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Monday, May 12, 2008

How Sufjan Stevens Came Along for the Ride

We are back. We divided up the driving between 4 days, completing on average about 5 hours of driving per day. Add in an additional hour or two of driving around town and you have over 30 hours of driving. And by 30 hours of driving time, I also mean 30 hours of Sufjan Stevens.

The Wolvog decided an hour into the journey that he would listen to only one singer this trip and that singer was Sufjan Stevens. We alternated between two albums--Greetings from Michigan and Come on Feel the Illinoise--because if we didn't, he would let out these short, high-pitched shrieks whenever we made a move to put on Ben Folds or Elvis Costello. You pick your battles.

But what happened was that I started needing more and more Sufjan in order to achieve that mellow high and after the third straight hour, it stopped feeling good and it started feeling overwhelmingly claustrophobic--like the walls of the car that had seemed so cozy against the rain were closing in on us, smothering us with soft guitar rifts.

I've been tweaking a bit since we got home. In my head, I've been repeating all chorus-like statements in duplicate as he does in "Say Yes! To M!ch!gan!" but it isn't the same to ask Josh, "what do eat? what do eat? dairy or meat? dairy or meat?"

Must get back to my safe space. Sufjan. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuufjan!



I truly must find a reason to get back in the car and drive with Wolvog, the music tyrant for 30 more hours...



12 comments:

sara said...

Glad you had a safe trip home!

annacyclopedia said...

Just when I thought you couldn't get any cooler, I find out you have a child so obsessed with Sufjan Stevens he demands to listen to him for 30 hours AND you let him! You're so bitchin, bitch!

Thanks for posting those clips - so enjoyable and 2 of my favorite songs from that record.

Anonymous said...

There's a singer I'd never even heard of before. Thanks for the heads-up.

When we were kids my sister and I developed an unhealthy obsession with Bob Dylan's album 'Slow Train Coming', mostly because of the 'man gave names to all the animals' song. My Dad, the ragind Bob Dylan fan, was delighted, and my mother still grinds her teeth at the very thought.

B said...

Maybe you just need to buy a ticket to one of his gigs. I hear that they are amazing.

Or you could give the lovely Joanna Newsome a spin on your player.

She is a babe harp playing poet, also an incredible performer.

Anonymous said...

You're raising a hipster!

Try Patrick Wolf, go on, for me ;)

Anonymous said...

Love Sufjan. I know you have a soft spot for Christmas music, and his Christmas CD set is awesome.

Anonymous said...

For the record, I'm the one who introduced the Wolvog to Sufjan. He is very sophisticated and also appreciates Spoon, Feist and Okkervil River.

HereWeGoAJen said...

That is a lot of driving. I hope you get to stay home for a while now to recover.

Jess said...

Music tyrant. hahahahahaha

Never heard of Sufjan Stevens, but ben Folds rocks the house. :)

Jess said...

Oh, PS....Hello Josh!! :)

loribeth said...

Never heard of Sufjan Stevens either. I must be showing my age &/or childless state.

Pale said...

I feel your pain. I am raising a music tyrant, too. And we road trip a lot. Earphones (not the buds -- bad for the hearing) and those itty bitty ipods (that just came down in price!) are a blessing.