'Cause Tramps Like Us, Baby We Were Born to Run

A recent thread in the Something Awful forums has gotten me to think about music, as I'm so apt to do on my own. The thread is entitled "Perfect Moments in Music," and is found in the NMD sub forum. I've yet to post in this thread, as it is on the long side and I'd rather not repeat anyone on it. Once I've slogged through I'll think of something. For now I think I'll list some of my ideas.

• The break after the solo in Springsteen's "Born to Run" where he counts off and then passionately sings out"The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive." This moment never fails to get me to sing along at the very top of my lungs. The Boss is the boss.
• The part in Lennon's "God" where a defeated sounding John sings "I used to be the Walrus, but now I'm John." It perfectly lets everyone into the kind of hurt that Lennon felt over being part of something so special (The Beatles and the Love Generation) just to see it fall apart. It's a terribly poignant moment within a terribly poignant record.
• "The Scream" in The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." If you do not know what I'm talking about, then you don't listen to enough music.
• The entirety of the song "The March of the Gay Parade" by of Montreal. It crystallizes the goofy, off-the-wall charm of "the indie Sgt. Pepper" in the most unanticipated and brilliant skits I've had the pleasure of hearing.
• The moment in the lyrics of Death Cab for Cutie's "Tiny Vessels" where Ben shifts the perspective from the second person to the first person and transforms the entire song into a guilty confession. This is one of the moments on Transatlanticism that made me fall in love with Death Cab.

Well, there's a handsome group of moments in music history. I welcome suggestions in either the comments bit of this site, or an instant message. Whatever your heart desires.

I Swear to the Stars, I'll Burn this Whole City Down

Through my audioscrobbler page, which is linked to somewhere on this page, I learned of a fantastic event happening this coming Friday (November 7). One of my favorite bands, The Decemberists, will be playing the Electric Factory that night to what will no doubt be a sold crowd. All signs point to the show consisting of tracks from my favorite album of the band's and one of my favorites of this decade. The album of which I speak (or type for those who fancy being literal) is the latest release by Meloy & crew The Crane Wife.

There is one problem with the concert's timing, I work on both the day of the show and the day after. This will make the timing tight and force me to make some real decisions, not the least of which being the idea of coming in early to leave early on Friday or eating into my reserve of OT built up over a couple days of lengthy setup required for the All Staff Rally happening at work.

One good thing out of this show is the possibility of the tour being a harbinger of a new album from The Decemberists, who happen to be due for one. This is simply a guess based on the timing of it all, but if they are going to be recording soon then the bar is mighty high for the band to follow up their current magnum opus.