My flight from Raleigh to Chicago put this song in my head.

Vocal samples of  Rickie Lee Jones, guitar samples of Pat Metheny, a song that inspires a smile as it conjures memories of many 5am’s.

Mom and I headed over for the Ocrafolk festival on Ocracoke. This is our 2nd year making the trip together, it is my 3rd Ocrafolk in a row. I caught old friend Tiffany playing and singing in her and her husband’s band the Barnraisers. She has quite the on stage persona. Below are a couple of videos of them and a couple of the Green Grass Cloggers. The first clip is a part of their semi-famous cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” There are also a lot of pictures up in the gallery.

I am having some flash issues, so if the videos aren’t playing well, click on the title of this post (Ocrafolk 2008) then try them out again.

“All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply.  But at the end of the day, we aren’t the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn’t do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — we cannot afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say - let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.”

Well, I talked about the part they’ve played in my life before.  On this, the 35th anniversary of a boy named Danial having his name misspelled on his birth certificate, this one is speaking to me:

I met someone at the dog show
She was holding my left arm
But everyone was acting normal so I tried to look nonchalant.
We both said, I really love you,
The shriners loaned us cars
We raced up and down the sidewalk twenty thousand million times

Why did they send her over anyone else?
How should I react? these things happen to other people
They dont happen at all, in fact

When youre following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere theyre meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things
I heard they had a space program
When they sing you cant hear, theres no air
Sometimes I think I kind of like that and
Other times I think Im already there

Gonna ask for my admission
Gonna speak to the man in charge
The secretary says hes on another line,
Can I hold for a long, long time?
I found out shes an angel
I dont think she knows I know
Im worried that something might happen to me
If anyone ever finds out

Why, why did they send her over anyone else?
How should I react? these things happen to other people
They dont happen at all

When youre following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere theyre meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things
I heard they had a space program
When they sing you cant hear, theres no air
Sometimes I think I kind of like that and
Other times I think Im already there

When youre following an angel
Does it mean you have to throw your body off a building?
Somewhere theyre meeting on a pinhead
Calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things

The girls I’ve found myself dating on past Halloweens have all laughed it off, but I know that when I find the one who wants to dress as Captain and Tennille with me, I’ve met Mrs. Right.

Love, love will keep us together;
Think of me babe whenever
Some sweet talking girl comes along singing a song –
Don’t mess around, you got to be strong,Just Stop, ’cause I really love you,
Stop, I’ll be thinking of you –
Look in my heart and let love keep us together.

You, you belong to me now,
Ain’t gonna set you free now;
When those girls start hanging around, talking me down,
Hear with your heart and you won’t hear a sound.

Just stop, ’cause I really love you; stop, I’ll be thinking of you –
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever.

Young and beautiful someday your looks will be gone;
When the others turn you off who’ll be turning you on?
I will, I will, I will

I will be there to share forever;
Love will keep us together.
Said it before and I’ll say it again, while others pretend,
I need you now and I’ll need you then.

Stop, ’cause I really love you; stop, I’ll be thinking of you –
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever.
I will, I will, I will

Stop, ’cause I really love you; stop, I’ll be thinking of you –
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever.
I will, I will, I will, I will.

Here’s a romantic little tune about a city that I romanticize.

Summer journeys to Niagra
And to other places aggra-
Vate all our cares.
Well save our fares!

I’ve a cozy little flat in
What is known as old Manhattan
Well settle down
Right here in town!

Well have Manhattan
The Bronx and Staten
Island too.
Its lovely going through
The zoo!

Its very fancy
On old Delancy
Street you know.
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.

And tell me what street
Compares with Mott Street
In july?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.

The great big citys a wonderous toy
Just made for a girl and boy.
Well turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy!

Well go to Yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the whiles
And starve together dear, in Chiles

Well go to Coney
And eat baloney on a roll
In Central Park well stroll
Where our first kiss we stole
Soul to soul

And My Fair Lady is a terrific show they say
We both may see it close, some day

The citys glamour can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil
Well turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy!

Last night I was helping a friend hang a light in his apartment. I once spent part of a summer as an electrician’s assistant and at times like this that experience proves useful. While putting the fixture in the ceiling my friend commented that if this was he and his boyfriend putting up the light there would have been raised voices. Phrases like, “Well if you could just hold it in place, maybe I could finish screwing it in”, “I don’t know how it looks, it’s kind of hard to see with your hand in the way”, and “I didn’t ask for your opinion, I asked for you to read the directions!” would have been thrown around.

Now, my question for you: what does it mean that thinking about those little quibbles makes me nostalgic for relationships? I seriously miss those pointless arguments. The memories of passive aggressive, sarcastic remarks not only make me smile and look back fondly at relationships from the past, they also make me want to meet the next future ex.

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I’d want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I’d want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I’d want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I’d want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I’d be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I’d be a nod
If you were a seed, well I’d be a pod.
If you were the floor, I’d wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I’d be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I’d be the fire.
If you were the love, I’d be the desire.
If you were a castle, I’d be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I’d learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If I could open my arms
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan,
I’d bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
If I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing
And bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings.

I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same time
Oh what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I’ll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in.

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown

Your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna…

Love of mine some day you will die
But I’ll be close behind
I’ll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs

If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles brusied by a lady in black
And I held my toungue as she told me
“Son fear is the heart of love”
So I never went back

If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs

If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It’s nothing to cry about
Cause we’ll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs

If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark
Then I’ll follow you into the dark

A grey day. Country roads. Christmas. If you were in a climate controlled environment and couldn’t feel the 60 degree air outside you would probably say that it looks like snow. A lethargically beautiful grey day. Due to a completely random sequence of events the Cure’s album Disintegration is playing. I am driving my father’s car. I am taking the long way.

The thing that strikes me about this scene on this day is that I have experienced it before. It was 17 Christmas’s ago and, by strange coincidence, I was 17 years old. It was a tape playing the Cure, not a cd of MP3’s. It was my parent’s car I was driving. I was taking the long way.

My age has doubled and yet I find myself in the exact same spot again. Have I traveled some weird, 17 year long circuitous loop? Or, maybe I have passed this point before without realizing it.

Of course the geek in me is wondering, “What medium will I be listening to Disintegration on the next time around?”

I was listening to 69 Love Songs the other night when Staci was over for dinner. We started talking about our fave older stuff of Mr. Merritt’s. Staci raved about an older album that I had never given a fair listen to. It turns out to be great traveling music, which isn’t a surprise considering the name of the CD is “The Charm of the Yellow Highway Strip.”

Thanks Staci!

Here’s one good one from an album of good one’s:

Your eyes are long Vermont roads
With a tacky song on the radio
And your eyes are toothless young men
In Tennessee in the rain again
And fireflies never go to sleep
And country songs never help you sleep
After all those trains and all those breakdown lanes
The roads don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to
After all those days on God-forsaken highways
The roads don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to
Your eyes are the Mesa Verde
Big and brown and far away
And your eyes are Kansas City
In Kansas and in Missouri
After all those trains and all those breakdown lanes
The roads don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to
After all those days on God-forsaken highways
The roads don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to
After all this time and after all your crying
The roads don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to
The roads are dark and long and all those country songs
Well, they don’t love you and they still won’t pretend to

I headed down to Greenville last weekend to attend a Christmas party and to hang out with Martha and Speight. Mutual friend Jenny tagged along to check out what Greenville was all about and hilarity ensued. Or, if not hilarity; at least a lot of drinking.

Pictures are up in the Gallery, and here are a couple of videos from the Carol sing-along with host extraordinaire Will at the piano:

A little Christmas ditty going out to all the future ex’s.

I’ll keep you warm in December
Warm when the cold breezes blow
My arms so lovin’
A kind of oven
To melt the sleet and snow

This heart that glows like an ember
Longs to be loved just by you
If it could be so
Then you’d keep me so
Warm in December too

If it could be so
Then you’d keep me so
Warm in December
Ooh it’s cool in December
Please keep me warm in December too

I’d like to say that one of the main reasons this song sticks with me is not the mention of North Carolina…but I think it is.

You are a splendid butterfly
It is your wings that make you beautiful
And I could make you fly away
But I could never make you stay
You said you were in love with me
Both of us know that that’s impossible
And I could make you rue the day
But I could never make you stay

Not for all the tea in China
Not if I could sing like a bird
Not for all North Carolina
Not for all my little words
Not if I could write for you
The sweetest song you ever heard
It doesn’t matter what I’ll do
Not for all my little words

Now that you’ve made me want to die
You tell me that you’re unboyfriendable
And I could make you pay and pay
But I could never make you stay

Not for all the tea in China
Not if I could sing like a bird
Not for all North Carolina
Not for all my little words
Not if I could write for you
The sweetest song you ever heard
It doesn’t matter what I do
Not for all my little words
It doesn’t matter what I do
Not for all my little words

This one takes me back to eager, heart-thumping times. “I say lets run away when I just mean stay the night.”  The thing is, I totally meant it when I said it…just not a couple of hours/days later when the excitement faded.

Time stands still
All I can feel is the time standing still
as you put down the keys
and say don’t call me please
while the radio plays

“I Think I Need a New Heart” ohhh
“I Think I Need a New Heart” ohhh

You’ve lied too
but it’s a sin that I
can’t tell the truth
cause it all comes out wrong
unless I put it in a song
so the radio plays
“I Think I Need a New Heart”
just for you
“I Think I Need a New Heart”

cause I always say I love you
when I mean turn out the light
and I say let’s run away
when I just mean stay the night
but the words you want to hear
you will never hear from me
I’ll never say “happy anniversary”
never stay to say “happy anniversary”

so I think I need a new heart ohhh
I think I need a new heart ohhh
I think I need a new heart ohhh
I think I need a new heart ohhh
Give me time

Who knows how long I’ve loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime
If you want me to–I will.

For if I ever saw you
I didn’t catch your name
But it never really mattered
I will always feel the same.

Love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we’re together
Love you when we’re apart.

And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do endear you to me
You know I will
I will.

Here are some short videos from the Duke Game Jenn and I attended this past Saturday at Cameron Indoor.

Lots of pics are up in the Gallery.

3 Pre-Game Videos

Starting Line-up Introduction

The Blue Devil Surfs!

D-U-K-E!

Over way too soon.

Don’t Stop don’t stop, no
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in
Don’t Stop don’t stop, no
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in

Playing hard to get when we’re together
Hard to get there on your own
When will you ever come to conscience
I’ll let you be alone
You never had it better
Than when I was with you, baby
Come back to earth, let’s drink some tea and smoke some herb

Don’t Stop don’t stop, no
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in
Don’t Stop don’t stop, no
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in

Now I know it takes three balls to juggle
50 cents of humor’s worth
When and how did I become my mother
Am I getting on your nerves?
Lets just not talk about it and fill the blanks with space
Go to the park later
Get some, Ice cream

Don’t Stop don’t stop, no
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in
Don’t
Don’t
Just keep on going
Just keep on going
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la

Don’t Stop
Don’t Stop
Just keep on going
Until I come
Until I come in
Stop

Here’s another one by the same group.

Allons-y!
Faisons un tour á la tour eiffel, á rencontrer cette japonaise,
tres tres belle.
Dans la main une camera en plastique, ces chaussures dernier cri,
On lui dit, You’re tres chic.
On l’emmene, sûr une isle au millieu de la seine, virtuelle de cette nuit,
Cette nuit mortelle, on la prend,
On la prend par la main, et on commence.

Laisse rentrer la lumiere dans ta tête, sors tout-ce que t’as dedans, dis-moi quelque chose de Grand, concentre-toi, t’entends les sirenes de la fête? Tu sais c’que j’en pense, moi?
Je veux me reveiller, me reveiller avec toi!

On va danser á poile dans les rêves des tous les garçons, voler d’étoile en
étoile, sur le dos d’un dragon,
Dans les bras de la lune, on peut tout oublier, mais dans ce paradis, on
Risque de s’ennuyer… t’endends les sirenes, les sirenes de la fete,
Tu sais ce que j’en pense….
Je veux me reveiller…

Over emotional, withdrawn, 15 year old Dan was up late at his Grandparent’s house down in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a day or two after Christmas. He was listening to his radio in one of the sheds on the farm, there was a year end countdown on a late night alternative show. These two songs ranked high and were pretty enough to make him cry. The next day he got his dad to drive him to the record store at 5 Points that sponsored the aforementioned alternative show. CD’s were purchased with Christmas money and an indie music nerd was born.

Of course, in all fairness to my Dad, he had bought me a Dead Milkmen tape the Christmas before…and there was the Violent Femmes CD. OK, now I’m just ruining the story. Here are the songs:

Don’t don’t don’t let’s start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you’re my precious little girl
But don’t don’t don’t let’s start
I’ve got a weak heart
And I don’t get around how you get around

When you are alone you are the cat, you are the phone
You are an animal
The words I’m singing now
Mean nothing more than meow to an animal
Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account
But don’t try to stop the tail that wags the hound

D, world destruction
O, for an overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don’t don’t don’t let’s start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you’re my precious little girl
But don’t don’t don’t let’s start
I’ve got a weak heart
And I don’t get around how you get around

No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
They want what they’re not and I wish they would stop saying,
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa

D, world destruction
O, for an overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don’t don’t don’t let’s start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you’re my precious little girl
But don’t don’t don’t let’s start
I’ve got a weak heart
And I don’t get around how you get around

I don’t want to live in this world anymore
I don’t want to live in this world

Don’t don’t don’t let’s start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you’re my precious little girl
But don’t don’t don’t let’s start
I’ve got a weak heart
And I don’t get around how you get around

She lives in this house over there,
Has her world outside it.
Grapples the earth with her fingers
And her mouth, she’s five years old.

Threads worms on a string,
Keeps spiders in her pockets,
Collects fly-wings in a jar
Grabs horse-flies and pinches them on a line.

She has one friend he lives next door,
They listen to the weather,
He knows how many freckles she’s got,
She scratches his beard.

She’s painting huge books,
And glues them together,
They saw a big raven,
It glided down the sky, she touched it.

Today is a birthday
They’re smoking cigars,
He’s got a chain of flowers,
And sows a bird in her knickers,

They’re smoking cigars,
They lie in the bathtub,
A chain of flowers