EL CAMINO’s Neighborhood

The end of this year was hard on me. The Guide was cut and disbanded. My summer trek to New York was like a gold rush in reverse, leaving me with a pan full of pyrite.  The 15 pounds I had lost from poverty the year before I regained from stress.  Everything I had disappeared like a mirage in the desert.

I felt lucky to have good health and the company of my boyfriend Perry.  Since we had some time on our hands and were only a few hours away from D.C. Perry and I decided to attend Barack Obama's Inauguration.

As we piled into subway I thought about what it meant to be President.  All these people pushing into a little train, some of which were so eager to get in that they fell on the tracks and were hit, at different times and stations throughout the day  The streets, lawns and even highways filled with people carrying signs, singing songs, selling memorabilia and tossing trash.  The mood was hopeful as we were gently herded into increasingly distant sections of the Mall.

Perry and I found a spot near the Washington Monument  with a decent view of the jumbotron. Through the speakers came the solid voice of Aretha Franklin, followed by John Williams' arrangement of "Simple Gifts" for an ensemble of star players like Yo Yo Ma.  The reverberation from the stage to where we stood was a surreal experimental round of sorts that echoed the excitement that rippled from the stage through the crowd. Part classical, part soul, part Star Wars. It was the sound of a new era.

A stranger helped Perry lift me onto his shoulders to get a good view of our new president as he delivered his inaugural address. His face was beaming, but his words weren't light and glossy. They heralded some cut-backs and sacrifices not yet named.  This part stuck in my head: "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."  What had bothered me for the last eight years was the cloak of secrecy and fear diverting our attention from the weakening infrastructure of our government.

Artists share a code of honor: work hard, take what you can get, know that your job doesn't love you as much as you love your job.  The perpetual shame I felt as a struggling member of the underclass was somehow diffused knowing that on the opposite end of the pyramid were the executives who had also fallen short of perfect.  I didn't have to work just to show that I was working; I had to work to make things work.

The crowd at the end of the ceremony was beyond control.  We eventually found our way to the Natural History Museum, where the entrance fees were waived for the day and people were already crowding the lobby and film screening areas to sleep off the long morning of walking and waiting. We must have watched the video about plate techtonics at least six times.

Perry remarked that the day had felt like the real New Year's Day.  We drove home feeling refreshed, connected. I don't know what the future holds, but I continue to hope for hope.

I've been in New York for a few months now and things in the work department haven't exactly gone as planned.

Adding to my misery was the fact that I haven't had my hair cut or colored in six months.  I looked up the prices in New York for a cut and color and it wasn't pretty. 

In these troubled economic times I did the only logical thing and had my boyfriend Perry cut my hair for me with a $13 pair of scissors from Rite Aid. I wanted to look like a cross between Jenny Lewis and Kira from the Dark Crystal.

We didn't have any copies of US Weekly on hand, so I had a cocktail instead.  I had to show Perry how to massage my scalp and catch me up on the latest gossip, but he did pretty well with the scissors.

I now look eerily like my mother circa 1987.  On the bright side, I've never looked cuter in a ponytail.  




 

Nick Cave has been in my musical consciousness to some degree since high school. Sometimes I get totally obsessed with his music, sometimes his records gather some dust in the collection, but it is always reassuring to know he is there. I don't know if I can say this definitively yet, but I think this is my favorite of his and the Bad Seeds' albums. It feels like a revival album, totally free and energized. I think that for a while I was associating his music solely with really heavy and dark ballads, and therefore I only listened to him in really specific moods. It seems really rare that bands and artists stick it out and continue maintain integrity without burning out. This is one of those rare examples.

#2 Fleet Foxes, "Fleet Foxes"

Thanks to my wife for liking this so much. It took me quite a few listens before this one broke through and became a trip favorite for me. I automatically kick against bands that are stylized or emulate a sound without adding something to it. I automatically went to a My-Morning-Jacket-rip-off place in my head without giving the album much of a chance to breathe. Thanks to further listens though, this really stands out as an excellent summer excursion album. The album really just rolls. The vocals are reverb laden and unobtrusive, the tunes are absolutely catchy, the mood is mellow and builds inconspicuously. Is it going to be an all time favorite? Probably not, but it is certainly worth spending time getting to know.

#3 LCD Soundsystem, "Sound of Silver"

An album that may not need much said about it since it made a lot of top 10 lists last year, this album is fantastic. Catchy as hell, plenty of moving moments, a lot of timliness, and endlessly listenable. To anyone who has not heard this album, maybe due to avoiding over-hyped music altogether, that is too bad. See the Panda Bear album also... my favorite from the last couple of years. It isn't as fun on an iPod/itrip though, and didn't show up as much as I would have thought on the trip playlist.

#4 Stevie Wonder, "Songs in the Key of Life"

It's hard to find the time to listen to lengthy double albums these day, but being on a road trip is a great excuse to do so. I never really gave Stevie Wonder much thought until I started working in a record store quite a few years ago. You get a really broadened perspective on things working in a close space with a diverse group of music lovers all vying for a spin on the CD player. It is where I got into Hip Hop thanks to Aceyalone, it's where I got turned on to Fela Kuti, Gal Costa, Freddie Hubbard, Skip Spence, Herbie Mann... all sorts of stuff when that you miss when you focus in on the newer hipper stuff. It's also where I found out thatSongsin the Key of Life is the best record of all time, which was confirmed by the entire staff of the store working one day in 1999. I had no idea. Anyway, I found a dollar copy of the album with the extra 7" still in there and never looked back. There is passion and joy in this album that I can't explain. A definite record to set aside couple of hours with headphones for.



#5: Other Stuff.

Two months on the road is a while, and there were a lot of albums that kept us going. Here are a couple more that were also great, but not as standout as the top 4:

Ruby Suns, "Sea Lion"

Sounds like pop psychadelia from the Carribean, like if Harry Belafonte had a hit that made it onto the Nuggets records. This New Zealand band has wonderfully harmoniuous vocals and an even balance between atmospheric experimentalism and catchy tunes. Fans of Elephant 6, the Animal Collective, and Calypso might enjoy.

Grails, "Black Tar Prophesies"

Great for travelling in New Mexico and Arizona. A soundtrack to an apocolyptic wild west.



Caetano Veloso, "Transa"
Awesome album. Created after an exile in England.

Dodo's, "Beware of the Maniacs"

I have an admission: I don't really listen to lyrics all that much in music. I don't know why, and I don't know what draws me to start listening to them when I do. But something about this album caught my ear immediately. A lot of times lyrics are wrapped in obscurity. Whether it's through too much noise interference, a slurring vocalist who is more concerned with style, or as is most often the case, overwrought lyrics, the expectation seems to be that understanding them reveals to the listener some elite club with the answers to life that eludes all of the simpletons. These lyrics have little of that, but rather just speak of experiences and observations that don't need to be obscured from the listener for their depth to be effective. The band is a two piece of guitar and drums, but the sound is absolutely complete. Acoustic and poppy, this is very refreshing.