the Boss endorses Obama; disses Bittergate

Look if Bruce isn't bitter, than neither am I. Click the subject heading for link.

Maybe she doesn't like pretzels

Little Drummer from Andrew Rittle Family on Vimeo.

Sarah and Edie have been out of town all week. That has been sad for me, but the result has been a series of video exchanges. Edie says hi to Daddy, Daddy says hi back, and now this. These are the chip cans at my in-laws house.

Guess we need to get some popcorn tins in our house, and fast.

Bloggy McBloggerton Blahs

Ok, so I haven't been posting. Instead, I've been working as a member of two cooperatives (housing and childcare, more later), taking loads of Edie time since Sarah is studying for the bar practically every minute, being sick - again - thanks to the wonderful germs of baby friends, and also playing four simultaneous games of Scrabble on Facebook. Of which I'm losing.

But, since my latest blogpost reads "Interestingness," something that after a week is no longer interesting, I thought I'd put something new up here for a while. Way back on January 5th, a mere two posts ago, I talked about almost accidentally eating Cabell Gathman on the Oregon Trail, also on Facebook. Since that time, she's written an article for the online zine Strange Horizons titled Games on Facebook: Playing "with" Your Friends. And, she features my post! Highly recommended, at least after the part where she pokes a little fun at my expense (no, really, I clicked on the plate and fork on accident).

I haven't done this in a while, but direct links in the post are more pointed than my sidebar-delicious system. You should check out my sister's recent experience of a quirkily racist note on her door. Meghan posts a funny funny photoset on flickr, all self-portraits that she decided *not* to submit for speaking at an upcoming panel on nonviolence. And, this goes back, but I was super impressed by Heather's (her popular music blog is worth reading) NPR interview about the best songs of 2007. Good words about Josh Ritter there. Remember him?

Speaking of music, I've been listening to a lot of Feist lately. She has a terrific 2007 album (which made TLGs top 27 of 2007), but actually we've been listening to her earlier now-classic album, the one with Mushaboom. You can listen to Feist on the Hype Machine. Every one of her songs is unique from her others, and usually lots of fun.

Sort of a meandering post, but that's the point of a McBloggerton.

UPDATE: Christmas Album finished!

After a full year of digital photo taking, I finally acquired Photoshop. Ok, so it's great for all the color variations (take these, for example) and tweaking and sharpening of images (hint: this is greatly tweaked, but you wouldn't know it). But when do we get to the real fun? You know, like removing your head or getting creepy (too creepy) at Halloween.

The photo above is the album cover for my Mom's Christmas CD. Click on the photo to read the full play list. It features lot's of Dino, of which some of you might be especially happy about. Mostly, I was proud that I figured out how to add a Santa hat to my Mom's dog's head. Those are Sarah's feet in the photo, which had to be folded over to fit the CD cover. Also, this is photo #1 out of 365 photos in 2007.

This isn't my first CD, but it's my first cover for a CD. I hope Mom likes the music, but at the very least, she can show the album off.

The Perfect Christmas Album (for my Mom)

Growing up, my Dad purchased CD after CD for my Mom every Christmas in an effort to find her the perfect Christmas album. Especially in the 1980s, when remixing Christmas songs using electronic effects*, my Mom wanted nothing more than a plain ol' Christmas album. Not too serious (no First Noel or Silent Night), and nothing too snazy**. Seems like a simple request -- but is it really? I mean, there's only so many ways to sing a set of a dozen or so songs. Every new artist has to place their mark on their version somehow.

This year I'm attempting to make the perfect Christmas album for my Mom. It all started when Sarah and I picked up Christmas with the Rat Pack at Target***. Then it suddenly hit me: No one sings Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer like Dean Martin. This is what Mom is looking for. I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of this. Seems too easy.

But checking out the hype machine to see what music bloggers are posting this year, I found that no one really posts the classics. I mean, there are hundreds of songs posted by music bloggers every season, but where's Perry Como's Winter Wonderland? To give you an idea of exactly what I'm talking about, I found a good mixtape at Instrumental Analysis. Go ahead and check it out - Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis - now *this* is a Christmas album.

The problem is that I.A.'s perfect album was posted in 2006. The songs are no longer available. My big reason for this post, aside from telling another holiday anecdote, is to plead my music blogger buddies (see sidebar): Please post some of the classics. If not for me, then for my Mom.

*Think Mannheim Steamroller. My Dad loved their Christmas album. Mom, not so much.
**That means no A Very Special Christmas, either.
***We've been getting to Target at least once a week lately, possibly once every three days.

nice day for a walk

Isn't it? Were I a music blogger, I'd post some B&S for you to enjoy.

I sort of want to dig my flute out of the closet just to try this

I can't remember if I mentioned randomly about me that I played classical flute pretty consistently for nearly 20 years of my life. For the first half of those years I aspired to be James Galway (how's that for a childhood hero!) and for the second half I hoped to somehow morph into Ian Anderson. But for the last, say, 5 years I've hardly touched the thing. I actually wipe off dust from the case whenever I get it out.

Part of my problem is that I'm stuck for new material. Part of the brilliance of the guy in this video is that he makes it look easy. Regardless, it gives me something to try out. If you never hear from me again on this topic it means I couldn't do it.

Cool stuff though, huh? Thanks to Kristi for the link!

and we always thought it was the "golden manatee"

yesterday's picture of the day

Not the greatest self portrait, but I have to keep evidence for Cabell that we received your gift! As promised, Cabell sent us her baby shower gift of not one but four CDs chock full of murder ballads for baby*. Her clever titles will surely bring baby to the radio, with "Baby's first murder ballads," "Murder ballads for baby and friends," and the requisite "More Murder Ballads for Baby." And just my luck, lots of baby picspam on the covers, I'm assuming of Cabell and her sister.

You might be asking the question, What is a murder ballad? It's a folksy song about a situation involving at least one person's untimely death. Sounds gruesome? Perhaps, but Peter Paul and Mary make it seem much more soothing than that. Take for example the tale of Barbara Allen, sung here by this folk guy on YouTube**. Well, he's no Joan Baez, but just to say this isn't exactly death metal here.

I also enjoyed listening to The Cherry Tree Carol, again sung by Baez, which I previously know from the PP&M Christmas album***. It tells the tale of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, and Joseph discovers news of his soon to be child. I never thought of this one as a murder ballad before. But indeed, in the end Jesus is crucified, the mother of all murders of all time. In the song, Mary says "Joseph gather me some cherries, for I am with child." So after listening, Sarah and I went to 7-11 and I bought her some Cherry Garcia****.

Last note: Check out these self-portrait stamps Cabell used! I had no idea you could even do this. They're effective, too, because I recognized her glow-in-the-dark hair without having to check the return address. So thanks Cabell, I will be sure to play these for Baby even before it's exposed to those Einstein videos everyone always talks about.

* Well OK, three murder ballad CDs and one really hot album from her mud wrestling days.
** I know this one because in college I ran sound for the play Dark of the Moon, which tells this tale of unrequited love where, guess what? Two people die.
*** A family fave: Mine, not Sarah's.
**** Which is mighty appropriate, since I learn that the Grateful Dead also kept Barbara Allen in their repertoire. Small world of folk, eh?

thinking, blogging, and thinking about blogging

Hey everyone, Dan at Blue Monster awarded me the Thinking Blogger Award*! I've seen this one jumping around the blogosphere, and it's nice to be added to the hall of fame. Thanks Dan!

To celebrate, I got together with fellow sociologist bloggers Meghan and Katie, pictured left, in order to think. Actually we're thinking about what Thai food to order before returning to either statistics or grading, but we're thinking nonetheless.

With some high tech Google research, I found the post that started the award. It comes from the thinking blog no less, who two months ago got fed up with pointless memes and awarded five bloggers the first round of awards. It comes with instructions, too, although as thinkers we may not choose to follow them like lemmings**. Nonetheless, I think I'll follow them for this post:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Here are 5 (well 7) Blogs That Make Me Think:

1. Meghan & Katie, responsible for pulling me into the Vox-o-sphere.
2. Carly & Cabell, two sociology grad students from Wisconsin Madison who befriended me on blog, and who responded well to my last meme.
3. Duke of Straw, music blogger extraordinaire***, who encourages me to keep blogging, and also who wrote a novel in a month.
4. Calm Before the Sand, by Spc. Freeman. One of the more thoughtful introspective blogs I've found. And the guy happens to also be a U.S. soldier in Iraq at the moment.
5. Daddy Dialectic, a group blog I've just discovered in my quest to find blogs by feminist dads.
   

Congratulations, you won a !

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

* Actually he awarded it awhile ago. I'm a little late on the upswing.
** Note: the non-lemming in this picture is the thinking blogger.
*** This award has yet to make it into the music blog world, I think. I love the music blogging community (and so do my iTunes), and they deserve this award as a collective.

Has Andrew Bird stopped whistling?

As much as i love the glockenspiel* and hope to hear more, I could use slightly less whistling from Andrew Bird. When we saw him a couple of years ago in concert he really proved his art of the contemplative whistle. But, never fear Bowl of Fire fans, a new album is out. I have yet to procure Armchair Apocrypha**, but check out this sample of songs and album review from The Late Greats.

Ps, I once got a beer next to Bird at the Hideout in Chicago. We were both reaching in over a crowd to the barkeep at the same time. A (perhaps imagined) glance was exchanged, and then it was over. I should have said something.

* I just learned that glockenspiel is a verb. From the urban dictionary: "The occurance of getting showed up by a glockenspiel while playing a seemingly more serious instrument." I wonder if Bird is responsible for this phenomenon.
** Also from the urban dictionary, under Apocrypha: "Writings of doubtful authorship or authenticity; Spurious, false, mystical, forbidden or heretical writings." Add to this Answer's definition of Armchair: "Remote from active involvement." So I guess the album title means something like "nonactive and doubtful writings," but that's without having heard the entire album yet.

Photo #68 out of 365: Bike!

Not sure why, but I've been ending my post titles with exclamation marks a lot lately. Anyway, this is my picture of the week. The first day this year I got my bike out. Hopefully the weather will hold - we're at that point in Chicago where we pretend that it's no longer below 30 degrees. We keep pretending until sometime after Easter.

ADDED BONUS: Today's picture is combined with music! Click here to listen to Amy Correia's The Bike.

One photo everyday: 67 more photos, What is Project 365?
Picture(s) of the Week(s): Sarah's red crocs, viking monkey, Torts Clock, Sexist Komen, Joe Moore and foie gras, moravian star, coffeeshop snowman, toy basket, This American Life Live

It Is [Belle and Sebastian] that makes us human.

(Sarah bought this in London years back before we met)

Reading Ann Althouse lately, I was inspired by this post, where she put up a list of what makes us human, based on filling in the blank. Here is her original list:

"It is [blank] that makes us human."

1. shame
2. remembering
3. planning
4. dread
5. joking
6. writing
7. politics
8. fashion
9. arrogance
10. history
11. theory
12. inhumanity
13. timekeeping
14. culture
15. believing
16. originality

She then challenged readers to make a mixtape, one track for each item in the list. Someone replied in the comments with 16 Otis Reading recordings. Taking the cue, others chimed in with "makes us human" songs from Morrisey, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra, and Prince.

I think it's Belle and Sebastian songs that make us human.

My compiled list is below with some help from the offical website, as well as the nine or ten albums that we own. Note: This is old school B&S, none of their new fancy stuff. My range is everything from Tigermilk to Dear Catastrophe Waitress. To listen, check out the Hype Machine.

1. Shame: Lazy Line Painter Jane. You can take to hide your shame from all those prying eyes
   

2. Remembering: If you’re feeling sinister. He wants to remember things exactly as he left them on that Wednesday
   

3. Planning (or needing to): Photo Jenny. All that I want is a photograph of Photo Jenny/ How will I get one? I don’t know/ How will I get one? I don’t know
   

4. Dread: I fought in a war. and I didn’t know where it would end/ It stretched before me infinitely, I couldn’t really think/ Of the day beyond now
   

5. Joking: I'm a Cuckoo: I’m glad to see you/ I had a funny dream/ You were wearing funny shoes

6. Writing: Storytelling: A plot begins to take shape/ There's a story/ And then characters will come to you/ Relating events as they choose to/ But all their words and actions come entirely from you
   

7. Politics: If you find yourself caught in love. If you’re going off to war then I wish you well/ But don’t be sore/ If I cheer the other team/ Killing people’s not my scene
   

8. Fashion: The Model. I’ll send a dress to you/ Because it’s needing badly taken in
   

9. Arrogance: Boy with the Arab Strap. A central location for you is a must as you stagger about making free with your lewd and lascivious boasts
   

10. History: Century of Fakers. They took your mould and burned it on the fire of history today
    

11. Theory: Marx and Engels. (note, this quote is not in the song, but they add it to the lyrics page.)
    

The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a revolutionary part to all feudal, idyllic relationships.
It has resolved personal worth and in place of freedom is exploitation for profit alone.
There is a spectre of the past in my bold assertion. We could learn much from the past.

12. Inhumanity: la pastie de la bourgeoisie. Wouldn't you like to get away?/ Bestowing the memory of good and evil/ On the ones you left behind/ The heartless swine

13. Timekeeping (work version): Step Into My Office Baby. I want to give you the job/ A chance of overtime

14. Timekeeping (leisure version): A Summer Wasting. The time passed so easily/ But if the summer’s wasted/ How come that I could feel so free

15. Culture: Put the Book back on the shelf. Sebastian you're in a mess/ You had a dream, they called you king/ Of all the hipsters, is it true?/ Or are you still the queen?

16. Originality: Judy and the Dream of Horses: Walking the street from morning to night/ With a star upon your shoulder lighting up the path that you walk/ With a parrot on your shoulder, saying everything when you talk/ If you're ever feeling blue/ Then write another song about your dream of horses

I ADDED A FEW CATEGORIES:

17. Dreaming: The State I Am In. I was puzzled by a dream, it stayed with me all day in 1995.

18. Eating: Nice Day For a Sulk. And we run for cover she found us/In the cheapo bar with a bag of chips.

19. Drinking: She’s Losing It: When the first cup of coffee tastes like washing up/ She knows she’s losing it.
20. Emotional Labor: Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I’m sorry that you seem to have the weight of world over you/I cherish your smile.
    

Challenge: Add or subtract songs or categories in the comments, or do your own list. Maybe I should turn this into a meme and tag some people. In fact I will.

I hereby tag the following blogging sociologists, based on frequency of comments to everyday life: Meghan, Cabell, and Carly. And just for fun I'm also tagging my favorite music blogger mixtape team: Heather, Duke, and Bruce.

UPDATE: I don't read Althouse anymore, but I still love this list.

Fashion Thursdays v.13: Superbowl in Style

Nothing says style like 1985. I'm taking a hiatus from sociological analysis of this, out of respect for Da Bears. Speaking of which...



Bonus Play: Download or listen to tracks over at CYSTSFTS?

Sociology of the Best Music of 2006!

(I'm colorblind, and have no idea what these numbers are.
Thanks Duke, Heather, and Bruce!)

2006 has been quite a year in blogland. For starters, I joined the blogging community (footnote1: read highlights from the first week). I'm just in time, too, or I never would have been appointed person of the year by Time magazine (footnote2: excellent commentary over at Slate). To maximize my Blogger account, I even started a classroom blog, subtitled by my students "the sexy blog option" (footnote3: the sexy classroom blog).

Through it all, I've kept up with the music blogger community vicariously via Duke of Straw, who I blame thank for my start on Blogger. I'm no music blogger, so I pay homage by paying attention, downloading music, buying a few albums, and putting up a "sociology of" post every once in a while. Which brings me to this post.

Sociology of the Best of 2006!

The Best Music of 2006 keeps rolling in, and I'm discovering that there's more than one way to present (and comment on) a Best of 06 List. So let's get started:

Hundreds of Best of 06 Lists. There's a lot of Best of 06 Lists out there. I mean, really, a lot. And it's not my goal to compile lists, but only to provide a quick and dirty content analysis of how they do it.

If you're interested in a list compilation then check out largeheartedboy, who impressively posts hundreds of Best of 2006 lists in alpha numeric order, labeling them by best music, albums, or songs (footnote5: view lhb's personal list too).

Presentation. You can post a best of list all in one post, a continued series, as a podcast, with mp3 links, without mp3 links, including video links, with commentary, or without commentary (footnote6: credits in order of linkage: Motel de Moka, Can you see the sunset from the southside?, Contrast Podcast, Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good, Late Greats, Everybody Cares, Ear Farm, Perm & Skullet)

Categories. Most lists are either by album or by song, but I like it when they get more specific than that. 33/45 categorizes by albums, reissues and rediscoveries, and mixes. Burning Oak clarifies by posting "albums I've enjoyed" versus "albums I should have checked out but haven't yet."

Logos and header pics. It's not enough just to post your best of list. A great list has got to come with a great header image, no? For good Best of 06 Lists Logos, check out S K A T T E R B R A I N, Music For Kids, CYSTSFTS?, Feed me Good Tunes, and Gorilla vs. Bear for starters. Oh, and my favorite "best of" pic so far is over at My Old Kentucky Blog. Congrats MOKB!

Ungrateful Comments. I'm not going to link to anyone here, but when you check out the comments of best of 2006 music lists, only a few are congratulatory or thankful. I'm finding that posts will invariably have comments that read something like, "How could you forget xxx?" I even saw in a couple of places, "Is this a joke list?" and "Get a Life!" My word to commenters: Hey, post your own list and get over it. You should be thanking music bloggers for their diligent work this year.

Best of the Best (Or: The Instant Runoff Method of picking songs). In an unbelievable statistical feat, I am impressed by Heather (I AM FUEL) and Bruce (Some Velvet Blog) for compiling most statistically reliable Best of 06 Music list in the blogosphere. In fact, it was this list that got me interested in this post in the first place.

Here's what they did: Take the 12 most popular music blog artists, ask each blogger for a top twenty albums list, in rank order. Assign points to the rankings and add up points per album. Post the top 12 albums, those who recieved the most number of points.

This method reminds me of Instant Runoff Voting, most complete and fair system of voting that I could possibly think of. It's a much more reliable system than our "one person one vote" action in most of the United States. Instead, each person gets several votes, in rank orders which are then compiled to see which candidate gets the most "credit." That's the short explanation. Read Wiki for more.

FYI, the best album of the year according to this method was Josh Ritter's The Animal Years, even though a naysayer over at The Late Greats contests that "Thin Blue Flame" from that album was released last year. Doesn't change the 06 album itself, though.

What's my favorite? Instead of albums or songs, and instead of in 2006, I'll list my favorite (random) concerts attended in the last two years, in rank order, last to first: Andrew Bird, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Amy Correia, Indigo Girls, Nora O'Conner and Kelly Hogan, Sujan Stevens, Calexico (#1!).

sociologies of everyday life: church parking, Memorial Day camping, nephew's birthday party, World Cup, Dora Candyland, haircut, port-o-potty, Indigo Girls concert at Ravinia, music blog titles, Route 80/90, trapeze lessons, the zoo, Army Slogans, Daylight Savings Time, Halloween Costumes, diaper choices

Bloggy McBloggerton x

Welcome to Beta

I just switched to the new Blogger Beta. Hopefully this move will minimize the upload time, download pictures a little faster, provide more assistance to the html-challenged, and distribute food to all the hungry children of the world.

Did it work? If this blog looks the same as the last time you checked, then it worked. I'm not convinced, though. So far it looks like my referrer links in the sidebar have taken a hit. But the rest looks a'ight.

Labels. One thing I can do with the new Blogger Beta is add labels to my posts. Go ahead and try it out. Click on a label at the end of a post, and my blog will display all posts with that label. I kind of like the self-made way, where I just link you to previous posts by name, so I'll probably do a little of both.

Links for Today: Best Of Lists!

Music Blogging. Check out my most linked to blog of the year, The Late Greats, for a knock out Best Of List (hereafter BOL). That right, he's posted the Top 2006 Songs of 2006. Downloaded as a PDF, it's 88 pages! Good thing The Duke switched to Blogger Beta in order to handle such a fab post. (Footnote1: If you're curious, Josh Ritter's Thin Blue Flame is listed #1. Hear it and more Ritter at the Hype Machine)

Once you've digested that, check out I AM FUEL for a much shorter, but equally quality BOL. And the great thing is that you can download Heather's picks or listen online.

If Josh Ritter wrote a best album of the year, then we might ask, "Who are Josh Ritter's favorite artists?" Well, I didn't ask that, but Bows + Arrows did. Checking out the BOLs of the Best Artists is a really good idea. (Footnote2: You can find B+A's personal BOL here.)

The Sociologist's Challenge. I'd love to post my own BOL, but could never match the music bloggers on choosing top songs. To compensate, before the year is out, I will post the top sociological studies of the year. That right, all the best books, journal articles, and perhaps even really good blog posts, from all of sociology and all of 2006.

Now Taking Submissions! Tell your friends, and submit your ideas. I have my own, but will also post yours if you email me or leave a comment. Let's say the submission deadline is December 20, in ten days.

McBloggerton Series: i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix

It's coming on Christmas

Halloween is over, and today I heard my first Christmas song. Christmas! In piped-XM Radio at Starbucks, but still Christmas music. It was Joni Mitchell, The River.

Now, arguably this is not a Christmas song. Yet, it is the first time this calendar year that I have heard the word "Christmas" put to music. As a reminder, here are the first four lines (or read them all):

It's coming on christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace

Now, the station was playing the entire Blue album, which actually is not a Christmas album. But then why wasn't Starbucks playing this album before Halloween? They're easing us into it slowly, I say.

sociology of music blog titles

My first ever collaboration is on a music blog! I'm more of a sociology blogger, but I think that music and sociology can mix. You can check out my post with friend Duke of Straw in his series, "Songs that got me through high school."

Really, I should have done "Songs that got me through college," because that's when I found an identity with music. That was the early-to-mid nineties, when I finally untucked my shirt and grew out my hair. I heard They Might Be Giants, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, Violent Femmes, Weezer, Garbage, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, The Singles Soundtrack (thank you Paul Westerberg), Nirvana et al, Four Non-Blondes (the one hit wonder), The Cranberries, The Waynes World Soundtrack (love that Queen), and Beck, who says that your pants should fit; you don't need a belt. That was when Lollapalooza was real, and Q101 was alternative. That's the music I listened to, and it got me through college.

sociology of music blog titles

But this post is about the sociology of music blog titles. Data is collected from blogrolls of music blogs. Observations are my own, and stand to be corrected, added to, or amended.

Those Clever Titles I: Introduction. Though clever titles are so last summer might disagree, music blogs had and still have the cleverest titles on the web. Way better than those political blogs. And while I love feminist blogging, some of those titles become a little redundant. "Feminist" or "bitch" are accurate blog portrayals, but there are so many of them! That's why I love womenfolk. Just some great songs by women artists, clean and simple.

Those Clever Titles II: Clickability. Scrolling down the music blogroll, it's hard to resist clicking those "hey what do they blog about" titles, as Pink is the new Blog, so much silence, Bows + Arrows, S k a t t e r b r a i n, trees lounge, or What Would Jesus Blog? And this is a mere representative sample! [footnote: "sociology of" rarely gets into asking why things are the way they are, but my guess is that blog titles are so good because these are the same folks who come up with clever band titles in real life]

Even better subtitles. Also best available by music bloggers. Here you can check out Muzzle of Bees (half of it's you, half of it's me), Copy, Right? (I have you covered), Hummer (life's a bummer when you're a ...), and Ear Farm (music information helps grow ears). A great title only deserves a fantastic subtitle, no?

Blogs that with lyrics or titles that remind me of a band. I am for some reason drawn to blogs that remind me of either Sufjan Stevens or Belle and Sebastian, whether or not the authors blog about them. songs: illinois say they never blog about Sufjan (in fact they are just from Illinois), but dreams of horses admits their namesake outright. [footnote2: all things go did a fantastic Sufjan A-Z in May]

Blogs with titles that are full sentences. I am fuel, you are friends (also a lyric title) ~Can you see the sunset from the southside? ~ clever titles are so last summer ~ Let's kiss and make up ~ the rich girls are weeping (lyric title) are but a few.

Skilled Layout. musicisart sets an example; so does womenfolk, clever titles are so last summer, and fluxblog. Of course I like any blog that dumps the headerbox and uses a picture - something that I believe every single blog mentioned in this post does. Duke (backyard grass), Gorilla vs. Bear (looks like the bear lost), Two and 1/2 Pounds of Bacon (stained glass), and Ear Farm (ears and farming) are some examples.

So those are my music blog title observations so far. There are others, but I have work to do around here (no, really). You can do the rest, if so inclined.

UPDATE: Robbie and Heather, thanks for your comments! I loved reading your blog-title motovation (Heather) so much that I can't resist asking everyone else: How did you choose your music blog title? This is an advanced stage in the "sociology of" series ~ we've reached the interview!

FAQ: What does "sociology of" mean?

more sociologies of everyday life: church parking, Memorial Day camping, nephew's birthday party, World Cup, Dora Candyland, haircut, port-o-potty, Indigo Girls concert at Ravinia

fashion thursdays volume six: Billy's Mullet

Remember Billy Ray Cyrus? You know, the "Achy Breaky Heart" mullet guy? I can't believe that I'm even blogging about this. But today's fashion feature is not a picture of a mullet, (though here is an old picture of Billy to the right if you are so inclined) but rather a song about a mullet.

You see, "Achy Breaky" was basically a one-hit wonder. So Billy Ray tries to get over this status with a song from his new album, Joe, called "I want my mullet back." Here, the Washington Post offers a free listen. [hint: to download, right click and hit "save link as"]

It's true, Cyrus no longer has his mullet. You can see his new do at his website, but if it's mullets you're looking for, then my favorite fan site is mulletjunky, where you can view just about any style of mullet there is or was. Except for the true mullet, which you can find here.

Trivia: Ok, so I used to have a mullet in high school. But then again so did Brad Pitt and Richard Dean Anderson. And yes, mine was just as blow dried as theirs. The shame.

the fashion series: sport shirt patterns, presidential handbag, pyramid scheme, the good and the bad, topiary tulle