Thing a Week 40 – Skymall

HELLO CLEVELAND!!

I choose to believe you put that in as an homage to me. :) Even if you didn't. Great tune as always.

Very nice. Am I detecting a little bit of Soterios Johnson's melody in there and maybe even something from the "Information" opening to Little Gray Books (how sad is it that I know JC's songs so well by now that I can even detect stuff like that)?

I can't wait to hear this, I'm certainly excited, yet I'm importing the video from the concert last night and I don't want to screw anything up.

I like, too, though I was picking up DNA and Ikea, at least in the chorus.

Alex, I'm looking forward to seeing the concert video. I hope we'll hear when it's available.

MP3 player's battery died ... fat guy sitting next to me is taking up too much room to use the laptop ... didn't bring a book ... going crazy ... SKYMALL! That little catalogue of stuff I never buy has saved me and the people sitting close to me so many times. Especially the day we sat on the taxiway in D.C. for 3 hours. That's right. 3 HOURS and I could still see the gate from which we departed. Eesh. Anyway, good song.

I always wanted that rock in which you could hide your keys. Now all I need is a house with a spot for a rock out front.
I like the production of the song.. the intro reminds me of that 80's band The Outfield for some reason. I still can't figure out why.

Great Groove! It's just sad that it brings back painful memories of those singing Christmas trees that *every* UK pub bought about 10 years back. But, personal trauma aside, good song! (/me looks up therapist's emergency contact number.)

Can "Thing a Week V" really be coming next week? God, I feel old... and nostalgic for the care-free days of "TAW II". (We sere all so young during "TAW I" that I don't think we had achieved self-actualization, while I frittered away "TAW III" chasing loose women and experimenting with hallucinogens - thinking I had it all figured out.) I thought I had found my niche with "TAW IV" only to see the time slip away. But I survived my mid-TAW crisis - the ponytail was a mistake, I know - and now I can sit back and watch the enjoyment in the eyes of those I have just recently exposed to the TAW.

It's been a wild ride. Let's keep it going.

If you need me, I'll be downstairs, with the Skymall. (i get a little shopvac out of this song). But I like it. Besides a little harmoic/cord theme in some of the music, I see another theme. Sources of inspiration. My 30 second analysis: Some of the sources of the earlier music was more obscure, almost targeting a nerdy audience. It seems the more recent music, is a little more subject-matter-approachable (pizza, skymall, etc.) I would attribute some of this to the pressue of a 7 day song writing cycle, some perhaps as a way to appeal to a larger audience, and some to just how it goes. Anyways, eventful demands... tour schedule just writing itself?

Excellent! Thank you JC. ^_^

"I'm gonna shop SkyMall" has a similar vocal line to "got the secret handshake down."

I hope Len's picture is a tray-table, with the magazine on it, and all the crap you bought literally pouring out of it, cluttering up your tray and overflowing into your lap. First person POV.

Also, on a broader topic, I have this vision of This A Week being completed at number 52 (even though it will have been more than a year, since you took off I think two weeks). And I think it'd be funny if Thing A Week 52 (or whichever the last one is), was called, "Thing A Week," and was acutally about this whole project, the response you got, and what effect it's had on your life.

Cheers!
Eric

Woah, that was an awesome song, and why didnt you perform this live Jon!? It would have sounded so cool with a backup band.

JC - Skymall is another great song. That said, from recent corespondence it seems like you're burning out on Thing a Week. Maybe you should switch to Thing a Fortnight?

As someone who has been on the road 25 weeks a year the past 15 years, this song struck me close to home.

When I look down at the pocket in front of me and recognize the cover of the magazine because it's the sixth time I've taken this particular airline (and it's still under 10,000 feet so I can't get my iPod out yet), I grab for that Skymall. I've bought Eagle Creek bags, the Bose Noise-Cancelling headset, and the Rosetta Stone spanish and brazillian portuguese language disks straight from the pages there. I miss the days when I could use the in-flight phone to shop for free!

Anyway, I'm turning all my friends on to you, JC... usually via "Code Monkey", which for some reason also strikes a chord in all the people that work near me at various client locations.

I hope you make a bundle. I'll be ordering the CDs soon!

JoCo, you've scored some serious geek mojo by having Randal L. Schwartz as a fan!

Randal, at my previous job I got a lot of mileage from a web-site link checker you published, so ... thanks!

JoCo, re. that "*whimsical* statue of a bear". Did the copy really say "whimsical"? If so, there is no hope for our species.

Reviewing the first sentence of this comment, I'm captivated by the assonance of "JoCo" and "Mojo". Has JoCo considered setting up a martial-arts-style institution to pass on his wisdom? Because, uh, the graduates of said institution would have, uh, "JocoDojoMojo", and, uh, I'd better stop right there. Before I make a fool of myself. (Though if it was a virtual dojo in a colocation facility they'd have "JocoColoDojoMojo". You may terminate me now.)

Randal, JC already has a #1 Portland fan -- don't make me walk down the street! (I knew that name looked familiar.)

BTW, how creepy is it that her Mariel is doing a movie called "My Suicide" after her (who was born in Portland, I notice.)

I feel like everything in SkyMall is "whimsical," except for maybe the massage items. The writing is so excruciating - I quote from the Freedom's Pride Eagle wall sculpture: "If God is indeed, 'in the details,' this incredible eagle speaks to the American spirit!" Um...what?

This song was the perfect tonic after taking a red-eye...

I just wish you had described more of the fascinating items in the SkyMall. It's where I purchased my Yoga-Paws (TM) for doing yoga on the road, which I always plan on doing but never actually do. Fortunately, they are small and light and come in a convenient carrying case which automatically becomes portable when picked up.

I guess this would make me your 3rd biggest fan in Portland... are we talking Maine or Oregon here? On the Wet side, -Andrine

Re. the "Freedom's Pride Eagle wall sculpture", ... holy crap! "Each talon and wing is intricately sculpted..."? Do they really mean *each* wing? The left *and* the right? After centuries of eagle tat artists who moulded only one before burning out, has the world at last witnessed a Leonardo who can do *both* wings? Now I can die!

It's so sad that this is available online. If SkyMall catered only to the few who can actually load their butts onto a plane they could become an elite brand. But now they have spread their virtual checkout to the Internet at large they seem somehow, ... well ... cheap, y'know? I guess everyone sells out in the end.

Here's to an excellent encapsulation of the useless (yet somehow exciting) goods that one can pick up through SkyMall. I couldn't count the number of times I was flying from Orlando to New York and thought... "Man, I really need a thatch-reefed tiki hut..... RIGHT NOW."

Keep up the excellent writing. You haven't missed your mark yet. I would, however, offer one request. Could you rip on the Scientologists a bit? As a favor to a fellow musician?

HA! “JocoColoDojoMojo”

Three words:

Hot dog toaster.

On a seemingly endless flight from Rome (Italy) to Atlanta and thence Portland Oregon, I'm staring at the Skymall magazine in the seat pocket in front of me, when a big grin comes across my face and I quickly dial my iPod to my JC playlist, and scroll down to the song.

Suddenly, the trip seemed 3 minutes and 54 seconds shorter!

Thanks again, JC. Oh, and Creepy Doll is seriously rockin'. And Code Monkey is now up to 12 plays on my iPod. :)

http://chalkline.blogspot.com/2006/07/skymalls-10-worst-products.html

a great review of skymall... enjoy!