Cat Power - "Cross Bones Style"

This is the only song that I can play on the guitar, and when I say "play," I mean half-assedly pluck with awkward zombie hands. And I spent a long time learning how to make those zombie hands, sitting in the crappy Brooklyn apartment trying to find some dexterity. Cat Power (by which I mean Chan Marshall) represents emotionally-broken girls everywhere, particularly those in college (and I would have probably been really into her in highschool as well). This song was first given to me on a mix cd my senior year of university, and fascinated me from the start. Some of the her songs are heartbreaking because of the hurt and pain, though others because of the ineptitude of their protagonists as they make their ways through a world shadowed by the inevitable misunderstandings and sufferings that arise and people try to interact with one another and claw their way through each day. I've never seen her perform live, but I hear there are a lot of tears shed by her on-stage at nearly ever show. I don't know whether I should applaud her raw, surface-level emotions, or give her a psychotherapist's business card. Probably both, which is why I can't listen to her most of the time. Too close to home.

Stellastarr* - Stellastarr*

I've seen them live in concert twice. The more important time was at the Crocodile Cafe (R.I.P.) in April 2004. Ryan's friends wanted to go, so we also went. Earlier in the day, I had mentioned to Justin and Co. (the Scooby Gang) that we were going to the concert. Ryan was not a big Scooby fan, at least as far as Justin was concerned, so imagine the tension when we show up and who do we see, but some of my friends. Who were much more easy for me to talk to while we were waiting for the myriad intro bands and warm-ups to end. Ryan was so pissed that he left me at the show. I got a ride back to Queen Anne from Justin. In my mind, that was the day Ryan and I broke up. In his mind, probably not, but I'm writing this bloody thing. He might say June, and there's an argument there I suppose, but - no.