Rubin asks us "What are you listening to?"

Rubin of Chicago wrote in this week asking us what we were listening to? Good question, Rubin. But even if the community's musicoligist Kat (Kat's Korner) wasn't involved with this edition, there's no way we could list everything we listened to this week. We're all far more apt to turn on the stereo than the TV. So when Dona read your e-mail this week she said that we'd be doing an entry but wouldn't tell anyone what it was other than that you'd requested it.

Dona wanted to catch everyone by surprise ("and I'm too lazy to plan my own choices"). So we've just been asked to list what's in our CD player. Simple enough question, right?

Wrong. Which CD player? C.I. has them all over. Jess wanted to know if this included what was currently in a car CD player or just what was in our CD players inside. Rebecca has one of those CD players that loads many, many discs. She also has a five disc player in her bedroom. Since everyone involved had a five disc player, we went with what was in that. If they had more than one five disc player, we went with what was in the disc player of the room they were currently in.

Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man): I've got two that no one else will mention because those were what were on early this morning for my kids, the soundtrack to Piglet's Big Movie which is currently their favorite DVD to watch over and over. I enjoy the soundtrack because, for the most part, it's just Carly Simon and a guitar. It's laid back and the kids like to sing along. The other children's CD came up because of Jess in one of the roundtables, Carole King's Really Rosie. I still can't find the cartoon on DVD but I did get the CD for the kids thinking they'd enjoy it. They do. They get very hyper on songs like "Alligators All Around" but it's another children's CD that I can listen to and there aren't a lot of those. Piglet and Really Rosie may be the only two we have that I can put on for the kids and not feel like banging my head against the wall. The next three I put in for me after the kids were finally down for the night. I've got Diana Ross Live Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings . . . Jazz and Blues which is a live recording of Diana. It's probably my favorite Diana Ross album. I really love "Little Girl Blue" and and "Fine and Mellow" among other songs. When that special came on, it was a big deal because my parents both love Diana Ross. I think it was on cable. But it was back in the early 90s and I've probably listened to this album more than any other that I own. Next is Anita Baker's Rapture which is another CD I never grow tired of. It's just perfect and one I always feel like listening to. Then Sade's Lovers Rock which is my favorite of all the Sade albums. There's not a bad song on the album and "By Your Side" always brings a catch to my throat for some reason.

Jim (Third Estate Sunday Review): Wow, you'd think sleeping with someone would cut you a break but apparently it doesn't rate a heads up even. Here are the five that happen, that happen, at this moment to be in my CD player Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, White Stripes' Elephant, Stevie Nicks' Trouble in Shangri-La, Garbage's Bleed Like Me, Phil Ochs' I Ain't Marching Anymore. If I'd had a heads up, I might have changed them. Or if I'd been my apartment in the last three days --

Dona (Third Estate Sunday Review): Thank you, Jim, for informing my mother, on Mother's Day, that you've just spent the last three days with me.

Jim: I could've been with my folks for all she knows.

Dona: You answered the phone Friday night.

Ty (Third Estate Sunday Review): To put an end to this drama, Jim's things are still in our apartment [Ty & Jess's], he has not moved in with Dona. Yet.

Ava (Third Estate Sunday Review): And if he does, the rent's being split three ways, not just between me and Dona. Dona, is this what Ruben meant when he said it would it give him a better idea about us if he knew what we listened to?

Dona: So here are the five discs in my CD player: Blink 182's CD called Blink 182, the last one they put out; Anais Mitchell's Hyms for the Exiled; U2's How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb; Ani DiFranco's Like I Said (Songs 1990-1991); and Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. Rebecca?

Rebecca (Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude): Like most of the readers, I'm sure, I'd rather hear more about Jim & Dona's last three days. I actually just put in one CD an hour ago to get my blood puming and prepare for this all nighter, Green Day's American Idiot. I love that CD but when I list the other four, people are going to think, how does that fit with the mood? It doesn't. I had another one in that I won't name since we're sticking to five. Before I hopped in with you guys, the mood was more 'sensual' and laid back. Hopefully the other four CDs reflect that. Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope, Otis Redding's Otis Blue, Otis Redding's Live in Europe and, Trent put in, Crosby, Stills & Nash's Greatest Hits.

Folding Star (A Winding Road): Knuckle Down, Ani DiFranco; All That We Let In, Indigo Girls; Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield; The Bedroom Tapes, Carly Simon; and Time Space, Stevie Nicks. I guess I could note that things have been rough lately and listening to these amazing women always seems to help. But then, I listen to them when I'm in a great mood,too! Their music is just universal, each in their own way.

Ty: I wish I'd had a heads up to this. Currently, in my CD player, I have Prince's Sign of the Times, the first disc, because I just bought that and have been in a Prince mood and played his last album so much that everyone is sick of hearing me play it. Like Betty, I have a Sade CD in but it's The Best of Sade. The only new CD I have in is George Michael's Patience which has some amazing songs including "Shoot the Dog" about Tony Blair and the Bully Boy so let me note that 'for the record.' I also have Lenny Kravitz's Greatest Hits in the CD player and I've been humming "Let Love Rule" and "Flying Away" all night. The last CD is James Brown's Star Time. That's a four disc boxed set. I have disc two in and that's the one that most people know the songs from like "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Pt. I," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Say It Loud: I'm Black and I'm Proud, Pt. I," and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." If I'd had a heads up, I would've put in some neo soul, some Black Eyed Peas, Jill Scott and Outkast.

Kat (Kat's Korner): Tori Amos' The Beekeeper, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, the Beatles' Abbey Road, Bruce Springsteen's new CD Devils & Dust and Judy Collins' Portrait of an American Girl.

Ava: Do you want to say anything about them?

Kat: I may or may not be doing a review shortly on Springsteen and Collins, so I'll pass on those two. I love Tori Amos' The Beekeeper and love it even more with each listen.

Jess: It is a great album and I really loved your review.

Kat: It is. Abbey Road's a classic and one of my favorites of the Beatles, though I'd never be able to pick just one. The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed is something I'm considering reviewing at some point so I'll stay silent there except to note I enjoy it.

Jim: I would have had the Stones' Exile on Main St. and Coldplay's Parachutes in if I'd been given a heads up.

Rebecca: The five CD rule has been broken! (Laughing) I took out Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey to put in Green Day.

Jim: The five CD rule has been broken. Jess?

Jess: I've got NCR's Let Freedom Ring because it cracks me up and it seemed like a good week to listen to it. And --

Ava: Explain what NCR is.

Jess: NCR is a comedy CD, a spoof of NPR. It's National Corporate Radio and it's done The People Who Do That. My family bought it off of BuzzFlash awhile back and gave it to me as a gift because it's the kind of jokes that we laugh about in my family. It came with another CD which I also like, NCR's The "Go Fuck Yourself" Special. But Let Freedom Ring makes me laugh more so I usually listen to that one more often. I also have R.E.M.'s Green in because I'm always in the mood for R.E.M. My dad gave me John Fogerty's new CD over spring break, Deja Vu All Over Again, and that's one I'm really into these days. Besides the title track, I love "I Will Walk With You." I'm a Pearl Jam-mer, as everyone here knows, and I've got the second disc of Oct. 22, 2003 in. That's a live CD. They do Dylan's "Masters of War" on that one. And lastly --

Ty & Dona (together): Carole King!

Jess: (laughing) Carole King's Tapestry. Yep, I heard Carole King's music so much growing up, she's practically a member of my family. Probably Tapestry's in there because of Kat's review.

Ava: Oh sure, blame it on Kat. C.I.?

C.I. (The Common Ills): Judy Collins' Portrait of an American Girl which I just love. I think it's her finest work in over ten years but other than that, I'll wait eagerly and hopefully for a review by Kat. Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust which I was a complete idiot on. I had the DVD side down and couldn't get it to play for several days until members started e-mailing me asking me if I was sure I had the right side facing down. Tori Amos' The Beekeeper which has honestly stayed in this CD player since the album came out. Stevie Wonder's Talking Book, which I put in because Susan had e-mailed about a song on it today and that made me want to listen to it. The fifth one is Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.

Kat: If I can do a for the record. This is Bright Eyes' week. What happened on The Tonight Show is news. Musical news, but news-news as well. C.I. and Susan were both e-mailing me to review either or both of Bright Eyes' CDs when they came out in February. They are great albums but sometimes I just can't find an "in" in, as C.I. would say. I didn't have an "in" on that album. I was also hoping to write something on the John Fogerty album because, like Jess, I really enjoy it. But with my reviews, they are what they are. I will review Judy Collins' CD because I think I have an "in" there and I also think it's one that a lot of people will miss because Bruce is the big release right now that's getting all the press attention.


Ava: Now for my five, and thank you to Ruben for the question. In my CD player, I currently have Thursday's War All The Time, Wilco's A Ghost Is Born which I will blame on Kat because I'd never listened to them before she reviewed them. Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down which I love. Folding Star noted in a post what a strong album that was and also in the interview we ran with F.S. But I won't pin it on Folding Star because if Ani's not pouring out of my room, she's pouring out of Dona's or on the player in the living room. Is that the only CD that two of us have both picked?

Kat: Judy Collins and Bruce Springsteen.

Ava: Right, I have Joan Baez's Baptism. Dona and I are both getting into Joan Baez. We pool our money together and work through her catalogue. We also pooled on Bright Eyes to get both the new CDs the day they came out in February. In my player, I have Bright Eyes' Digital Ash.

Kat: I like Baez but I'm wondering what got you interested in her?

Ava: I think it was last year that PBS did a Sound Stage special with her. Dona and I were watching that and working on a class project, right?

Dona: Yeah. We knew the name but didn't know the music. So we got the Dark Chords on a Big Guitar CD and really liked that. And I don't remember what -- Oh! Liang! The thing about "Where Are You Now, My Son?"

Ava: That was it. We read those lyrics and we didn't have the cash to get the boxed set with that song [Joan Baez: The Complete A&M Recordings] but your mother ended up buying it for you.

Dona: Yes, when she was still talking to me which, if she reads this, she may no longer be.

Jim: Your mother likes me.

Dona: No comment.

Ava: But Baptism is so eclectic and, to be honest, I'm trying to get a handle on it.

Dona: For the record, my mother will not be surprised. This was a bit Jim and I were going with and intended to note in the note to our readers that this was a joke. We added it in while Ava and C.I. were working on their TV review. When they came back and read over this, both were confused. Ava said, "But your mother knows Jim's stayed over?" To avoid confusion and to preserve the joke, we're clarifying here instead of in "A Note to Our Readers" because if anyone reads that first, the joke will already be blown. So, "for the record," this was a joke about my mother (or my father) being surprised that Jim was staying over Ava and my apartment. After that was explained, others got involved in adding comments to our bit. Our music choices and our comments about them are true. The bit was to liven things up.