My apologies

Ummmm, this is awkward. It turns out that giving you great people a million song playlist doesn't work for my girlfriend, Amber, or my immediate family. 500 songs a day would probably take about 6 hours a night to prepare, and I would have to do this every day, non-stop, for the better part of 5 years. It's just too much time to put into something as trivial as a playlist.

So with that being said, I'm going back to the original plan of Fugazzi Grand ! Tomorrow night, you will get the top 20 songs that did not make the final list. Let me tell you a little bit more about Fugazzi Grand....

Back in 1999, I made a playlist of my top 100 songs of all time, and recorded them on cassettes. I recently re-created that playlist and saved it in my iTunes library, and have been enjoying it ever since. It got me thinking how much my tastes have changed in 11 years. So I thought it would be fun to do it again, only bigger. Back in 1999, Billy Joel had 20 songs in the top 100. He now has 53 songs in Fugazzi Grand, meaning he went from comprising 20% of the list down to 5.3%. Does that mean I like Billy Joel less now than I did 11 years ago? Absolutely not. It means I've expanded by musical taste buds. Alanis Morissette had 3 of 100 songs on my list in 1999, and now has 2 of 1000 in Fugazzi Grand. Does it mean I like Alanis Morissette less now? This is a bad example, because, yes, I like her less now. But I like 2 songs enough to include her on the list.

This list is not a "greatest hits" compilation. The list consists of 100 ten song playlists that build from song number 1000 to the eventual number 1 song. I tried to create a nice build up from 1000 to 1. Don't look to closely at the actual rankings of individual songs, because it's so hard to determine how much better I like #785 over #793, and I was trying to create a nice flow from song to song. I can tell you that any of the top 4 songs could have been #1. I went back and forth, and actually changed my #1 song several different times.

As promised, there is no Kiss, Nickelback, Bon Jovi, Richard Marx, or Jewel. There are also a ton of very talented artists that did not make the list. Not because I don't like them, I just couldn't put them in the top 1000. I'd rather you read on to see who did and didn't make the list, rather than alienate someone by saying a certain favorite is not included. There is plenty of Billy Joel, the Beatles, Elton John, Elvis Costello and Weezer. Those five artists will make up around 16% of the selected songs.

I want to reiterate that this is not my list of what I think the top 1000 songs are of all time. It's a list of my favorites. I'm not trying to stump you, or trying to impress anyone. I'm simply sharing my preferences with you, and hope I can entertain you, and introduce you to some great music. I hope to get good feedback from you, and would love to hear what you are listening to.

I have some people to thank. There are plenty of good people that make a list like this possible. These people have all introduced different kinds of music to me over the years, and I hope I've introduced some good stuff to them....

Todd Kemper, Tiffany Herrera, Matt Schewe, James Redding, Bobby Tanzilo, Stephanie Awe, Kevin Schneider, Howard Goldstein, Scott Radke, Mike Moser, Andy Fefer, Holly Wines, Jamie Armata, Allen Russell, Amber Koloske, my mom, dad, sister, and Paste Magazine (and anyone else I'm leaving out).

Come back tomorrow night for the top 20 songs that did not make the list, and Saturday night for the official premier of Fugazzi Grand !!

It's time !

Only I lied! It's not a thousand song playlist anymore! It's a million! 500 songs a day, for the next 2,000 days !! Behold, I give you Fugazzi Million !!

#1,000,000 (Ghostbusters, Ray Parker Jr.)
#999,999 (Macarena, Los Del Rio)
#999,998 (Glory of Love, Peter Cetera)
#999,997 (Jesus He Knows Me, Genesis)
#999,996 (Your Body is a Wonderland, John Mayer)

Um, hold on one second. I'll be right back.

Fugazzi Grand is coming !

Fugazzi Grand, a 1,000 song compilation that I've been working on, will be coming to The Litmus Configuration on Sunday, August 15th. This will be a list of my all time favorite songs, and I will be revealing 20 songs a day through October 1st, then will be revealing the final 40 songs on my birthday, October 2nd.

I can already tell you that there will be absolutely no Kiss, Nickelback, Bon Jovi or Richard Marx. That's all I can tell you right now. Check back in two weeks for Fugazzi Grand !!

7 hours of ball

The Mets won an epic 20 inning game yesterday, that went scoreless through 18 innings. Each team scored in the 19th, and a Jose Reyes sac fly in the 20th was the difference. The Cardinals used two position players to pitch the final three innings, stranded 23 base runners, and sent a pitcher to the plate with the bases loaded twice in extra innings. Definitely one of the most memorable games I've ever seen. I bet each team is glad they are the ESPN game tonight. I'm throwing out a guarantee. I guarantee the game doesn't go 20 innings, and if it does, every follower of The Litmus Configuration will get a personalized apology letter from me, a Mets key chain, and you can all split my Best Buy rewards zone gift certificate (it's about $20.....not to shabby).

The Brewers have are 4-7, and try to avoid a sweep in D.C. this afternoon. They have dropped three straight series after taking 2 of 3 games from Colorado to start the season. I had a dream last night that Prince Fielder was traded to Boston for Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and prospects. Pull the trigger! He's not coming back....

(none)

I can't think of a clever title for the blog entry tonight....

I paid off my mini-van today. Never wanted it in the first place, haven't driven it in 3 years (it's Heather's), and I am relieved that I don't have to think about paying for or insuring the goddamn thing anymore. Good riddance, Nissan Sienna. Get out of my life!

Was watching the 30 for 30 for documentary on the University of Miami football program tonight. I was disturbed to see that Bernie Kosar was clearly intoxicated while filming his interview for the program. It's not negotiable that he was drunk. Pretty sad, as he is my all time favorite NFL player.

Quick list of CD's I'd like to pick up this year...

new Hold Steady
new Stone Temple Pilots
new National
new Broken Social Scene
new She & Him
Pinkerton deluxe re-issue
some old Macca
some good jazz

This weekend, I'll be getting familiar with Sufjan Stevens and Broken Bells. Good friends have good things to say about both of these...

I get to put my daddy hat back on this weekend. Gracie has been with her "Grammy" since Easter. I'm very excited to see her.

Still would like to do a podcast, but may not happen for a while. I gotta sell some books, and get ready for divorce court.

Gallardo is locked up for 5 more years. This is very good. Now if we could only do the same to King Prince...