Day Thir-, Four-, & Fif-TEEN!

Day Thirteen: A Mega-Mix of Today's Female Pop Stars (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pink, etc.)

 

Day Fourteen: "Never Ever" by Ciara

Day Fifteen: ______________________

I hope that by laying out the past 3 days in Operation "Why-That-Tune" you can see why I have not posted. I actually have been avoiding it--and mostly for your sake.

Monday, the 14th, was Day Thirteen and I woke up with a sweet mega-mix of songs like "Love Story" by Miss Swift, "Please Don't Leave Me" by Pink, and "Waking Up in Vegas" by Miss Perry. I fully blame the MTV Video Music Awards (handy shortening: VMAs). I didn't actually watch the broadcast, but I did scour the internet for every possible video clip and photograph of the evening. I was full of shame then (Sunday night when I scoured)and Monday morning (when these poptastic tunes awoke me) and now, more shame than ever. Shame=lack of post=apology.

Also, this where I do a little RIP to Patrick Swayze. The only time I left the house on Monday was to go tutor some undergrads in art history at 8:30pm. I came back an hour later and Patrick Swayze was dead and memorials to him were all over every channel! So sad.

 

The following morning I awoke to a strange tune. And I said up above that it was Ciara's "Never Ever" but that is not entirely true. It was actually the tune/melody to "Never Ever" but with lyrics created in the dream I had just before waking--a dream that involved one of my very bestest buddies, Natalie (AKA-Nat Bat). Here she is:

 

We went to Newport.

Natalie was singing a song she was making up on the spot about not wanting to go to a private boarding school--one that her family and me would just leave her at--even on her birthday! 

Weird dream to say the least and I have NO IDEA how Ciara's "Never Ever" fit into it.

Still dumbfounded...

And here we are, at today. As you saw above, today was blank and represented by Krypton's entry in the periodic table of elements. You know what that means...alcohol and/or lack of sleep. And for once, this lush can claim it was actually more the latter that caused today's song absence.

Long story short--Class in Manhattan last night, went back to Miles' place before heading over to K-Rae's. White wine+fire escapes+Beatles Rock Band+My New Favorite Website= Bedtime at 3:30am. Up again at 8:30 to head back to LI. Shouldn't I be writing a thesis or something? 

See you tomorrow!

Day Seven & Eight

First: my sincerest apologies for not updating yesterday. I know all of you out there (all 2 of you--those two being my mother and Mark) were probably lost without a post from the peanut gallery.

UNRELATED, RANDOM SIDE-NOTE: I just wikipedia-ed the term "peanut gallery" because it didn't sound right as I typed it and I just kind of assumed peanut gallery was just another way of saying crazy person/people because of the way I've always heard it used. It's not. The "peanut gallery" is a crowd or audience that heckles the performer. Don't believe me? Check it out. And yes, I don't feel the need to fact-check this at all. Wikipedia makes it so!

Alright, so back to apologizing to my avid readership. I did not post yesterday because I actually was kind of disappointed with the song. It was so predictable--so obvious. And here's why...

DAY SEVEN--"YOU OUGHTA KNOW"
by Alanis Morissette

Quite possibly THE best angry chick rock anthem of all time. And it was so obvious because for about a year now, Miles, K-Rae and I have talked about going to this bar on the Lower East Side called Arlene's Grocery for LIVE Rock 'n' Roll Karaoke, which they have on Monday nights. We have been talking about it for a year and trying to coordinate our schedules so we can actually go and FINALLY, yesterday was the day.

So what is LIVE Rock 'n' Roll Karaoke you ask? Well, it's not really karaoke at all--no television screens with bad graphics, no cheesy MC/DJ, no singers who shouldn't be singing (seriously.) It is basically like you are the lead singer of a cover band for one song. AND IT IS AWESOME!

So what does this have to do with Alanis Morissette?

WELL, as soon as we set our date for Arlene's for Labor Day I have been contemplating what song I would sing. Because, for those of you out there that actually know me, Karaoke is up there on the list of my favorite hobbies/pastimes. And, after looking at the set list, it was decided: "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette. Not necessarily because I'm a huge fan of the song as a karaoke song, but because it was one of the few songs I felt I could perform confidently. So, on Sunday night, when I laid my head down to rest, I was singing to myself...an older version of me, is she perverted like me... So, Monday morning, when I awoke I was not so surprised to hear it still playing in my head.

Now to the important stuff...

LAST NIGHT!
(Since there are few pictures in this post, I thought I'd spice things up with a font color change.
I'm a wild woman.)

We arrived at Arlene's around 10pm, which is when this whole LIVE karaoke business is set to begin, and the room is packed and the fun has already begun. I was torn between my two loves (alcohol and karaoke)--do I sign up to sing first or get a $3 Miller Lite Draft (insanely cheap for NY) first? I got the beer first and then beelined for the corner of the room where the book and sign-up clipboard were. This little corner is where K-Rae, Miles, Miles' roomie Zach, and I would stay and become the MCs favorite and most enthusiastic patrons.

The only thing I can say about the experience that followed is that you have to see it to believe it. It was AWESOME. I loved every second of it (especially the seconds when I was barefoot instead of wearing my very painful heels). It was like going to a live show, but better in some way because every singer was so different--but all EXCELLENT.

So, did I sing "You Oughta Know"? Well, no. They don't allow repeats and someone else had already signed up for it. After I convinced myself to not hate this person that stole my song, I decided on singing "Purple Rain" instead. And I'm glad. Not necessarily because I think I performed "Purple Rain" better than I would have performed "You Oughta Know", but because the woman who actually sang "You Oughta Know" was pregnant and rocked out in such a way that I was happy the unborn baby got to have that experience. I talked to her in the bathroom later in the evening (the pregnant lady, not the unborn baby) and she informed me that the baby was in fact a girl and that she LOVES rocking out in Club Womb. That little girl is going to grow up loving Alanis and I am happy for that.

Gotta love Prince and the Revolution

Around 1am, Arlene's shuts down the karaoke and that section of the bar. Epic sadness to leave, especially since I was second to last to perform and K-Rae closed down the joint with "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" so both of our adrenaline levels were up and we were ready to party right as they were kicking us out! SO, we followed the Arlene's pack to a nearby bar, Pianos, where the karaoke (but more like the regular kind) continued. We danced, and drank, and I sang "What's Up" by the 4 Non-Blondes (my go-to karaoke song), danced more, drank more...

Which brings me to today...

Day Eight:___________________

I have found the Kryptonite to the every-morning-song-in-the-head-phenomenon.
It's name is LARGE, LARGE AMOUNTS OF ALCOHOL.
It's name could also be not sleeping well on K-Rae's couch because of phone calls and crazy screaming black women outside her window and sunlight and cable/internet installers moving the couch I'm sleeping on to install said cable/internet. Yeah, there are many factors.

You ever just have a really loud headache?

Well, for those reasons, I did not hear a song when I woke up this morning...which I guess is a good thing because it means this very long post will be shorter. It means this post is done-zo.

See you tomorrow kiddies!

Day Two--"My Girl"

I bet you're wondering...

Did she in fact participate in a large sing-and-dance? Did a greasy-haired man sweep her off her feet in a fun house? Or, better yet, did she have a pregnancy scare and decide to tell the father she wasn't preggers while riding on a ferris wheel?!

Alas, my life is much more boring. "You're the One that I Want" did not really foreshadow my day at all. However, there were some items it could, with the stretch of the imagination, pertain to:

1. Chipotle. This is where the reader says "Huh?" Well, as I'm sure time will tell, I LOVE Chipotle Mexican Grill established in Denver, Colorado in 1993, more than a lot of more

important things. And yesterday it was the one (and only) thing I wanted for dinner. Again, I repeat, stretch that imagination!

2. I had my first class of the semester. Semester 1 of Year 2 of the Master's program in Art History at Stony Brook University (for those of you that don't know). The class I had yesterday was "Imagination in Art", a philosophy class, which I take at the Manhattan Campus. Granted, it was only the first day and we haven't really gotten into the throws of it, but this is the type of class I've been waiting and praying for! It is the class "I neeeeed, oh yesss indeeeed." No joke.

3. I bought a frozen product from an ice cream truck yesterday. That's right. An ice cream truck just waiting for me down the street from my class. I walked past and convinced myself I did not need what they were offering--but then I quickly realized I in fact did WANT something. I pointed to the picture, and without today's (now yesterday's) song in mind at all, I said "that's the one that I want." What did I want you might ask? Well here it is.

And yes, there is a picture on my phone of me trying to eat this phallic-shaped Popsicle. (PS--My spellcheck just wanted me to capitalize Popsicle. I do as it says.) I am sparing you all of this picture.


So, after the Popsicle, my friend Miles and I (Here's Miles...)
ventured to meet some visitors she had. We had a drink or two and then returned to her abode where I fell asleep on, by far, the most comfortable air mattress I've ever had the pleasure of sleeping on...which brings us to...

Day 2: Operation Why-That-Tune
Song: "My Girl"--The Temptations

"I've got sunshine
On a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside,
I've got the month of May.

Well, I guess you'll say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. (My girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl. (My girl)

I've got so much honey
The bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song
Than the birds in the trees."

Some lyrics for those of you that don't know them by heart. The words in blue are just highlighting on of my favorite lines in any song ever...clever, sweet (no pun intended), and effective--can't go wrong.

So why did I wake up with this song in my head? The only reason I can possibly think of to connect my brain with this song is that a couple days ago my roommate, Andrew, our friend Eboni and I went to John Harvard's Brewhouse and Restaurant where Eboni randomly asked "Either of you want to watch "My Girl" with me?" Let me paint a picture...

Eboni and Not Andrew, but since he does not have any
pictures online and I have zero, I Google-image-
searched his name and Voila! Andrew.

Me:"So how's your food guys?"
Andrew: "Good."
Eboni: [Raises knife in air to bring down, tomahawk-style, on her gargantuan size piece of battered fish]
Me: "Wow. That's intense."
Andrew: [Moves away slowly in fear]
Eboni: "Either of you want to watch 'My Girl' with me?"


See how random? I haven't even thought of "My Girl", the film, in years until she mentioned it. Then, a flood of memories...Vada (and how much I love the name Vada), curling up in a ball on a woven rug, an RV, an allergy to bees, Macauley Culkin at his best, his glasses.

Naturally, I said:

"HELLZ NO! I NEVER WANT TO SEE THAT HEARTBREAKING MOVIE EVER AGAIN!"

She understood.

And that my friends is the ONLY reason I can think of why that song would be in my head this very morning...days after it was first mentioned.

And did it predict my day at all? Since this is already a ridiculously long post, the answer is simply no. But it did put me in a good mood on a day with gorgeous weather so, moral of the story:

All is well that begins well.