My current favorite song is "My Heart's an Autoclave," by the Mountain Goats. It is the greatest song ever.* I can listen to it over and over again. You can watch a video of the song here, but it's not the version I've been listening to. It's pretty great with just him on the guitar, but the album version has drums and other stuff. There aren't enough songs out there about the autoclave.
*Please note, "greatest song ever" can change with my mood, but in any case, this song must be pretty great. When I really like a song, I listen to it over and over again. Kind of obsessively. The perfect way to do this is on headphones, so that you don't disturb everyone else around you. A previous favorite was "Skullcrusher Mountain," by Jonathan Coulton. You can see a video of him performing it in LA here, but again, my version is a bit different. Jake bought me a 99-cent download of that song, and I probably made him wish he hadn't, given the number of times I listened to it back then. But how often do you find a love song in which the mad-scientist-lover-protagonist says to his beloved:
I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you"Maybe I used too many monkeys" is a favorite line of mine.
But I get the feeling that you don't like it
What's with all the screaming?
You like monkeys, you like ponies
Maybe you don't like monsters so much
Maybe I used too many monkeys
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?
Oh but the digressions....where was I? I was telling you about the "My Heart's an Autoclave" song and how I was thinking about "autoclave" and why I immediately associated it with music. Something in my brain switched and I totally saw an album cover. And indeed, with some handy help from Wikipedia (which was not dark today!), I re-remembered what I already knew: "Autoclave" is the name of a band that released an album called "Autoclave" in 1991 on Dischord Records. While I can't say I remember listening to it then, I am quite sure that I played it on my radio show. We probably played most everything out of the Dischord catalog on our station, WLVR (91.3FM!).
What's that, dear reader? You didn't know I was a DJ? Well yes, I was.
And here, I have landed at yet another digression: College Radio changed my life. For the better, I assure you. I don't know if these days the kids are so into the college radio, since there are things like [the] Facebook and Twitter that are apparently consuming all of their time, but being involved with college radio was the best thing I did in college. I met all the right people (cheers, Ian, Elizabeth, Gab, Eric, and the list goes on...), and also all the wrong ones. I got to feel important and connected and I cared about something bigger than myself. After several semesters of having a show with Ian (we started out at the 1 - 4 am Sunday morning slot!), I ended up becoming the General Manager of the station for a couple of years. Along with the other folks at the station, I moved the station's transmitter, booked Green Day just before they got huge, and messed around with CMJ's college chart listings. It was awesome.
When I am asked to give some advice (and believe it or not, sometimes people ask!) about college, I recommend this:
Do something you're not supposed to be doing.
And I don't mean the easy kind of "not supposed to be doing," like plagiarizing or drinking too much or smoking too much. Those are the easy things to do that you're not supposed to be doing. Do something that takes some work, and that you care about, but that has no relation whatsoever to your GPA. For me, that was radio, but it doesn't have to be that for everyone. It should be something you care about, something that connects you with people, and something that challenges you.
Wow, where did the preachy advice-columnist persona come from?
Oh yeah, it all started with the autoclave. I think that might be a great opening line for a story. Where was I going with that again? When I started this post, I had some sort of idea, but now it's gone. Oops. But I just couldn't let this post sit here unfinished. So now, a month later -- on LEAP DAY! -- I am finishing it up. And here's a funny note. Back when I was looking up "Autoclave," the band, I was pleased to see that one of Autoclave's members (Mary Timony) is doing quite well with her new band, Wild Flag. In the month between when I started writing this post and when I am finishing it, my favorite song has changed. I am now listening to the song "Romance," which is by Wild Flag on crazy-person repeat. And thus, full circle, my digressions have come back around.
It all started with the autoclave.
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