audioslave to billy joel

Man, I got behind... my wife and I tripped out to Texas for thanksgiving. Tryptophantastic times.

Baba-E': I scored this from my law school roommate, but it makes me think of my days toiling as program coordinator at Notre Dame. This cat's cd came across my desk and I liked it enough to try to book the guy, but schedules didn't work out. It's actually a demanding task to book hip-hop acts at a Catholic university. This is an indictment of hip hop, not Catholicism. Anyway, even though he never performed, his very name and the distinct orange cover conjurs 20 hour days of trying to square away the club, finalize contracts, and review bunches of press kits. I miss the job more than I ever thought I would.

Badly Drawn Boy: I think of my friend Dawn who gave me my first BDB disc back in the day and promised me a quality BDB story the next time we hang out.

Baltimora: flashback to the linebacker lounge--an absolute pit of a bar in south bend that literally played the same list of songs every night, including tarzan boy. you could never move, much less dance [no doubt a benefit to many], and the whole night usually involves screaming "livin on a prayer" while attempting to best your previous high in long island consumption. Somehow, it was fun everytime.

Band of Horses: love them, and they're great at work. Downside is that the albums are short and they flew by. "Funeral" does some crazy things to my mindset... in a good way. It's a fabulous track.

Barry Manilow: see Baltimora.

Bayside: To be deleted.

Beastie Boys: A true bonding experience. I remember borrowing my sister's cassette of Licensed to Ill and listening to it over and over. They are the first band to impact me in a meaningful way, and I still love them. Also the longest catalog to date.

Beatles: As these cats came on at work, it dawned on me that "B" is a HUGE music letter especially when apple alphabetizes by first name. This really irritates me about apple, and I find myself spending far too much time wondering why they would do that. Total enjoyment throughout another substantive catalog.

Beck: I like Beck, and I know I like Beck, but I realize now that I like him more than I thought I did. What a talent. It's a shame his first hit was "Loser" b/c the dude is very skilled. Guero is better than I remember and Sea Change is deep! Beck ended while my buddy Karl and I played Tecmo Super Bowl on old school nintendo. It just seemed right.

Bedouin Soundclash: nice.

Beirut: There aren't many bands that make you feel as though you live in a different time period and a different geographic region. Beirut does just this. They kicked off my work day on Wednesday and honestly, I didn't feel like I was at work until the ipod moved on. Mentally, I was like a German spy roaming the streets of Russia [and yes, i know that Beirut is actually in Lebanon-- it's just the vibe i get] with a cane that could be unsheathed to reveal a bayonet sort of thing in case i met danger. This weird mental image stems almost entirely from the fact that there is a cane in my office that can be unsheathed to reveal a bayonet sort of thing. It isn't mine, but it's there. I usually use it to reach my highlighter when it falls behind my desk so espionage is a bit of a reach.

Belinda Carlisle: To date, my #1 guilty pleasure. I have one song, "Heaven is a Place on Earth." I loved it and didn't care that I loved it.

Bell Biv Devoe: yes.

Ben Folds: I recall driving around in high school with my boy Andy listening to Jackson Cannery.

Ben Harper: The man drives me to social justice, so I find myself looking to integrate more of that into my life.

*Blind Boys of Alabama: I only have the disc with Ben Harper, which is why they are out of alphabetical order. Wikipedia these guys... totally inspirational.

Ben Kweller: underrepresented. He was a good time at ACL last year.

BG: Memories of dorm parties brightened the work day. We would get rid of all the modular furniture in our room, fill a trash can with beer, invite all of campus, and go crazy. This was before we were all legal and could simplify the plan by going to the bar. "Bling Bling" was hot back then... it was on pretty much every dorm-party play list.

Bif Naked: guilty, guilty, guilty pleasure.

Big Audio Dynamite

Big Punisher: I hadn't listened to him in a long time, probably because I think of his one hit song. He's a better rapper than he gets credit for. I hate myself a little bit for ending the preceding sentence in a preposition.

Billy Idol: This dude moves the day along.

Billy Joel: steady and reliable.

I am still totally intrigued by my pursuit and generally pleased with the collection. I'll update more regularly. Some of my friends are throwing out predictions of completion. April comes up a fair amount. I initially thought that sounded fairly reasonable, but I am already through over 800 songs so think about that.