...watch the North Wind rise...

ripfast tranquil enervation of bitter dreams
...also known as the Weekend Sound Track...
(the Saturday 8:00am slot)

drift along the vibe
<--upstream to 7:00am | WST | 9:00am and downstream-->

Start times reflect a 0:02 intertrack delay.

08:00:00 EDT
Men Without Hats - Bright Side of the Sun (from their album Pop Goes the World) 0:40

Time was, I would sleep straight through into Saturday with nary a pause. Now, though, now...the Changes and the tides yank me awake early on, and I stumble into the kitchen for a glass of water. My kitchen window faces east; a warmth of the sun peeking over the forest of vents and HVAC atop the pharmaceutical company across the way. With no thought for what might be carried over from there, thinking it could only help, maybe it'll kill me and the headache will stop I open the window to feel the brush of the wind.

08:00:42 EDT
Hot Tuna - Watch the North Wind Rise (from their album HPPKRV) 4:17

Problem is, of course, it feels like I haven't slept at all, really, so after chemical intake and water, I shuffle back to my room, trying to draw inspiration from the softly snoring heap of weasels curled up in their hammock, busily looking offensively relaxed. I toss myself back on the bed, hoping for Morpheus' robes to swish by...

08:05:01EDT
Faithless - Touched by the Hem of his Garment (from their maxi-single Insomnia) 4:07

Problem is, I can't stop thinking about it, even if it isn't real; that for which I might lay down my geas, and she-

08:09:10 EDT
Tricky - She makes me wanna die (from the soundtrack to The Replacement Killers, with the Stereo MCs) 4:22

Lying on the green linen, trying hard to regain what I've lost, I sometimes wish...but for what isn't really important. One track of one tear which slides downwards across my cheekbone and the hollow of my shoulder to leap across onto the bed, pulling me down with it into a deeper state, and-

08:13:34 EDT
Comsat Angels - I'm Falling (from the soundtrack to Real Genius) 3:29

This is the sort of slide which forces one to consider the texts of love, life and loss; to really wonder, as you descend, if you've been listening to

08:17:05 EDT
David Bowie - The Heart's Filthy Lesson (from his album Outside) 4:59

...better, this. Not quite down but not really up, no light, few sounds, inordinate fascination with the thudding of my own heart and blood keeping me from thinking too hard about being me...

08:22:06 EDT
Massive Attack - Teardrop (from their album Mezzanine) 5:30

...i'm drowning down here in the bottoms and i can't see any light above although i know i should be able to awaken if i need to because i always have in the past but this time might be different-
i'm lost

08:27:38 EDT
Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home 3:16

Some time later, I stumble through the stop-plane worlds of fantasy and dream to alight upon the porch of a small and dusty town, the entirety of the place (its edifices and its people and its very Steinbeckian soul) bent nearly double in the oppression and the risk. There is the sound of wind, of dust exploring corners, of the creak of a rocking chair on the front stoop of the open (empty) General Store. There is the feeling, here, of impending disaster, of an entire population wilted and shriveled before the onslaught of catastrophe, despite the absence of anyone at all. No; wait, there is one; the rocking chair holds an ancient man, his skin leathery with the Delta winds and fingers callused with the axe's voice. He has a story for me, so I sit before him and wait for the first sighing notes of words.

08:30:58 EDT
John Lee Hooker - Tupelo (from his album John Lee Hooker and Friends) 3:55

Tears run freely here and there; not much can intervene to guide my aching feet but one small thing. A pool runs gaily across the dusty surface of the road, somehow leaving all dust and grit behind, so I stoop to drink-

08:34:55 EDT
Moby - God moving over the face of the waters (from his album I Like to Score) 5:44

Down here in the soul and the storm, you can lie peaceful in the rolling tempest and think of the sounds that wash over and through you; sounds of the World creaking its joints as God works off cramp. A treetrunk strikes a boulder with an indescribable shuddering boom; a constant clinking reminds of submerged stones as they clack and tumble in the eternal polisher.

08:40:41 EDT
Underworld - River of Bass (from their album dubnobasswithmyheadman) 6:26

The peace and tranquility have begun to work their balms; I can navigate again, upwards, away from sleep and towards the light-

08:47:09 EDT
DNA - La Serenissima 5:58

Classical plus; the latter brings it into my world of speed and time. Moving involuntarily, I find myself in hipsway as the themes pile carelessly on top of each other before the finale.

08:52:09 EDT
Men Without Hats - Intro (from their album Pop Goes the World) 1:47

Ah. Wakeful light and noise and sturm und drang is closer now; I can see the laughing refracted girls above the mirrored dream of the surface--getting there...some blacko java and I'll be on it. I can feel the waves now, and they're swaying me upward--

08:54:48 EDT
Alabama 3 - Woke Up This Morning (from their album Exile on Coldharbour Lane), a version of which - not this one - was chopped and muffled to become the opening theme to The Sopranos) 5:17

That's perfect, and my eyes can finally quiver open to match the smile playing across my lips-

...cheers from the cheap seats of the Weekend Sound Track...

sail the vinyl slotted groove
<--upstream to 7:00am|WST|9:00am and downstream-->