etta James, At Last
Maybe this year, I’ll get lucky in the romance department. My finger’s aren’t crossed and I’m not holding my breath, though.

Resolution #3: Rufus Wainwright, Across the Universe
Travel! See the world! Or at least, go to the funky bookstore across the street.

Resolution #4: The New Pornographers, Letter from an Occupant
Stay on top of my correspondence, and send more letters and email to people.

Resolution #5: White Stripes, Seven Nation Army
Get passionate about a cause, and support the hell out of it.

Resolution #6: Great Big Sea, I’se the B’y
Woo! The CLA conference is in St. John’s this year! Look out George Street, here I come!

Resolution #7: Cake, Stickshifts and Safetybelts
Start saving for a new car. The Old Green Girl is holding up well, but for how much longer remains to be seen.

Resolution #8: Thrush Hermit, The Day We Hit the Coast
Also? Start saving for that trip back to Halifax you keep threatening to take!

Resolution #9: Wonderstuff, Size of a Cow
Is that a hint that I should start taking better care of my diet? If it is, could you have picked a kinder way of telling me so?

Resolution #10: Tito Puentes, Mambo Gozon
Take some kind of dance lesson again – someone teaches Latin ballroom and bellydancing here in the city, so I should track her down.

Anyone else have any interesting resolutions?