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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
OUTDOOR MINER
Wire
Chairs Missing
Harvest : 1978
[Buy It]
THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT US
Tracey Ullman
You Broke My Heart in 17 Places
Repertoire : 1983
[Buy It]
HOLOCAUST
Big Star
Third/Sister Lovers
PVC : 1978
[Buy It]
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Dolly Parton
Jolene
RCA : 1974
[Buy It]
I have been jumping up and down for months about the epidemic of New Yorkers shutting out of the sounds of the city, people not moving out of your way because they can't hear "excuse me," the ubiquitous white cord. This perfectly fit in with the other thing I like to jump up and down about: the uselessness of the generation behind me, the twentysomethings (except Brian Howe) who seem to not really be working or doing much of anything but shopping and fiddling with electronic items. I have worked since I was nine. Paper routes! Babysitting! Walgreen's! Never mind the fact that in MY twenties my friends and I began our path toward total world domination. What have these people been doing?
I had a Walkman. Walkwoman. I rode the bus with Wire and New Order. Later I skied to Mountain Song. I'm a great skier. The only sport I'm actually good at, aside from swimming, which always seemed less a sport and more something you do in order to enjoy the water and not die. Fucking hell, I took that far. I was a lifeguard. Never for oceans, I wasn't strong enough, but for pools and lakes. I saved small children by reaching out a hand. Adults by saying "stand up (the water is three feet deep)."
I love computers, I love Macs. And when they came out I was fully supportive of the endeavor. I even sort of wanted one. I just didn't have the money. And as it evolved I even went through the entire thought process about the amount of memory on the regular one versus the Mini and how stupid Mac was that the Minis were the cute ones in colors and for a feminine but tech-oriented person like me it was all just a huge conflict that left me feeling broke and tired. Color against space. This time around, I wanted a Shuffle. It's tiny, I'll wear it at the gym. But then it has no screen and hardly holds any songs and if you're going to spend $100 you might as well spend $200. Really? I think that's still twice as much.
But then the real rationalizations began. I'm feeling sad. Music makes me happy. Getting rid of my anti-iPod feelings will alleviate some of my day-to-day stress. I live in Williamsburg. It's a lot of work getting mad at the kids all day. I can use it in the car. I can use it for work to record interviews. Though I publish fiction and poetry and have never done an interview in my life. But the musician interviews I start doing for moistworks will take me places I've never dreamed of and of course pay back the $259 in minutes. I am on my way to becoming a new person, and there is only ONE WAY for the new Joanna to even begin to emerge.
YES! Please, yes, yes. A pink one.
I tried it this morning on my way to work, listening to Dolly Parton and Big Star. I was getting into it a little, making sure not to sing aloud. A woman across from me had hers on. She was about five years older than me, a little frumpy, but nice looking. She smiled. Women smile at me all the time. I smile back. It's something we do. Either about an outfit or shoes or good hair or just, "you look like a nice person." This woman may have been doing any of those things, yet all I could think was, she's smiling out of iCamaraderie, something I am in no way ready to participate in. I gently removed the buds and pulled out a magazine, making sure to make another eye-smile at her. There was no need for hostility.
-by Joanna YasLabels: country, indie, ipod, joanna, pop
posted by Alex
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