Your life, the soundtrack.

You are making a feature film about your life. What songs do you select for the soundtrack? You'll want at least one song for each major stage of your life, the highs and lows, significant relationships, educational and career milestones, etc.

It starts with Mickey Mouse Disco, 1979. That's the first record I remember listening to over and over. The theme songs from Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider would come next, followed by - I know you had a copy of this, too - The Thriller album. We can wrap up the eighties with Axel F - the theme from Beverly Hills Cop - the first song I learned by ear and showed me playing the piano can actually be fun (which it still is).

Fast forward to high school so I can embarrass myself with titles such as Keep on Movin, It Takes 2, and Bust a Move. By the time I was out of high school, U2's Joshua Tree was constantly in the Discman. From then on (and still today) it became transitional/travelling music. Whenever I was on a long road trip or going somewhere new, U2 was along for the ride. Still the best album ever.

College was grunge: Pearl Jam's Ten album - the whole thing ought to do it. Late nineties would be a few songs from the ska band I was in, the Jinkies. I was 24, had a "real job" and I was in a band outside of school. At that moment I felt like I had made it. Funny what silly things you think when you're 24.

The soundtrack of my life for the past 5 years or so would be an odd mix between chilled out funk from the Meters, chilled out ska from the Skatalites, and chilled out electronica from Groove Armada and St. Germain, among others.

Last week I picked up 3 new titles in the funk and soul category: Budos Band II, Stanton Moore III, and Greyboy Allstars' What Happened to Television? I highly recommend all 3.

Aaron, Lee, Jodi, it's your turn. And pass it on.

The tag stops here

Aaron tagged me with a 7 random things meme. OK, I'll play along, but I'm not sending it to anyone - they've both already been tagged...

1. My sister has a daughter which means I have a niece. She's here.
2. Since getting HD tv service, I've really paid a lot more attention to baseball than I ever did before.
3. However I'm not able to rattle off stats, player names, positions, or team place in standings. And I likely never will.
4. I think it's quite possible that slowly, over a couple years I went from a person who truly loved his job to one who is simply very glad to have one.
5. When you tell someone you haven't spoken to for quite a few years what you've been up to all this time, you'll quickly find out that there just isn't all that much to tell.
6. I think that's because the real fun is in the details. I can think of 10-minute experiences that are a hell of a lot more interesting than a brief history of the last 10 years.
7. My 15-year high school reunion is this summer. I am not attending. I suppose #5 has something to do with that.