The Pixies' Doolittle blasts from my car on the commute

Last night on the way home I stopped at Mr. Cheapos Record store in Mineola and bought some CD’s and DVD’s for my expanding collection as well as a Christmas present for my brother.  I love records and CD’s…they are like books, I collect them.  I avoid ordering from the Apple corporate sterile library.  Why? To receive tin music on my computer?  Not for me.  I like reading the CD, holding it, seeing the pictures the artist wants to share with their fans.  Dave likes heavy metal music, cheesy 80’s bands and the store has a dense eclectic collection of music - new and used works.  I found a cool DVD collection of Iron Maiden.  Being there, I happened to find some music.  Morrisey, who I am seeing in two weeks with Amanda at CW Post,  The Hold Steady,  Joni Mitchell, and the Pixies.  I bought Doolittle since more than twenty years ago I had the tape and record.  I looked at the dark copper cover with the monkey like an old friend.  Hey, wanna come back in my life?  The ride home was a breeze through the dark traffic, insane punks cutting in and out with their compact seats stuffed in wide mufflers, backed up trucks, and slow buses.   Not a care in the world.  The whole album shifted my voice and mind back and to those years when I sang...screamed with Francis Black, I was singing out loud with the windows rolled up. The lyrics are entrenched in my subconscious.  Debasser, man I can play that song on bass, even if I don’t know a split lick about playing the instrument.   Don’t know about you but I am un chiem anclausia (thank you for printing the lyrics) Grow up to be a debaser.   And I screamed out TAME without a care who could hear me…what a song to get out all pent up aggression.  Play that one loud.  Wave of mutilation ….drive my car into the ocean.  The rows of break lights in the distance looked like the tips of the waves under the light of the December moon.  My ride was converging with the music and I was singing along, and I had the idea in my delirious older brain I can start a band and we’d play this whole fucking album – for sure.   Because I can sing it.  I’m playing the album now.  It’s loud as hell I am ringing a bell…I bleed….shaking teeth.  Under the stars each new song was welcomed into my lonely car.  Like most commuters I was locked into isolation.  From our cars we grasp steering wheels and imagine we’re either James Bond or a rock star as we drive home from work.  Inside our caves we regain our composure and retain the images we created.   Let me tell you some memories of this album.  Back when this was a new album, I was a college student and went to DC to march for student’s rights – fighting against racial injustice.  It was on that bus ride Frank Dentrone had one of the best quotes of all time - when discussing the song Monkey Goes to Heaven.  “It’s so true. This song is it. Man is five, and the devil is six, and God truly is seven.”  Yes Frank…noble words from a man who I love like a brother….On that bus ride was a beautiful Russian student from NYC.  We picked up a group of students in the city, and I remember trying to flirt with her and she was not giving me the time of the day.  But she loved Frank.  It could have been his long thin hair and his leather anti apartheid pendant.  Either way, I saw them kissing near a tree after we finished our march.  There is always time for a kiss after the riot we created in the city.  Another memory I want to share with you, well two.  I saw The Pixies on their Doolittle tour at The Ritz in the city and remember Kim Deal playing bass and her smiling as she played and I thought back then, I could do that.  My most recent memory was seeing The Pixies at Jones Beach a few summers ago.  Interpol opened as well as Sonic Youth another band I will write about.   Being the cool dad and the only way I could go to the concert, I reluctantly brought Amanda and Emma when they were twelve and ten.  There are a few songs they performed that made me shake my head in disbelief.  One of them was; I’m  Amazed.  Warning to cool parents – don’t be ignorant and take your children to see a show you don’t know completely.  I hoped the show would not scar them intellectually or emotionally.  It wasn’t that bad, since from time to time I ask them if they remembered the show…yeah, it was great….it really was great to see the band back together. I know my girls are....well at least on the surface - normal.  

Trivia question what was the name of the album before changing it to DooLittle?

Hey WBAB, Time to Play Some New Music!

Changed my car's radio settings from WBAB a radio station that is locked into music from 1983.  Serving Long Island for more than 35 years - BAB plays the same tired and worn out picks from 35 years ago.  It’s the only station that plays Zebra, who else plays this band?  Their playlist is predictable - Van Halen, AC/DC,  Billy Squier, Motley Crue, Posion, ZZ Top, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Guns n Roses,  Ozzy, the same freakin Pink Floyd song at least four times in any single day and a few of the other rare eighties - cheesy bands - from the heavy metal days of old.  Each band made some great music and I like to hear them once in awhile.  Not all day and all night when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic on the LIE.  I sincerely hope this station wakes up one day and realizes many Long Islanders in their advanced and wise ages have moved onto other bands.  We are all older and more important - more diverse and don’t have to listen to the same songs when we were teens.  Back then we got in trouble, did hideous things we can't tell our kids or for a many BAB listeners can't tell our grand kids.  New music for WBAB is The Police and U2 and the elusive Pearl Jam.  There is another station on the radio and it's gaining listeners on Long Island - The Shark 94.3 out of Smithtown.  They mix Black Sabbath with STP, Black Keys, Offspring, Metallica and Foo Fighters.  That is a mix.  Notice there was no Zebra in the playlist because the band had one hit in 1983, Tell Me What You Want.   I will tell you WBAB, I want a radio station that evolves with the times…if I want oldies I can listen to WCBS…time to make some changes in Babylon.