Monday, January 21, 2008

an unlikely playlist

The musical tastes of  H and I rarely overlap. He likes Rancid and Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers. I like Julieta Venegas and A Tribe Called Quest. But as it is with anybody you spend millions of hours getting to know, songs that normally would have made you turn the dial start sounding really good to you—partly because it's not just a song anymore, but a reminder of the person and the good times you've had together.


The other day I heard a Weezer song on the radio, and I was immediately transported to the Conejo Grade in the passenger seat of H's red car, dreading getting to the airport. It's always an impressive view from that 2-mile slope, and especially so for a Midwesterner whose closest thing to a local "mountain" is a little higher than a speedbump. And it's amazing how the first few lines of the song so clearly brought back the dry, dusty brownness of the mountains, the breeze through the windows and that feeling of cruising down the hill as though it was a rollercoaster with brakes. All that from one song. 

So I typed it into pandora.com and got a stream of other tunes I'd heard in H's car. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Ok Go, Green Day. All of it reminds me of him. I've been listening to it all day and feeling a little better about the fact that it's going to be another month before I see that grade and that man again.

Unfortunately, the music does nothing to satisfy the taste I have right now for an In N Out burger.

8 comments:

  1. Let's see... I've heard of A Tribe Called Quest, Weezer... oh, and Green Day.

    This is a very nice post, Cadiz. I often find myself putting music on my iPod that I wouldn't have otherwise listened to, except for the fact that it reminds me of something I enjoyed.

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  2. Sometimes the best thing about music is the memories that it relates to!

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  3. I miss In n Out burgers! I never cared too much for their fries, but love, love, love the burgers. It's been too long...

    Sarah

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  4. Hi Cadiz. not sure how you found me, but glad you did.

    i love how are senses help us time travel to people, places, and different times to relive experiences.

    smell does it a lot for me. scientists have done studies that show our sub conscience actually recognizes mates through particularly pleasing odors...neat-o or disgusting...?

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  5. There's only one cure for an In N Out burger craving, and that's an In N Out burger. My sister used to work there. She used to be a cook too. I wonder if she could show me how she made them... All I'll need then is a direct supply of ingredients from In N Out. I'm sure they provide those to random, private citizens with a strong desire to make their own burgers. Yeah, I'm sure they totally do that.

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  6. The power of music to connect us to people, places. You won't buhleeeave why I like the Wiggles.

    On Sunday I was playing old, old, really olllld music from black & white Indian movies for my mum, memory after memory kept spilling from her, it was good to see her so happy.

    Last night I read all your posts I missed, gee, I wanted to comment on all but for some reason I can't, not in the evenings.

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  7. if I hear blind melon, I can smell bleach. don't ask.

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