Too late to water Mayflowers?

If my readership were a plant in my apartment, I would have forgotten to water it for a long, long time. It would probably look almost dead at this point. If it could speak, it might say, "Kill me."

For those of you who may have stuck around, my apologies. This has been a busy month, and it all culminated in this DJ gig I had over the weekend, playing music for a 10 year high school reunion. DJing a high school reunion is a strange assignment, at least to me. Especially for the year 1996. Good luck trying to find music that everyone can agree on for that year. I think the only stuff I could have played that would have satisfied almost everyone was Beck. . . and maybe Snoop Doggy Dogg? I know, stuff like DJ Shadow's debut came out that year, but do you remember the people you went to high school with? You were lucky if you had 2 other people who knew about DJ Shadow.

I toiled for weeks on coming up with a set list that wouldn't get me beat up. I scoured for crowd pleasers and hits, all the while trying to still maintain some dignity as someone who never wanted to be anything like a professional DJ, always having to reach sheepishly into that embarassing bag of tricks for "The Electric Slide" or "Brown Eyed Girl."

When the time for the big show finally came, I gave up and actually just decided to play shit that I wanted to play. I figured I'd just ride the guise of looking like a hired pro up until the point when people realized they hadn't heard a hit song in over an hour. Then, I figured I'd get punched in the face, so I could close up shop and leave early while still getting paid. For the most part, it went really well. Whenever you DJ there will always be a few people who you know will become problematic after they get a few drinks in them. First they come up cheering you because you're playing something that Vanilla Ice sampled. Then they ask if you do weddings. Then, the alcohol really kicks in and they're telling you that you suck because you don't actually have any Vanilla Ice. (This actually happened, punctuated by "What kind of DJ doesn't have Vanilla Ice?!" I gave the guy two middle fingers and hoped he wouldn't give me a concussion.)

I walked away unscathed from the whole ordeal, and was able to pay for a mixer with the money I made. I'd better start downloading "The Electric Slide" now!

In the midst of all this past month's business, I had a request from a friend (hi "Sal") to help her put together a mix to be played at her friend's (hi Anne-Marie!) wedding shower. Here I was on a Saturday afternoon, trying to figure out what a bunch of high school nostalgists wanted to hear during their party, and now I was being called in to think about marriage songs. It was going to be played during the party and then given away as a parting gift to everyone there. All age groups were represented, which made things extra odd for me. What kind of indie rock do you think your grandmother would like? Oh, and I've never met the person for whom the mix was made. Tall order.

All my worrying was apparently for naught. The mix was a hit and as it turns out, grandmothers have no problem digesting The Zombies. Tonight I'm posting the mix, in order. Regular readers (they're all gone now, right?) will probably notice that a lot of these songs have appeared on Pimps of Gore in the past year. Consider this a sort of "greatest hits" album, then. Pick up some of the songs you may have missed, and enjoy a couple of new ones in the bunch.

And congrats, Anne Marie. I was happy to help.

MAYFLOWERS/WEDDING SHOWERS

1. "Baby" by Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa
2. "Mushaboom" by Feist
3. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by Al Green
4. "So Fine" by Ike and Tina Turner
5. "A Certain Girl" by The Yardbirds
6. "Everyday" by Rogue Wave
7. "A History of Lovers" by Iron and Wine/Calexico
8. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" by Richard and Linda Thompson
9. "Marriage is for Old Folks" by Nina Simone
10. "The Lengths" by The Black Keys
11. "This Will be Our Year" by The Zombies
12. "In a Funny Way" by Mercury Rev
13. "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" by Sandie Shaw
14. "Sneakin Up On You" by Peggy Lee
15. "A Natural Man" by Lou Rawls
16. "Sunshine of Your Love" by Ella Fitzgerald
17. "Bring it On Home to Me" by Sam Cooke
18. "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" by The Postal Service
19. "The Book Of Love" by Now It's Overhead
20. "When You Love Somebody" by Fruit Bats

And yes, I did realize that I put music from two divorced couples (Ike & Tina/Richard & Linda), and several break-up songs on the mix. You've got to have a sense of humor, right?