Driving Music

I hate driving. I didn’t even get my license until I was 34. But some things become a necessity, and me behind the wheel became one of those things.

I still don’t drive nearly as much as my Charles. Since his dad went into hospice, we’ve driven 13,500 miles to go back and forth from the Bay Area to our home.

Even though cars aren’t really my thing, I do enjoy the opportunity for tune-age. Those 13,500 miles have offered up a ton of music blasting time. My Charles prefers more folksy stuff, but for my own indie ear, I’ve come up with the perfect playlist for the drive there and back again.

In no particular order, my album list goes something like this:

Pavement, “Slanted and Enchanted”
Smog, “Wild Love”
Amanda Palmer, “Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele”
Tom Waits, “Rain Dogs”
Eels, “Blinking Lights and Other Revelations”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “The Boatman’s Call”
The Moldy Peaches, “The Moldy Peaches”
Pixies, “Doolittle”
Jónsi, “Go”
The Magnetic Fields, “69 Love Songs”
and depending on whether or not we want to push our sad off until later:
The Flaming Lips, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”
or
Cat Power, “The Covers Record”

I’ve also played old tapes of my radio show, but because I was such an indie snob in college, my Charles doesn’t really appreciate them too much.

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