another day, another half dollar

1)

I have taken it upon myself to play music in my class on Fridays. So far I have played the following:

1) [If I gave my soul], Johnny Cash. The title of this song is . . . I’m not sure. It comes from that 5 disc set, the title of which is something like American Recordings Vol. 1-5. I think he made these tracks with Rick Reuben, yes/no?
2) “Lucy” Aesop Rock. A crowd favorite, and also an eyebrow raiser. It took me about twenty minutes to transcribe this, b/c Mr. Rock fits a lot of words into a small amount of time. The kids clamor for more Aesop Rock, though I try to stay away from vulgar lyrics.
3) The Decembrists song that has the “July, July” chorus, and includes the lyric: “this is a song about the road that goes to my house.” This drew mixed results. I heard kids humming it later on in the hall, but one kid also equated it to slow torture in a dungeon. The power pop vibe was deemed “too gay” sounding, and “hard to get from out of your head.”

This Friday, I am leaning towards Mos Def “Mathematics” and something else. What else should I play? I tend to go for songs that tell stories, so perhaps Elvis Costello . . . I don’t know.

All you jobless Omahans should burn me discs and send them to be, thereby brightening the lives of young Native Americans who want the rock like all teenagers do. Bring the rock to me. I shall disseminate it responsibly, without prejudice against genres or subgenres with which I do not agree aesthetically.

2.) the snow is coming down, capping off a stagnant Tuesday afternoon. Taco Tuesday, yes, but that only gets you so far. I would like to eat a cucumber and potato curry, followed by a smooth mango yogurt type arrangement and nan bread. Snow = another winter = potential drastic act such as quitting and moving back to Chicago, not to escape winter so much as to make for another six months of adjusting to a new place before adjustment period segues into another move.

3.) High school kids still prefer “gay” to any other word as the pejorative of choice. Biggie and Tupac also have a long shelf life.