Paul Simon - Hurricane Eye
This week a friend named Sandy came to visit. I spent about 48 hours camped out with Des, Lady the dog, and Sandy tapping at our windows and threatening the power lines across the street.
Avett Brothers and the Brooklyn Philharmonic - I and Love and You
Thinking of the folks in NYC this week. New Jersey and New York got hit much, much harder than we did. This is just beautiful.
Monsters and Men - Little Talks
It's funny how it all comes together. Marie is in Iceland, listening to these folks play live. I heard this song on the radio last night coming home from dancing. And this week, to me the song reflects both the tragedy of the storm and the excitement that is to come in rebuilding. And also this weekend as the election enters its last days and I go to Virginia Beach to knock doors.
Super America - The Bad Plus
This is my official Get It Done song. It makes me want to lean forward. And so I do.
First: Asaf Avidan - One day / Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Remix)
Holy Moses, this is a brilliant remix of a song whose original was, truth be told, a tiny bit whiny. This treatment feels like a simple marking of the passage of time. It's a bit frantic, a bit sad, and incredibly hopeful. "I don't think about you all the time, but when I do I wonder why. One day, baby, we'll be old; think of all the stories that we could have told."
Second: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - Man on Fire
I feel like Edward Sharpe and his Attractive Null Sets actually just sings the songs in my heart. Maybe it's because I heard somewhere that his first album is based on a southwestern roadtrip the lead singer took when he was a child, maybe it's because the music feels like music I loved as a kid: the soul sounds of the hippies and Motown combined with upbeat parables. Maybe it's because he describes himself as a man on fire and then invites the world to dance with him. It's probably all of the above. Whatever it is, I do love it.
Third: Michael Jackson - Thriller
Thanks to the Jam Cellar, I'm learning to dance this. It has honestly taken 6 cumulative hours of instruction to learn the dance between 8:02 and 10:35. For those of you playing at home, that's two minutes and thirty-three seconds of dancing. Unlike Michael, we are not naturals.
Fourth: Logan Afyouni and Drunk Guy (Clark Chamberlin) - Caroline
I love this story. A gal with a guitar walks by, a super drunk guy begs her to stay and teach him a song. Their voices just... belong together. I love her face when she realizes what's happening and how special it is. And now they have plans to make music together. I love people.
Fifth: Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Shake That Thing
Last song of the night for me at the Jam Cellar this week. Whenever this song comes on, I try to strategically get one of the leads that will allow me to actually shake that thing. I try to dance with all levels of dancers and, as a follow, that means that I sometimes have to just chill out and do some triple-triple-rock step without too much distraction for the leads. Dancing is a ton of fun no matter what, but there are some folks with whom it's just... more fun. This week I grabbed Omar and we shook our things like nobody's business. It was awesome.
