The Weekend of iTunes

Happy Birthday this past Saturday to Amy McLeod, who turned 29 for the second time. I can't say that I've ever been more excited about a birthday card than the one I got you--I'll have to send it, I guess, because I don't know when I'll see you again. So expect it in the a few days. I could probably not sign it, and you'd figure out who sent it...

Song playing on iPod, set on shuffle: "Wild Wild West" by Will Smith, from Willennium

So... as I said before, I got my iPod. I went out and paid cash for a 60 gig black video Apple iPod, and I own it--no credit cards, no charging, no check... its mine, all mine. By the way, the iPod is currently on shuffle right now, so I'll give you the songs that come up as they do. Oh, and just for fun, I'll tell you that I was in the restroom a few minutes ago, with the iPod plugged in (in the other room--duh). I thought I heard the O.C. Supertones, though I didn't remember that song being on one of their albums. I was engrossed in the latest EW anyway, so I didn't pay much attention, and when I got back, I noticed this song was playing now:

Song playing now: "One Day I'll Fly Away" by Nicole Kidman, from The Moulin Rouge Soundtrack.

So, I did a flipback to see what Supertones song I had heard... turns out, it was "Come Around" from Factor 7. Some of you are enjoying that comment right now.

Anyway, I'm a nerd. I can't just have a screen on the iPod that says "Don't Cry" on one line, then "Guns N'Roses" on the next. No no. I have to have the top line say "Don't Cry", the next line say "Guns N'Roses", the next line say "Use Your Illusion I" (the album) then have in the info about the song the year (1991), the ratings ("Don't Cry" gets five stars from me--tops) then the genre (90s Rock), and finally, one day the lyrics. I have my catagories I want them in, and I want them organized a certain way... see, what took me so long, though, is that I had over 4500 songs to import.

Song: "I Know Why" by Sheryl Crow, from Wildflower

I worked on iTunes for about two solid weeks, organizing and catagorizing--remember, I had worked on loading cds into the computer for about three weeks prior. When I got the iPod last week, I was tempted to just plug it in and let it load, and re-organize later... I decided to have patience. So here was my iPod, sitting unbothered on the counter for 9 days... finally on Saturday morning, in the wee hours of say, 3am, I finished with iTunes, and was ready to load the iPod. I went to bed instead, having to be at work at like, 930am that very morning. When I got home, around 430pm, I figured I'd plug it in, give it an hour to load, and listen to it on the way out to Jon & Emily Taylor's house--with whom Steph and I had dinner plans.

Song: Fool For You, Nichole Nordeman, performed live on "Live at the Door"

Well, I plugged it in at 430p... by the time we were ready to leave at 630p, it had loaded about 760 songs of 4553. When we got home at 1030ish, it had loaded 3557 of 4553. So I went to bed, again. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, I got to hear my iPod in action. Very satisfying. Of course, the videos didn't work, so I had to figure that part out... you have to convert videos to iPod format, even if they show up in iTunes... and they take fooooorrreeevvveeerrr..... Currently, I have only one music video on it--"Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim. BUt I do have several Star Wars videos, including the classic "Star Wars Gangsta Rap", and the hilarious Law & Order type short "The Trial of Han Solo", on trial for shooting Greedo... did he shoot first? Was it self defense?

Song: Everytime I Close My Eyes, by Babyface.

Right now, its converting a few more into iPod playability... "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani, "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter and "Food Good Inc" by The Gorillaz..

Can I say how bitter I am that "Bad Day" is being played everywhere? This is what happened to "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik, from 1997. Fantastic song.... loved it. I was on the verge of considering waiving my two year waiting period before it could jump into my top twenty all time songs.

"God" by Rebecca St. James, from the God album.

I have my Top Ten favorite songs, and as an extension of that, I have ten more behind it, making it my top twenty all time favorite songs... In order for inclusion into Dave's Top Twenty-and possibly Top Ten--I give it two to three years... this ensures that after hearing the song a thousand times, I will still like it... if it grows tiresome, or I find myself turning the channel when it comes on, then I'll know its not Dave Top 20 material. This is what happened to "Barely Breathing"... every station in Montgomery and Birmingham and Troy and Dothan played it all the flippin' time... and I grew tired of it within a year.

"If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger (There's One Coming Home)" by George Strait, from his 1st Volume of Greatest Hits

Unfortunately, this is whats happening to "Bad Day"... not that I think it was ever in consideration for Dave's Top 20, but as much as I hear it now, it probably not going to even come close to my top 100 when its all said and done. Sadly, repitition and overplaying is what is killing Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes", though its not played nearly as much, so Kelly has a chance to recover... Daniel Powter's run is just getting started on the radio.

Of course, KT Tunstall's "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" is on the fast track for a 2008 possible Dave Top 20 appearance.

"Love Me More" by PM Dawn, from The Bliss Album

Where was I? Who knows. Anyway, with the iPod, now its just a matter of tweaking the music, making sure the version of songs I have are what I want, correcting spellings and such... and converting my dozen or so videos to iPod formats. The longest will be the Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged show that I have-it clocks in at around 55 minutes. That might take days.

"When Did You Ever Listen To Me" by Rebecca Lynn Howard, from Forgive

The question I'm getting alot now is "What they heck are you doing with 4500 songs?", usually crossed with the comment "I dont even know 4500 songs..." My thought is, I love music... it makes me who I am. Songs, certain ones, take me back to a place when things were different... sometimes better, sometimes worse. Not that I would give up what I have now, namely Stephanie, my job, Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship), a lifetime charter membership in the Deuce and my iPod, for anything--but sometimes its good, fun to remember.

"But Anyway" by Blues Traveler, from Live From the Fall

I mean, I hear "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, or "Old Man and Me" by Hootie & the Blowfish, or "Wanted" by Alan Jackson, or "Seven Bridges Road" by The Eagles or "Luv is a Verb" by dcTalk, and there's a story that goes with it. And amy one of you know there are certain songs that hit you in different ways... and so now I've got the capability of holding all the songs that may or may not affect me, or might affect me in the future, in the palm of my hand. Plus, you can't go wrong with anything that lets you hold the lyrics to both "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies, and "Numb" by U2 in your hands.

Music that has played while I was attaching links to this post...
"Piece of Glass" by Caedmon's Call, from Long Line of Leavers
"She" by The Monkees, from Listen to the Band box set.
"Its In His Kiss" by Vonda Sheppard, from Songs From Ally McBeal
"Lonely People" by Jars of Clay, from Who We are Instead
"I Wanna Luv You Up" by Color Me Badd, from C.M.B. (wait, how'd that get on there? that's not mine...)
"You Made Me Love You" by Jimmy Durante, from the You've Got Mail Soundtrack
"Long Time Gone" by The Dixie Chicks, from the Top of the World Tour live album
and from the catagory of "Bad 80s Hairbands With Crappy, Yet Awesome Music", it's "Sometimes She Cries", by Warrant, from the colossal, multi-dozen selling "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin' Rich"

As for something completey random, here's one more reason I like LL Cool J... check out his comments on money at the Hip Hop Summit on Financial Empowerment. (I don't know that I could have made that up if I tried...) Anyway, he says "Give 10 percent to your church, then 10 percent to your house". Cool J is a tither! Go God! Now, I'm going to listen to LL Cool J sing about "dying to creep 'tween your sheets"

American Idol again, Wednesday morning...