Peter Bruntnell

The thing about life is that we get too busy to do the things that we want to do, and sooner or later, everything just ends up getting sacrificed for the greater good. My spring semester is winding down to about 2 weeks of grad classes to take and about 3 weeks of classes to teach. That’s a good thing. Fortunately, there are no classes to take this summer, and I can focus on what I’m teaching (2 classes) and the grad assistantship program where I tutor people who need help. Other than that, it will be baseball, hiking, and time with my wife in little travels here and there. That’s a good thing.
To travel, as I said before, it’s all about the music, so I finally got around to finishing up the 2010 summer music CD. For the first time, it’s a 3CD set (instead of 1), and it features songs for myself and my wife. She’s more pop and dance and eighties. I’m more indie and classic rock. Somewhere in the middle, we meet. Thus, to construct this CD set, I had her in mind. The early tracks of the collection seemed a little “off” at first, but after some switching out and more positive vibes, I decided on the collection.

In the Desert Together
Disc 1
1. Tables and Chairs by Andrew Bird
2. Summerteeth by Wilco
3. Epistemology by M Ward
4. M79 by Vampire Weekend
5. Some Dreams by Steve Earle
6. Blue Moon Nights by John Fogerty
7. Pastime by The Baseball Project
8. I Don’t Know by Ryan Bingham
9. In a Big Country by Moe
10. Handle with Care by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
11. I Can Hear Music by She and Him
12. If Not for You by George Harrison
13. The Boy With the Arab Strap
14. How You Like Me Now by The Heavy
15. God Knows It’s True by Teenage Fanclub
16. The Heartbreak Rides by AC Newman
17. California Zephyr by Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard
18. May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix
19. Who Loves the Sun by The Velvet Underground
20. When the Fool Becomes a King by Polyphonic Spree
Disc 2
1. Four Guys by The Beatles Chemistry
2. Encore by Danger Mouse
3. Empire State of Mind by Jay Z
4. California Love by Tupac
5. How Low by Ludacris
6. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
7. Poison (remix) by Bell Biv Devoe
8. Raspberry Beret by Prince
9. Opportunities by Pet Shop Boys
10. Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads
11. Pretty in Pink by Psychedelic Furs
12. Cradle of Love by Billy Idol
13. Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel
14. No Myth by Michael Penn
15. Come on Eileen by Badly Drawn Boy
16. Hey Soul Sister by Train
17. Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crow
18. There She Goes by The La’s
19. Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae
Disc 3
1. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Paul Simon
2. Lie in Our Graves by Dave Matthews Band
3. Haven’t Met You Yet by Michael Buble
4. Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra
5. Until I Die by Ben Kweller
6. It’s the Weekend by Jason Lytle
7. Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon
8. Sure Shot by The Beastie Boys
9. Strange Apparation by Beck
10. By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix by Peter Bruntnell
11. Do It All Over Again by Spiritualized
12. Hotel Yorba by The White Stripes
13. Sally Maclennane by The Pogues
14. Loch Lomond (live) by Runrig
15. Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros
16. Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
17. Tim McGraw by Taylor Swift
18. The Climb by Miley Cyrus
19. Brass in Pocket by The Pretenders
20. I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry + Andy Xiong

In keeping with the baseball theme, there is a trilogy of songs on the first disc, which comes through as previously stated with the 2 tracks from the Rookie (Steve Earle and John Fogerty) and the Baseball Project song, but on the final disc, there is an obscure gem that was discovered on some magazine CD collection long ago. In that song, “By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix” by Peter Bruntnell, I can’t help but feeling for poor Ted Williams. Despite his not being mentioned in the song, the cryogenics company in Arizona, Alcor, is where the Kid’s head was battered and abused by staff long after it was deep frozen by his spaz of a son.
This was the final chapter of the Ted Williams book that I just finished by Leigh Montville. It’s a shame to see how the “American Hero” comes to be used for his autograph signing arm and to end up a prisoner in his own home after everything he did at Fenway and in Korea. For that, there’s a different connection to this song than just the send up on Jimmy Webb’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which leaves it somehow connected to the baseball diamond. One can only wonder what a British man would think about his song being connected to an American game that he never played, but regardless, it’s on here with all of the other tracks.
Other than that, it remains to be seen if these are the songs that will make the summer special, especially with new albums coming out by The Hold Steady, The New Pornograhers, and Band of Horses, but spring needs an anthem to show new life to all that participate in it. One can wonder where these songs will be when we’re driving above Lake Powell to try to get into the Wave for our late spring trip, or when we’re continuing the trip by driving to Zion National Park to take our chances on a permit to get into the Subway, but no matter whether we end up at these places or just take our luck with some different locations from Michael Kelsey’s Canyon Hiking Guide, a pornographic collection of travel material if there ever was one, I can assure you that the summer of 2010 will be one to remember.
There will be Philadelphia in less than 10 days, but will there be Boston for Salem, Concord, and the other surrounding haunts? There will be Ohio, but could there be a day trip to Washington D.C. in the mix as well? There are so many options that the world is truly my oyster, but even if the Red Sox can’t get it together, will great times.
How can there not be? I’ve got a promise of dueling tyrannosaurus rexes at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Life is good.