09/05/2004 - 11:18 AM

Okay...took a hot bath to help loosen up all the gunk clogging my head, and I feel better, although not at 100%. I'll probably wander here, but it's for the best. Too many disjointed thoughts and ideas all flowing through my head this morning.

- I have had Prince on the brain for the last week or so, and particularly "Sign O' the Times", which is probably the greatest record I have ever heard. I actually finished reading a book specifically about the album this morning, and I feel pleased to know that I was influenced by a record that has historical context. I loved it before it was the darling of music critics, and I loved it before people started covering tracks from it. With the possible exception of TLC, who did something a little different with "If I Was Your Girlfriend" that didn't offend me, no artist should ever even contemplate covering any song from this masterpiece. How it became a cohesive opus is mind-blowing to me, especially since it was probably the fifth incarnation of what Prince was attempting to put together, but it works on so many levels.

If you have never heard this record, please check it out. From the sequencing of the songs, to the range of emotions/vibes/tones utilized, it's an experience. (And if you don't like it, please don't tell me. I'm open to debate almost anything else in the world, but this is one of my absolute truths.)

- My dreams have continued to be more vivid recently, and a strange theme has begun reoccuring. I have suddenly become a songwriter in the wee hours of the morning. This actually goes quite a ways back for me, but it only occured maybe once a year (that I could remember, anyway). I once had a dream that I wrote a song for Reba McEntire entitled "Holding On To the Pillow (Letting Go Of the Past)", and I was trying to get this song to Reba. In the last few months, I have become more prolific, although it's almost always disjointed from any particular dream. Last night, I had written this old-school R&B jam, and there was this amazing group along the lines of the O'Jays that were performing it. That's the first one in the series where something actually came of the song besides me writing it down. Not sure exactly where all of this is going, but I don't have much musical training (just a year of viola and a year of saxophone in elementary school), so I don't think songwriting is in my future. But it's still interesting.

- How does one stay in a successful relationship when you have the completely opposite opinion of politics from your partner, and you both work in the business? I laugh every time I see Mary Matalin and James Carville on Meet the Press, debating as if they'd rip each other's larynx out. And yet from what I understand, they have a wonderful marriage. They are much more understanding people than I think I could ever be.

- Currently spinning in the CD player (besides Prince) is the new Jill Scott CD (hoping it grows on me), the new Tim McGraw (loving it more than I probably should), an old Usher CD ("Nice and Slow" is way too sexy for an 18-year-old to have ever recorded), and an old Phyllis Hyman CD, just because sometimes you can listen to sad music, and it will make you happy. (BTW, I just noticed that Usher has gotten more mentions in my "What's Playing" section than any other artist, with one exception...Kylie Minogue. Haven't listened much to her lately, but it always comes back around.)

Okay...time to head out and meet up with Matt and Malcolm for lunch. Cya!

What I'm Listening To: Usher - Nice and Slow

First Word That Comes To Mind: song

What I'm Currently Reading: