i am slowly becoming musically enlightened. my sister, in gift giving brilliance, gave me u2s 'all that you can't leave behind'. wonderful, right? well, it's exactly what she gave me last year when i specifically asked for it. she wanted to give me something i wanted. she thought i had said, when i went to the u2 show a few months back, that i didn't have their new album. huh? exactly. best buy was in order the day after christmas. yes, i was intelligent enough to decide to return something the day after christmas. along with 99.9% of the american population. i was leaving orange county soon, and i didn't want to deal with going to best buy here in sac. i pulled in the parking lot. found a space no problem. sweet! store didn't look too crowded. sweet squared! picked up ben fold's rockin' the suburbs. sweet cubed! now, all i had to do was find the exchange/return line.

ah! there are the signs in the corner. ah! there is the line. i found out why the store wasn't crowded. every single person was in the return line. at least 30 people long. was i crazy? hmm. there are four cashiers. shouldn't be too bad. and at this point i was geeked on getting the ben folds cd. i had been wanting it since i heard the interview on npr. i got in line.

and stood in the exact same place (well, i shifted my weight and fidgeted a little, but close enough to the same place) for at least five minutes. began to wonder if the line was moving, or they just hired a bunch of people to make a line to discourage people not to return things. finally! two steps forward...inch inch inch...inchworm (sorry, now i am singing that damn burl ives song. if you don't know it, don't worry. you don't want to)...finally, 30 minutes later, i had ben folds. yay!

i dig it. a lot. 'annie waits', the first song, i love. it has been on repeat in my car. i do that with songs...until i learn the words and can sing them gloriously off key at the top of my lungs. it reminded me of something though....and i couldn't figure out what...something i used to listen to in high school. ding! (cue light bulb. one of those energy efficient swirly ones) - jude cole. that song makes me think of one of his songs. never heard of him? i don't think anyone has. i don't remember how i heard about him, but used to play 'view from 3rd street' as i dealt with teenage boy troubles. haven't listened to it in ages. anyhows...'annie waits' reminds me of 'baby it's tonight' . now, the ben folds is far superior, but it somehow brought that memory. strange, i don't know why.

with a borders (why do i always want to spell that boarders?) gift certificate, i bought another samples cd and radiohead's 'the bends'. now, i have heard a little radiohead before. i know many people who rave about the music. why did it take me so long to buy one of their discs? oh.my.god. it's fantastic. absolutely fantastic. for the first time in a long long long - i mean really long here - time, there are no dave matthews band, dave and tim, dave in any way shape or form, discs in my car 6 disc changer. woo. not that i'm giving up on the boys. but i am so damn excited about this new music. well, not new, but you know.

yeah, i am slow to catch onto things sometimes. cause i'm sure most of you have been listening to this stuff for ages. it's great music, isn't it?

11am thursday: from the sacramento bee, '2001 one last spin' music round up: 'albums that maybe didn't break musical ground but were fun anyway' - rockin' the suburbs. goofy lyrics about growing up and perky piano romps straight out of sesame street made for a groovy pair.

hmm. perky piano romps? sesame street? hmm again.