Why are people such assholes?

I'm serious. I know this is not music-related, but can people just stop being rude? I have come across exceptional impoliteness for the the past couple of months, and let me just say, that I NEVER initiate the negative vibes.

Attention people who are in "service industries": if you don't like dealing with people, GET A NEW F-ING JOB.

If you don't want to help me find what I'm looking for, ring up my purchase, or (this one's for you, "managers" and "customer relations" associates) deal with my complaint, GET A NEW F-ING JOB.

Recent offenders: MARSHALL FIELD'S (times at least 15), Victoria's Secret (times 5 or 6), CVS, Lifetime Fitness.

For the record, I am quite possibly the most polite "customer complainer" on earth. I always try to resolve issues in a kind manner, because, hell I've worked in retail. I know EXACTLY how ASSHOLE-ish people are. And my thanks!? Rudeness and assholishness from the establishment's employees anyway!

I hate everyone!*

I think it may have to do with the Metro Detroit area, though I am aware such discourteous behavior runs rampant across our fine nation. But as soon as I moved here, I noticed an actual difference in the behavioral climate. From CHICAGO! Where people are permitted to be jerks! Thank god I'll be living there again in just 4 short, angst-ridden days.

*Except for my family, boyfriend, dog, and friends.

God, please help me.

Ever have some song stuck in your head and you don't know why? Maybe you haven't heard it lately, or you don't particularly care for it to begin with. Well, I have had two of the worst songs ever recorded stuck in my head today. They have been the only songs on my mind's playlist today, torturing me ever so. What's worse is that I have NO IDEA why! I haven't heard EITHER of them in AGES. And I've never liked either of them! Ugh.
"Hold On" by Wilson Philips
The theme to "Golden Girls", one of my most hated TV shows ever.

Somehow I don't think this headache I have today has anything to do with my sinuses.

Am I fickle, or what?

Ok, new favorite song time:

"She Wants to Move" by N.E.R.D.

This song contains the new "all time most ridiculous line" champion:
"Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride" (complete with spaceship sounds in the background)

This song is, in a word, ridiculous. It's brilliant in the same way that many Outkast songs are brilliant: different, a bit kooky, and terribly infectious. And I'm not alone in my thinking: Jemo just called me, singing the song, and told me he's played it five times in a row.

"She Wants to Move" makes me wish I was at a club and it was playing there, instead of in my car ON THE WAY TO WORK. It makes me want to pick up my chihuahua, Vinny, and make his paws move as though he's dancing to the song. Except, I don't think Vinny's a fan: whenever I do this he snaps. Maybe it's just not very "macho" for tiny dogs to dance.

Strange, indeed.

I can't stop listening to "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode. What's my deal? The song came out in 1987, and I've never really given it much thought. (Maybe because it debuted when I was 9?) But when Billy pimped out my iBook, he was nice enough to import loads of great music, including tunes by the phenomenal Depeche Mode. Thus, my rediscovery. I listened to it a few nights ago, then threw it on a disc I burned full of iTunes store purchases, and bam! I'm hooked.

The only reason this song obsession is lasting so long is this: That "burned disc" has 18 other songs on it, and "Strangelove" is number 14. It's nestled between so much sonic goodness, that I nearly forget it's there. Then, I remember. And I don't stop listening until I get out of the car. Does anybody know what the hell David Gahan is saying though? I can't make out many words, and I'm too lazy and sick *cough cough, feel bad for me* to look them up...

Check with me next week though. I am already nearing the point of extreme annoyance with "My Immortal."

Fan club!

I've recently declared my obsession with the song "My Immortal" by Evanescence to Jemo. I don't remember his response, but let's just say the obsession was not mutual. So I've listened to it on my own for a few weeks, whenever I could catch it: there was a streaming video on MTV.com I'd listened to a few times while in my office, or at home on my laptop; on the radio in my car-- but the only parts I'd catch were the ending when the whole band comes in, but to be honset, I think I actually DISlike the song once it reaches that point. In fact, I have expressed great disdain for Evanescence in the past. I stand by it, but this song is... different.

So this morning at work, my partner Logan (work partner, that is) came into my little office and declared his obsession with that new Evanescence song (yes, he used the word "obsession" too--it's not just ME!). He informed me that, yes!, we could indeed listen to it over and over and over again by downloading the video from the band's website! "Yahoo!" I thought, and promptly did just that... wringing my hands in anticipation of this creepy/beautiful song's arrival on my desktop.

In the meantime, Logan suggests that I might find the lyrics cliche. I look them up on the website, and they aren't particularly bothersome. Maybe they're too spooky for me to find them cliche. Maybe if it were about a breakup instead of a death the lyrics would bug me. But they're not. So they don't. And we formed what Logan dubbed the "Evanescence: My Immortal Club". The only problem was that we couldn't find anyone else to join in. I even asked my friend Jen all the way down in the greater south Florida area if she likes the song, and she politely explained why she hates it.

So, the video downloads, I listen to it with glee--ONCE. Logan, on the other hand has listened to it approximately seven times. His office is next to mine, and the walls are thin. It's only 10:38 am.

I think I want out of the club.

C'mon C'mon

So I’m sitting here at work… with nothing much to do… listening to the best album I’ve heard in—dare I say it—months*:

The Von Bondies
Pawn Shoppe Heart

Good god, why don’t more albums kick this much ass? The first time I heard their single, “C’mon C’mon”, I think I got a contact sugar rush. It’s incredibly hyper, emotional, and more catchy than SARS. Like nothing I’d heard on the radio before. Singer Jason Stollsteimer’s raw howl blasted through my speakers and before I knew what the hell had hit me, the song was over. Over!?! It’s only two minutes and 15 seconds long! How could a song with such a fascinating effect be so incredibly short? They say you should always leave people wanting more, and this song most definitely complies with that rule. Once it was available in the iTunes store, I promptly purchased the single and replayed it more than I did New Kids on the Block’s “Please Don’t Go Girl” when I was 10 years old. God, that must have driven my parents INSANE.

Anyway, “C’mon C’mon” is most definitely my Song of the Year. Yes, I know it’s only March, and I don’t care. Nothing that comes out the rest of this year can possibly top this song.

The rest of the album rocks as well. I also heart the title track, “Pawn Shoppe Heart”. This band just sounds so much more real than most of that fabricated, overproduced CRAP (or should I spell it “KRAPP”?) that dominates radio and TV. Crap, that oh I don’t know, might have more than a few Lyrical Clichés of the Day embedded within each song on their albums.

(By the way, the Von Bondies are a hometown band. Yay, Detroit—‘cause I’m SUCH a fan of living here…)

Many reviewers have focused on the supposed “hotness” of the band, and the unfortunate skirmish inside a local music venue between a member of VB and a certain striped member of another local band. I don’t think these reviewers got it though—the buzz about this band lies within their music.

* The last album I heard that I liked this much was We Were Born in a Flame by Sam Roberts. He’s from Canada. More on him later, as I will indeed see him live next week in Chicago! (Shameless Hostage Radio plug—you’re welcome Jemo.)

Lyrical Cliche of the Day

"I once was lost, but now I'm found"
--AND--
"I once was blind but now I see"

why, why, WHY!?!?!??

Recent offenders: too many to remember... I heard it IN A RAP SONG today, for the love of criminy.

Five excellent movie soundtracks

This is not a "top five" list. Just some right on kinda stuff. It can't be a "top five" since I, by no means, have even heard some of the best soundtracks out there.

In no particular order:

1. Singles
The soundtrack of my high school days. Ah, it's so fun to relive the LONELIEST PERIOD OF MY LIFE. *sigh* Standout tracks: "Would?" by Alice in Chains, "State of Love and Trust" by Pearl Jam, "I Nearly Lost You" by Screaming Trees.

2. A Bronx Tale
What a fab mix of tunes from the 50s and 60s, with the ass-kicking "All Along the Watchtower" cohabiting with "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin. Magnifico!

3. Vanilla Sky
Jeff Buckley's magical "Last Goodbye" is on this album, therefore this album RULES.

4. Pretty In Pink
OMD's "If You Leave" is reason enough for it to be on this list. INXS, Echo & The Bunnymen and New Order are the icing on this hot pink cake.

5. I am Sam
All Beatles covers. I usually think Beatles cover are so lame, yet the majority of the songs on this soundtrack are rather... swell.