I survived Christmas and all I got was a few crummy ideas. Or, a wine-inspired ramble.

Not to be Ameri-centric, but can’t you imagine some of the election dominating Evangelicals thinking that this recent craziness, and the fear that comes with it, is God’s punishment to people who live near water. You know, the blue states. I wonder. I know it freaks my Oregonian ass out a bit.

But, anyway, that’s just what I’m thinking about while listening to Dust to Digital’s Where Will You Be Christmas Day? My bio-mom got it for me for Christmas along with the totally awesome Goodbye, Babylon box set—which, as a musical artifact sitting in my room, is pretty awesome. The Christmas album is filled with a lot of blues Christmas songs, some gospel and other (for me) indescribable stuff. The one I’m listening to right now is a bluesy love song called "Santa Claus" where Walter Davis works the jolly red-clad character into a damn good lament about the singer and his baby. And the next song sounds like vaudevillian orchestra. Weird.

But I was shocked to hear one of the songs that sounds EXACTLY like the Joggers "Back to the Future" from their Startime debut, Solid Guild. The Joggers are a fantastic Portland band that plays a poppy garage rock with bits of what they call shape-note singing. Anyone who knows what that is, kudos. But for the rest of us it means that they sing these four-part atonal harmonies that build, reshape, and repeat in a sort of rollicking manner. Pair that with some cutting guitar (two ultra-hot Gibson SGs mind you) and it’s pretty awesome. But "Future" sounds exactly like "Sherburne" by the Alabama Sacred Heart Singers. I mean it is EXACTLY like it. It’s fantastic wherever you hear it and as effective in the rock format as it is as a gospel, but the chant is exactly the same in both songs. Next time I see them I’m going to ask.

Oh, so I changed the mix CD for my sister back in Wisconsin. The first draft was a bit depressing. Quite a few songs about leaving, dying and never coming back. Eek. So, this new one is a considerable improvement I think. "Less Than Zero" is so much more fun, and dangerous, than "Watching The Detectives." Devendra Banhart’s"Little Yellow Spiders" instead of the "cause I’m never comin’ back"-laced "At the Hop." And she needs to hear Neko Case. She’s a red head. Oh, and I named it "Leprechaun Park," after the smallest park in Portland. Ain’t that cute.

1.Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? The Ramones
2. Date With Ikea, Pavement
3. Less Than Zero, Elvis Costello
4. Little Yellow Spider, Devendra Banhart
5. I Will Dare, The Replacements
6. The Tigers Have Spoken, Neko Case
7. Float On, Modest Mouse
8. Jezebel, Iron & Wine
9. Take Me Anywhere, Tegan & Sara
10. So Says I, The Shins
11. Evolution, Gift Of Gab
12. Future, Cut Copy
13. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1, The Flaming Lips
14. Disorder, Joy Division
15. Damaged Goods, Gang Of Four
16. Government Center, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
17. The Legionnaire's Lament, The Decemberists
18. Four Leaf Clover Badly Drawn Boy


Before listening to the Christmas CD I was going to rattle off about the homily given by my parent’s priest on Christmas Day and compare it to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. But this post has grown long. Someone should remind me to do that some time soon.