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50ish Recent Songs Bike

End of the year stuff

There are about nine hours left in my 2019.

It’s ending on a good note. Katherine is as awesome as ever. I still have the best damn job I could imagine, and a group of co-workers I actually like to hang out with. And I’m about 25 pounds lighter than I was last year. All good.

The world decided to give me a gift today: perfect bike weather. Sunny and warm, but not hot. And a second gift: almost no traffic. I had my highest ever average speed for a longer ride. Another good note.

I don’t care for the whole New Year’s resolutions thing. It’s a high pressure recipe for discouragement. Instead, I’m going to try and keep doing what I try doing all year: adjust and improve as I go. I don’t expect to get it all right, and that’s fine. Whether you’re making a resolution tomorrow or not, I hope you give yourself permission to fail and learn.

2020 is here. I hope it’s great for you.

Now: 50 recent songs, mostly picked by my phone, including the best song of the ride.

New Year’s Eve – The Walkmen
I guess my phone wanted to get into the spirit of things
Commissioning a Symphony in C – Cake
This would normally be a contender for Best Song of the Ride, but alas! It played before I left.

Feral Cat Tribe – Tenement
My Three Sons – Elvis Costello And The Imposters

Tu m’as encore crevé un cheval – Arlt
This was in the last 50 songs as well. Why? Because Apple uses a crappy music randomizer. Thousands of songs on my phone, and this one comes up again right away.

Part III – Crumb
I Wish You Would – The Yardbirds
Vaporize – Broken Bells
Who Cares? (take 4) – Cannonball Adderley With Bill Evans
Longer Boats – Cat Stevens
Coney Island Baby – Tom Waits
Schn in rosa und rot (Pretty in Pink – Psychedelic Furs) – Le anin
Dio – Tenacious D
Easy Read – Trashcan Sinatras
Baby Plays Around – Elvis Costello
Jump Boys – The Undertones
Cross-Eyed Tammy – The Dickies

Bicycle Race – Queen
When a bicycle song plays on your bike ride, you have to point it out. Also: In this song Freddie Mercury sings “…and I don’t like Star Wars.” If he didn’t like the original, imagine how much he would have hated The Rise of Skywalker.

Fool – Cat Power
Crazy People – Luna
Until Death – Scout Niblett
A New Wave – Sleater-Kinney
Take It Easy, Greasy – Snooky Pryor
Porno Music – Freaks and Geeks
Straight Edge – Minor Threat
Most Precarious – Blues Traveler
She Wolf – Shakira
Get In On It – Antoine Diligent
Think It Over – Buddy Holly

My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama – Frank Zappa
Best song of the ride!

Hot – The Regrettes
Haunted – Broken Down Golf Cart
Tu Mirada y Mi Voz – Susana Baca
Motherless Children – Eric Clapton
Big House – Young Fresh Fellows
Sky Phenomenon – Jens Lekman
I Feel Speed – Love And Rockets
Muddy Waters – LP
White Babies – Liz Phair
I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues – Elton John
I’m a Wicked One – The Hives
Neighborhood #1 Tunnels – Arcade Fire
Dereclict – Beck
Key Largo – Arbes
Loosy Lucy – The Steeples
Everyone Can See – yungatita
The Girl I Knew Somewhere – The Monkees
Daylight Til Dawn – All Night Radio
Stars on Your Nose – Indoorsy

I’m Gonna Love The Hell Outta You (Demo) – Silver Jews
If this had been the studio version it totally would have won best song of the ride.

Tal Uno – Barrie

And here’s today’s ride.

Categories
Photoshop

Yankee Candles, Part 2

No way! Even more candles!

Categories
Photoshop

New Yankee Candles

I hadn’t been to a Yankee Candle for a while. These are some new scents I saw. Or maybe they’re old. I’m no candle historian. Still, some bold and exciting choices here. Why not start the new year right with a couple of these smellmakers?

Categories
50ish Recent Songs

50 Recent Songs

Skate It Out – Eddie Bo
Boulders – Sonagur
T’ain’t No Sin – William S. Burroughs
The Way Young Lovers Do – Van Morrison
He Woke Me Up Again – Sufjan Stevens
Ana Ng – They Might Be Giants
Feral Cat Tribe – Tenement

Nothing Compares To You – Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
This is the version most people are familiar with.

Wollow – Strüds Munroe
Life Goes On – Damned
Baby I’m A Star – Prince And The Revolution
Pouring Rain – Fishbone
Turn Every Stone – Lalo Schifrin
Save it For Later – Harvey Danger
Gone Again – Otis Redding
Same Thing Twice – John Wesley Harding
Just About Glad – Elvis Costello
Born Under a Bad Sign – Cream

Hawaiian Shirt Day is not a song, but it did play.

Celebration – They Might Be Giants
Spanish Eyes – U2
Tortaruga – The Meligrove Band
Here I Am (Come And Take Me) – Al Green
Cosmic Love – Florence And The Machine

Don’t Go All Wicked On Me – Neiltomo
This is from a record called Mashed In Plastic. It’s a mashup record with a David Lynch theme. Some of it is pretty darn good.

Ton o’ Love – Devo
With a Little Help From My Friends (Remix) – The Beatles
Secret Agent Man – Agent Orange
Mr. Pitiful – Otis Redding
I’m Available – Margie Rayburn
Sad Airplane – Tyler Burkhart
The Jean Genie – David Bowie

Wooden Nickels – Eels

Angels Heap – Finn Brothers
Only You – Slut

Tu m’as encore crevé un cheval – Arlt
I don’t know what this song is about (the title translates to “you punctured me,” which doesn’t sound positive), but it sure was a fun bit to listen to while riding by the river.

Friday I’m in Love – The Cure
In The Way – Max Kuehn
Don’t Make Me A Target – Spoon
No Complaints – Beck
Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
Brand New Cadillac – The Clash
100% (feat. Yumi Zouma) – Boycrush
The Song Is You – Stan Getz
Cartrouble [Single] – Adam and The Ants
No One But Yourself – Bo Pepper

Entry Of The Gladiators – The Rolling Stones
You might know this better as “generic clown music,” and this version certainly leans into that, but it was originally a military march.

Singapore – Tom Waits
Where Have All The Good Times Gone – The Kinks

Love Will Freak Us (Joy Division vs Missy Elliot ) – Sheena Bizarre

Love Without Anger – Aquabats
Junkie Song – The Be Good Tanyas
You Are the Light – Jens Lekman

Categories
50ish Recent Songs Bike

50ish songs, Best Music of the Ride

50ish recent songs, mostly picked by my phone.

Just Like Heaven – The Cure

Prologue – Schlong
This will always make me think of Renee, who introduced it to me.

Changes – No Vacation
Falling – Howard
Big Rock Candy Mountain – The Beat Farmers
Nowhere Man – Low
The Haunted Mansion: Grim Grinning Ghosts – Disney
It’s Alright, Follow – Tarek Musa
Good Day (Extended Edit) – The Kinks
Paper Planes – I’m From Barcelona
Paper Thin Walls – Modest Mouse

Word To The Mic – dj BC and The Beastles
These folks have multiple full albums of Beatles/Beastie Boys mashups. Some of them (like this one) work pretty well.

She’s Leaving Home – The Beatles
Over the Rainbow (live) – Rufus Wainwright
Tumbledown – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Empty puppet – Mary Bell
Hold Your Head Up – Argent

The House Where Nobody Lives – Tom Waits
Specifically, this live version from a 20 year old VH-1 special. I like it a lot more than the album version, but it’s really hard to find a decent recording of it.

Sympathy for the Soul of the Beast – Celebrity Murder Party
Happy Together – Mel Torme
Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra
Red Right Hand – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Worse Things Happen At Sea – Toy Dolls
Critic Intro – They Might Be Giants
Pop All The Stars – Emmett Kai
King Kong – Tom Waits
Blow Me Down – Harry Nilsson
Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26) – The Beatles

Once In A Lifetime – Talking Heads
The second-best song of today’s ride.

Prince Charming – Adam Ant

She’s Got A New Spell – Billy Bragg
The best song of today’s ride.


Gypsy – hana vu
1 2 3 4 – Feist
Maiwaige – The Princess Bride
This Time Tomorrow – The Kinks
Gypsy Town – Wet Illustrated
Don’t Stop Now – Crowded House
Birth of the Cool – Miles Davis
Infatuation – The Rapture
Fatal Attraction (And It’s So Strange) – The Ultraviolets
Wrong About Bobby – Eels
Money – Pink Floyd
One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) – Billie Holiday
Paul’s Pal – Sonny Rollins Quartet
Fade – Goth Dad
LNT – Stevan
My Funny Valentine – The Miles Davis Quintet
Highness – Envy And Other Sins
Telegram Sam – Bauhaus
Song For Dan Treacy – MGMT
Schoolhouse Rocky – Bob Dorough & Others

Young Fresh Fellows Theme – Young Fresh Fellows
This wasn’t on the ride. If it had been it probably would have won best song of the ride.

Also: Really good ride today. 30 miles and a better-than-normal average pace. All it needed to be perfect was for me to remember my water bottle.

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Uncategorized

Move Over, Weight Watchers!

Our old bathroom scale does that thing where it gives a different weight every time you step on it. So I did some research and bought a scale listed as most consistently accurate. I weighed myself this morning and it claimed I lost a couple of pounds overnight. I thought “You bought this because the old one wasn’t working right- of course they don’t match.” To prove it I weighed myself on the old scale.

It also said I lost a couple of pounds overnight.

I have learned the secret of rapid weight loss: MAKE YOUR OLD SCALE JEALOUS.

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Better than here

phil-are-go.blogspot.com – Because other people are funnier than me

Have you visited https://phil-are-go.blogspot.com/ yet? You should. They make one of my favorite things: fake book covers. Like this one:

https://phil-are-go.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-gazebo-haunted-by-stevie-nicks.html

Go! Go now! RIGHT FREAKING NOW.

Categories
50ish Recent Songs Bike

50ish Recent Songs, and the Best Song of Today’s Ride

50ish recent songs, mostly picked by my phone. About half of them were from today’s ride, where I decided to get a pinch flat AND whack my hand into a utility box.

Oh, and I didn’t tighten the bolts on my new cleats enough, so one came loose. NEAT.

Big Time – Peter Gabriel
The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room) – Flight of the Conchords
I Heard It Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

The Girl Is Mine – Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine – You haven’t heard this song until you’ve heard a lounge version with Stephen Hawking.

Cartrouble, Pts. 1 & 2 [Original Album Version] – Adam and The Ants
No Rain – Blind Melon

Julie’s Been Working For The Drug Squad – The Clash

Hot Hot Hot!!! – The Cure
One Way Or Another – Blondie
Everybody’s a Star (Starmaker) (mono mix) – The Kinks
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight – The Postal Service
Yew – BUHU
Hard To Handle – The Black Crowes
Bedlam – Elvis Costello And The Imposters
Train In Vain – The Clash
Birthday – The Beatles
Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs
Chicago (acoustic version) – Sufjan Stevens
Three Car Jam – Minutemen

Love Will Tear Us Apart – The Hot 8 Brass Band – presented in its original form as a New Orleans jazz band song.

The Loved One – INXS
Miracle Cure – The Who
13 A Sky Blue Rhapsody – ccc – ill chemist
Boys Don’t Cry – Grant Lee Phillips
All You Ever Think About Is Sex [12″ Club Version] – Sparks
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M.
Breakfast – Evolution Control Committee
A Sight For Sore Eyes – Tom Waits

American Tune – Paul Simon – Winner, Best Song of the Ride. I think Katherine knows this song.

New Moon on Monday – Duran Duran
Scarecrow – Beck
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey – My Brightest Diamond
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover) (BL Rewind 2) – The Boat People
Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan – Piya Re Piya Re (Remix)
When I’m Sixty-Four – The Beatles
Alina’s Place – Fredrik

The Old Saloon – The Lonely Island – The most important song of a generation.

Falling – Howard
Where Do I Begin – The Chemical Brothers
Little Miss S. – Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
The Mighty Hercules – Johnny Nash
Lucky #9 (video version) – The Moldy Peaches
Poses – Kiki Pau
Graceland – Paul Simon
Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
Hammering In My Head – Garbage
Same Changes – Sam Phillips
Tomorrow Wendy – Andy Prieboy
Transatlanticism – Death Cab For Cutie
The Tracks Of My Tears – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man) – Plugz – I used to play the hell out of this soundtrack.

Today’s ride. I actually had a short second ride, but it was slow and silly.

Categories
Bike

The three best songs of today’s ride

I had to try out my new shoes, so I did my usual loop around Balboa Park. It was a good ride. One sign of a good ride is a moment where I think “this is a really good bike song.” Today there were three. In order from least to most good (today):

They Might Be Giants: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Brian’s favorite band. Their cover is much perkier than the original version.

The Jam – Town Called Malice

A great song that Weezer casually stole and made happy, it would have been number one if not for the last song of the ride…

The Dead Milkmen – Punk Rock Girl

Oh, this song. It would never make any top ten list of mine, but it sure feels good when you’re on the last half mile and you want a little push.

Today’s ride: