the voices dying with a dying fall

    So, this has very little to do with me, and more to do with you. And your knowledge. And your memory, because mine sucks. You’re all a bunch of music afficianados, and I need help.
    My forst major project is due next week, in my "Literature in the Media Age" class, which is as bizarre and and elusive as it sounds. 20% or so of my overall grade depends on the following project:
Create a playlist that builds a narrative, or some kind of continuity of theme or idea that could be interpreted as a form of poem, or literature. The guidelines are, 8-12 songs, annotated and explained, set up as a webpage complete with i-tunes links, etc.
    The technical aspect of this assignment is its own nightmare for the electronically challenged me, but I’m not worried about that yet. I realize of course that this is an awesome assignment, and if you’re at all like me, your mind is contemplting possibilities already.
    I’ve finalized my list to themes, rather than a soundtrack-type narrative. A story line of course would be the most interesting, but I know what a perfectionist i am, and that I’ll spend for-fucking-ever on it, so I’m trying not to be too enticed by the idea. I’ve narrowed my scope to one of three categories: Different takes on Jesus; Grief, as in widowing/widowering; or the romanticization of insanity in love.
    For example on the last: James’ "Laid", Crows "Anna Begins",  Cohen’s "Suzanne",  Black Crows "She talks to Angels", etc.  I kind of want to keep it that specific, narrators  w/crazy chicks, but it’s flexible. I could alternate with crazy narrators, Sting "Mad About You",  or something with a more specific disorder like "Me and Mia"… I don’t know. Different takes on grief is also enticing. ( know melancholy and morose… you can take the girl out of the goth, but…) Merchant’s "My Beloved Wife", "End Game" by Anthony Stuart Head, "Hold On" by McLachlan, or maybe branch out to prayers for the dead in general, like "Calling All Angels"- the Until the End of the World soundtrack, not the poppy one.
    Anyway, you get the idea. It’s due the beginning of next week, so if you think of anything , please let me know ASAP. The 3,300 mp3’s on my laptop should be helpful, but it’s almost too overwhelming- I get distracted by other themes and ideas everytime I make a list. It really is a fun project, except for the webpage part. Clock ticking. I know you guys know more music already than I ever will. I don’t really need to know the song, just find the lyrics, and maybe some idea of the musical tone.

    And ms. suzanne. I would love to regale you with exciting clown stories… but most are either boring or sad. Me and Andy mainly painted faces at PetSmart openings, which involved me renaming every single animal that came in the door, and trying not eat them, (or smash them as Sara would do ) for being so goddamn adorable. Although there was afterwards, when Andy and I went to eat, and we were still in costume, and over our Chinese buffet food, andy and started talking about some relatively deep relationship stuff, and every three minutes I would look at him, and imagine how absurdly surreal it was to see from the outside. Two twenty-somethings with painted red noses, me with rainbow-colored fake eyelashes, he with whited-out hair, motley, both I think with red cheeks- talking about giving and taking and types of intimacy, chopsticks a flying- and it really is like some kind of David Lynch dream. I think that was actually in a small town outside ashville, and I spent the day counting kid’s mullets and rattails, as well as renaming the pups.
    Actually, I voluteered my face-painting talents (or lack thereof) at a Boy’s Club party for my friend Bonnie one weekend. What was funny,  was the amazing amount of runny noses I had to paint around. christ it was gross. Whoever bought the "face paint" didn’t really know what they were doing, and got art and craft paint… which was kind of water soluble, but not really. These kids, roughly 5-13, wanted all sorts of things painted, from "crypts" and "bloods" shit, to this one girl who in a fit of religous fervor wanted me to paint "God" on her forehead. I tried to nexplain that that would imply that she was god, but she didn’t quite understand so I put "Jesus Rocks" on her cheek instead. You can imagine the chagrin of the Boy’s club organizers when she started wandering around advertizing christianity. Whatever, it was better than gang symbols (which I of course refused to do and replaced with ACC mascots).
    I think the best part of that day, was that me and Bonnie were sitting across from the "smoking kills" booth, staring at a picture of cancerous lungs for like 3 hours, meanwhile nic-ing to death. For all of the snot-nosed drama, it was a great day. I took Joss, and when we got home, I knew exaclty the nightmare all the other parents were having trying to get that damn craft-paint off their kids faces.

    That was so incredibly dull, I can’t believe how long it is. Sorry. If I remember anything better, i’ll email it to you.

love.