For a while I've been a musical admirer of the composer of today's list. Friends and I have joked that he's the Triangle's answer to Jim Keltner (for those of you who don't know Keltner is a famous session drummer who has backed up practically everybody from John Lennon to Dolly Parton to Elvis Costello to Warren Zevon to Roberta Flack to even Toto and Sesame Street!) Okay maybe today's subject doesn't have credentials like that but Jay Farrar, Alexandro Escovedo, R.E.M., Caitlin Cary, and the Connells to name a few isn't shabby. His real ongoing gig is drumming for Superchunk but it should also be noted that he has his hand in some cool comedy projects including fake call-in radio interviews CDs "Rock Rot & Rule" and "Chain Fights, Beer Busts and Service With A Grin" as well as some funny as hell promo work for the MTV Movie Awards. He is Jon Wurster :

After some debate I decided to not take the "these are the songs I feel are important" approach and go with the songs that affect me on a physical/emotional level. These are the tunes that make my heart jump when they come on the radio (although I think the chances of hearing most of these on the FM are pretty slim nowadays) and bring back strong memories. Many of these might be considered empty pop songs. All I know is that these are the songs that still give me goose bumps. They are in no particular order.

1. Bob Dylan - "Ring Them Bells" : Hard to pick just one Dylan tune but I'll go with this because it (and Oh Mercy --the album it comes from) was the soundtrack to the most depressing period of my life.
2. Blue Oyster Cult - "Don't Fear The Reaper" : This is perhaps my favorite record for reasons I still don't understand. I'm not totally down with the solo but I must admit that the top 40 single version (minus the guitar histrionics) feels a bit incomplete without it. The fact that this dark song about suicide made it to number 11 on the pop charts is all the proof one needs that things were a whole lot different "way back when."
3. The Replacements - "Color Me Impressed" :I can still remember sitting in a friend’s apartment in the spring of '83 and hearing this for the first time. I was really blown away by the overall package (great melody/lyrics/rockage) of this tune which I would rank as Westerberg's first "great one."
4. The Clash - "Train In Vain" : The Clash was the band that meant the most to me as a kid. I'm going with this one because it was the first song I ever heard by them. I was sitting in the back of my parent's Pontiac in the winter of 1979 when it came on the local rock FM station. I imagine it was the only track on London Calling deemed safe enough for radio play. A few months later I was thrilled to find a copy of the album without a parental warning sticker (I think it said "Might be offensive to some listeners" or something like that) at a sheet music shop on Broadway while on a trip to see West Side Story with my parents.
5. The LA's - "There She Goes" :For my money the best pop song of the last 20 years. The recent spate of lackluster covers of this beauty has only made me appreciate the original version all the more.
6. The Reivers - "Star Telegram" :A dreamy folk rocker from these '80s folk rockers.
7. Rolling Stones - "Gimme Shelter" : I’m one of those assholes of the "Beatles or Stones" persuasion. I've always favored the Stones and, for better or worse, have never owned a Beatles album. I just thought they had no groove whatsoever. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. This is a pretty spooky little number.
8. The Byrds - "Spanish Harlem Incident" A great under 2:00 jangle version of one of Dylan's early deep cuts. Also notable for the most heinous bass mistake ever left on a record.
9. Uncle Tupelo - "Punch Drunk" : For 2 years I ignored my friend's raves about Uncle Tupelo, a band from her hometown of St. Louis. I sat on the tape she gave me of their just-released Still Feel Gone album for several days before finally giving it a spin. This Jay Farrar track was the one that really did it for me. I had somewhat of an appreciation for the early works of Rank and File, The Blasters and The Del Fuegos but what I liked about Uncle Tupelo was that this was roots rock made by dudes who were also coming from Black Flag and the Minutemen.
10. The Pretenders - "Talk of the Town" : A disproportionate number of my favorite songs are in the key of G - this is one of 'em.
11. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - "The Waiting" : I think this one is too.
12. Isaac Hayes & David Porter - "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons than One)" :I'm not the most R&B -oriented guy on the planet but this one is definitely a favorite.
13. Ramones - "Oh Oh, I Love Her So" : "I met her at the Burger King/We fell in love by the soda machine." Another fine bit of poetry from what I would consider the most influential band of the last 25 years.
14. R.E.M. - "Sitting Still" : Mike Watt says that when the Minutemen were asked to support R.E.M. on the final leg of the Fables Of The Reconstruction tour they went out and bought a copy of one of the Athens band's records to see what they sounded like. Their verdict? "Vocal group." That ain't a bad thing if you ask me.
15. Minutemen - "History Lesson Pt. 2" : An unusually melodic number by this great band.
16. Cheap Trick - "Come On, Come On" : One of the first songs I learned to play on guitar. I stole a large portion of it for the only song I wrote for Superchunk that ever made it to an album ("Cursed Mirror"). I'm talking about the At Budokan version here.
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Straight to You" :Not so much a disciple of Mr. Cave but this one has a special place in my heart. I've always wondered what Dylan would do to this one.
18. Def Leppard - "Photograph" : Def Leppard and their ilk were the enemy as far as I was concerned back in high school. This Raspberries-esque popper has really grown on me and allowed me to soften my hatred of '80s hard rock.
19. The Carpenters - "Ticket to Ride" : It was either this or "Superstar." Had never heard this version until the mid-'90s when I was in a grocery store. What I like about this and most Carpenters records is that it actually sounds as if it's going in slow motion - not unlike one of those nightmares where you're being chased by a murderer. And let's hear it for Richard Carpenter who had the cajones to change the final chord of the chorus to something a little more "showbiz."
20. Chrome - "Anorexic Sacrifice" : This is a strange one in that I'm really not that much of a Chrome fan. I imagine students of their catalog would place this one in the "fluff" category.
21. fIREHOSE - "Somethings" : A tune off the much-maligned From Ohio record. I fell for this one the first time I heard 'em play it live. "Dreams break chains!"
22. Germs - "Mannimal" : I was reminded of the brilliance of this song after a recent screening of The Decline of Western Civilization which shows lead singer Darby Crash to be both a class-A fuck-up and light years beyond any other hardcore lyricist ("Evolution is a process/Too slow to save my soul").
23. Daft Punk - "Digital Love" : A combo I know nothing about except for this one tune. Heard it on a juke box in Glasgow, Scotland and immediately dropped to one knee in reverence. A perfect example of a song hitting me on "that level."
24. Echo & The Bunneymen - "The Killing Moon" : Sentimental reasons for this one as it was all over the radio when I first visited my longtime home of Chapel Hill.
25. Thin Lizzy - "Cowboy Song (Live and Dangerous)": I've heard a lot of bands cover this and nobody has ever come close to this semi-live version.
26. The Stooges - "Loose" : As explosive a number as you're likely to hear anywhere.
27. Husker Du - "Something I Learned Today" : Tough picking just one by these guys who along with R.E.M. and the Replacements form (as a friend of similar taste opines) "the holy trinity" of early/mid-'80s rock. Although I prefer the Husker's more melodic numbers ("Hate Paper Doll," "Could You Be The One," "Flip Your Wig") this Zen Arcade scorcher makes the most emotional impact on me and transports me back to my days at the PA toothpaste packaging plant where I worked the midnight to 8:00 shift. What was I thinking?
28. True Believers - "The Rain Won’t Help You When It’s Over" : A tear-jerking roots rocker from another fine mid-'80s Austin band.
29. The Knack - "My Sharona" : I should clarify this and state that "My Sharona" is actually not one of my favorite songs. The guitar solo on this is my favorite solo of all time. I know this seems somewhat goofy but that's where I'm coming from. Imagine my excitement when I actually had the opportunity to laud Knack lead guitarist Burton Averre face-to-face a few weeks ago in a St. Louis airport. He was as embarrassed for me as you are.
30. Wire - "Outdoor Miner" : As is the case with the aforementioned Minutemen track, this catchy number is a little out of place in the artist's oeuvre.
31. Brothers Johnson - "Strawberry Letter #23" : A childhood favorite. And yes, I prefer this hand down to its author Shuggie Otis's version.

 
Today's list comes from a good friend of mine who is a writer, artist, and major supporter of the Chapel Hill music scene. She has turned me on to many cool bands and has a really unique wit about what she likes. She is Jody Kidney :

1. Old 97’s - "Broadway"
2. BillyGoats - "Miss Me (When I’m gone)" : I first heard these guys at Sleazefest 99, but I don’t remember if they played this. It’s an awesome country song, and there’s yodeling in it. Can’t go wrong.
3. Silver Apples - "Ruby" : I played this song so much that my CD is all demented…. On this track only. I saw these guys at The Bug Jar in Rochester, N.Y. when Bob Duke still owned it. Great music, nice but weird guys.
4. Neko Case - "Whip the Blankets" : This is one of the songs I listen to while I’m getting myself dolled up for a night on the town, ‘cause it makes me feel like a hot sexy biatch.
5. Faces - "Three Button Hand Me Down" : That weird bass part kicks ass. I read that the reason why The Sex Pistols let Glen Matlock into the group was because he could play the bass part to this song.
6. The 45’s - "Get Out" : I love the 45’s. They put on the best live show ever.
7. Charles Trenet - "La Mer" : Trenet was a French Caberet singer in Paris around the ‘20’s and ‘30’s.
8. Grandaddy - "So You’ll Aim Toward the Sky" : I love The Sophtware Slump. One of the most hauntingly beautiful albums of all time. I mean, c’mon! It’s about a bunch of (I’m assuming) stoners who build a poetry-writing android that gets all depressed and offs himself. Rad.
9. Bobby Conn - "Lullaby" : Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn Bobby Conn it’s all about Bobby Conn.
10. Faces - "Richmond" : I always sing this song when I drive through Richmond. I used to play Rod Stewart and Faces albums all the time and piss off my Rod-hating roommate.
11. David Bowie - "Diamond Dogs"
12. The New York Dolls - "Stranded in the Jungle" : I think this is a cover, but I’m willing to bet that this version is better.
13. The Chrome Cranks - "Driving Bad" : No One can fuck with the CC’s.
14. The Pixies - "Palace of the Brine"
15. The Gunga Din - "Sang Her Every Song" : This song rules. It makes me think of my own sister.
16. Nick Lowe - "Freezing"
17. The Smiths - "What Difference Does it Make"
18. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Deanna" : Pure unleaded Aussie asskicking.
19. Swell Maps - "Border Country" : Probably my favorite song of all time. It has this heartbreaking piano bridge in the middle that always makes me squeeze my eyes shut and hug myself with glee.
20. Big Star - "Thirteen"
21. Flat Duo Jets - "I’m Sorry"
22. Johnny Thunders - "King of the Gypsies" : I think this is a cover as well. You gotta fucking love Johnny Thunders.
23. The Chrome Cranks - "Dead Cool" : The live version on Live in Exile rules. It was recorded in Amsterdamn or Sweden or something like that and you can hear some wannabe cowboy European screeching YEEE-HAW! over and over in the background. Europeans are silly.
24. The Beach Boys - "Sloop John B"
25. The Cars - "Just What I Needed"
26. The Breeders - "Happiness is a Warm Gun" : This is a great cover, too. Kim Deal sucking on a cigarette….. it’s enough to make a girl go gay, I swear.
27. Nico - "These Days" (Written by Jackson Browne)
28. The Cramps - "Green Door" : What IS behind the green door, anyway?
29. Joy Division - "The Kill"
30. Gene Chandler - "Duke of Earl" : My dad loves this song and used to sing it all the time on roadtrips.
31. Tom Jones - "Mama told Me (Not to Come)" : This song is about a guy who goes to a party at the cool kids house and they try to make him smoke and drink and stuff.

 
Today I present the list of someone who should be well known to anybody familliar with music from the N.C. Triangle area. For years she played fiddle, sang, and seemed to be the most stable member of Whiskeytown. After they disbanded she put out a glorious solo debut disc entitled "While You Weren't Looking" that gathered new fans and much critical acclaim. She has just followed it up with "I'm Staying Out" on Yep Roc that came out about a month ago. She is Caitlin Cary :

I kept finding myself second guessing my choices - these are just songs that I always go back and listen to again once the record is over. Some of them have been inspirations to me, and others are just plain fun or just fuckin' great. I'm very certain that I couldn't put these in order from most favorite to least, but then that would tax anyone, right?

1. Etta James - "At Last" (written by Harry Warren/Mack Gordon)
2. Ray Charles - "What Would I Do Without You"
3. Linda Thompson - "Withered and Died" (written by Richard Thompson)
4. Rickie Lee Jones - "We Belong Together"
5. Chris Bell - "You and Your Sister"
6. Willie Nelson and by The Rievers/Zeitgeist - "Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain" (written by F. Rose)
7. X - "Blue Spark"
8. Van Halen - "Jamie's Cryin'"
9. Big Star - "Give Me Another Chance" (written by Chris Bell and Alex Chilton)
10. Ella Fitzgerald - "Angel Eyes" (written by Matt Dennis/Earl Brent)
11. Nina Simone - "Mississippi Goddamn"
12. Lyle Lovett - "If I Were the Man You Wanted"
13. Sam Cooke - "Touch the Hem of His Garment"
14. Goner - "Battleground Park"
15. The Pretenders - "2,000 Miles" (written by Chrissie Hynde)
16. Mountain - "Mississippi Queen"
17. Bonnie Raitt - "Louise" (written by Paul Siebel)
18. The Rolling Stones - "No Use In Crying"
19. Paul Simon - "Congratulations"
20. Joni Mitchell - "Song For Sharon"
21. Patsy Cline - "Leavin' on Your Mind" (written by Wayne Walker and Webb Pierce)
22. George Jones - "Cup of Loneliness" (written by George Jones and Burl Stevens)
23. Dolly Varden - "The Dumbest Magnets"
24. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings - "Elvis Presley Blues"
25. Tom Waits - "Blind Love"
26. Desmond Dekker - "Honor Your Mother and Your Father"
27. Marvin Gaye - "Trouble Man"
28. Six String Drag - "St. Cecilia" (written by Kenny Roby)
29. Loretta Lynn - One's On the Way (written by Shel Silverstein)
30. Thad Cockrell - "She Ain't No You"
31. Willie Nelson - "Can I Sleep In Your Arms" (written by H. Cochran)