Spitball Army

It was a busy day today, and I was on the move for most of it.  The constant?  My iPod was working overtime, and though I did listen to a couple of albums full through, it was mostly a Shuffle-All-Songs day.  The little random song machine did a bang-up job of entertaining me as I went from digging and planting in the back yard, to paying bills, running errands from the post office to the grocery store to the pool, back home to a light dinner and a neighborhood association meeting.

Let me just say, as an aside that has nothing to do with today’s musical soundtrack (but is concerned with other sounds), that when you hear your city councilwoman tell a neighborhood resident at a public meeting that the only way to get the city to repair the sinkhole in the alley behind the resident’s house is to hire a lawyer and sue the city…  Well, when you hear that – and I did – you know that things in your city have gotten to a pretty pathetic state.  I tend to like and admire Councilwoman Valerie Abbott, but her reaction tonight was tantamount to throwing her hands up in surrender, and it was a little confusing.  Come to think of it, she actually did throw up her hands.

Aside over, here are some of the day’s lesser-known musical highlights that you might enjoy as well as I did:

[audio:June_Tabor___Apples_and_Potatoes.mp3]
“Apples and Potatoes” by June Tabor (1994)
I honestly couldn’t tell you why I have three June Tabor albums in my collection, but I really do love the earthiness of her voice.

[audio:Khaled___Didi.mp3]
“Didi” by Khaled (1992)
This Rai singer from Algeria was on Leno or Letterman one night in, um, well, it says 1992 there, so that must have been when it was.  And it was probably Letterman, because watching Leno is against my religion.  Khaled practically jumped out of the TV that night, and I was transfixed, even though I hadn’t a clue what he was singing about.  Schnarf Niblett would hear this when I would play it at work and say, No wonder those people are killing each other.

[audio:Teddy_Thompson___In_My_Arms.mp3]
“In My Arms” by Teddy Thompson (2008)
At first I got angry when I realized that I didn’t know until the release date last Tuesday that Teddy’s new album was being issued.  Then I exulted in my newly acquired ordinaryness.

Also, dig the “beach break” beginning at about 1’42.

[audio:Kate_Taylor___Tiahs_Cove.mp3]
“Tiah’s Cove” by Kate Taylor (1978)
The album that this song is taken from has been in my ears a fair bit lately.  I became familiar with it in that delicate year between high school and college.

[audio:Dionne_Warwick___How_Many_Days_of_Sadness.mp3]
“How Many Days Of Sadness” by Dionne Warwick (1965)
(Dedicated to Amy Winehouse and her 70% lung capacity.  How many days of sadness, indeed.)

[audio:Fleet_Foxes___White_Winter_Hymnal.mp3]
“White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes (2008)
I’m hopelessly hung up on this band’s two releases, and can’t shake them out of my head…but that’s a good thing, I think. This album got listened through completely today, twice.

[audio:Alison_Krauss___Jubilee.mp3]
“Jubilee” by Alison Krauss (2006)
This was featured in the documentary film Paper Clips, which I watched recently.