"Books From Boxes" - Maximo Park

July 19, 2007

Hello All,

Funny chain of events took place over the past 24 hours. As soon as I thought I was leaving New York, I find myself here, at JFK, at 5:47 in the morning (I left the Upper West Side at 3 fucking am, yes it took this long to get here....through all the subways, transfers, airport security, breakfast burrito consumption) waiting to catch a 6:45 flight to Chicago. Told you, so. Somehow the children’s book style sun with its puffy cheeks blew some of those storm clouds a little too hard and my flight got cancelled. I called JetBlue and said, “Shit, that kind of sucks. I sorta have some interviews set up, also.” She apologized and said that I was one of the nice ones and thanked me for understanding. I guess I should’ve lashed out at her like, “What choo mean the flight is cancelled? Get me a damn pterodactyl (hey, that’s how spellcheck said it’s spelled...also a nod to Heidi) and let it sink its talons into my spine and transport me there if you have to.”

Then I hung up the phone and imagined that if I were living in a Disney movie, I’d somehow ride an Indian elephant with ivory tusks down Lexington Ave. with just enough time for me to catch a yellow and red striped hot air balloon. Somehow, after elevating a few hundred feet, for some reason barely escaping the clutches of a clumsy pair of criminals I’d release sandbags onto their heads and they’d sprawl out onto the ground (somehow, managing to escape death from the direct blow).

Well, I wish I could say that there was a more dramatic ending to my stay here. Sorry Roy, I was on my way to Crif Dogs but some steam pipe burst and killed someone and created this gaping hole in the street and suspended subway service for many hours. Though, I’m sure they’re delicious, I’m just not sure if they’re worth the hassle of walking down 80 blocks, having some unlucky guy die and making millions of hurried New Yorkers even more hurried and pissy. But then, I’m sure the hot dogs are good. I’ll just take your word for it. I’m sorry New York.

Also, the person whose place I’m staying at didn’t come home at the usual time from work last night so I was thinking, “Holy moly. The only person I know in New York is the person that fell victim to the steam.” Needless to say....screw it, it’s needless so I won’t say it. Either way, the nerve of me to think that even the most random of events are somehow related to me. Kind of like the way sports fans think their team will lose if they don’t watch the game. Admittedly, I did briefly think to myself, “Wow, this thunderstorm took place because I’m destined to live here. This dude died so that I couldn’t have Crif Dogs! I wonder what would’ve happened if I went there. Maybe I would’ve stepped on gum or run into a drunken Mike Tyson in a dark alley.....(lordy lord).

Well either way, I have written anything too specific about the songs because the way I process them is rather painstaking and meticulous. The way I really like to listen to music for the first time is to hole myself in a wall, throw on some decent headphones that allows me to hear every little sound, pull up the lyrics and turn off the lights. It’s sensory deprivation and sensory emulsion all at the same time. This music thing, I seldom read articles about them, look them up on myspace or anything like that. It’s about me and my intimate relation with the song. I do look up meanings though, just to take a lot of the guesswork out of it. But lately my personal endeavors have seeped through onto my list and I apologize if I don’t paint as vividly as I used to. Whatever, it’s my list but I’ll try to really seek out dope songs. Truth is, I just haven’t been too impressed with anything that has come my way lately. But alas, I’ll try. Well, I think Maximo Park fits in the same pair of shoes as The Kooks, but I think Maxi-mo-betta. I’ll think you’ll enjoy it nonetheless.

(Sigh)...the narcissism of altruism.

Morsels of human truth, free of charge.

-- Sonnyred