Cheer Up, Sleepy Paul

Back from vacation. With a fistful of new cd's I might wanna update you on, when I get around to it. Meanwhile, just have to ask, is there anything in the freakin' universe that can make you feel better than a clip of Paul Westerberg performing "Daydream Believer"? (Answer: Nope.)

Guilty Pleasures: Shuffle Edition

Given that my walk between the parking lot and the office only gives me about 10 minutes of listening time round-trip (yeah, I know, I should be taking BART, I feel bad about it, but driving saves me about an hour a day, time I can spend with my kids, or doing... well, this), I've realized that carrying a 40 gig iPod around all the time is kinda silly. By the time I'd played with the scroll-wheel long enough to find a song I felt like hearing, I'd be on the elevator. So instead I've seized control over my daughter's Shuffle (she never cared for the damn thing... didn't get Dad's music obsession genes, I guess), which I dutifully load up with a couple dozen songs, rotated every week or two, and set to random. Makes a lot more sense.

Alas, I've found (at least for now) that it's a lot more fun to fill it up with some guilty pleasures, various upbeat crap I'd never dream of playing anywhere else but works great for the brief jaunt up & down Market Street. Here, then, my current Top Five Shuffle Guilty Pleasures -- the ones you won't find in my car, on my home stereo, on my regular iPod (in short, where I could actually be found out, unprotected by the Shuffle's artful lack of an i.d. screen or any identifying features whatsoever:

1) AC/DC, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Nope, definitely not an AC/DC fan, but, honestly, nothing gets the job done quite as efficiently as Bon Scott-era AC/DC.

2) Guns 'n' Roses, Paradise City: Yeah, I'm a sucker for a few tunes off the first album. Just not all that often, thanks.

3) Fleetwood Mac, Tusk: I tend to lump 70s megastar-era Mac in alongside the Eagles and other peers as faceless, corporate rock. Buth, let's face it -- Lindsay Buckingham is a God. His work on the Tusk album in particular.

4) Kelly Clarkson, Since U Been Gone: Oh, Good Lord, is this embarrassing. But, really, I'm totally sincere. Growing up in the 70s, our Top 40 crap at least had great kitsch value -- think Bay City Rollers, Sweet, etc. But the last decade, nothing but shit. Boy bands? Kid-friendly hip-hop? All garbage. Except this one song.

5) Queen, Keep Yourself Alive: Oh, and speaking of that kitschy 70s music I grew up with... Not sure if Queen qualifies as a guilty pleasure, as they seem to have some critical support (maybe that's just revisionism?) -- but, yeah, this is pretty bad, so I think it counts. Sure is a lot of fun, though.

Incidentally, as long as I was out scouring the web for some mp3's to link here, I was delighted to stumble across this old favorite:
Elton Motello, Jet Boy Jet Girl
Ok, skip everything up above and just listen to this, before it's too late. Do it now!

Er...not exactly...

Ah, the dreaded Yahoo avator. Well, hey, had a few minutes to kill, and this is what I came up with. Alas, they didn't have the option to age your avatar 20 years, thin the hair, add a few extra pounds around the middle... not much room for honest 40-year-olds online, I guess.

Suppose I need to find something to do with this little sucker...