Is This Living?

Um, that's brilliant.

Careering
PiL

A face is raining
Across the border
The pride of history
The same as murder
Is this living
He's been careering

The steady hand as planned
Behind the reasoning
No claim for property
Both sides of the river
There is bacteria
Is this living
He's been careering

Trigger machinery
Mangle the military
No one should be there
Is this living
Blown into breeze
Scatter concrete
The jagged metal bad life
Manufactured
He's been careering

Is this living
A face is raining
Across the border
The pride of history
The same as murder
Is this living careering

There must be meaning
Behind the moaning
Spreading tales
Like coffin nails
Is this living
He's been careering

It's raining
I need to hide
Trigger machinery
I've been careering

Across the border
Is this living
Both sides of the river
There is bacteria
Armoured machinery mangled

Post Punk Party Mix

I'm a little distracted worrying about my mom. This blog is a good diversion. It's nice to be home, and I noticed something after being in the hospital for 6 days. When I play my iPod in the car, I am not switching songs all the time. I am actually listening to playlists. One of them is this one, and it was wiped from my computer--it existed only on my iPod. It was a playlist I made for a party here at the house. I invited the Humanities folks over for a holiday get-together. I asked them to bring their iPods. I challenged them to make a mix (this was even before we hired Joshua!!). Kim and Larry brought mixes. This is the mix I made. I just uploaded it to 8tracks.

Some of these tracks were converted from vinyl. To this day, that is my only source for Kilimanjaro by The Teardrop Explodes. Found the original party invite from back in 2005:

My wife Kathy and I will be hosting a 2006 Humanities Welcome Back party at our house on Thursday, January 12, 2006. This is the day of Welcome Back. All MCC Humanities faculty & staff (including kids, spouses and partners) are welcome.

Post Punk Party Mix

Oh, and something's changed over at 8tracks. Mix descriptions are now limited to 140 characters. In a way, I guess that's good. I tend to be long-winded there. That's what the blog is for. They also don't want you to post playlists (which I never did). Again, that's what the blog is for.

Playlist

1. We Live As We Dream Alone / Gang Of Four
2. Metal / Gary Newman
3. Fall In Love With Me / Japan
4. Frustration / Soft Cell
5. Telegraph / OMD
6. Everybody's Happy Nowadays / Buzzcocks
7. The Love Parade / The Undertones
   
8. Went Crazy / The Teardrop Explodes
   
9. Heart and Soul / Joy Division
   
10. Do It Clean / Echo and the Bunnymen
    
11. Ice Age / Joy Division
    
12. Third Uncle / Bauhaus
    
13. Not Great Men / Gang Of Four

Oh, and that photo is Ian McCulloch from Echo. I think those kids were gorgeous.

> On Dec 22, 2005, at 1:08 AM, Steve Robinson wrote:
>
> Okay, Kim & Larry--fire up your iPods.
>
> If you think it would be fun, please accept my invitation to put a
> party playlist together on your 'pods. We'll hook 'em up to the
> stereo on the 12th as a great soundtrack for our gathering.
>
> I'm torn about mine; not sure if I should select a theme, or just
> go for overall vibe.
>
> I looooooove party music.

Teardrop Explodes

Gang of Four Were Brilliant

Buzzcocks

I loved them in high school. They are still really fun. You've got to love this really boring video of them playing. I think Steve Diggle is the coolest-looking guy. At 17, I wished I looked like him (he's the guy to the left of Pete playing the blond Les Paul Special). Gotta love the 80s skinny-tied Steve Garvey dancing and playing his Music Man bass.





Here's another video, this one from German TV. This is so obviously a lip-synch. Must have been common then--I'll bet they just didn't care. I mean, that is the version from the record; you can hear two guitars, but Pete isn't playing. I mean, there's even a fade-out. But Garvey is playing a J-Bass. Cool!





Here's another good one; it's my favorite Buzzcocks song, "Are Everything," which had a trick fadeout at the end.



I love this song because there's no bridge; it just repeats and repeats. Gotta love it!


I also really liked Steve Garvey's bass playing. Here are some pictures of the new bassist; in one, he's playing a MM similar to the one Garvey was playing in the video above and on the cover of Singles Going Steady. In the other, it looks like he's playing one of those Marcus Miller J-Bass models.

Snoozester

Okay, this is pointless... perfect for my blog!

I am staying overnight in the hospital. It's not a hotel. I have a 5:25 am flight back to Detroit tomorrow. Staying in a hotel, I could ask for a wakeup call. Not here. Google "wake up call service" and you will encounter snoozester.com

I tested it. It works. Wake up call scheduled for 2:30 am.

We'll see if I get up in time to gas up and return the rental car and make the flight.

You can earn me free Snoozster credits by signing up:
Sign up for a free Snoozester account

On the serious side... my mother is going to be stable for a few days, so I can now return to my life in Michigan. What she has is a form of interstitial lung disease called viral cyrptogenic pneumonitis. She will be unconscious and on the ventilator for about a week. The potential prognosis is much better for this preliminary diagnosis than it would have been for some of the other interstitial pneumonias. I will stay in touch with her partner as she regains consciousness and hopefully is weaned from the breathing machine. I imagine I will be back down here soon to help in some way. Best to head home and participate in my life there until we find out how I can be of use in the future.

Pneumonia vs. Pneumonitis

Although the names are nearly identical, pneumonitis is not the same as pneumonia. Pneumonitis is lung inflammation without infection, whereas pneumonia is lung inflammation that results from infection. In addition, pneumonia is generally limited to one or two areas of the lungs, but pneumonitis involves all five lobes — two in the left lung and three in the right.
--MayoClinic.com

A difference explained.