Songbook

One of my favorite authors is Nick Hornby. A few years ago, Nick released a book called "Songbook", and in it he listed his 31 favorite songs of all time, and why. I have decided to do a similar blog, except, I am going to do 40 songs. Because it was hard enough to get the list down to 40. These are in no perticular order, let us begin:

Heartbeats by Jose González
a wonderful song. much better than it's original (a poppy techno tune by The Knife.)


Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkel
my favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. that's saying a lot.


Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash
ever since i was a little boy i have loved this song. that opening gets me everytime.


What I Got by Sublime
i have never been the biggest sublime fan, but this song has always been with me.


Lucky by Seven Mary Three
i always liked this 7M3 song, but it wasn't until i saw them live in 2002 that i really understood it's power.


Let's Get Fucked Up and Die by Motion City Soundtrack
this is my college song. when i hear this, it reminds me of times i cannot remember.


A Good Year for the Roses by Elvis Costello
what a song. it has been covered many times, but no one does it the justice that elvis costello gives it.


Clumsy by Our Lady Peace
i have always liked our lady peace, every album has been great. this is the song that started it all.


Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie
without woody guthrie where would music be today? this take on pretty boy floyd screams in the face of the Gmen of his day.


Aside by The Weakerthans
sometimes you find a song that is just yours. this is my song. it seems that i am the only person who has ever heard it. it is mine.


Friend of the Devil by The Grateful Dead
i never got into the Grateful Dead until i heard this song in a bar. then i got it.


High 5 by Calibretto 13
when i was in high school, i had a lost year full of video games. this song was in the background the entire time.


In The Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
this song is new to me. i just started to listen to N.M.H this last year, but i just love it. the voice and mix of sounds is wonderful.


Wishlist by Pearl Jam
pearl jam has wrote a lot of great songs. this is my favorite, hands down.


Don't Change Your Plans by Ben Folds Five
Nick Hornby put a BF5 song in his list aswell, he liked "Smoke" which is a good song, but this one does it for me. I remember hearing it live back in the day and loosing myself.


Souled Out!!! by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
finally, after years of listening to Conor Oberst be depressed, we get a happy gem. if he can get better, anyone can.


A Minor Incident by Badly Drawn Boy
a beautiful song, that clinched the movie About a Boy for me. this was also on Hornby's list, and one listen makes it obvious why.


New Slang by The Shins
Garden State aside, this is a great track. the whole "Oh, Inverted World" could have made this list.


El Scorcho by Weezer
what can i say about weezer? they are so hit or miss with there albums. but this track on Pinkerton is them at there best. i have not heard anything since as good. (pork and beans? really?)


Greater Omaha by Desaparecidos
this song rocks. i first heard it when i was altavista-ing songs about omaha. i didn't even know what bright eyes was back then, this song grabbed me and pulled me in. it was a gate way to the rest of Saddle Creek for me.


29 by Gin Blossoms
every single Gin Blossoms song could be on this list. i went with 29 because of it's outlook. "time wont stand by forever...", it's about growing up. and every year that i am not 29, i can still pretend like i have time to be young.


Understanding in a Car Crash by Thursday
this album was 2002 for me. i lived and breathed Thursday. it's really to bad that the loud rock screamo style of music fell off so much.


Motorcycle Drive By by Third Eye Blind
on the self titled debut album by Third Eye Blind, there were 4 or 5 singles. break out songs like "Semi-Charmed Life" and "How's it Gonna Be", but this secret... the final track... is why i still to this day say Third Eye Blind is one of my favorite bands.


Missed the Boat by Modest Mouse
i really like modest mouse, and after "lonesome crowded..." and "good news/bad news..." i was not sure they could keep the hits a comin'. first single off "we were dead..." proved me wrong. it's impossible to not sing along with this.


Snowbirds and Townies by Further Seems Forever
"this winter is lasting forever, at least for tonight". i say this in my head every cold day, every winter.


Twin Rocks, Oregon by Shawn Mullins
Shawn Mullins should be huge. fuck Dave Matthews and John Mayer. Shawn Mullins is legit. This song, off "Souls Core" is songwriting at it's best. he may not be quoted in as many dickhead's facebooks, but he is real.


Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty
everyone knows this song. and everyone knows that whenever i pick up a guitar, that i am going to play this song. great tune.


Mekong by The Refreshments
in middle school, i found out about "Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy". music was different from then on. i could argue that this song helped start my travel bug. just the idea of being 15,000 miles away. oh my.


Harvest Moon by Neil Young
neil young is to patrick hastie as jesus is to the pope. i love this guy and his music.


Album of the Year by The Good Life
"we moved into a studio in council bluffs to save a couple bucks." i first heard that while living in a shitty apartment in council bluffs, which we got to save a few bucks. this 5 minute song is an epic. beautiful and tragic.


Snails by The Format
the Format are a band from arizona that my friends and i got very into. the first studio album they released was great. and when i heard Snails, a cut off there second disc "dog problems" i thought the future for the Format would be great. unfortuntily, they broke up and the lead singer formed the band Fun which i haven't be able to grasp yet.


The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian
this is my favorite song of all time. i listen to it once a day.


Jesus Christ by Brand New
brand new. a pop punk band on one disc. a darker rock band on the second. an indie band on the third and a screamo art rock band on the fourth. what a head scratcher. but this song, off the indie album, its all of the talent coming together and clicking. the video below is my own video for this.


Stevie Nix by The Hold Steady
i saw Dashboard Confessional on Halloween 2006. in the middle of a song, chris carraba started talking. he said "she said you reminded me of Rod Stewart when he was young. with your passion, and you think that your sexy, and all the punks think that you're dumb..." well, i thought this song was awesome, and much better than anything off the most recently released Dashboard cd, so when i got home i googled it to find, it was by a band called The Hold Steady. the rest is history.


Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan
"i lived wih them on montague street, in a basement down the stairs." note: that was my childhood.


We Are Nowhere and it's Now by Bright Eyes
"i'm wide awake.." is my favorite Bright Eyes album. and a lot of people give "lua" all the credit, but this track is the best. this was Conor Oberst saying "just when you think you got me, you don't." loretta lynn singing background isn't gonna hurt a song either.


Impossible Germany by Wilco
wilco has a lot of great songs. this is the greatest. a guitar trip that can take you anywhere, except germany and unlikely japan.


Konstantine by Something Corporate
it's so easy to write this song off as the emo shlock that it can appear to be. it's not. it's a 10 minute opus about love and growing up. it teaches that you can spell confusion however the fuck you want.


Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
Leonard Cohen is hard to top. Jeff Buckley did it. i wish he wouldn't have taken that walk into the river. i wish he had released more music. more music like this.

Gonna Build Something This Summer....

It's been a while since I made a post. Mostly because no one is reading this. Except Jen. (Hi Jen). Anyways....

I haven't posted because I have been busy as all hell lately. It all started last Tuesday the 30th of June when after a solid night of bowling I jumped in the car and drove down to good ol' Glenwood to see some old friends and check in with some family.

It was a good couple of days, except when the car busted. The power steering on it was already wrecked, but now there was a problem with the fuel tank. Basically no gas would go in it. So I dumped the car at Schenck and Melissa's house and started using my Grandpa Kid's farm truck.

The night the car broke, I met up with Alister, Emilie, Tim and Sara. It was really fun night, full of hookah and some beers. It's great when you only see people a few times a year, but still can catch up without missing a beat.

On the 2nd, I woke up at 9am, and spent the day with my family. Hanging out with my grandparents and my Uncle Dickey who is now home and recovering very nicely from his brutal surgery in mid June.

That night, at 2am, I left Glenwood in my Grandpa's truck and headed to the Des Moines Airport. It was a 2 hour drive up I80 in the middle of the night, and I really enjoyed it. I stopped off at the Kum and Go in Underwood and the fountain machine blew up on me, but the old man working the night shift laughed at me and I cleaned it up for him since I could tell he was in the middle of his shift cut. I've met this same old man several times at that Kum and Go and every time he has been nothing but nice to me.

I got to the airport at around 4am. After checking and security I found my gate and had a seat. Sitting across from me was a man with sunglasses on and a shit-eating grin. He looked to be in his mid 30's but he was listening to new rap on his phone. Not through head phones, just using the phones speakers. Which meant everyone sitting there was listening to it. He even rapped a long with it some. This fella also was wearing a t-shirt that said "Socialism" on it and the "o" was the Obama logo "o". And to top of this schmuck had a Glenn Beck book sittin' in his back pack. It was like someone said "hey Patrick, if we were to build the perfect example of a person you'd hate, what would you want it to look like?"

Well, time and the aeroplane flew and before I knew it I was at LaGuardia. (remember in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when Raphael is chasing Casey Jones and that taxi pulls out in front of him and Raph rolls across the hood? and then the guy in the cab goes "what the hell was that?" and the cabbie goes "looked like a giant turtle, in a trench coat.... you goin' to LaGuardia right?" I like that part).

On that Friday the 3rd we went down to Jersey to a Medieval Times. It was BAD ASS. Stacie and I got seated in the "City of Leon" which made us root for the Green Knight. Well the Green Knight kicked ass, talking shit to the king, fightin' everyone, and he even tried to succeed from the realm. We were fucking South Carolina circa 1860 (without all that slavery/states rights bullshit). At the end the Green Knight was struck down by the Yellow and Red or Blue and Pink Knight. It was a total fix. But whatever. It was fun as hell. Stacie and I decided we were gonna go to every Medieval Times. There are like 8 or 9 and I have already been to Myrtle Beach (hey, that's in South Carolina, I like it when shit ties together like that).

The next day was good ol' Fourth of July. We went to Battery Park and saw Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band. It was perfect.

Here is a video of "Roosevelt Room" from the set. I didn't film the video, but I am in it.





After the concert we went to Brooklyn to see Stacie's workplace and one of her job sites. It was really cool to see what she does. Then we went to some side street of Amsterdam and watched the fireworks.

The next day, Sunday the 5th, we went to Avenue Q. It was amazing. Sesame Street for adults. I sugguest you go here and watch everything available.

Later that day, we went to 30 rock, and went to the top. There are some great pictures, but I don't have them here. So you can see 'em later.

On Monday I left NYC and flew back to Des Moines, where I got in Grandpa's truck and drove to Boone. After seeing Mattie Cattie and Murpho for awhile I went to work. I then went on to work something like 46 hours over the next 6 days.

Now I am back in Glenwood, at my parents house having a camp out of sorts with my two oldest nephews Hunter and Jackson and Murphy in my parents living room. Tomorrow I plan on getting the car fixed. And then Tuesday it's back to Boone for Bowling Night. Then I just gotta get through till the weekend and on Monday Stacie is back for good. No more internship, we can FINALLY be together again. It's pretty exciting. Murphy and Mattie can have a Mommy again.