Shooflypie

It's a double issue day because we will be out of town next weekend for our first summer vacation in a number of years. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to what will pop up on today's twenty... 1. Suck/Yuck (11) 2. Linda Blair Was Born Innocent/The Mountain Goats (5) 3. All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed/Spoon (2) 4. Terrible Love/The National (15) 5. Senselessly/South San Gabriel (2) 6. Red Hill Mining Town/U2 (1) 7. Van Occupanther/Midlake (1) 8. Father To A Sister Of Thought/Pavement (3) 9. The Autopsy Garland/The Mountain Goats (6) 10. Metal Guru/T. Rex (4) 11. Demons Are Real/Guided By Voices (5) 12. Even Heroes Have To Die/Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (13) 13. Little Honda/Yo La Tengo (1) 14. Walkin Blue/Sonic Youth (2) 15. Angel, Won't You Call Me?/The Decemberists (6) 16. Anyone's Ghost/The National (15) 17. You Like Me Too Much/The Beatles (3) 18. Taillights Fade/Buffalo Tom (7) 19. The Weakest Part/Yo La Tengo (2) 20. To Save Me/...

Happy Father's Day to all who fit the bill. I plan on spending my day reading, watching baseball, and maybe getting to the list of blog post ideas I made the other day. We'll see. Anyway, here are today's ten... 1. Broke Me Up/Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew (2) 2. Debonair/The Afghan Whigs (7) 3. Stealing Tomorrow/Great Lake Swimmers (1) 4. Have To Explode/The Mountain Goats (3) 5. Mountains of Your Head/Buffalo Tom (8) 6. Saving My Ticket/Superchunk (8) 7. My Only Offer/Mates of State (2) 8. Here Before/Lissie (5) 9. Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five/Shearwater (2) 10. Getting Down/The Kills (2)

I'm getting a little later start than usual this morning but that's okay because it's summer vacation. I do have to get in the pool to teach swimming lessons during the day this week and for the next eight after but that's doable. My goals for today are to finish reading The Illumination and Daytripper , as well as watching Game 6 of the NBA Finals (Go Mavs!). For now, of course, we'll get to today's ten... 1. I Don't Know Anything/Hoodoo Gurus (2) 2. There Will Be No Divorce/The Mountain Goats (3) 3. Apology Song/The Decemberists (3) 4. The Death Of Big Ed Delahanty/The Baseball Project (1) 5. In The Mouth A Desert/Pavement (2) 6. There He Is/Higgins (5) 7. Motel Bambi/Luna (2) 8. It Ain't Easy/Robert Forster (2) 9. Kingdom of Love/The Soft Boys (3) 10. Picture, Picture/Harvey Danger (3)

My music consumption has been a bit scattered over the past month plus but there are still some albums that I've played more than the rest... The Beatles/Please Please Me - Last year I set out to listen to and write about every Beatles album after I got the big stereo remastered box set for Christmas. I managed to write about the first two and then stopped. I recently thought about picking up that project again and started at the beginning of the catalog once again. I wrote about this album here but I'd also like to mention John's vocals on "Anna (Go To Him)" and reiterate my love for "Twist and Shout," especially the four-part "ah"s. Hard to believe it's almost 50 years old. Fleet Foxes/Helplessness Blues - I really liked the first album and not just for the gorgeous harmonies. This album feels more intimate and more expansive at the same time. The title track is the star of the show for me but I also love "Someone You'd Admire...

Summer has arrived but school is not out yet - my son and I have four days to go this week, though my wife is already done. I also will be back in the water teaching swimming at the Y as of tomorrow. Endings and beginnings, as usual. Anyway, let's get to today's ten... 1. Chester the Molester/Sloan (7) 2. Walmart Parking Lot/Clem Snide (16) 3. Someone You'd Admire/Fleet Foxes (6) 4. Brinx Job/Pavement (1) 5. Worst Trip/Dr. Dog (3) 6. Wings/Josh Ritter (5) 7. We Were Wealth/Wye Oak (7) 8. Color of Water/M. Ward (2) 9. Fire & Fast Bullets/Blitzen Trapper (2) 10. See America Right/The Mountain Goats (2)

I'd like to write on a more consistent basis this summer, so I decided on two projects that would help me achieve this... Summer of Books - I've been requesting books and putting others on a list at the public library at a pretty fair clip the last week or so. This is in addition to the books I've already downloaded to my Nook and not yet read and the couple books on my shelves I've not cracked open. Not too mention all the other books that haven't reached those levels yet. I just want to read as much as I can this summer. You might think that after a year of full-on English classes I'd want a break but you'd be wrong. I'm going to write about these books after I read them and I'm going to do some posts talking about the books I've read so far this year. My eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach but I'm going to gorge. My Canon - When you're a English major, you often deal with the idea of a canon in literature. These are the books ...