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I do that sometimes. Mostly, it’s true, when I’m listening to Jeff Buckley’s “The Last Goodbye” and wondering how any woman in her right mind could ever turn him down.

(And don’t even get me started on “Lover, You Should Have Come Over…”)

But I don’t usually wonder about it with a sense of “I wish that was written about me.” Mostly I think about it in terms of, “I would not be happy to have a song that says that about me all over the airwaves.”

Of course a lot of songwriters don’t write about actual people, it’s all made up stuff. But a lot of songwriters—including a lot of my favorites—do write about actual people. I mean, how does Darryl Hannah feel about Jackson Browne’s “I’m Alive” album, which (I’m assuming) is pretty much all about her?

The girl that “Sister Christian” is about nearly changed her name, she was so mortified when people figured out it was about her.

How’d you like to be the woman this was written for?

Actually, she probably just rolled her eyes when she heard that song. Glen can be a bit melodramatic at times.

It’s why we love him.

So what are some songs you wish were written about you? Or songs you’d want to die if they were?

Are you surprised?

I’m not either. I forget everything!

I posted a video blog the other day about some old music magazines I’d saved from my teen years. Included in all the stuff my parents sent was a fanzine that my penpal, Laura, put together.

She actually did multiple issues, but I only saved a copy of one, not sure why. Maybe because it was the only one I submitted anything for. I don’t remember. But I’d completely forgotten I’d written some album reviews for it until I started to scan it for Laura, who I recently reconnected with on Facebook. She lost all of her own copies of the ‘Zine, which is really too bad, because she did some cool interviews for it, including the Alarm. She interviewed them in San Fran, then flew to Seattle to stay with me for a few days and we went to see them play. When we met them after the show, they remembered her from the interview. It was cool.

Anyway, here is the page that features my reviews. I think it’s funny that I still basically write about music the same way I did when I was 15.

Back when I was Susie M.

I was too lazy to take pictures or scan stuff and write everything out about this. Instead I rambled on in front of a webcam.

Isn’t that a great name for a band?

For Christmas just about all Nathaniel wanted was cash so he could go to shows, so that’s what he got. Problem is I don’t want to be spending money for me to go to shows now that Daniel’s unemployed, and he doesn’t have a driver’s license. Since Dillon wouldn’t go with him to see this band he wanted to see, Animals As Leaders, Nathaniel sprang for my ticket and I took him.

The show was at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Famous venue (the Doors played there!) but totally lame. Any venue on the Sunset Strip is lame…but the Whiskey packs like 8 bands on a bill and lets them all play about 4 songs. And some of the bands actually pay the venue to be able to play there.

Some thoughts during the opening bands.

First band (that we saw): Will someone just stick a fork in my eyeball already?

Second band: Bubblegum metal…How much more cookie cutter can you get?…Can I stick a fork in his eyeball?

Third band: Closed my eyes and almost went to sleep.

Animals As Leaders were awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I didn’t know anything about them, but they’re doing stuff I’ve never seen anyone else do. Two guitarists on 8-string guitars, with a drummer, and no vocals. Their songs are proggy/mathy. They have heavy moments and they have soft moments. There were a couple laptops in use too, for samples I think. Or drum loops or something.

It’s always awesome to see a black guy in a metal band. And he rips on guitar.

The crowd loved them, which I was a little surprised by, since they’d also loved some of the previous bands that were like torture to me. There was even a big pit going, which was interesting—I don’t really see their music as something to mosh to.

Sad part—one of the guitarists had intrument/equipment problems, and it took awhile for him to get it fixed. They only played five songs!

Here’s what they sound like:

I’ve only heard it about three times though.

Go Alison!

Do you know who this song is about?

It’s about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. I tend to embrace the grisly, so I love this song. Another good song about a killer is “Diane” by Husker Du. It’s creepy because it’s told from the point of view of the killer. But Sufjan takes it a step further—he asks what we have in common with a killer. It’s disturbing.

And brilliant.

I’ve been waiting and waiting for American Idol to start back up. Pathetic, really.

The day it was coming back on, I called Daniel to see when he’d be home. I asked him if he knew what was happening that night. He said, “Uh, the most greatest thing in the history of the world?”

That distracted me. What exactly did he think was happening that night?

“Doesn’t your show start back up tonight?”

He knows me so well.

I was watching tonight and Elijah was strumming on his guitar on the couch next to me. He said something but I shushed him. Then I realized what he’d been doing. “You were just playing along with that singer?”

“Yeah. It’s easy to figure out and predict pop songs.”

Can’t remember now exactly what song it was. Possibly “Summertime.”

And now thanks to one of those last auditioners I have this song stuck in my head:

(Elijah groaned when that guy made it through. He said there are kids just like him at his school who carry a guitar around and “play like this”—he strummed two or three chords softly over and over–”and then they say it took them a year to write it!”)

So far I don’t really have any great favorites, except the Mormon guy from last week and um, I forget who else. The hill billy girl was awesome. Oh wait here she is:

Her singing starts at 1:50 or so. What can I say, I love hillbilly music. Don’t believe me?

My parents asked what they could get Daniel for Christmas, so I suggested a portable satellite radio. This particular kind also lets you play mp3s. I had to take a picture of the music my husband has loaded on it so far. He’s one of the few people I’ve ever known who has as diverse taste in music as I do.

38 Special
JJ Fad
Kreator
Loverboy
Slayer
Sunny Day Real Estate

So. Daniel lost his job last week.

And my friend’s husband found out the reason he can barely walk from back pain is a big cancerous tumor in his back.

I don’t really want to talk about either right now. The job loss? Eh, we’ve been through it before. Multiple times. It’ll work out. The cancer? I don’t know any details about it yet. Whenever I try to talk to my friend, she can’t say anything about it without almost breaking down, so I haven’t ask her.

That’s what’s been going on around here.

I keep thinking about this lyric by Patty Griffin that I love:

In the battle of time, in the battle of will
It’s only hope and your heart that gets killed

Got any other great but depressing song lyrics? Lay ‘em on me.

Oh and we’re going to see Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire tonight. Converge and High on Fire are two of my favorite live bands. Mastodon are good too.

And it went really well.

I was worried it was going to fall apart so didn’t mention it to anyone beforehand. It was at an all ages venue in Newport Beach, and the deal is, the band has to sell 30 tickets to be able to play. The boys were having a hard time finding that many people who could go. But then the bassist managed to sell a whole bunch. It turned out to be a cool deal, because they sold tickets to a lot of their friends from school, so the crowd was mostly made up of people they knew.

They had to play for 30 minutes and when they booked the gig they really only had about two songs written. And they had trouble finding time when everyone in the band could practice. They managed to write a bunch of material in time, though. I was worried when they played they’d rush through it all and be done after 15 minutes, but they played for exactly the right amount of time.

They’re called CATYRAX. Elijah’s on drums.

We videotaped the whole thing but I’m not sure when or if they’ll ever get it up on youtube.