by Moorgard on 2003-08-16
Here, in no particular order, are the albums I played on my journey from Minneapolis to San Diego. They kept me relatively sane along the way, or at least prevented me from going completely psycho."A soundtrack for your silence insincere..."
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation
Beth Orton - Daybreaker
Michael Penn - March
Wire - A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck
The Psychedelic Furs - All of This and Nothing
Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill
Bark Psychosis - Hex
R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
Elliott Smith - XO
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Michael Bublé - Michael Bublé
David Sylvian - Everything and Nothing
The The - Infected
Turin Brakes - The Optimist LP
Turin Brakes - Ether Song
Joe Henry - Scar
PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
Frank Sinatra - Sinatra at the Sands w/ Count Basie
Neil Finn - One All
Peter Gabriel - Up
Leonard Cohen - Cohen Live
Stan Ridgway - Mosquitos
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In
Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
The Tear Garden - Tired Eyes Slowly Burning
David Bowie - Best of 1969/1974
Ryan Adams - Demolition
Damien Rice - O
Notes:
Nick Cave's work is particularly well suited for traveling across the rolling green nothing of Nebraska. I get this image in my head of a hot, rainy day with Cave's Henry's Dream blaring on the stereo, stopping to pick up a nameless drifter along the way, murdering them viciously, and dumping the body somewhere outside Kearney. As Nebraska had clear skies during my trip, however, I instead played Let Love In and murdered no one.
Don't use a public restroom in New Mexico unless you absolutely cannot avoid doing so. If you must, use only one within the city limits of Albuquerque. Even then, I'd suggest you bring your own soap and towel.
Pop quiz, hotshot. You're on a four-lane divided interstate, two lanes one direction and two the other. You're in the right lane, moving faster than the speed limit, and approach another car in the right lane going slower than you. In your rear-view mirror, you see a car behind you in the left lane that is moving faster than you are. Do you:
A) Slow down and let the car behind you pass, then speed up and pass the car ahead of you.
B) Pass the car ahead of you and cause the person behind you to brake, allowing them to pass when you're done.
C) Accelerate to match the speed of the car behind you until you pass the person ahead, then resume your normal speed and let the car behind you pass.
The correct answer is either A or C. However, the vast majority of the country must not possess that modicum of common sense, because invariably jackass after jackass would cause me to brake because he was traveling one mile per hour faster than some other car and couldn't be bothered to drop his cruise control for thirty seconds. Die in a fire, every selfish one of you.
Other than that, it was a nice trip.