Range Life (Music. The Midwest. More.): When We Were Young

I've noticed that lately my blogs have touched on the theme of nostalgia, and this post will be no different. Before I jump right in, I'd like to list several reasons as to why:

1). The devil made me do it.
2). I'm short.
3). Andre made me do it.
4). I busted my magic mirror trying to hit the falsetto "Grondlandic Edit", and therefore can no longer see into the future.
5. Tom, from MySpace, made me do it.

Okay, enough bullshit. The truth is, I always get like this in the Springtime. Also, I am busy right now with work and school and don't have enough time to devote to listen to a new album and give it a proper review (though there are several candidates for when I do), and I'm broke right now and missed a bunch of shows I could have reviewed.

Sorry.

But if you don't mind just a little more reminiscing, then read on and join me on a trip to the not so distant past, the year 2003!!!!!

Last night I was at a local bar with two fine ladies hanging out after a long day of reading for school, desperately needing a distraction. The bar we went to, Buzzard Beach, is a cheap dive bar, the kind of place you go to smoke cigarettes and drink Pabst. You know, the kind of place I'd never leave if it they didn't close. The biggest downfall to the place, however, is the inconsistent music selections.

Sometimes, the choices are fucking fantastic. For example, on a fairly recent trip I heard a mix CD that must have been a best-of-2006 mix, as it included The Knife, Built to Spill, and others that I'm forgetting now. After that mix, they played the new Deerhoof, Friend Opportunity. That was cool. On most nights though, you're just as likely to get something really cool, like Danse Macabre by the Faint, as you are Tom Petty or Bob Weir.

At any rate, last night at the Buzzard they were playing a mix CD that had obviously been made in 2003, which probably sounds pretty unimpressive to you, but to me it rocked. Why? Whoever compiled the CD included a shit-ton of bands I was listening to at the time, so many that its not even funny. Its almost as if I have a clone somewhere in this city making mix CDs and giving them to bars for me to hear four years later. Need proof? Read on. The songs I can remember hearing are as follows:

"Bandages" - Hot Hot Heat
"Honestly" - Zwan
"Keep Fishin'" - Weezer
"Seven Nation Army" - White Stripes
"Infra Riot" - Soundtrack of Our Lives
"Jerk it Out" - The Caesars
"Attack of the Ghost Riders" - the Raveonettes
"Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll" - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
"Believing Is Art" - Spoon

Out of those bands, the only one I still really listen to and enjoy is Spoon, but all of those songs I enjoyed back in the day, especially the BRMC song. You should have seen me try to play Galaga and rock out to that song at the same time. (Actually, I know for a fact that at least one of you reading this did...) The mix was fantastic in that "hey, I'm 19 all over again" kind of way. If you don't understand what I mean now, trust me, you will when you're 24 going on 25, and much like I have been lately you'll relish those moments too.

If you have made it this far, I ask you nicely, if you have some extra time, to list 10 songs you would have put on a CD this time of year in 2003. It will be fun, I promise. And if you can't or don't want to, at least watch these videos. The past is dead, long live the past!