One Hundred

Sellwood Street post number 100! Whoo-hoo. Put it in your pants!

I've been having a day where certain songs take me back to certain moments in my life, more so than usual. It all began with Counting Crows "Long December" on the radio as I was moving slowly inbound on the Banfield this afternoon. That song always takes me to a rainy winter afternoon driving around the outskirts of Bloomington, December 1996, looking for a part time job for an excuse to leave my tiny town every night after class. This is that moment after I realized I was gay, struggling to leave behind my high school self, searching for a new life. I thought the song was cheesey then and still do, not the best Counting Crows song, but it was especially poignant at that moment.

After I got home from work tonight, I put the iPod on shuffle and "Little Green Bag" popped up, which took me back to driving way too fast on gravel roads in my buddy Mike's two-tone blue Buick Regal, listening to the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack on the tape deck...

After that, something told me I needed to listen to Barenaked Ladies' "Gordon." I may be a big dork, but this is one of those albums that sticks with me as one of my all time favorites. Before all their radio friendly hits, the Barenaked Ladies were a smart and funny band that shaped my jr. high (and now adult) world view like no other.
I remember special ordering this album from Sam Goody back in 1992 when it first came out. We only had MuchMusic on the satellite dish, no MTV since we would've had to pay for that. I saw the video for "What a Good Boy," and had to get the album.
(I have to blame growing up with Canadian TV for turning me into the big ol' lefty I am.)



Fifteen years later, I realize that this video is very "Fifteen years ago," but I haven't seen it in a long time, and it still takes me back to a moment in my adolescent bedroom, tuning the knobs on the satellite dish receiver, and not realizing that I was about to see something that would stick with me for the rest of my life.