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May 15, 2007
iWalk
Now that the weather’s finally, well, “not sucky” here in Boston, I’ve taken to walking from Copley Square to North Station to catch my train each night after work. It’s maybe one and a half miles or so from Point A to Point B, so naturally it takes oh, 30-35 minutes on the T. Walking? Around 25 minutes. “Rapid transit” my Bostonian behind.
And yes, I’ve told this basic story before, but it bears repeating: it’s a shorter commute to skip the subway altogether and walk through the Public Gardens, Boston Common, past the State House, down towards Government Center, past the court house (which I don’t recommend doing at night, alone, or even really during the day unless you’ve got mace), and finally arriving at North Station, where dozens of people consistently nearly run me over as they sprint towards their about-to-leave trains because, shocker of shockers, the T made them late.
Luckily, I’ve got my iPod with me each day, which makes the walk not only faster more more enjoyable. It also helps me maintain my private space, since no one wants to be anywhere near the tall bald due playing air drums in the middle of the sidewalk. Totally handy, that. I’ve not had an iPod for nearly eight months, until I broke down and bought not one but two for The Girl a few months back. I generally get whatever one she doesn’t want to use that day, and while recently that’s meant the Shuffle, recently I’ve been the receiver of the 30GB iPod with my entire collection on it. Pressing “Shuffle All” has yielded some pretty neat results, I must say.
Here are five thoughts that have come to me while listening to my iPod this week while beating Joe McCommutes-On-the-T-A-Lot to my train.
1) When I look back on my life, a few things stand out. Certain moments that, when all is said and done, will define “Ryan McGee” for generations to come. Beating Exeter in my one and only time playing them (JV soccer) is one of them. Helping send my parents to Italy for their 25th anniversary is another. And “ once holding the last note of Guns’ ‘N Roses’ ‘Don’t Cry’ in one single breath” will undoubtedly be another. I spent weeks trying to lock this down after “Use Your Illusion” came out, not realizing until much later than Axl et al just taped various takes together to produce that ridiculously long last note. But it was worth it, lemmee tell ya, finally pulling off that last note. The week hooked up to a respirator was a small price to pay for such glory.
2) Someday someone younger than me is going to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and the reason this person will win the Nobel Peace Prize will be because he or she figured out a way to play music recorded over various times in history to play back at one consistent volume. Going from an old Genesis track to a new Wolfmother track is, volume-wise, the same as going from Kiera Knightley’s chest to Pamela Anderson’s. And there I am, walking, enjoying the day, and oh, look, now I’m on the ground, crying, and bleeding from the ears. Fantastic. Get on this invention, Child of the Future.
3) As previously mentioned on this blog, I’m active in arranging the music for the upcoming wedding. Like, really active. Olivia Newton-John can’t comprehend the level to which I’ve gotten physical with this list. It’s constantly being changed, updated, cursed at, dreamt about, and on several occasions I’ve printed it out just so I can rip it to shreds for not being the perfect frakkin’ mix. Naturally, I’ve committed the latest and greatest versions to playlists so I have the ability to judge the current version’s ebb and flow. And thanks to the iPod, I’ve already found four songs which have gone into the “Whoa, Did NOT Realize What This Song Was Actually About, I Just Thought It Was Fun and Not Completely Depressing/Pervy/Psychotic/Generally Unacceptable to Be Played in the Presence of My Nana” file. So thank you, iPod.
4) When Shuffle decided to play one of my podcasts, it’s truly unnerving. I sound like that? Really? It’s like listening to my Dad talking, only he’s talking about “Lost”, which he’d never do, except to say things like, “Yea, I don’t get that show. Are they dead? How could they build all those hatches? What’s this time travel crap? Still, better than ‘Lost in Translation’. That was awful. AWFUL. What was that movie about? Honestly, tell me. What do you mean you liked it? Liked WHAT? Is ‘The Closer’ on yet? I like that Kyra Sedgwick.” Actually, I might listen to that podcast. Strike that.
5) There’s no greater “Song I Love Yet Would Bomb at Karaoke, Possibly Emptying Out the Place” than Peter Gabriel’s “Signal To Noise”. Nearly eight minutes long, more than two-thirds of which is strings and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s guttural cries. Each time I play my iPod I’m looking for a new song to sing at karaoke, since I’ve basically cased my three standards (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “Rebel Yell”, “Roadhouse Blues”). Safe to say “Signal to Noise” won’t be added to the repertoire anytime soon, unless I hit some really arty-farty karaoke where they specialize in old Yes tunes than span entire sides of albums. Maybe then. But only then.
Posted by Ryan McGee at May 15, 2007 09:43 PM