Mixamania!!!!

How big a stud is Jim over at Patricide for hosting June's Mixamania? Basically, you make a mix CD and send it to another blogger. The kick is that you don't include a songlist, so the person you send it to has to come to your blog and find the list.

I sent my CD to Genuine. This made me hella nervous. I have been lurking at Genuine's for a while and he's just the best, so I felt under all this pressure to make a cool mix to impress him. Unfortunately, I had already burned the CD before I got his name, so who knows. I think its a good mix, but my music isn't always...um...appreciated. So I hope you like it, Genuine!

The theme was SUMMER. Some of my songs have a story to why they are "summer songs" to me, and others are just summery songs. Here's the playlist, listed in my usual wordy way:

1. Shining Star by The Manhattans: This song reminds me of being down the shore in our little pink bungalow. It had seriously hard linoleum floors, and my little sis and I used to rollerskate inside (the sidewalks were too sandy and pebbly to skate on). We would have a blast, and its one of my many wonderful memories from the shore. I distinctly remember skating around while listening to this song on Casey Kasum's countdown, and hearing that (I believe) the lead singer had died. Or maybe it was a long distance dedication to someone who had died. That part isn't so clear in my memory, but what is clear is the feeling of being sad that someone had died, yet enjoying this beautiful song while rollerskating.

2. Suddenly Last Summer by The Motels: Just a perfect 80's summer song.

3. Within Your Reach by The Replacements: This song reminds me of a certain boy I used to fancy. He was so close, within my reach, but it never happened.

4. Drunken Butterfly by Sonic Youth: This one is a reminder of those drunken summer nights in a seedy meatmarket bar in NYC with one of my friends. We would go out, buy ourselves a drink or two, then hit up some cute boys to buy us drinks for the rest of the night. Hence the line "I love you, I love you, I love you...what's your name?" Hey, you say what you have to so that you don't spend your own dough.

5. He's My Thing by Babes in Toyland: I went to a number of the Lollapalooza concerts over the years in the early 90's and I loved the shows - everyone was weird and odd and into their own thing. My long black hair and pale skin and blackened eyes and Doc Martens fit right in. At the time, there wasn't a lot of chick music that I considered to be any good - I was listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails and Fugazi...but then I heard Babes in Toyland at Lollapalooza and I fell in love with their angry fierceness and they remain one of my favorite bands to rock out to.

6. Bring Tha Noize by Public Enemy with Anthrax: Oh man, this song rocks. I remember driving my old blue 1982 Mercury Capri with the windows down in the hot summer, thinking about how badass I was for listening to rap. This was my intro to Public Enemy and I loooove Chuck D to this day.

7. Margin Walker by Fugazi: Another song that reminds me of a certain crush I had that peaked over one summer but lasted waaaay longer. "You make yourself so beautiful, You make yourself so so beautiful, and I feel like I'm gonna set myself on fire." Yep, that's how I felt.

8. So What! by Jane's Addiction: The lyrics really are my personal theme song all year long, but they seem to sum up what summer should be about: "Man ain't meant to work, C'mon build a machine, So we can sleep and make love deeper, Then we can dance, and we can drink!" Perfect plan for the summer, no?

9. Ocean Size by Jane's Addiction: Well, it mentions the ocean, and it's a kick ass song. Perry Farrell rules so much that I had to pick two songs by them.

10. Jersey Girl by Bruce Springsteen: NJ gets a bad rap. It is thought of as the vast wasteland between NYC and Philly. And then along comes our local hero Bruuuuuuuce to explain why Jersey Girls are the best in the world. And it mentions the shore; what could be better? "Tonight I'm gonna take that ride, cross the river to the Jersey side, take my baby to the carnival and I'll take her on all the rides, down the shore everything's all right, you and your baby on a Saturday night….Nothin matters in the whole wide world, when you're in love with a Jersey Girl." You tell 'em, Bruce.

11. It Gets the Worst At Night by Lucero: Again, this reminds me of a certain boy. "On my way out of town, I drive by your house, two times, it don't do me no good, I didn't think that it would, cuz you're not mine." Love that.

12. I Know There's Something Going On by Frida: An early 80's song that I remember listening to as a little kid (like maybe 9 or 10?). A bunch of us, in the hot summer sun, would hang out on the corner by my block and pretend we were The Pink Ladies. That's right, we were a badass gang. This was one of the songs we'd listen to.

13. Beautiful Girl by INXS: One of the best alternative stations in the country was WHFS in the D.C. area. My younger sister invited me to go to the HFStival one summer, which was a Lollapalooza-type concert (as in an all day thingee in the blistering heat with $5 bottles of water). INXS was the headliner and I couldn't wait to hear them play this song (they rocked). On the same day, we also saw about 10 other amazing bands. It was tremendous.

14. Pink Houses by John Mellencamp: I spent all of my summers as a kid down in Pt. Pleasant NJ in a little pink bungalow. I was sure that John Cougar wrote this song especially for me.

15. Lonely Ol' Night by John Mellencamp: Two summers ago, some friends and I went to see him play live in an outdoor venue. I have seen him in concert many, many times but this time stands out because we tailgated for hours and hours beforehand, forgot to bring a blanket to sit on, crashed someone else's blanket and stole their beer, and my friend Patsy and I danced insanely to this song. Good times.

16. Sweet Caroline by The Nerds: This is the quintessential Jersey Shore band. They play at clubs all over the shore all summer long (and actually through the winter at clubs up north too, but I only see them in summer). You have a beer or ten and listen to The Nerds and your summer in Jersey is complete.