QUICK STREAM-OF-THOUGHT TYPING WHILE ON A PLANE LISTENING TO AN iPOD SHUFFLE

Running diary of plane ride to vancouver:

- Smooth talk way into maple leaf lounge to load up on snacks/drinks/bad magazines
- see old lady with ice cream cone and ask her where I can get one like it. She offers to buy one for me which makes me wonder if a) I look poor b) she's trying to make a new friend. I politely declined (but did get a raspberry-chocolate swirl)
- 60 minutes waiting on plane at gate for "stewardesses" to show.
- read a great, tragic, funny bil simmons article on the poor celtics. Love his passion but there are far harder-luck teams to love
- already seen the movie on the flight (which I won't name since I'm embarrassed that I've seen it already)

Songs I enjoyed on the airplane:
Families - neil young ("in the Uuuu Ssss Aaaa") -- have been reading a lot lately about nixon (by conrad black), reagan (new diaries released confirming his simple nature), lincoln (new yorker . I still want to read manhunt btw)

Songbird - willie nelson ("and I feel that when I'm with you it's alright" "I'll give the world to you" "and I love you I love you I love like never before") -- actually it's ryan adams' band's backing track that makes this track, not the lyrics)

California love - 2pac.-- not sure how this made it on the shuffle but I was tapping feet like I was "back in the wild wild west")

Ashes - joseph arthur -- thinking of bill taylor tonight; hope he's ok.

Ballad of big nothing - elliott smith -- I wonder if he'll get nick drake-level status someday and be rediscovered in 2020 by fledgling TV writers to score a teen drama ("do what what you want to whenever you want to, though it doesn't mean a thing. Big nothing.") He used strings sparingly but nicely.

The river - bruce springsteen -- I wish there were more of these story-songs around. Not the green day version with a snappy video (is anyone surprised that that actress from said video and thirteen is dating marilyn manson?) but the compelling, i-could-have-been-there ones. ("For my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat").

Guess I'm doing fine - beck -- speaking of videos immediately I'm thinking of this one. Check it out on youtube. It's perfect for the song. Life goes on. Summer arrives. ("I can do whatever pleases me.")

Stratford-on-guy - liz phair -- blast from the past. Great flying song: ("in 27D I was behind the wing looking out as the landscape rolled by like credits on a screen")

Still fighting it - Ben folds -- reminds me of being a dad, a relatively new one or a potential one. ("Everybody knows it hurts to grow up... you're so much like me.. How I picked you up and everything changed... And may you feel the same things... One day you'll fly away from me...") It hits cats in the cradle territory. Looking forward to going home this weekend and looking forward to the wild wild wild month ahead.

Never say goodbye - bob dylan -- an appropriate song as I head to a wonderful wedding this weekend ("you're beautiful beyond words. You're beautiful to me. You could make me cry. Never say goodbye" "crashing waves roll over me as I stand upon the sand and wait for you to come and grab hold of my hand")

Supernatural - vic chesnutt --("still they see him shimmer ephemeral. It aint supernatural... Out of body experience. I flew around a hospital room once on intravenous demerol...it weren't supernatural"). "Injured bird: something clobbered me in the head. I was flattered but ambivalent."

Betty Lonely - vic chesnutt -- "Betty lonely lives in a duplex of stucco, on the north bank of a brackish river. Her ears omit the sounds from the nearby airstrip." Can there be a beter opening to a song? When vic is at the height of his powers (withering, cutty sark, expiration day, panic pure, parade) there are few better lyricists. "Her maidenhood was lost beneath the spanish moss...."

Diamond ring - joseph arthur -- I'd see him live again.
Others: if you wear that velvet dress, mercy mercy me, pink moon, you only live once, israelites, fever (reggae version), waitin for a superman ("is it getting heavy? Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be?")

I'm to blame - Hayden -- wow this brings back some shit memories. What a depressing record. Should be banned for teenagers. Pretty melody though. He seemed to underachieve?

Brandy alexander - feist -- I guess this is a drink. My version would be the martini, or more subtly sangria. Every time. would have liked to see feist this weekend. I like how she dances. She does it in every video. I've seen her live though and she doesn't dance much.

Ticket to ride -- beatles -- what a melody. I love the drums in this song.

Comfortably numb - van morrison et al. NO song has been used to greater effect than this two weeks ago on the sopranos. I can't shale that episode from my mind and the terrible doom that seems to await T.

That voice again - peter gabriel -- interestingly, and oddly in retrospect, I used to ALWAYS listen to this song whenever taking off or landing in a plane when I was young. On my silver sony walkman. So is a good record -- haven't heard it in a long time. His creativity seemed to dry up after Us. Reminds me of red house painters. Or country feedback which came on next but I'm not in the mood for. ("Its the wolf that knows which root to dig, the octopus that crawled back to the sea. Instinct. Gut. Feeling.")

«Aside: there is a thick layer of cloud below me but there's a river or trough the plane is following where you can see the sun shining through to the prairie below. I think we're on the Gimli Glider. The guy next to me is browsing soft porn on his laptop. Classy. He has a pic of a muscle car on his desktop»

Wilco - promising/either way -- ("cross yr fingers behind your back. Squeeze mine til they crack. I should have known you were just promising.") People are complaining the new wilco is too vanilla, too eagles, too steely dan. I think it's briliant, restrained music but I do predict that they will become a phish/grateful dead like band in the next 5 yrs. ("Nmaybe the sun will shine today. The clouds will roll away... Everything has its plan...") Reminds me of a long wide open road trip across canada.

Dear chicago - ryan adams -- love this short, sad, confusing song. Is it new york, chicago, a girl?
Dance all night - ryan adams -- not sure of the odds of this coming next on ye olde shuffle. ("Yeah I got someone I love").

Neighbourhood #1 - arcade fire -- quintessential AF song in my mind. ("Then I'll dig a tunnel frommy room to yours...") I feel like it could be the soundtrack to saramago's Blindness (which, interestingly, is being shot in toronto). Wake Up: must admit I was disappointed not to hear this live the other night. Such a powerful experience for some reason, rivalling only WTSHNN maybe. ("Now that I'm older, my heart colder, and I can't see that it's alive")

You're missing - springsteen. -- speaking of quintessential songs, is this the one for 9/11? Not sure. But the firefighters' wives are bloody clear in my mind here. "Everything is everything.". It's like "it is what it is". "How is everything, everything?" Perhaps 9/11 requires an angrier tone an angrier anthem.

Foolproof - ron sexsmith -- takes a special songwriter to write this and get away with it and then some. (Nb. Saw ron on conan. He's put on weight)

Angelyne - Jayhawks -- the canadian blue rodeo. I wonder who has sold more records. I predict BR -- ("cool cool water running down my back")

Hells bells -- AC/DC. I first heard this via my neighbour who was ~5 yrs older than me on regent st in london. I preferred this to whip it and tom sawyer which were also introduced.

Trouble in the fields - Sarah Harmer -- one of those voices that could sing the phone book and I would be hooked. Like this melody more than any other on this record. Ties back nicely to her environmental focus right now.

Already dead - beck. ("Times wears away all the pleasures of the day all the treasures you could hold. Love looks away in the harsh light of the day") But it's not the words here. It's the acoustic guitar that makes this song entirely.

Kite - U2 -- I don't know how or why U2 sounds 50X beter live with 3 instruments being played than other bands who have 5 or 6. Their sound is so full. This is, I think, their most perfectly recorded live song (live from boston 2001 or dublin 2002). ("I'm a man. I'm not a child. I'm a man who sees a shadow behind your eyes... I know this is not goodbye... Is there somewhere I can taste the salt of the sea? There's a kite blowing out of control on the breeze. I wonder what is going to happen to you. You wonder what will happen to me.")

Aint that enough - teenage fanclub -- I need to search out the full songs from northern britain album, their best record in my mind.

Hey joe - jimi h -- along with down by the river, two of the best songs (and guitar solos) ever walk on the dark side. The gentle 'ahhhhhh' in the background only further uneases. "And that aint too cool".

My favourite mistake - s crow -- uh, ok, two guilty pleasures. This and 'if it makes you happy'. Not sure why but they've both always gotten right to it for me. It does make you wonder how many mistakes she's made never having married.

Ocean breathes salty - sun kil moon -- after covering acdc and modest mouse I would like to see kozelek tackle jay-z, arcade fire or nazareth.

Lover, you should have come over - Jeff buckley -- I remember seeing an early episode of alias several yrs ago. This played well near the end. As a result it reminds me of complicated love lives in los angeles.

Beautiful - Aimee mann -- I guess I could have stopped listening to her after magnolia. This doesn't stand up over time.

Dead man's will - Iron&Wine -- I think I might want this played/sung/read at my funeral.
("Give this string to my mother. It pulled the baby teeth she keeps inside her drawer. Give this ring to my lover. I was scared and stupid not to ask for her hand long before.")

Side of the road - lucinda williams -- independence in a relationship. Growing independently. Growing together. Setting free. Time alone. Freedom. The road. Time itself. Creating space. Others' relationships. Other homes.

Letter from an occupant - new pornogrpahers -- 133 alcorn was a wonderful home.

5:55 - charlotte gainsbourg -- reminds me of her starring role in science of sleep. Worth seeing but not brilliant like eternal sunshine. She's on the beguiling side.

All I want/ Come in from the cold - joni mitchell -- wedding this weekend is on sunshine coat, where joni has a pad. She's top ten on my have lunch with list. But it would have to be in summer, outside, so she could smoke and I wouldn't be bothered. 'All I want' has perfect lyrics.

Solitary man - johnny cash -- we can't forget john now that the spotlight has turned away.

Wrapped around yr finger - police -- hmm a reunion tour. No thanks. Sting became adult contemporary in 1993.

Where will I be? - Emmylou harris -- did you see ELH in heart of gold, neil's movie? Holy facelift. Love the voice though. And that "this old guitar" duet was killer.

Scatterbrain - radiohead -- train rides in europe last summer. Like clockwork. Like this song.
«Spicy clamato break. Notice baby crying. Uh oh. Already bracing for August flight»

Impossible germany - wilco -- good noodling at the end. Pour me one mikey. And then "She's a jar. A sleepy kisser. She begs me not to miss her. Watch me floating above inches above..."

Since I've been loving you - led zeppelin -- they don't play or write music this stunningly epic and even-mannered, skilled, and confident anymore. Jimmy page could play.

Thunder on a mountain - bob dylan -- easily summed up with these lyrics: "thinkin about alicia keys... Where on earth could alicia keys be?"

Some song by the killers (I think when we were young) -- "you sit there in your heartache". I can see the appeal of this band

It's only time - magnetic fields
Steady as she goes - raconteurs - ok this is what I'm looking for. Let's get this plabe moving. I would love to see these guys at massey.

Jealous guy - donny hathaway -- a must for any mix cd for summer 07.

Shoot you down. Stone roses -- excellent drumming on one of my fave songs from the 1980s second best record. Belongs in the 90s though. Rabbit with a backpack.

In the aeroplane over the sea - neutral milk hotel. The best song featuring the siren-y saw. Listen to it float above like a scooby doo halloween soundtrack...

And we approach Vancouver.