Pretty Soon This Will All Be Different

I have a few weeks left. Then, The Werewolf Hotel is going to relocate for a while. There will be a new address and, I'm sure, a very different look. More or less.

In the meantime:

I keep a playlist on my iTunes for songs I become obsessed with for a period of time. I delineate it by the year. It's a fun way to record songs that are important to me, that mean something, that recall an experience like a night out or someone I met. This weekend I added Rufus Wainwright's Between My Legs to that list. It's been on heavy rotation, slowly climbing my Most Played list.

But there's another contender. A beautiful tune that I don't available to me yet because it hasn't been released. Isn't that frustrating? Understandable, yes. A reminder that in these days of instant gratification there is still do not open until Xmas situations.

Juliana Hatfield has a new album coming out the very day I leave for Japan called How To Walk Away. Her new song Shining On is currently being played in my myspace profile and hers! I have to say, the first time I heard it I was inspired. I like when art does that. Doesn't make you jealous, doesn't make you wish you had done something different; it moves you to be creative yourself.

Occasionally I'll wonder to myself: What will be the next song that really gets under my skin.

This one is it. Look for Shining On.

Another thing I love to do is look in the background of pictures. Reading book titles, recognizing CD spines, things like that. Often I take pictures of my own bedroom for future examination. It's a way of pack ratting without packing.

SPIN Magazine took this idea and ran with it. Here's Juliana Hatfield in her living room, surrounded by belongings, with a description for each one.

Notice that she has a copy of Wind Up Bird Chronicle. We share the same story.