Gwen's blog

Current Events

January 28, Houston: The book launch party for Lone Star Legend is at Brazos Bookstore, at 7 PM. Y'all are all invited!

February 4, Houston: I'll be reading/signing at the downtown Houston Public Library, at 6 PM.

February 5, Austin: I'll be reading/signing at BookPeople and will undoubtedly stop by the FlipHappy crepe trailer some time after that.

February 5, San Antonio: I'll be reading/signing at the San Pedro Barnes and Noble and will probably buy some coconut candy at Mi Tierra, too.

My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and find out what I've said to piss off the more conservative commenters this week.

Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
something weird I just thought about

If someone were to torture you mildly a little – say, for information, or because he/she was a crazed stalker – would it make the torture more tolerable to have one of your favorite mellow songs playing in the background?

Probably not, I guess. Or could it depend on how much you liked the song, and how mild the torture was?

Then, afterwards, could you ever like that song again? Or would it just be bittersweet?

I would tell y’all what song made me think about this, but I don’t want to give potential crazed stalkers any ammunition.

something less weird (but related)

Since iPods have been invented, are y’all hearing your old favorite songs in a new way? For instance, do your earbuds, shoved all the way up in your earwax, suddenly help you to hear lyrics that you couldn’t hear before?

Or do you hear the instruments and harmonies more distinctly?

Maybe I just need to get my hearing checked, in general. But I have to say that I never noticed until the other day how awesome the background singers are on Todd Rundgren’s “Hello It’s Me.”

something weirder than the first part, suddenly

I went to Wikipedia to see if they’d tell me the names of the women who sang back-up on “Hello It’s Me.” Instead, they told me that “[o]n the day he shot and killed John Lennon, Mark David Chapman left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser.”

But more fascinating and curiosity-whetting than that: “Stephen Colbert, on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, invited former Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek to add anyone of his choice to the ‘On Notice’ board. Ocasek chose Todd Rundgren.”

This requires further investigation. I see that Rundgren briefly took Ocasek’s place in a reformation of the Cars called The New Cars. How come no one told me this? Plus, how come nobody told me Ric Ocasek was going to be on the Colbert Show? Is it because I never watch the Colbert Show? Come on. I need people to help me out, here.

Wouldn’t it be cool if

you could have an intern (or even a paid assistant) who would spend all day finding things that would interest you? For instance, I loved the Cars and Ric Ocasek, but not so much his solo work. I loved him with Paulina P, but don’t love him enough to keep up with a fan site or anything. I’d read his Twitter, maybe, but not his blog. Meanwhile, I love the song “Hello It’s Me” but never felt compelled to buy a Todd Rundgren album.

A skilled Interest Mining Assistant Professional could take all those parameters and deduce that, while I don’t want to see The New Cars in concert, I do want to be informed if and when public cattiness occurs between Misters Ocasek and Rundgren.

I mean – hello. It’s all right there for someone to figure out and act on, isn’t it?

As soon as I get rich, I’m putting an ad on Craigslist....

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5:26 AM #

Comments:

 I consulted Wolfram Alpha, but not to much avail:

http://www32.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ric+ocasek+and+todd+rundgren


# posted by Anonymous matthew : 2:35 PM  

 Ha! Good try.

But hey -- they're both 60 years old. AND, Todd R has the same birthday as my fiance!!

It's like a rabbit hole of workday distractions!


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 2:42 PM  

 Yes, to all your questions about iPods/earbuds.

I remember liking "Hello It's Me" after hearing it again on an episode of "That 70s Show." That song always reminds me of 10CC's "I'm Not in Love."

- maggie


# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 7:07 PM  

 You won't need to put an ad on Craigslist for that. You can just hire ME! =)


# posted by Anonymous Genevieve : 8:26 PM  

 http://www.google.com/alerts

maybe helpful?

:)


# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:20 AM  

 **Don't know how well that google alert thing works, but it came to mind...


# posted by Anonymous keri : 8:23 AM  

 I often hear detail sin songs on my iPod headphones that I've never heard before. But most of the time I listen to music in my car on my crappy car stereo.


# posted by Blogger Brit : 5:31 PM  

 Gwen--the background singers on "Hello It's Me" are awesome, as is Todd Rungren's impassioned nerd soul singing. Love it! I'll often hear details in the car more so than on the iPod; maybe it's because of the placement of the speakers.

Culture Club songs also make great use of impassioned backup singers.

Also, I love your blog--I've been reading for years! :)


# posted by Blogger Slauditory : 6:31 PM  

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