Sometimes there are moments, when only Chuck Berry will do. Yesterday afternoon, as I walked home, I experienced one of those moments. I turned to my pod, slightly concerned, as I had a vague memory of heartlessly deleting Chuck during a pod purge. As I scrolled down to the C’s, I exhaled with relief. I had left myself 11 of the “Great 28” which was going to be plenty. A smile spread over my face, as the “Maybellene” filled my head.

My relationship with Chuck started early, one of my first set of memories are of my dad playing “Johnny B. Goode” and “Memphis” in the living room of our house in Eagle Rock. When I was 8 he gave me a copy of “The Great 28” on cassette. I’d say that I wore it out, except that I know I still have it somewhere, so that would be a lie. I think it’s enough to say that I love Chuck.

Enough with that trip down music memory lane. Time for the random set. The rules are simple, set your digital music device to random/shuffle and report back the first ten songs it spits out, no skipping, omitting, hedging or justifying.

1. Harbor Lights, Elvis Presley (The Sun Sessions)
2. Workin’ Girl Blues, Cherryholmes (Cherryholmes)
3. Caramia, Indigo Girls (Shaming of the Sun)
4. Don’t Cha Wanna Ride, Joss Stone (Mind, Body & Soul)
5. You Rise and Meet the Day, Dar Williams (My Better Self)
6. Language or the Kiss, Indigo Girls (1200 Curfews)
7. The Young One, Ruth Gerson Band (Very Live)
8. Ice Cream, Sara McLachlan (Mirrorball)
9. Two Little Girls, Ani DiFranco (Little Plastic Castles)
10. Shooting Star, Elliott Smith (From a Basement on a Hill)

Favorite Song: You Rise and Meet the Day, Dar Williams. I got this cd when I was back in Portland for Christmas, and have to admit that I haven’t given it as much of a chance as I should. I didn’t find it as immediately appealing as some of her past cds, and so it quickly rotated to the bottom of the “new” stack. But last night I popped it on and listened to it twice. Each time this song grabbed my awareness as it played, and so I was tickled to have it show up today in the random ten.

Favorite Album: Cherryholmes. I heard about this family band recently, while listening to Saturday NPR. I found their story appealing, they were a family living in California, when the father decided they were going to become a bluegrass band. Everyone learned to play instruments, started writing songs, moved to Nashville and poof, a success was born (okay, so I simplified their story a little. They did work very, very hard). I waited about a month to buy the cd, giving it time to drop off my mental map. Only I kept thinking about it and wanting it, so on about a week ago, I stopped into Tower Records and got myself a copy. We’ve been very happy together ever since.

Seen Live: The real question today is, who haven’t I seen live. I’ve seen Dar, the Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, Ani DiFranco and Elliott Smith (at the Troc, just months before he died, it wasn’t the greatest show). I’m hoping to see Cherryholmes live someday. Elvis is dead, I don’t really care about Joss Stone so much, and I’m sure I could see Ruth Gerson if I wanted.

Final Thoughts: I’ve got no final thoughts on this set of music, except to tangently say this. Only two weeks until my sister will be in Philly, playing at the Unitarian Church. Saturday, March 11th, from 7-9 pm. I can’t wait!

If you need more of the Friday Random Ten than I can give you, go check out some of the other players:
Howard
Ben
Sherri
Brian