"Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected."

I come to you today at the near end of a stressful work day. Nothing has gone right all day. Except for the last hour and in that last hour I have had a range of emotions. Beginning with frustration and then moving on to anger and now I think just relief. At this lovely moment, relief just relief. Relief simply spelled V-E-G-A.

To fill you in...
I have a co-worker who shares many of the same interest as myself. We enjoy each other's company and share many same tastes for my favorite 3 m's:music, movies and men. Through most of 2005, we enjoyed daily trivia. Nothing complicated, just whatever popped into our heads or whatever new little information we had come across over the weekend.
While done completely in good spirits, this friend has made my life a living hell for the last 6 weeks. Deciding to give me the ultimate trivia challenge, he created a CD simply called She Covered What???? The goal of the game was to name the song, name the female artist covering the song, name the original artist/songwriter of the song and then for bonus name both albums on which the song appeared (covered artist/original artist). I listened to the first few songs in my office, just kinda scanning the song choice. Brinton has heavily criticized this CD. The intention was not just the game or even how good the songs were, just that it was a certain female artist covering whatever other artist/bands songs. There are a few good songs on the CD and while I really like some of the music, I prefer the originals most of the time.

So, the first song I hear is Emmylou/Linda's version of Golden Ring and I think this is gonna be so easy. While most were songs I had heard before it was the actual narrowing down of the female artist that proved to be a bigger problem than I thought. 10,000 Maniacs covering REM's Don't Go Back To Rockville about drove me nuts. Finally though, I prevailed.
However, the other song that has absolutely drove me out of my mind was Cassidy by Grateful Dead. I had first thought Sheryl Crow. Only to be told I was wrong. Back to the drawing board. The co-worker just looked at me and said," Tina, you know this think. You want some clues?" Well, after a few more days I broke down. "Gimme the damn clues." To which I got: This person most popular song came out in the late 80's and was on a social issue.

Great! You know there were only a few hundred social issues sung about in the 80's. That was no help.

So, again after a couple more days and this woman's voice in my head, I break down again.
Ok, gimme another damn clue.
"Tina, you know this. Your gonna hate yourself when you figure it out."
Yeah, probably. Gimme the damn clue. (Needless to say, frustration has set in.)
Clue: This person sang at Lillith Fair.

God, you gotta love this guy!
Gives me a whole CD with women covering others songs and then, "Oh, by the way this chick sang at Lillith Fair."
" A woman at Lillith Fair... Heaven forbid!" (Anger has set in)

So, after driving Brinton crazy with it for so long, I email him and ask maybe Shawn Colvin. As soon as it was typed, I knew it was wrong. Knew it, felt it. Walked down stairs. Kicking myself along the way. Ready to scream because of my extreme stupidity. Sat down in front of my co-worker and said, Suzanne Vega and the social issue song was Luka.
Hung my head in shame, walked out of his office. I am pretty sure at that point my head exploded.

Well, 6 weeks later, there are only 10 more songs to go.
Maybe, I'll be finished before volume 2 comes out.



"I could do with a little more dignity and maturity in our operations, because those are the things we're fighting for. But first of all we've got to fight, and fighting is necessarily undignified and immature."

-James Lasher,Player Piano