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Mama give me my medicine, the one that makes me feel so tall.

Filter – Welcome to the Fold.

This one goes way back for me.  I remember on ECNet that there used to be a user who stayed in her own channel and pretty much hung around IRC all day.  People gravitated toward her.  Back then, ECNet had a shoutcast server, and I would volunteer to DJ for “ECNet Radio”.  One day I played this song, and after I did so, I got a request to send a copy to this particular person.

As it turns out, she was alone, no family or kids to take care of her.  If I recall, she had cancer and was terminal.

At Christmas time several years ago now, she asked for several people’s address, and I received a postcard in the mail from her, all the way from the UK.  I think I still have the card somewhere.

Not long later, she wasn’t on IRC anymore, and that was that.

I don’t know what else to write.

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Sample review: The Price is Right Losing Horns

I’m not really sure how to describe this one, other than if you’ve never seen The Price is Right, you should dig up an old VHS with an episode recorded onto it and watch.  I mean the old episodes with Bob Barker.  The stuff I used to watch on TV during the week while mom was in the shower or doing whatever.  Somehow I have quite vivid memories of this.

Anyway, this is a classic sample, and it popped into my head for no particular reason.  It’s perfectly fitting for the state of the world right now.  Lambert and Lambert gives this two middle fingers.  Do not pass go, collect your stimulus check anyway, proceed directly to debtors prison.

Some helpful advice: If you have managed to maintain your job, and you are lucky enough that you will keep it through this pandemic, remember the principle of dollar cost averaging.  Long term benefits of DCA are very real.  Also, sunscreen, but that’s another song, so we’ll leave that for later.

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Album review: Moses Sumney – Aromanticism

I first heard about this album through Vinyl Me Please, and yes, I have it on vinyl.  This is a particularly different album from the norm where love songs abide the mainstream.  The instrumentals alone in this album set it apart.  Moderate dynamic range.  In general this album is pretty tame, but that’s what you should expect from an aromantic.  I’m not sure if Moses Sumney really IS aromantic, or if he just wrote an album about it, but it seems convincing.  The album is very short, only 34 minutes… almost as if it were made for vinyl and it just happened to be ported to Spotify afterwards.

Am I vital
If my heart is idle?
Am I doomed?

Probably the strongest lyric elements in the entire album, aside from the lyrics to stoicism.  The quintessential question for any aromantic: If I don’t love someone, what will happen to me?  This is the fundamental question, not a question many people will ever ask themselves.  I am not a philosopher, but this seems like a good point to let you ponder for a while on how to interpret this.