Aimless Wandering and New Deletions

Like the rest of Austin, I spent part of Sunday wandering around Town Lake.

There were moments when I was the only person on the trail, I could see and hear no one else around me, even though I was out at 1 in the afternoon on a gorgeous, cloudless April day.

In the couple of hours I walked up and down the south shore, I was able to sort through some of my collection and mark some crap for deletion. I have too much music on my iPod. Shuffling through mediocre crap keeps me from hearing great stuff. So gone are Mates of State, Jenny Owens Young, and about 40 others. Not terrible, not great. Twee-ish, precious indie pop . . . gone.

I try to rank my songs by how much I want to hear them again. A 5 star song is one I will listen to nearly every time it pops up. A 4 star song is one that I look forward to hearing again while I am listening to it. A 3 star song is one I enjoy if it pops up randomly, but I would not search out. 1 and 2 stars are basically marked for deletion. Some of those stay in for completeness -- part of an album, a cover collection, my Austin collection, or a band my friends/clients like so I give them additional opportunities to impress me.

Gibson Guitars on the Hike and Bike

Gibson Guitar has put decorated guitar statues throughout downtown and the Hike and Bike Trail.

Like Chicago's "Cows on Parade" (1999), the guitars are all decorated differently:

One I saw at 10th and Lamar was covered in record store and band bumper stickers.

Another along Lamar is covered in disco ball-style mirrors.

Below are a few pictures I took as M and I wandered along the Hike and Bike on Town Lake a couple of weeks ago.

Random Music From a Cold, Rainy Stroll

I spent yesterday afternoon strolling around Town Lake with M. It was very cold, rainy, and gray.

The trail was often muddy and we also had to negotiate our way around a huge fallen
tree near Barton Springs Pool. I climbed through the mud around the roots while M jumped up onto the trunk and hit his head on low twigs.

We saw only a dozen people along the 4+ mile loop. Almost all of them runners. Some with dogs, who wanted to be anywhere but in the cold, wet mud.

For the most part, we chatted about his (former?) relationship and his (ex?) girlfriend, as I offered advice (and hectored, where appropriate).

Two songs were stuck in my head as we walked:

Ghostwriter, RJD2.

I tried to describe the mostly instrumental track Ghostwriter: "you know, the percussion is like ba bump bump bump bump bump, and then the horn comes in." Just as annoying as you would imagine.

Mp3.
You can buy the album on Amazon
or a remix of the track on iTunes.
Note: the album Deadringer on iTunes is a partial album, so buy it on Amazon.

Postcards from Italy, Beirut.

Mp3.
You can buy the album on iTunes.