The 15

So, it's nearly 3am and I can't sleep. Third night in a row. It's weird. During the worst part of the depression, I'd get insomnia. But not like this... this feels more the stuff I had before productions would hit the stage when I was teaching drama "in the day."

Whatever.

I'm up. And thinking about yesterday's 15. The albums are supposed to be touchstones, to help remember times, people, whatever. So what do my 15 represent?


1. Born to Run -- Bruce Springsteen
[junior and senior year of high school... discovered Bruce in the sophomore year, just missed Darkness... but a friend turned me on to BtoR and it didn't HIT me until junior year when I really started thinking about leaving home... it's one of only two albums I wore out...]

2. Men Without Women -- Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul
[this is the other one... it came out at the beginning of my sophomore year at UCLA... saw Little Steven at the Roxy, pressed up against the stage... Lisa and I were broken up at the time, and while one song that year used to make me think of someone else, the album as a whole has always made me think of Lisa... especially during our long (relationship) breaks when "Men Without Women" seemed pretty damn fitting... of course, her favorite is "Princess of Little Italy" and she's right, it should have been used SOMEWHERE in the Sopranos]

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UPDATE... just checked out what Steve had to say himself about that record (Freaking Fascinating)... and this is what he said about "Princess"

I had to have one Italian-American song on an introduction album didn't I?

It's spoken from the point of view of an old school, old values, immigrant grandfather watching his favorite granddaughter hit her teenage years and rebel. He doesn't mind the rebellion so much but is she protected?

Don't worry. He's got guys following her.

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3. London Calling -- The Clash
[senior year of high school... rebellion... wearing wraparound shades in my yellow pinto... my one concert regret is never seeing them]

4. Double Nickels on the Dime -- The Minutemen
[junior year at UCLA... I had become a fan after "Buzz or Howl under the Influence of Heat" and checked out a show in Hollywood... damn, what was the name of that punk club... you had to descend down the stairs to get to the performance area... the stage was about eight inches off the ground and MAYBE 8x10 feet... THAT was an experience... but then this album (double album, natch) and it stayed on the turntable for weeks at a time (it come off only for Born in the USA and Voice of America (Little Steven's second album, NOT Sammy Hagar's)... "History Lesson, Part II" still brings tears to my eyes and their cover of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love"? fuckin' fuggetaboutit... DBoon's death was the first celebrity that really affected me]

5. Damn the Torpedoes -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
[junior year of high school... that opening riff of "Refugee", in the words of the next band, "I heard it like a shot through my skull to my brain//I felt my fingertips tingle and it started to rain"... it was one of the first rock albums that was MINE, I bought it without influence of friends, I got tix to the show (the fabulous poodles... name still sticks in my head... opened... they sucked)... in my senior year I'm sure "Here Comes My Girl" and "Shadow of a Doubt (Complex Kid)" were sealed to major crush I had... but now? "Here Comes My Girl" is all Lisa... "watch her walk.... that's right"]

6. The '59 Sound -- The Gaslight Anthem
[the newest piece on the list... and the only one from the past 10 years, I think... this band (I know you're tired of hearing about them but suck it up), they're the real deal... I'm even THINKING about Coachella for the first time since they'll be there on Sunday]

7. Talking with the Taxman about Poetry -- Billy Bragg
[my graduate year at UCLA... the one-man Clash... very liberal, bordering on the communistic... what every education grad student needs... "Help Save the Youth of America" indeed!]

8. Lone Justice -- Lone Justice
[aaahhhhh, Maria McKee... the only woman who I might have stalked if I was THAT kinda guy... loved this band... the first album (which I got autographed at Tower Records, THANKYOUVERYMUCH) came out in 85, but I was into them from late 83... there's some contention to this... Lisa says she turned me onto them after seeing them open for Willie Nelson (whom she took her father to see), but I think I discovered them concurrently based on some articles in the Daily Bruin... regardless, great live band... and damnit she was so damn cute (oh yeah, and that song was written by Little Steven)]

9. Run-DMC -- Run-DMC
[my first rap record... ok, not the first... I had the twelve-inch single of Rapper's Delight by the Sugerhill Gamg my junior year of high school (ah, football)... but the most important rap record I bought... dug the beats, the style, the WORDS... so cool]

10. Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash -- The Pogues
[ok, came to the Pogues in a roundabout way... T-Bone Burnett produced Elvis Costello's King of America... which to me is still one of the best sounding Elvis records (if you take away the lush sounds of Imperial Bedroom... I know, I hate the lushness of Working on a Dream, but whatever), and I saw him play with Elvis on his solo tour... then I noticed he produced the Beat Farmers' first record and I loved that, so when I saw his name on the production of Peter Case's first album, I bought it and loved it... it had a song called "Pair of Brown Eyes" on it... when I told a girl I was trying to impress (er, bed) during my grad year at UCLA, she flippantly told me the original was better... she was right (and obviously too smart for me)... and this album is awesome... I used to teach "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" as part of my WWI unit in sophomore English]

11. Armed Forces -- Elvis Costello
[senior year of high school again... this with London Calling... except I couldn't always understand what the Clash was saying... but Elvis? crystal clear and biting and angry... loved it... I think I was bummed for a week when I learned that "(What's So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding" was written by Nick Lowe]

12. Love, Hope, Sex, Dreams -- The BoDeans
[another T-Bone Burnett production... reminds me of my post grad year cross country train trip... must have listened to that album a hundred times... imagined that if my friend Kevin and I would ever form a band it'd sound like this and I'd be Sammy (Kurt was the good looking one, and Bruce to Sammy's Steve)]

13. Devil without a Cause -- Kid Rock
[out of the classroom and into the workforce... and a long commute during which this album played relentlessly... "Cowboy" was my favorite, never really dug "badiwa" or whatever it's called... but "Wastin' Time" and "Fist of Rage" always merited repeated listens on the CD on the freeway]

14. Reach Up and Touch the Sky (live) -- Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
[senior year of high school, skipping sixth period to go driving with Lisa to the harbor, this one and Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True"... but this one... "I Don't Wanna Go Home" ... "Hearts of Stone"... "Having a Party"... I still hear those Jersey boys in my head... bought their records because of the Bruce connection... played them forever (I still have the first album on MP3 on the desktop computer [and not on the external hard drive like the rest of my collection, either]) 'cuz they're so damn good]

15. 1999 -- Prince
[college, pre-Purple Rain... post-Rolling Stone concert debacle (Lisa and I were there for that... uh, experience)... another double LP and just awesome... the fact he played most of the instruments on that record blew me away then and now... long freaking songs... but what songs "Little Red Corvette", "Lady Cab Driver", "Delirious"... aw, man... gotta love it]

Now nearly 4... let's see if I can get some sleep...