30 Day Song Challenge. Day 30: A Song I Was Listening To This Time Last Year.

Last April, I saw Rhett Miller in Annapolis. It wasn't the first time, but that show and the events that followed made quite an impression. I made plans to see him, um, a few more times in the next few months. (5 Rhett solo shows. Jeez. He probably thinks I'm psychotic. Especially since I lose my shit when I try to talk to him.) Then, the Old 97's released their latest album in October and I saw the band... a few times.

I'm SUPER excited to see them in Baltimore next month. There will be a new album out (The Grand Theatre, Volume 2, a follow up to October's TGTV1,) six days before the show, and I will be prepared to sing along to anything new that they bust out that night.

Today's challenge is specifically asking for a song that I was listening to at this time last year. I know I listen to a song a lot when my husband starts to know all of the words. (He's not exactly "down" with much music past 1995.) In anticipation of the new 97's album, I was listening to Rhett's most recent solo album a lot.

There is something special about a solo Rhett show. As he says when he's with the band, there's "less talk, more rock." When he is alone; however, you get a peek into that brilliant mind, whether he is talking about his songwriting, or just going off the cuff with some witty banter. This video doesn't include such banter, so I suggest you see him next time he's in your town and let him charm you in person. You can thank me later. For now, enjoy "I Need To Know Where I Stand."

30 Day Song Challenge. Day 29: A Song From My Childhood.

I wasn't going to talk about the fact that, despite swearing that I was done with the whole New Kids thing, I actually went to yet another New Kids On The Block show last weekend. My friend called to see if I was doing anything on Sunday night, and no, I wasn't, so we walked up to the ticket booth and got pretty great seats in the front section. I get it now that it's really cheesy and kind of weird that a bunch of women and their 30's and 40's are still screaming like 12 year olds and declaring themselves to be "Donnie-girls." But, this group was everything that I cared about as an 11 year old, so they'll always be special to me.

So, we're at the show and Donnie rips his shirt off and throws it our way. We both grabbed a piece, along with 3 other people, and shred the tank into five pieces. To onlookers, it probably seemed like this was Kate Middleton's wedding bouquet and we were a bunch of love-starved ugly step-sisters. Actually, it was pretty civil and we all went home with a piece of Donnie's shirt.... Um, WTF am I going to do with a piece of Donnie Wahlberg's shirt? Well, the thought to SNIFF the shirt did not immediately occur to me, but the girl next to me asked, "does it smell good?" My friend and I just kind of shrugged, but later, in the car, we wondered aloud... does it? Feeling like perverted freaks, we pulled the sweat-dampened rag from our pockets and slowly moved in for a sniff. (Stop writing this, Stephanie! The whole Internet can see this!) Yeah... it smelled pretty good. I couldn't identify the cologne or the body wash, but it was... nice. STFU, judgers! The next morning, I showed it to Matt. Matt did not want to smell Donnie Wahlberg's shirt.

As a sixth grader, I was in LOVE with Joe McIntyre. Here is their first big hit, "Please Don't Go Girl." Please note the following highlights:

0:05 Danny's rat tail as he breaks up with his 36 year old girlfriend.
0:12 Jordan's acid wash Canadian tuxedo
0:27 Nine year old Joey starts singing a plea for Danny's chick to stay. It would ruin HIS world? What's going on here? Also, nice red pants, Joe.
0:50 Jordan also loves her? The hell?
1:14 Lady in the Coca Cola shirt looks to the side for the dude that will shoo the New Kids off of the stage.



Wow, 1989. Just, wow.

30 Day Song Challenge. Day 28. A Song That Makes Me Feel Guilty.

I do not have a song that makes me feel guilty... Do you know who might? With all of this Anthony Weiner nonsense, I can't help but think back to the days of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. Do you remember what their song was? I'm sure neither of them can hear it without cringing. 

And that, ladies and gentleman, is how you cheat on the 30 Day Song Challenge.

30 Day Song Challenge. Day 26 & 27.

Day 26: A Song I Can Play On An Instrument. I took piano lessons as a kid...



Day 27: A Song I Wish I Could Play. I'm taking guitar lessons as an adult... but I'm pretty sure I'll never be as good as any of these guys.

How much fun is Prince having in the second half of this song? (Solo starts at around 3:30.)  Good Lord.



And then there's this guitar solo from Tom Morello, playing "The Ghost of Tom Joad" with Bruce Springsteen. (6:10-8:15.)  Holy hell. No way I will ever be able to do that.

30 Day Song Challenge. Day 25: A Song That Makes Me Laugh.

Justin Timberlake was born to be on Saturday Night Live. None of these get old... Three related songs that make me laugh, from SNL.