Tea leaves

Instead of just reporting the iPod's first ten songs of the week, let's see if we can use them to predict how the rest of the week's going to go.

1. John Coltrane - Good Groove. Groovy little tune from Coltrane's dance band days. If you ever need a good intro to John Coltrane, check out the compilation called "The Last Giant" - it spans his whole career, from dance bands of the 40s to his "free jazz" freakouts of the late 60's.
   
2. Soundgarden - Sub Pop Rock City. Reworking of Kiss's Detroit Rock City as a tribute to the Sub Pop record label. It appears on the "Sub Pop 200" compilation. When this came out, in 88, "grunge" hadn't escaped Seattle, and the bands featured here, like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, were practically unknown anywhere else.
   
3. Elliot Smith - Pitseleh. Quiet little chunk of depression from Smith's best album:
   
   the first time I saw you I knew it would never last
   I'm not half what I wish I was
   I'm so angry, I don't think it'll ever pass
   and I was bad news for you just because
   I never meant to hurt you
   
   
4. Colorblind James Experience - Considering a Move To Memphis. This is the quintessential CBJE song. It's one bar repeated for 6 minutes, with various instruments taking tasteful solos over the top. Every once in a while, for the choruses, the music stops and the members chant, "I'm considering / I'm considering / A move to Memphis / A move to Memphis / I'm considering / I'm considering." The rest of the lyrics are a spoken-word tale of why the singer wants to move to Memphis:
   
   Memphis isn't all that big
   It isn't all that wide
   Still it is the kind of place
   Where a country boy can hide
   
   
5. Spoon - Jealousy. One of Spoon's perfect little songs. The handclaps and the reverb-soaked piano break reminds me of the Beach Boys.
   
6. Leon Redbone - If We Never Meet Again This Side Of Heaven. The sound of the mythic elegant South.
   
7. Robert Johnson - Me And The Devil Blues. That other mythic South.
   
8. Pixies - Build High. Strange little country-fied B-side. Kim Deal and Frank Black... what a pairing.
   
9. Rolling Stones - Sweet Virginia. Not one of my favorites, especially out of context like this - I much prefer it smack in the middle of Exile.
   
10. Velvet Underground - Heroin. Fantastic song. The proper setting for hearing this one is sitting alone in a dark room, eyes closed, empty headed, riding that one organ note. The opposite of the proper setting: sitting at a computer in khakis on a Monday morning, wondering how much longer you can keep working at something you hate just because the money makes it easy to enjoy the four hours a day you don't have to think about the job.

So, what does that tell us about the upcoming week ? I think it says: I'll hate my job and not do anything about it.