escape to witch mountain

at the same time, i'm relishing scott walker's monolithic the drift and anne murray's talk it over in the morning. it's all one long song. today i bought the new paul simon and phoenix albums. i looked for the drift but nobody has it. my auto-genre-selector calls scott walker avant-garde.

some of my very favourite songs:

• veda hille, noah's ark (1998)
  
• scott walker, it's raining today (1969)
  
• spanky and our gang, leopard skin phones (1968)
  
• phoenix, napoleon says (2006)
  
• mojave 3, the mutineer (2006)
  
• swing out sister, you on my mind (1989)
  
• underworld, pearl's girl (1996)
  
• rickie lee jones, coolsville (1979)
  
• joe jackson, the verdict (1984)
  
• steely dan, doctor wu (1975)
  

i tried to make it through the day without diphenhydramine. i was sneezing consistently and squinting a lot, but the itchy eyes finally drove me to the little pink pills at 6 pm, before i took out the dog. i was promptly knocked out. at 10.30 pm, with a fair amount of reading left to do, i decided to turn the situation around; i made myself a cup of coffee. now i am awake and going strong at 3.40am, thursday morning. the last two nights i have been in bed by 11.00, but awake between 1.30-3.00 am, unable to sleep. i then sleep in until 11.30 am. the next day. i wanted to go to the sustainability shindig tomorrow, but i know that i will not be functional until the early afternoon.

my iTunes: 6853 songs; 26.5 GB; 19 days, 12 hours, 13 minutes and 34 seconds; 695 albums; 299 artists.
the current top 10 most played:

1. paul simon, rhythm of the saints
   
2. dusty springfield, in the land of make believe
   
3. mojave 3, the mutineer
   
4. the new pornographers, sing me spanish techno
   
5. phoenix, consolation prizes
   
6. scott walker, we came through
   
7. a girl called eddy, tears all over town
   
8. cher, gypsies, tramps, and thieves
   
9. dillard and clark, the radio song
   
10. donald fagen, what i do
    

see, #s 7-10 are all at 6 plays each, along with the next 17 songs on the all-time list. it's ranked alphabetically.

birds are singing and the sky is beginning to lighten. i am awake! things i need in life? a vacation. time in another city/country/region/climate. i'll be seeing my dad this sunday, and i am really looking forward to talking to him about records. there actually isn't anyone else that i can talk about records with, except rich, except i never see him either. i just hate talking about music. but i LOVE it. i've been thinking of ways to lead off a review of the drift for the peak. "any discussion of latter-day scott walker inevitably dissolves into a question of high-art vs. low art, authenticity of creation and of appreciation..." i like it, but why?

tomorrow i will undoubtedly be a wreck, but i'm not terribly concerned about it. by tomorrow i mean later today. tomorrow afternoon i will go downtown to pick up two rolls worth of photos. one has been sitting on my bookshelf for about two years; i have no idea what is on it.