Five things to ruminate while pondering a third cup of Coffee
[We want to thank Jane Neal for these questions. It was great to get help from someone who writes for a living, and teaches. If you have a set of questions, please feel free to send them to us. Dino.]
1. When you listen to music, are you listening for the melody, the lyrics, or the whole package? I think different people love and listen differently. I can love a song totally for what it says, but I know other people who love songs and have no idea what’s being said in the lyrics. (”Hold me close, young Tony Danza”)
2. Are you more defined by your dwelling or your vehicle? My first car was a Chevy Camaro…wow, I still miss him. (I saw one very similar to him yesterday and it had COLLECTOR’s PLATES!)
Now my car is a vehicle that gets me from hither to yon. And my bike does that when the trip is short and the weather is fine. My home is my haven.
3. What’s your favorite bar and/or restaurant in town? Why? I used to value merely good service (having my water glass filled without having to ask) and a degree of anonymity. Now, I appreciate the “Cheers” aspect of being greeted and made to feel welcome. One surly barkeep can drive me away (unless the food or drinks are REALLY good).
4. Do you wear socks with sandals? Please tell me why. I come from a much warmer clime and sandals are for wearing when the weather is warm. If it is so cold that you require socks, perhaps you should wear, I don’t know … shoes?
5. Do you have any food quirks? Things you won’t eat, or things you only eat a certain way? I prefer not to eat raw tomatoes or raw onions, but will eat both cooked. But prefer raw carrots to cooked ones. I will not eat mushrooms. (hello! Fungus!) Conversely, I will not discuss whether the bleu cheese on my salad or the gorgonzola melting across my steak and stuffed into the olive in my martini may in fact, be moldy cheese. Lalalalala … I can’t hear you.
swearingen said:
1. I listen for lyrics (”I wanna know, have you ever seen Lorraine”, for instance)
2. Hmmm…the windows of my vehicle are schmeered with yellow lab slobber. Hope this does not define me (although it may very well). My dwelling’s contents define me probably more than anything; an eclectic array of mismatched, quirky, unusual odds and ends from bygone and current eras.
3. As of late, have had a love thang going for the Grand Dragon…seaweed salad, suishi, hibachi shrimp, no-fuss atmosphere.
4. Socks and sandals…a very bold fashion statement. Not my first choice (mine is handknit socks + mukluk combo platter), but if the sock fits (under the sandal), by God wear it.
5. Food quirks. I don’t like to bite the breading off of a hunk of calamari and have the little tenticle thingy boing back in my face. Other than that, I’m pretty wide open.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:44 pm #
Andy Laub said:
1. All of the above, but then again there are songs where I really like the sound (regardless of lyrics) and those where I really enjoy the lyrics (regardless of what’s behind them).
2. I’d like to think that both define me somewhat. Neither my car nor my house are what I wish they could be, but I do like them and they do a fairly adequate job of describing what type of person I am.
3. I really have no idea. Taco Johns?
4. Do what now? No!
5. I like to, uh, combine things.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:48 am #
Dino Corvino said:
1. I do listen for lyrics in some cases, but more often than not I forgive lyrics in great music. For example, the new Buddy Guy record has amazing guitar tone, and cheesy lyrics. So I forgive him that.
2. My house does not define me. I would like to believe my car does.
3. I am honestly really loving my anonymity these days. It used to be a cheers thing everytime I went out, but recently I get completely ignored, and I like that.
4. I punch sock sandal wearers in the throat like a ninja.
5. Aspiring vegan. Nuf said.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:03 am #
timothyp said:
1. I truly do not listen to lyrics very much, I’m in it for the melodies, musicianship and the different parts of the band coming together cohesively. Billie Holliday and Aretha Franklin are a couple of exceptions.
2. I don’t drive so this one is easy, my home.
3. Really do not have a favorite per se, but for just food I’d go with City Grill (freebies), drinks…. the Bull Falls Brewery Tasting Room…combining the two maybe Red Eye Brewery?
4. Never worn sandals in my life but if other people want to wear them, all the more power to them….socks or not.
5. I’ll try almost anything but a few I haven’t cared much for would be escalar (a Hawaiian fish that is WAY too rich for my tastes), sea urchin, calves liver, overspiced Spanish (not Mexican) dishes or boiled cabbage.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am #
deepintheheart said:
1) Lyrics–daddy was hung as a horse thief, momma was burned as a witch, got fourteen sisters that work in a whorehouse, And me, I’m a bull ridin son-of-a-bitch
2) Dwelling. Landscaping, golf course, mega-grill, comfy chairs on covered porch, 50-inch plasma screen, comtempo furniture from snobby stores, art.
3) I always enjoy Iozzos when I get back that way. Sitting in the atrium and feeling a little chill. . . and the Hmong deli’s. Nothing better than those stuffed chicken-wings with the rice-noodles or those spicy sausages, or the tripe soup. . . .
4) Socks with sandals. Just put a pellet in my head. Do men still wear sandals outside of college towns? Flip-flops and a pedicure.
5) My main food quirk: the strangest thing available is what I am going for. Had a blue-cheese stuffed, bacon-wrapped, sauerkraut-topped, grilled hotdog last week at a swanky country-club. Odd. Delicious.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am #
Dino Corvino said:
deepinthe…yeah, i wear sandals. finishing the lifecycle of this pair of tevas. since i got healthier, it makes me feel better.
going to buy chacos, as suggested by our mutual old friend jason
July 26th, 2008 at 12:24 pm #
Alex Tallitsch said:
1. I am all about the tone and the flow. The music itself has to really move me in some way to make me listen. There is also plenty of great music with no words at all. I think you should be able to say it, without having to say it.
2. I hope not.
3. Iozzo’s by several lengths.
4. Adidas flops.
5. I will not touch a green pepper. If one has even been close to my food I will not eat it.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm #
Mohawk Matt said:
1. Whole package the first couple times I hear a song, then I start dissecting the parts.
2. Well, The car has the woman’s stuff in it…. The house has the woman’s and the kid’s stuff in it…. does that make me undefined?
3. As far as a bar, I like Sam’s place or Malarkey’s, and after living hear for 6 years I still haven’t found a restaurant that I could go to even once a week.
4. I cannot stand sandals at all. They offer no protection to the feet.
5. I cannot eat fish. It makes me sick. I’ll put ranch on anything, though.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:04 pm #
christopher said:
1. Music is my passion in life so I listen to music as an entire piece of art. I don’t look for one specific thing to “catch” me.
2. Neither. My car is something I use to get from Point A to point B. My house is somethign I worked very hard for but I’m not defined by it.
3. I don’t go out to bars too often because it’s an expense that isn’t worth it as a whole. However when I do go out I like to go to the Domino. Say what you will but it’s a great little bar with good prices and a great bartending staff.
4. Sock with sandals? what’s the point.
5. not really. I LOVE trying new things.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm #
Billie said:
1. It depends on circumstance. In most cases I am a lyric girl. Sometimes, in weakness, I like a song simply because I can sing along with it without sounding like a yodeler gone mad.
2. I love my old car. It is sturdy, German, blonde, a little bit luxurious - with heated leather seats. However, it is deceased. My house is a torn apart mess, for the most part. I sincerely hope neither is in the position to define me!
3. I don’t have a favorite bar and really don’t go out often or comfortably enough to find one. City Grill has a dish that I am hooked on, so I guess for the time being, it is my favorite place.
4. Socks with sandals should be a sin.
5. I won’t touch anything that has been near a banana - they are the most repulsive food on the planet. Ditto peppers. I can’t eat shrimp as I too easily remember that I am eating an entire dead body in one bite. Ditto for any meat with bones in it… I can eat chicken, steaks, etc so long as I never see or touch the bones. I can’t even watch someone eating lobster or crab legs.
However, I adore grilled cheese/peanut butter/pear sandwiches and I can’t imagine that many others would even contemplate doing such a thing.
July 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm #
cupcake said:
Jane - it’s “Hold me closER Tony Danza!” If you’re going to get the words wrong, get them RIGHT!
July 27th, 2008 at 4:26 pm #
Jane Neal said:
sorry LJ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSZzRJWMn4&feature=related
July 27th, 2008 at 5:52 pm #
robertmentzer said:
1.) I guess lyrics a little more, I like listening to densely worded rap songs that have a lot of allusions and puns and jokes. But I don’t know, some songs a good lalalalala hey hey is the best possible lyric.
2.) I have never had an emotional connection to a vehicle. I did have an apartment once that I loved loved loved. Hoping to regain that feeling with a house.
4.) The socks-with-sandals look is so hideous that I think I am going to try to make it work. Think of the GQ style points you would get if you could make socks-with-sandals work! I have a team of scientists looking into it now…
July 28th, 2008 at 9:13 am #
erik said:
1) Music as a medium has the primary function of being audible, personally I feel if one listens to music for lyrics, you’re doing it wrong. It’d be like watching movies just for the amazing soundtracks. They’re nice to have and good lyrics can go a long way. But just like a film with a poor story and production values can’t be saved by a good soundtrack, music is audio first, lyrics supplementary. If I want to have my mind expanded by word play, imagery and other literary devices, I’ll turn to a good poetry book. When a song does both, that’s when it’s really cooking (Eve 6, Coheed and Cambria, Incubus are good examples).
2) Neither, both are utilities, a means to an end. Maybe that does say a lot about me :D
3) I am taking this opportunity to say Wausau needs a Chipotle. That being said my favorite local spot to get food is quickly becoming Red Eye. They need to add some WiFi and I’d be there way more often.
4) I don’t wear sandals ever. Or shorts… I am so from Wisconsin.
5) I have a weird quirk in how much I just enjoy food. It’s seriously a passion of mine and I suck at cooking, figure that one out. When I vacation, I most look forward to getting local cuisine.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm #
Jill Knetter said:
1. Generally I listen for the whole package. Sometimes on initial hearing, I won’t like a song, but if I can get into the lyrics then I grow to love the melody, too. On the flip side of that coin, I can forgive less meaningful or silly lyrics for a good tune. I do almost nothing without music, except sleep.
2. I would say my car. I drive a ‘93 Buick LeSabre that I got when I was 17. My grandparents owned it before me, and I got it from them when they wanted something new. I named her the SS Petunia because the first thing I said when I saw her in the driveway was “Holy crap, that thing’s a boat!” And it is. But I’m like her in that maybe we’re not fashionable, maybe we’re not the best-looking thing on the street, maybe we’ve got a few dents and scratches, but deep down we are reliable, friendly, and willing to try (even if we don’t always get it right the first time).
3. About 2 years ago, I absolutely fell in love with Chang Garden. It’s that Chinese place that’s right off the 400 block. I have experienced nothing but friendly, wonderful service there and the food is to die for…that is, as long as you like Chinese.
4. I never really understood the “socks with sandals” thing either. I work at the Payless in Shopko, and this summer I noticed that Shopko was carrying socks that are meant to be worn with flip-flops…so…when did that become fashionable exactly? I don’t think I’ll ever get it.
5. I’m a little weird about my food. I always have to be drinking something when I eat, even if it’s only one cookie or a couple crackers. The only thing I eat without a beverage is ice cream because that would be weird. I also save the “main” part of the meal for last, and I eat it until there’s one bite left, then I finish what I’m drinking before I eat the last bite. I don’t know why I do it, I just know I always have. Weird, right?
July 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm #
Cheryl Mathis said:
1. I rarely listen to music very loudly because it’s usually coming from my laptop and the speakers on this thing suck, so the melody is generally what pulls me in. Like Remy Zero’s Fair. Fell in love with the melody. Listened to it louder, couldn’t get all the lyrics. Had to find them online and memorize them so I could sing along without being a huge dork. Lyrics can kill a song for me, especially if they intentionally use bad grammar (unless it’s rap, that doesn’t count), like “was” instead of “were.”
2. My home. I spend a lot of time fluffing my nest, from the flowers painted on the window to the careful placement of comfy blankets and places to put down your coffee cup. In college, I had an awesome apartment where I had covered the living room walls in poetry that I had painstakingly copied from my favorite poems. In the end, it was like I was being surrounded by a lush forest of beautiful thoughts and words. My car is mostly my husband’s, and it is a disaster area.
3. We don’t eat out a lot unless it’s ordering pick-up, so I don’t think I have a place right now. The lack of babysitters in our lives make it so we have to drag the kids everywhere, and while absolutely adorable, they love to hear themselves talk loudly, and I have a fear of annoying people with my children.
4. Hell to the no, unless the socks are wild and awesome, in which case f-yeah. Show your crazy proud, man.
5. Meat on the bone (or meat in general lately). Most seafood. I avoid raw tomatoes and raw onion. Any kind of pate or giblets.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:27 am #