Unseasonable Sunshine and Slow Beginnings....

As it turns out, it was a mistake to have started this blog when I did, at the footstep of a series of shockingly warm, sunny mid-March days in Chicago (as well as the start of my favorite sporting event of the year, March Madness). As a result, the blog was put on hold as my random stumbling took a backseat to long bike rides, morning jogs and sun-soaked, aimless wanderings. Chicago is just a completely different city when the weather is temperate, when the roads are traversable on bicycle, when winter jackets and water-resistant boots are pushed to the back of the closet. It is a happier place, a better place. Its residents, who have for so many months been forced to stare at the sidewalks while walking outside to prevent their faces from the frigid, whipping wind, are finally able to look up and acknowledge the existence of one another, to smile, to exchange a friendly nod or harmless salutation and actually mean it.

Hopefully, for the sake of Chicagoans deserving of such beautiful weather, my lack of production will continue for months and months, all the way through a Cubs' World Series Title (which, of course, would mean an eternity of beautiful days).

But, without further ado, let's start stumbling…

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1

This site provides you with a remarkably simple way to waste your time. You simply enter a date and it tells you what song was No. 1 on the charts on that date.
On the day I was born, Art Garfunkel’s “Bright Eyes,” was the British favorite du jour, which is embarrassing for the Brits. I’m actually rather fond of the U.S. and Australian number ones on April 9th, 1979: “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Bros., and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” respectively. A year later in the States, “Another Brick in the Wall” was number one, leading me to believe that, perhaps, Americans’ collective taste in music is particularly strong in early April (which would in turn explain my impeccable taste in music). I was disappointed to discover that the following year, Hall and Oates’ “Kiss on My List” held the top spot.

Regardless, fun way to procrastinate. Incidentally, there is a killer cover of “What a Fool Believes” available for free on the interwebs. A band called Self, whose work I’m otherwise unfamiliar with, recorded the song entirely on children’s instruments. Check it out here: (caveat: the song will be stuck in your head for approximately thirteen hours)
http://parrishioner.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c22523d34e549d00c22529fa49604a.html