Dave - Personally, I wouldn't mind having your travel schedule for a year or two. I look at your blog and I boggle at the places you get to go to. I've only had two overseas business trips, one to Tokyo (which was absolutely amazing) and another to Mexico City (where I didn't get to see anything at all because I spent all my time going from the hotel to cushy offices - for a truly amazing value of sink-to-your-ankle-in-the-carpets cushy - and getting chauffered around.) I'd really like to go back to both places and see more of them.

Yeah, booking your own travel can be a PITA, but I have to do that using my company's travel tool which will always try to save $25 by making me change in Phoenix with a 5 hour layover.

Enjoy NYC and Chicago. Heck, I'm sure you can enjoy Wisconsin if you put your mind to it!

I read your blog EVERY DAY, even Saturdays! Does that mean I have no life? Or that my life revolves around your blog?

Yeah, this has got to be the LONGEST MEME EVER, which is why I simply MUST steal it for Chronic Listaholic.

ABBA, huh? Well, at least you also included "Love Bites," "Miracle" and Nina Simone. A well-rounded list, indeed!

Holy cork, this is a long meme.

Of course I agree to all the DM, Erasure, NIN...oh hell, basically ALL the alternative stuff.

I'm not doing this, tho', because there are a few categories that I don't have any favorites in.

Oh, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE "The Scientist". Actually, any songs w/ a piano score, because I played piano growing up, so I'm a sucker for it in songs. But, The Scientist is such a pretty song, and Coldplay's stuff is just so...I dunno, it just kinda takes you over.

A buddy of mine has seen Neil Diamond in concert a couple of times and says the man puts on a pretty good show.

Well, that was 20 years ago, which may be even odder as my buddy was in his mid-20's then. And during that time we'd seen Bruce, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, Bob Seeger, and other non-Neil Diamond types together.

I'm a big ABBA fan too. And, FWIW, G. Gordon Liddy is one as well.

But did you ever see FLock of Seagulls live? I did! At the Hamptom Beach Casino in New Hampster and they were great.

Oh, and the Cure is VERY au currant with the high school kids who don't listen to techno hiphop crap. My son is a HUGE Cure fan. As am I. It's weird that my 13 year old kid borrows my CDs. He was listening to Blond on Blond tonight. Dylan. 13. Does not compute.

Do they have Hard Rock Cafe in Wisconsin?

Your trips make me dream.
To tell you the truth, I just know these cities throuh the TV and cinema :
New-York : Friends, Sex and the City, Fame, "Le parrain", "Les Affranchis", Spiderman...
Wisconsin : That's 70's show, James Hobert in Spin City...
Chicago : Scarface, Al Capone, "Quand Harry rencontre Sally" (one of my favorite movie), "Le fugitif", "Les incorruptibles"...

Wow, there are so many differences between us and yet so many similarities.

Differences:

• Neil Diamond
  I like Neil Diamond's voice even better than his songwriting. I hope that doesn't scare you. I especially like Red Red Wine by both UB40 and Neil Diamond (Neil Diamond originally wrote and performed the song in 1967).


• Country
  Like you, I don't enjoy Country as a genre, but unlike you, I could easily name a bunch of actual non-Pop Country songs that I do like. There's Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard


• Xanadu
  Like you, I love Xanadu soundtrack, but unlike you, I also love the movie :) Oh, and Olivia Newton-John had her share of Country cross-overs too.


• Circle Jerks
  I don't feel compelled to actually have a reason to write Circle Jerk. I'd just write it. I was going to put it in my comment on your "Salad" entry but couldn't work it in easily...


• Knowledge
  A lot of the stuff you listed I'd never actually heard, or heard of. I don't think I've ever heard a Clay Aiken song, but I know who he is. I remember Erasure in high school and I remmeber liking what I heard, but I think mostly my roommate used one of their songs as a good car stereo test song. Never heard of Etta James, Daniel Powter, Ben Folds, Cheryl Lynn, 10cc, Mase, Keane, Badly Drawn Boy, Taylor Hicks.
  
• Amount of TV
  You watch a lot more TV. I can see that some of it leads to the knowledge difference given the Clay Aiken ties, and the CSI theme songs, and Tour of Duty, etc. Although not referenced in this blog entry, I've already resolved to see about this "Veronica of Mars" thing you write about so frequently. Again, something I've never even heard of.


• What brings tears
  I'm guessing you've either never heard "Cat's in the Cradle" or had a temporary brain failure. I hope it's not that you can listen to the song and not get all welled up near the end. If so, you're just plain heartless. In fairness, your reason for the Alan Parson's song trumps a song's actual substance to bring the tears.

Similarities:

• Attention to detail
  We both spend time on what we want to do, even when others might look at it and say "why'd you waste time on THAT?!?!?". Take the itunes links for example - I for one respect the extra effort you took and also recognize that when people say things like that, it's usually because they're thinking it took you the same amount of time it would have taken them. But on some things (especially formatting and additional easy-to-parse detail) it probably takes you 1/100th the amount of time.


• ABBA
  I think I knew you liked ABBA, but I didn't know the similarities ran so deep as to have "Name Of The Game" be a favorite! To me, it's _the_ favorite. What a song. And, the video has extended lyrics. The beginning of the song always has me close my eyes and just experience the whole thing. This is why I don't keep ABBA in the car.


• Grease
  Well, it looks like it took 3rd place on your list out of lack of competition. I loved Grease the move and the music. Plus, I've probably seen way more musicals than you. Oh crap. What am I saying?!?!?! (examples that might need to go here would include "Sound of Music", "Moulin Rouge", "Phantom of the Opera", "Tommy", "Muppets Take Manhatten" and "Mary Poppins". And I don't know if Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is a movie soundtrack or a musical soundtrack.
  
• Enya
  Yup. Just about everything by her is great.


• Flock of Seagulls
  I thought it was just a one-hit thingy but then some time ago my brother was in a band and Kansas came to town, and Flock of Seagulls opened for them, and then my brother's band opened for both. Anyway, I was able to hear more FoS songs and I liked them. Although, I couldn't name them now.

So what I've learned from this is that I think I want to expand my musical horizons a little and not be so boxed in. The stuff I like, I like very deep. By that I mean once I got into Rush, I bought every album. Every single album. And the VHS videos. And bootlegs. And when they came out with another album, I was the first to get it.

Led Zeppelin? bought it all. The group `Yes`? Ok, that was a bit expensive given that there's 40+ albums if you count all the solo projects of all the 12+ members over the last 38 years. Steely Dan, Moody Blues, Mannheim Steamroller, Ozzy/Black Sabbath, Sting, Depeche Mode, Steve Vai, Duran Duran, Def Leppard, ABBA, Enya. I've bought every album for each one of these artists, and usually the videos as well. Oh, and ignore the fact that a lot of them I started with albums on some, buying all of them on cassettes, then re-buying them on CD's and with some, re-buying a few of them again on DVD-Audio, when available. (tip: if you really really like your music, try buying one of your favorite albums... you know, an album you know inside and out, left and right, backwards and forwards, and then buy a DVD-Audio version of it. It'll likely blow you away. My examples here would be Donald Fagan's _Kamakiriad_ and Steely Dan's _Two Against Nature_.

So maybe the reason I don't get into artists that other people like, like Coldplay, Smashing Pumpkins, Eminem, Creed, [insert other popular bands here] is that I fear the investment.

ooo... you know, i am working on a cd of covers for a friend and needed just a couple more song ideas. she sent me 80 songs and i wanted to give her back 80, but we had a lot of the same sources. that erasure song was just the ticket! :)

LarryB... I thought you had been to Starbucks in China and Germany?? Layovers are the worst. I usually have a 4-hour on the way back home and I hate it.

SJ... Ooooh... but it's more than 10 questions! What will she do? What WILL she do??

Adena... I love the video for "The Scientist" too. Coldplay is genius, and that album remains my favorite.

Delmer... ABBA is one of those groups that people tend to dismiss outright... or really enjoy. I used to dismiss them until I started really listening to their music. It's amazingly complex and brilliant, and now I can't imagine how I had ever disliked it.

Margalit... It's nice to know that The Cure still has a following. They are not my favorite group, but there is simply no denying that "Disintegration" is one of the most brilliant albums of all time. It's genius on a scale that most bands can only dream of.

EDDIE... Sadly, no. They don't. I have no idea why Milwaukee isn't given a shot at a cafe... but, then again, Seattle hasn't ever had one either, so I guess there's no understanding it.

Laurence... It is nice to see cities through the eyes of those who create movies, television, and song... especially if you cannot visit them for yourself. :-)

Wayne... I've heard "Cats in the Cradle" but it has no emotional tie to anything real for me. All I can muster is that it's a nice song. It's just like Eric Clapton's song for his dead son "Tears in Heaven" that most people have on their list. Yes, it's a sad song, and made a great tune for the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack... but I don't get all worked up over it because it takes more than sad songs to work me into an emotional state. I need something real in my life to attach it to. This doesn't make me heartless, it just means I am not an overly-emotional person (and there's nothing wrong with that). ABBA's "The Name of the Game" is about as brilliant as a song can get... so many complex overtones and beautiful shifts in the melody as it builds to an amazing finish. Even if somebody hated ABBA, they should still be able to appreciate how wonderful a job the group did in creating it. I don't like musicals at all, and absolutely LOATHED "Moulin Rouge" and "Evita". I will admit that "The Sound of Music" was very well done... better than most... but it's still difficult for me to enjoy it. Oh... and fear of investment is a very valid reason to want to stay away from something. I understand perfectly, because I have an addictive personality! If I like a group, I don't just want one album, I want ALL albums! :-)

Jodi... As much as I like Erasure, their albums of covers was pretty terrible except for this one song and maybe two others. Still, I am glad to have it, because "Solsbury Hill" is a great effort, and I listen to it frequently.

Ok, firstly, I am stealing this meme.
Secondly, what's a girl gotta do to get you to fill her iPod?

Yeah, I can tell how nobody reads your blogs on Saturdays!!!

I could comment forever about the songs you put, but I don't have the energy right now (just finished an all-day cleaning of the house). But, yeah, SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah, just had to say that.

Dave - China and Germany were on my dime not my employer's, and wow, you've got a good memory!

FWIW, the week after next, I'll be in Boston on business. I won't have much in the way of free time, but it should be a nice change. It's only my second business trip this year, but at least I managed to score non-stops with one way in First (last seat on the plane). Of course it was (just) more than 10% over the cost of cooling my heels in dopey places for 3-5 hours each way and I'm sure to hear from the finance people about it because it's outside of travel policy.

Also, I'd have had a heck of a hard time doing your music meme because I do such a good job of ignoring music I hate that I can't tell you titles and artists. I am a big fan of The Cure, though, and I'm happy that a new generation is discovering their magical brand of up-tempo mopiness. (Yeah, and Depeche Mode is pretty great, too.)

Frances... Steal away! You probably don't want me filling any iPod as I have questionable music tastes. You could be listening to the sweet tones of Nina Simone one minute... then BAM!! It's the A-Teens or something. It's not pretty. :-)

Eve... Hah! For you, every day is Day of Slayer!

LarryB... It's hard to forget about the guy who told you about "Forbidden Starbucks!" I love Boston. I think I was just there last year wasn't I?? Hmmm... some memory! :-D

My dear friend Bookhart made up that meme...and it is an ass kicker. It took me three days of thinking before i even attempted it. She's way cooler musically than I am....my general muscial rule is that if my ass don't shake rattle and roll when I hear it, then I don't buy it.

I agree with most of your musical choices except Neil Diamond. yeah he's weird, but damn that Cracklin' Rosie can make me smile! I even have him on 70's vinyl from my mom's collection. She was a Neil Diamond FANATIC.

And I love the little cheesehead Dave. He's SO CUTE! He might be my favorite Dave ever. Because there's COWS.

Ok, that was a long ass meme. I don't even know if I can attempt that one. I forgot about "Brand New Lover"! I LOVED that song. Can anyone over the age of 11 stand Gaykin?

   
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