This is sort of the walk-up to the Best of '06 Terribly Happy CD, which I am now finally working on. I'll post details soon.

Over on the profile page:

1. The Arcade Fire - Black Wave/Bad Vibrations -- The Arcade Fire have a new CD coming out next month and they've leaked a few tracks from Neon Bible. They also played a show in New York Saturday that was broadcast on NPR and is available online. Of the three new songs I've heard, this one's my favorite. I like the first single just fine, but this one kind of really does it for me. I've been listening to Funeral pretty much non-stop for more than a year, so the new material is certainly welcome.

2. Rollins Band - Ghostrider -- I haven't seen the Ghost Rider movie, nor do I intend to, but I'm willing to bet money that this song is better than that movie.

3. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Harry to Hospital -- This is from the soundtrack to Wild Palms, a TV miniseries based on a comic book that most people have never heard of. It hit me at a really formative age, right around the time David Lynch hit me, and the music on the soundtrack is creepy, gorgeous, electronic and seemingly has one foot in the past and the other in the near-future. It made me a fan of Bruce Wagner's writing. The only person I know of who really knows anything about this soundtrack is my friend Greg

4. Fiona Apple - Across the Universe -- One of my favorite Beatles covers ever, one that actually works. It's from the Pleasantville soundtrack and has a very lovely video directed by PT Anderson from back in the PT/Fiona days.

5. Hole - She Walks on Me -- We used to play pool at this dive in Norman and this song was in the jukebox, along with the rest of Live Through This. I'd put it on just to piss people off. It's a loud, screechy, obnoxious song that I happen to love.

6. Tha Dogg Pound - Let's Play House -- I've always like Dogg Pound and Nate Dogg specifically and Dogg Food is about the dirtiest CD I own. This song is a little more tame, but damn. It's the jam.

7. The Police - Tea in the Sahara -- I own a Police box set because of a BMG Music Club snafu that occurred while I was dating a woman who loves Sting/The Police. They sent a box set with one disc missing, which prompted a complaint, which resulted in them sending two complete box sets, neither of which were ever asked to be returned. Were these ethical days? They were not. Yet, the four-disc boxed set remains on my CD shelf as it probably does on hers. This is probably my favorite Police song.