New Day #271

It probably comes as no surprise that this project has cut into my social life. Hell, it's become my social life. So I've tried to multitask where I can. Like today, for instance, when I combined something new with both visiting with a friend and exercising, a task I accomplished by acting as personal trainer to my buddy, 94.7 deejay Tara Dublin, who also did something new by setting foot in a gym and wearing workout clothes in public.


I thought the experience would be about me sharing what little I know about physical fitness. But, as with so many other times in this project, the unexpected happened and I found myself focusing instead on the music played over the PA. Because Tara knew Every. Single. Song.

"This is a song about a mother dying in childbirth," she said, referring to "Lightning Crashes" by Live. "There's a line about her placenta falling to the floor."

"Catchy tune, though," I replied.

After that we heard Marilyn Manson's compelling but sadistic cover of the Eurhythmic's "Sweet Dreams are Made of This," followed by a cheerful ditty entitled "Hemorrhage."

"I don't think that's a good sign," said Tara.

What is it about pop music—as long as it’s got a good beat, people don’t care if it’s a fucking suicide note. I'd like to think that the average American understands the cognitive dissonance caused by the juxtaposition of lyrics and music that are binary opposites. But I'm afraid that most Americans don't know the meaning of the words cognitive and dissonance and juxtaposition. And lyric.

As a writer and a citizen it worries me when we don't pay attention to words. I mean, one minute you’re pumping iron to the beat of songs about miscarriages and hemorrhages, and the next minute we’ve got President Sarah Palin.

This is what happens when a nation doesn’t pay attention.

| | |

New Day #123

Went with my buddy Tara from 94/7 fm Alternative Portland to watch her get her tattoo touched up. While I enjoy any opportunity to stare at other people's bodies, I have to admit that tattoos still look dirty to me. What's more, I can't imagine anything I'd want on my body for the rest of my life, with the notable exception of Mario Lopez.

Still, I enjoyed watching her and listening to her tattooist, Mighty Mo, tell us how he recently tatted a porn star's dick.

At this point in my life I don't think I could bring myself to get one because it's such a cliche and I hate being unoriginal. I mean, I might as well scrawl the words "mid-life crisis" on my body and be done with it.

So I did, just to see what it was like.


But I used a Uniball pen.

| | |

New Day #118

Today I chose songs to go on the radio. And by today I mean yesterday. (I’m sorry, but posting in the morning for Powells.com instead of the evening when I usually do is, as my Canadian doppelganger might say, disorientating.)

Yesterday I visited DJ Tara Dublin at 94/7 fm Alternative Portland and I got to choose a song list. What’s more, I even got to push the button to make the music happen.Apparently, I’m easily amused.

Shameless self-promoter that I am, I chose four songs that reflect my books. We started off with a Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover of Springsteen’s "Born to Run” because Attack of the Theater People features a Springsteen cover band called Almost Bruce. Next, I chose the Beatles’ cover of “Till There Was You,” the only show tune I believe they ever recorded, because Attack of the Theater Peoplealso includes an ill-conceived avant-garde production of The Music Man starring a deaf actor and a blind actress.

I included my favorite diva Storm Large's crazy stalker version of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” because the kids in my first novel, How I Paid for College perform in Grease. (And, according to their parents, it’s really, really good.)

Finally, I threw in Mike Doughty’s hilarious “27 Jennifers” because anyone who grew up in the 1980s went to school with, well, 27 Jennifers.

Sidebar: I’m fascinated by the shifting popularity of names, and frequently consult the Social Security Administration baby name site when christening characters. Be forewarned, you could waste a lot of time studying how, say, “Jennifer” went from number 987 (in 1938) to number 1 each year from 1970 to 1984.

Speaking of Jennifers, click here to see what I have to say about Jen Weiner and chick lit.

| | |