A 4.5 magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Chatsworth, CA awakened residents of the area just before 1 AM on Thursday, August 9. (Chatsworth is a major center for the adult-entertainment industry, and is used to a different type of moving and shaking.)
People who aren’t from California probably think this happens all the time. And maybe it does, but sometimes the quakes are so far below the surface of the earth they’re barely noticeable. I’ve lived here for 5 years, and this was only my second one (which is fine with me, honestly). This one occurred about 3 miles below, and shook the area surrounding the epicenter for about 30 seconds.
We live within 10 miles of the epicenter, and were literally shaken awake. I wasn’t sure what was going on at first – as I said, this was only my second – and Tall Paul jumped right up to go check on the kids, who slept through it. Some things fell off shelves and a couple of pictures were knocked crooked on the walls, but other than that we didn’t notice anything amiss. My morning commute takes me just south of the epicenter of the quake, and there wasn’t anything unusual to report in that area.
———————————–
From one variety of rock-and-roll to another:
EW.com’s Popwatch mentions a listing of the “Top 25 Opening Lyrics” on Spinner.com. This is the kind of thing that can spark plenty of debate among music fans. It’s an AOL site, and most of the picks were pretty well-known and mainstream. Here’s a sampling, moving Casey Kasem countdown-style from #25 to #1:
25. “You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar”
–Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’
23. “You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips”
–The Righteous Brothers’ ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin”
21. “Hello, Darkness, my old friend”
—Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’
20. “I am an Antichrist”
—Sex Pistols‘ ‘Anarchy in the UK’
19. “Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body”
—George Michael‘s ‘Faith’
18. “I was dreaming when I wrote this”
—Prince‘s ‘1999’
15. “There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief”
—Jimi Hendrix‘s ‘All Along the Watchtower’
14. “What’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?”
—Weezer‘s ‘Buddy Holly’
13. “Oh, I just don’t know where to begin”
—Elvis Costello‘s ‘Accidents Will Happen’
4. “Well, she was just seventeen — you know what I mean”
–The Beatles‘ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’
1. “She’s a very kinky girl”
–Rick James’ ‘Superfreak’
It’s worth checking out the whole list. There’s definitely a “huh?” factor to some of the picks, but music preferences do tend to be pretty subjective – and as I said, many of the selections are pretty familiar (except maybe Pavement’s song at #17). The comments to some of the choices indicate that the presentation/performance of the lyrics counted in addition to the words themselves, as in picking Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” rather than writer Bob Dylan’s. Dylan had to be represented here, though, as did Paul Simon and Lennon and McCartney (although if I had to choose a single best opening lyric of theirs, it would be very difficult, and I’d probably go with “I read the news today, oh boy” from “A Day in the Life.” I do give the Spinner pick credit for being less obvious.) . But “Superfreak”? I have to wonder about that one…
Limiting that list to just 25 was probably pretty challenging, but I would have had to throw a Fountains of Wayne pick in there somewhere, like one of these:
“Working all day for a mean little man with a clip-on tie and a rub-on tan” (from “Hey Julie”)
or maybe
“Sleeping on a planter at the Port Authority waiting for my bus to come” (from “Bright Future in Sales”)
In addition to their catchy power-pop melodies, these guys understand office dronery.
