This is in response to a meme doing the rounds on a reasonably popular social networking site called “30 Day Song Challenge”. (The meme, not the site, that is.) Seeing as we live in an age of instant gratification, and also because I couldn’t be bothered to slice this up, mine are conveniently provided in a single entry.

day 01 – your favorite song

Obviously it varies. The nominee for today is “Orpheus” by David Sylvian.

day 02 – your least favorite song

“Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro. By a country mile. Only to be surpassed by the cover version in Finnish by some no-talent hack. If you know who it was, please don’t remind me.

day 03 – a song that makes you happy

Magnus Uggla’s “Dansar aldrig nykter“. In fact, pretty much every song he’s ever done makes me happy. Utmärkt!

day 04 – a song that makes you sad

“Reaching for the Rail” by Rick Wright.

day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone

“Featherfall” by Three Hour Detour. My favourite song by the band whose last gig I witnessed a few years ago in the faraway and mystical land of New Jersey.

day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere

“Your Belgian Things” by The Mountain Goats. Even though my Belgian experiences haven’t had anything to do with the sort of Belgian things to which the song refers.

day 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event

“I Will Stay” by The Lollipops, made famous by Hurriganes, of course. The event was a private party back in the 80s. There was a guitar hanging on the wall. I grabbed the guitar and started strumming and singing. The host was there in no time flat, scissors in hand, and with one swift flick of the blades sliced through all the strings of his own guitar. Apparently the song brought back painful memories. I took the hint.

day 08 – a song that you know all the words to

“Johnny W.” by Marius Müller-Westernhagen. This in spite of not actually speaking German. Also see above, and 26.

day 09 – a song that you can dance to

“The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not that I know the steps or anything.

day 10 – a song that makes you fall asleep

Everything by Coldplay.

day 11 – a song from your favorite band

“Don’t Take Me Alive” by Steely Dan. Perfection in a can.

day 12 – a song from a band you hate

Hate is such an overused word. I am curious, however, as to why anyone with half an ear would willingly listen to such augurs of pure unadulterated mediocrity as Jimmy Eat World. Even the name is beyond stupid. Any song of theirs will do here, I wouldn’t admit to actually knowing any of the titles even if I did. If you haven’t heard of them, do yourself a favour and don’t look them up.

day 13 – a song that is a guilty pleasure

No such thing. Something like “Shut Up (And Sleep With Me)” by Sin With Sebastian is simply pure pleasure, with no guilt attached.

day 14 – a song that no one would expect you to love

I guess the implication here is “but you love anyway”? Maybe “Aikuinen nainen” by Paula Koivuniemi.

day 15 – a song that describes you

I wish I could say “Millionaire Adventurer Balloonist” by The Titanics. I’d even settle for “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child” by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper. Alas, I guess I’ll have to go with “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)” by Tom Waits instead.

day 16 – a song that you used to love but now hate

Again that “hate” thing. I can’t get behind that. Well, I probably could do without hearing Rainbow’s “I Surrender” ever again. By the way, the LP it’s on (“Difficult to Cure”) was my first ever LP, almost exactly 30 years ago.

day 17 – a song that you hear often on the radio

It’s been a while since I last heard it, but David Gilmour’s “Mihalis” is probably the song I’ve heard (while) on the radio the most. It was always playing in the background whenever I engaged in extremely witty banter on my OUBS radio show, back in the day.

day 18 – a song that you wish you heard on the radio

Anything recent by Frank Zappa.

day 19 – a song from your favorite album

“Acknowledgement” from John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”.

day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry

Easy. Skyhooks and “Why Dontcha All Get F**ked“.

day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy

“Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” by Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

day 22 – a song that you listen to when you’re sad

“In Darkness Let Me Dwell” by John Dowland.

day 23 – a song that you want to play at your wedding

I’ll pass, thanks. At gunpoint I’d nominate “Anyone’s Daughter” by Deep Purple.

day 24 – a song that you want to play at your funeral

I’d say it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll be playing ANY song at said event. However… I used to think John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” (all of it, it’s barely 30 mins long) would fit the bill. Now, I’m a bit more partial to “I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It)” by Randy Newman.

day 25 – a song that makes you laugh

It’s probably more of a smirk by now… but I still think Denis Leary’s “Asshole” is quite funny. Runner-up: “Show Them To Me” by Rodney Carrington.

day 26 – a song that you can play on an instrument

There’s a few of them. I’ll nominate “Darling, Let’s Have Another Baby” by Johnny Moped – even considering some music-hating peasant unplugged my guitar mid-song at Equinox ’10.

day 27 – a song that you wish you could play

Does Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto count as a “song”?

day 28 – a song that makes you feel guilty

I get such an urge to tithe whenever I hear “Sympathy” by Rare Bird. Too bad I don’t actually subscribe to any tithe-grabbing scam.

day 29 – a song from your childhood

Ah, the Roaring Seventies. I guess could always go with Uriah Heep and “Lady in Black“. After all, it was the No 1 song in Finnish jukeboxes in 1971. However, I was a bit young to hang around in bars back then.

I remember being very much taken by Tom Jones’ vocal prowess on a soundtrack my Dad had. So, “Thunderball” it is, even if it happened to be released before I was born (not by much though).

Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, “Thunderball” was also the first “grown-up” movie I saw in a movie theatre. Thanks, Dad. The movie theatre in question has since shifted its focus from action to slapstick – it’s now a Kingdom Hall.

day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year

last.fm tells me it was Jeff Beck’s (cover of) “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat“. I’ll buy that.

Praise Jah, man!

I’ve never been much of a churchgoer, to put it mildly. Even so, for years I’ve had a dream of attending Sunday service at the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco. Sometimes dreams do come true, and so it was on this sunny May day that having jumped off the grueling 13-hour flight from Sydney and dropped my bags off at the hotel, I suddenly found myself warming the back pew.

Praise the Lord and pass the French fries!

The service was composed of two parts. For the first two hours, the church band played what can only be described as gospel music according to Coltrane. It was quite obvious that they had not only studied Coltrane’s music but also internalised the spirituality that St. John had wanted to express. The last hour was taken up by a funny and poignant sermon from Archbishop King, who was not too shabby on the tenor sax either. If you’re in San Francisco on a Sunday and have a few hours to spare, you could do much worse than to stop by at the service and get some worship action happening – and I say this as a devout agnostic. How’s that for sitting on the fence? You can ask for your money back tomorrow.

Darn, just missed out on the Allman Bros.

As if this exalted experience hadn’t been enough for one day, I also had tickets to see Ben Folds at the fabulous Fox Theater in Oakland. I was kind of hoping to hear The Last Polka, but at least he played Narcolepsy, so all is well. Check out Pete Rosenblum’s pics from the gig on Flickr.

More cowbell! And just a touch of Dolby as well, please.

And so it came to pass that it was time to haul the collective behinds of Electric Mayhem to Angel Studios in search of the lost chord. A sunburned G#maj7+9 was lying in the parking lot, probably left behind by an earlier jazz session. It was not the day to go all fancypantsy though. No, this was to be a day of E and A, with the occasional D thrown in for good measure.

Alas, poor Revox, I knew him well.

Six tracks were laid down, including but not limited to Route 66, a song that will surely be the anthem of my upcoming California trip. I’m happy to confirm the rumours that the sleeve will indeed bear the magical words “NO OVERDUBS!” Also recorded were To Her Door, with yours truly on button accordion – prompting a comment from one of the studio crew: “I’ve never even seen one of those things before!“, Alone With You, When the River Runs Dry, In the Midnight Hour and Blue Hotel.

Thanks to Kim for lead(en?) vocals, guitars, and organising the session, Andrew for keeping the groove a-goin’, Brent for being there in spirit, if not in flesh, Trevor for filling in on the drum seat at short notice, Kevin for bankrolling the session, and last but not least, Paul & his angelic crew for making it all happen. And by the way – we are available for your Roman orgies, bar mitzvahs, and other occasions in and near South-East Queensland…