August 18-20, New York City

Sexy Sadie	The Beatles
Lemons Never Forget	Bee Gees
In Blue Hawaii	Brian Wilson
In the City	The Who
Ain't Got Me	Paul Westerberg
Our Prayer	The Beach Boys
Someone I Once Knew	Paul Westerberg
Wined And Dined	Syd Barrett

The remainder of the trip I was in shuffle mode. I do not do this very often, mainly because I always have a pretty clear idea of what I want to listen to. Being in a new city with a whole week off must have rubbed off on me because I went into shuffle mode Monday morning while I waited for my wife to get ready and stayed there for the rest of the trip. I have mixed feelings about shuffle mode. On one hand it is like having your own personal radio station that is programmed straight from your tastes. On the other, it can be frustrating, as, much like radio, you have no control of what comes next. I may have Syd Barrett on my iPod, but I am not always in the mood for Syd Barrett.

This is actually a pretty short list, covering only about twenty minutes. This is mostly to do with the fact that it was our first morning on vacation and we had not yet settled into our morning routine. As the week went on, we figured out our timing a little more and I had more time to listen. Plus, we discovered that the Olympics were playing in the morning, and we ended up watching many of the basketball games in our hotel before we went out. You think I would pass on a chance to watch LeBron being coached by Coach K?!

The list, though short, is a mirror of the longer list for the week. The shuffle started right where I left off the day before with one of my favorites from The Beatles. You may know it as the White Album. There are also two of the many Paul Westerberg songs that would pop up throughout the week. I ended up adding a lot of his songs the night before we left after being very impressed with his latest 49:00 album/experiment. I am a huge fan of both his Replacements (see blog name!) and solo stuff, and I think the new album is great.

23 Years Ago	Paul Westerberg
Summer's Almost Gone	The Doors
Chambermaid	Pink Fairies
To The Path!	Robert Pollard

This list is even shorter! We went to the Guggenheim on this day, and I think we slept in a little bit if I remember right. I do remember that we ate at a really good pizza place for lunch near the Guggenheim. Keeping with the theme, the morning started off with another Westerberg song, “23 Years Ago” from Folker. I saw him on that tour and it was one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Today also marked the first appearance of Mr. Pollard. I am sure there will be many more.

Think About It	The Yardbirds
She Hangs Out	The Monkees
Rats	Syd Barrett
Tuesday Afternoon	The Moody Blues
Octopus	Syd Barrett
The Unknown Soldier	The Doors
The Return of Rubezahl	Amon Düül II
Heroes And Villains	Brian Wilson
Down By the Borderline	Tim Buckley
Sven the Blue Jay	Wake Up Mordecai
Natural Mean Lover	Grandpaboy
Don't Put Me On	The Flamin' Groovies
Lovely Rita	The Beatles
Tell Me Why	Neil Young
My Human Gets Me Blues	Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Anonymous	Sleater-Kinney
She's Goin' Bald	The Beach Boys

By Wednesday we had settled into our morning routine more or less, and I had figured out about the amount of time I could listen to my iPod. I did most of my music listening in the morning while my wife was getting ready for the day and I was watching the Olympics. One of my favorite times to listen to music is while watching sports. They are two of my favorite hobbies, and, along with drinking beer, they complement each other very well. I don’t remember what events I watched each day, but I did watch both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and the gold medal women’s soccer match which was really great.

The play list for today was kind of odd. There weren’t very many current songs played, and the songs seemed to switch from pop songs by the Monkees and the Beatles into much more challenging material by Captain Beefheart and Amon Duul II. It was an interesting list, but the listening experience ultimately had a strange flow.

There were two Syd Barrett songs, another artist who would pop up a lot during the week. Despite my comments earlier in the week about not always wanting to hear Syd, I love his music and he is the main reason I got into Pink Floyd. I used to hate the band, but after getting my Dad a copy of Piper At the Gates of Dawn a couple of years ago for Christmas, I found myself starting from that album and moving forward. It’s not that much of a jump from Saucer Full of Secrets to Meddle. Within a couple of months I was a fan of all the material and had added Pink Floyd to a list of bands that I had formerly hated and then turned to like. They joined Bruce Springsteen and REM on this ever-growing list.