Erst things Erst

I fear that I am becoming addicted to these silly internet memes. People tell me that I’m too morose and that’s true. I have good reason to be so. But to make things a little cheerier on my slice of the world-wide web, I’m including this interesting meme.

My friendship with Nigel took place before ipods were as ubiquitous as they are today, but I would be shocked if he does not own one. Back in our college days, he jerry-rigged an ingenious Rube Goldberg-esque device that connected a random number generator to my cd player, his tape deck, turntable, a wax cylinder that we found and the piano rolls for the player piano that we purchased together.*

On the rare occasions this device worked, we were able to play random selections from our collections of music and spoken word recordings. Great fun! More often than not, however, it just caused a big mess. I’ll never forget the time the plumber returned to fix our persistant toilet problems and tripped over this contraption. He let out a perfect Cockney “Oy! What’s all this then!”** and graciously accepted our apologies.

Anyway, enough woolgathering, on with the meme!

Directions: If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
7. Don’t skip songs.

My Movie:

1. Opening credits: Digital / Elliot Sharp ; Kronos Quartet
2. Waking up: Hear My Train A-Comin’ / Jimi Hendrix
3. First day of school: Fugue no. 21 in B-flat Major, WTC Book I / J. S. Bach ; Boris Berman ***
4. Fight song: Bloodsport for all (seriously, this was completely random!) / Carter, the Unstoppable Sex Machine
5. Breaking up: Snake Hair Dun / David Torn, Mick Karn, Terry Bozzio****
6. Happiness: Tot nog Toe / Fanfare Sint Juttemis
7. Life’s okay: With This Love (Passion Soundtrack) / Peter Gabriel
8. Mental breakdown: Can’t Roll Back / Strategy
9. Driving: Sonata in A Major, Wq. 70, no. 1. Allegro / C.P.E. Bach
10. Flashback: Walky-talky / Harmonia
11. Getting back together: Finger Lickin Good / Beastie Boys
12. Wedding song: Under the Milky Way / Amasa
13. Birth of first child: Fur Elise / Ludwig van Beethoven ; Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnies *****
14. Final battle scene: galaxy nine / Okay Temiz
15. Death scene: Five Fugues from Atlanta. No. 1 / Michael Maier
16. Funeral song: Take Five / Oziie Hall
17. End credits: Nobodies Fool / Nina Gordon

What fun! We’ll be back to the moroseness next post. In the meantime I tag:

Nina & Kiki, Phoebe & Jinx, Sol, Junie, Anenome

* Come to think of it, Nigel never payed me for his half of the piano. And he still has the piano!

** Our plumber was not in fact British, but Japanese American with an interesting accent combining hints of California surfer and Bostonian blue-blood.

*** The Wohltemperierte Klavier is Sol’s favorite workout music. At least it was during the short period of time when I would try to excersize with him. I couldn’t keep up with him!

**** Nigel once said that I resemble Terry Bozzio. No one else agreed. I don’t think I look like him at all.

***** Thank you so much Junie for introducing me to this wonderful guitarist and his fascinating renditions of classical melodies.