Hey, shout out to my fellow borderline Aspergies, do you get the same thing I do when you get fixated on a song and then have to listen to it over and over and over again? Almost everyone I know gets this, but most everyone I know has some type of diagnosable mental issue, so it's not a good sample.
Perfect example: My sister just discovered "Call Me Maybe." She reports that she's been having to sneak away from the people she's been vacationing with to listen to it in private so they don't make fun of her for listening to it too much. That's right, she's sneaking around to hear a song. Like she's a bulimic or something. A song-limic.
I gotta admit, CMM is pretty fucking catchy.
Anyway, I had two recently. The first one was "Leaders of the Free World," by Elbow. I'm not sure why. I kind of like the way it builds and especially the vocal melody and where he lands the notes in relation to the music.
Last week it was "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. I really liked VW's debut album when it came out (and, to a slightly lesser extent, their second album), so it's not like I just discovered this song, but what happened was I came across the lyrics somewhere and I had never really focused on the lyrics which is too bad because they're INCREDIBLE. Here's a video with the lyrics superimposed by some joker out there.
"She took it from his lily-white hand/She had no fear she'd seen the thing/In the Young Men's Wing at Sloan-Kettering."
Wow, that's pretty intense. You can easily build a backstory from that, but the song doesn't just come out and explain itself. I like that.
ANYWAY, I'm over both of these now and will be moving on to a new song obsession soon.
Oh and so Friday night I happened to visit the new Hi-Lo Club on Polk. I don't understand why Yelp has it classified as a "dive bar." It's not a "dive bar" in any sense of the term. It's more like a cocktail lounge but not a pretentious "cocktail lounge." Hardwood floors, cool pressed tin ceiling, nice long bar and some booths. Having recently been stung by a $13 gimlet at Alembic, I was pleased to see that the drinks - even the fancy cocktail menu drinks - were like $7 or $8. I had another gimlet to make a fair comparison and it was just as good as the $13 one at Alembic.
I also liked the vibe of the place a lot. It was like 10 pm on a Friday and it wasn't that crowded. I mean, it was busy, but not wall-to-wall people. It just has a good feel. I guess go now before it gets overrun with douchebags, which should be within a couple of weeks once word gets out. Oh, shit, I'm not helping.
[ADDENDUM: I know talking about the weather is hopelessly trite and cliched, but I just have to say that the last 12-16 hours in San Francisco have been fucking MISERABLE, even by San Francisco's terrible standards for July. I know that there's a terrible heat wave on in the rest of the country and they'd love to trade places with us blah blah blah, I could really go for one night when I'm not huddled by my heater. Outside here last night it was like the Scottish Moors on a bad day, what with the 50 degrees and howling winds and fog. Took the dog out for a walk last night around 10 (wearing 4 layers, of course) and immediately smelled the familiar scent of burning firewood. San Francisco, California: Where Summer Smells Like Duraflame.]
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3 comments:
Hey, you're the one who moved to the Outerlands. It was lovely weather for most of the day in The Mission. But as for "dive bars," I've noticed that SFGate, Yelp, and most other publications categorize pretty much any bar that is not a hotel bar or a place that serves $13 cocktails and has table service as a "dive bar." I think, like the word "hipster," it is a term that's become so undiscerningly and thoughtlessly applied that it has lost any meaning.
I have yet to be diagnosed with songlemia, but my earworm usually makes me sing one line of any song over and over and then I'm shocked when those around me can't hear the rest of the song in my head.
Thank you for your important gimlet research in the interest of the public good.
As for your weather comment, I was privy to a THIRTY-degree difference between my afternoon at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton and the evening on the Scottish Moors of Glen Park in the space of a one-hour drive...
GG - Absolutely true. I'm not even sure 500 Club is a dive. I mean, it's kind of run-down, but it's packed most of the time with a fairly young crowd. I think a real dive has to be a lot more seedy and have some old guy regulars. Anyway.
Tam - "Songlemia"
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