Magic Jewball

The first thing the kids do when they walk into my lab is say, “Ms. JBall, will we have choice time at the end of class today?” And the first thing they say after I’ve modeled the lesson and told them them to go back to their seats and get started is, “what do we do when we’re done?” I remind them of a rule I learned from a fortune cookie. No, really. I had it taped onto my computer riser in my office at The Record Company. It said, “live in THIS moment.” I have a tough time with that myself. “But Self,” I say, “what am I doing NEXT?” I tend to rush through things.

I mention this for two reasons, and not just because I like to tell cute anecdotes about my classroom, as all teachers do. One is, I am doing something next, and I’m trying to hold on to myself and be patient. I will talk about that soon, if it actually happens. The second is a more mundane thing. There’s a new Deftones record out this week and I have been listening to it streaming for a few days. I’m not sure I have ever fallen in love with a Deftones record on first listen in quite the same way. They usually grow on me like a fungus. But I am trying to slow myself down.

You know how it is with a new record. First there’s the comparing it with the old ones. Oh hey, this song has the same notes as that song. Then you begin to sing a lyric or two. Then there is that song you want to return to. Yes! This is that song before that other song I like. And then time goes by and you know the whole thing better than your own hand and you wish there were some new songs. I already have the first lyric and the first song and the album isn’t even out yet. It’s like I want to know this record as well as the others this very second. I should probably slow down and live in THIS moment, you know? I’m going to try.

You’ll be happy to hear that most of my other classroom rules do not derive from fortune cookies, although I do have the “keep yourself to yourself” rule whose phrasing is loosely based on a Yes song.

Fun fact! This is actually the second post in a series on “the first Deftones lyric that sticks in my head from the new record.” The current one isn’t catchy enough to title the post, though. I took it from another song on the new record which was leaked early so I hurried to learn all the lyrics before I went to the show (which was AWESOME! Ask Mo) so it doesn’t count. They didn’t play it, naturally.

I’ll link to that song, Tempest, when the album is released Tuesday.

By the way, while at a concert, during any given song, I am thinking, “I wonder what they’ll play next?” You can see I am great at this.

In the “Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?” department comes the puzzled discussion amongst YouTube commenters that appears on the page of the below video. It centers on whether Wang Chung were aware that 2Pac already had a song called To Live and Die in LA when they released theirs.

My favorite comment is, “Try googling it I but I just think these guys made this song with the same name without knowing Pac made a song with this name also.” Yes, that’s exactly what they did in 1985, over ten years before the hip-hop song with the same name was recorded. Good call!

Of course, Some Kind of Wonderful was on this afternoon, reminding me of the time I saw it in the theater as a teen and remarked to Brother1, “isn’t it cool how they found a song with the same name as the main character, Amanda Jones?”

But then that one comes from the “hey, look at that, there’s a Duane Reade on the corner of Duane and Reade Streets” file.

Not to mention that picking on YouTube commenters is the lowest of low-hanging fruit. But I am using it all as an excuse to post this video to a song I forgot existed but always loved. The production and arrangement are way, way dated, but the moodiness and perfect pop writing shine through. Why did I suddenly remember it? Why, it appeared in “80’s Collection” the other day when I was playing Songpop against Tami. Are you my Facebook friend? Are you playing me in Songpop? WHY NOT????? Let’s remedy that. Right after this song.

I feel really, really terrible about this. I mean, not enough to change places, but if you downtown people want to punch me in the throat, I totally understand.

Thom Yorke – And It Rained All Night