RONO: Reflections Of New Orleans
10/6/1
I just burned and am now listening to the CD I�m calling Reflections of New Orleans, or RONO for short.
The first song is Under The Gun by The Supreme Beings of Leisure. It�s the theme for getting out of Huntsville. Oddly, once we got back to home, it was the theme for the gal from the ABC show Alias to walk into her cool workplace.
The second song is also driving related. We arrived in New Orleans on Monday at rush hour, five p.m. Since I was tired from driving all day and I knew we�d be there quite a bit, I needed something soothing. I had checked out Natalie Merchant Live from the library recently and just before we left for vacation, I wrote the MP3s to CD. The song I picked to represent the feel of sitting in traffic in New Orleans that day was track 2, San Andreas Fault.
Tuesday, on our way to Longwinded�s, I put in DJ Shadow�s CD �Introducing��. When we got stuck on the Huey P. Long bridge, the song playing was �Building Steam With A Grain Of�� I don�t know what DJ Shadow is building steam with a grain of, or if I have the entire title of that track or not. I have a feeling that the ID3 tag didn�t have enough room for it. I might look it up when I post this. If you have the ability, I highly suggest getting stuck on a seven or so story high bridge on a sunny beautiful day while listening to this song.
Aisai wanted something mellow when we were driving back from Longwinded�s. We got on the Causeway, a 23 mile long bridge at about 10:40 at night. Jonatha Brooke is one of the great overlooked female performers. The song that captures the feel of the way back that night best is Inconsolable.
One of the most looked forward to tunes on the Pre-New Orleans CD that I wrote was Blue Moon by The Cowboy Junkies. We may have listened to it on the way home that night. But I know I heard it about four or five times when we were there in New Orleans.
The car would overheat in heavy traffic. I�d have to turn the AC off and roll down the windows so that the AC wouldn�t pump extra heat onto the engine. This would keep it just under the red. The AC also acted as an indicator faster than the gauge on the dash since it would start blowing warm air. This was a constant stress in the slow, clogged New Orleans traffic. After the French Quarter, we chose St. Charles street to try to get some air over the engine. Rock Superstar is the Car Overheating Theme from RONO.
When we were home at night on Wednesday, I say home but I mean the cabin, I listened to The Police fairly loud. Darkness is the song that best captures the moment.
The fish would jump out of the water there in Westwego at the marsh off our deck. Back at home in Alabama, the cotton was ready for harvest. In the Sam Cooke song Summertime, one of the lyrics is �The fish are jumping and the cotton is high.� This song was also on my Pre-New Orleans CD.
Sexx Laws by Beck is my Thursday morning Poptart eating theme, since I had that on and I was dancing around the cabin when Aisai was taking a shower. When she got out of the shower, she turned my Beck tunes off. Hmmph.
I listened to Ali Akbar Khan quite a bit when I would write on the Mac Classic II those entries that would later become part of my Stuffo here. That Thursday, I listened to the CD Journey by Ali Akbar Khan. The track I chose for the RONO CD was Farewell, the 5th track.
When the alligator showed up off our back porch and I tried to feed it with eXtreme Sour Cream Doritos, I tried to keep it around by playing soothing music. I chose the Home For The Holidays Soundtrack and started it on the sixth track, The Birth Of The Cool Whip, but that isn�t the track that I chose for the RONO CD. The song I remember hearing when we were looking down at Mr. Alligator is Trouble In Mind by Dinah Washington. Excellent song.
Friday, we had to get on the Causeway again and we did it the right way this time. The first time we kind of missed a turn and got in some odd neighborhoods, but this time we got on I-10. I-10 was hellish, and I was listening to Filter � Title of Record at the time. When I was merging onto the cloverleaf that would put us on the Causeway, Captain Bligh was playing.
We were on I-12 on the way to the Wildlife Center when I put in The Doors �The Doors. Though The Alabama Song is what I remember most off that Album, I chose 20th Century Fox as the song for the RONO CD since it�s less weird.
On the way down I-55, heading to the Tezcuco Plantation, we listened to Radiohead�s Kid A. We also listened to it on Saturday on the same stretch of road, this time heading north on 55 since the traffic and road construction on I-10 was horrible. Morning Bell gets on the CD since I remember some of the lyrics. Kid A is still growing on me, and I don�t know the names of any of the songs really.
Once we were in Mississippi on I-59, I listened to some They Might Be Giants. Fingertips #19, which only lasts 22 seconds, makes it onto the mix before the other TMBG song, The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight), which is definitely the most fun song on the CD. Well, Mammal is also good, but I wanted something more festive.
We didn�t listen to this song, but Aisai wanted to. Aquasonic off Two A.D. would have put me to sleep. However, since Aisai mentioned it by saying, �Which is the song that says �Rising up like a beautiful bubble to the surface�?� I had it stuck in my head for a while. It�s odd when you get an ambient dub song stuck in your head. Takes a while too.
After we ate at the Cracker Barrel in Cullman, I put in The Dead Milkmen�s best album, Big Lizard In My Backyard. One of the few songs that doesn�t have curse words in it, and is till one of my favorites is Filet of Sole. I did have some cursey songs earlier though, Rock Superstar is a little dicey.
I think it�s 75 minutes long. You can listen to little samples, I�m sure, at CDNow or some of the other online CD sellers. I saved the listing if anyone wants a copy. All you peer-to-peer people can just construct it by using the collective. If you wanted to that is.