Saturday, April 30, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 16

A song that you used to love but now still love: Loup River Band and Street Choir "Seventeen"

This is technically supposed to be a song that I used to love but now hate. However, we've already done the hate/dislike thing in this challenge so I'm changing it. This is off my old band's last record and it's essentially my friend Jeff Iwanski with his guitar and harmonica. Gorgeous.

My friend Josh was gracious enough to put the song to video.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

30 day song challenge #15

A song that describes you: Blondie "Dreaming"

Embedding for this one has been disabled, but you can listen to it here.

Monday, April 25, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 14

A song no one would expect you to love: Public Enemy "He Got Game"

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 13

A song that is a guilty pleasure: I don't really feel guilty about liking anything. You shouldn't either.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 12

A song from a band you hate: Alabama "Song of the South"

I'm sort of a live-and-let-live person when it comes to music, so I can't really say that I hate this band, they're really just not my cup of tea. Actually, they're probably across the street and down a couple blocks from my cup of tea. You might have to click through to watch this on youtube if you want to listen to it. Only a sick, sick person would want to do that though.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 11

A song from your favorite band: The Old 97's "Salome"

I don't do the whole "favorite band" thing, but if I did these guys would be right up there.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 10

A song that makes you fall asleep: Simon and Garfunkel "America"

Monday, April 18, 2011

30 day song challenge #9

A song that you can dance to: Something really easy like "The Chicken Dance." And it would have to be played kind of slow so I could keep up.

I've got nothing on Bristol Palin.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 8

A song you know all the words to: Gene Hogan "Girls At The Grocery Store"

My friend Jeff said that he wanted a song with the line, "all the girls at the grocery store, man, they look so pretty" in it, and it ended up as the chorus to this one.

I will shamelessly self-promote if I wanna!

Friday, April 15, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge : Day 7

A song that reminds you of an event: Whiskeytown "Houses on the Hill"

I saw these guys at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha in the late 1990s. I'm not sure of the year, but it was on (a very drunk) Ryan Adams's birthday. They started the show with a Replacements song, and played a few songs before Ryan Adams declared that "it sucked, so we're going to start over." They replayed the Replacements song and when Ryan Adams immediately began the song again, Caitlin Cary stormed off the stage followed by the rest of the band.

Ryan Adams returned a few minutes later telling everyone that "they're pissed because I'm drunk." He then went on to play a 10 minute version of an early song of theirs, making up new words as he went along. I suppose it's a testament to his lyrical ability, because the lyrics weren't terrible. The band eventually joined him onstage and the rest of the show was great. There were two or three acoustic songs (including this one) at the end where Ryan and Caitlin sat on the edge of the stage and played acoustically and without microphones while the crowd gathered around. I had been in front of the stage for most of the show, so I was an arm's length away from them at the end.

Ryan Adams? Three feet away? With his acoustic guitar and fiddle accompaniment? Yep, it happened.


Thursday, April 14, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 6

A song that reminds you of somewhere: The Cure "Letter to Elise"

The passenger seat of my friend Shannon's car during our senior year of high school.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

30 day song challenge #5

A song that reminds you of someone: The Jayhawks "Blue"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

30 day song challenge #4

A song that makes you sad: Damien Jurado "Lose My Head"

This song makes me a little sad, but it's so, so great.

Saturday, April 09, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 3

A song that makes you happy: Paul Simon "Graceland"



I heard Paul Simon say that "Graceland" was the greatest song that he ever wrote.

30 Day Song Challenge : Day 2

My least favorite song. Just short of nine minutes of hell.

Friday, April 08, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge (or) HALP! I've Been Sucked In!

Enough of my friends are doing this and it looked like fun. Instead of using Facebook, this seemed like a good use for my (sort of) neglected blog.

Day 1: Your favorite song - Son Volt "Windfall"

The 1995 or so released Trace is my favorite record and this, the first track on the record, is my favorite song. I think it's absolutely perfect. This isn't the album version, but it's pretty dang good.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Startran Bike Racks

So the Lincoln city buses installed bike racks on most (and eventually all) of their buses. I was able to test them out and load a bike at UNL's bike event yesterday and today I had the opportunity to use it as part of my daily commute. I rode to work this morning, but the afternoon was pretty rainy and today was one of the days that I had to wear a suit.

When the rain didn't clear by 5:00, I decided to give this a try. Since 100% of the buses don't have the racks installed, there was a slim chance that I would be doing some waiting if the next bus wasn't equipped. Not to worry though, my bus was ready for me. During the last few days, I've noticed that most of the buses actually do have the racks installed and I've actually only seen one or two without them. I'm told that these buses without racks will be decommissioned by the end of the month anyway.

A video demonstration of the racks is included below, and using the racks is every bit as easy as it looks. They are lightweight, so lowering and lifting the rack isn't a problem. The arm that hooks onto the tire looks something like a rubber band in the video, but it's actually a metal, spring-loaded arm that's much sturdier than it looks. Going over bumps and around corners isn't an issue as my bike wobbled only slightly on the way home and never moved out the tire wells. Those that have balked at the cost should know that these racks appear to be well crafted.

The driver was really courteous and friendly about the whole experience. He said that he has only had three users so far, but the weather has been fairly nice this week. With a bit more publicity and if gas prices keep going up (yeesh), they'll likely be used more.

For someone like me who really dislikes driving, the city has added a really attractive commuting option should the weather discourage biking in the morning or afternoon. I will definitely use this again.

Information on the city's page.
Information on the Cycle Works blog.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

The Gospel in 3:21



In terms of how to live and how to treat others, this song sums everything up for me.