Song for a Crappy Tuesday

It's four o'clock in the morning. The sun has not risen and the city is in it's most quiet hour. Your dreams pulse from one image to the next, recycling conversations from days before, when, without warning, your body lurches up and your eyes spring wide.

What was that? What is your imagination, or did someone knock on your door?

knockknockknockknockknock.

Someone knocked.

Your brain tries to clear out the underbrush of sleep as you creep out of bed. You don't know anyone in your building, who would be knocking at this hour? The raps come again, this time with more force.

knockknockknockknockknock.

"Who is it?" you call, with a sudden clarity in order give the impression that you are, in fact, fully awake and lucid.

The muted answer comes back, "Open the door, please."

You stand in your socked feet, staring at the door. A pin spot of yellow light shines through the peep hole.

The knock comes again: knockknockkno-

"OKAY. I'm coming..." You pad over the stacks of "take care of later" papers and unread books on the floor. There is a pile of laundry in the corner that never seems to go away.

You press your hand to the doorknob and hold onto it for just a second. You think to look out the peep hole, but something in you still wants to be surprised. You turn the knob and crack the door.

Standing before you is a young man who looks something like a Bible salesman (or, at least, what you imagine one would look like, never having actually seen one first hand.). He smiles at you and says "Hello. Come with me."

Your head is still struggling to the shoreline of consciousness. "Beg pardon?"

"I said, 'Hello. Come with me.'"

"Yeah-yes. I got that part. How come? Is everything okay? Or, wait...first, who are you? Do I know you?"

The young man nods his head and smiles. "The name's Before New Year's. Tuesday Before New Year's. You can call me Tuesday. Some people want to call me Mr. Before New Year's, but I think that's too many words."

Your eyes glaze for a second.

"So, come on." He beckons you towards the stairs.

You do know this guy. You're going to go with him no matter what. You can sit behind the door, but you know he will keep knocking. You have no choice but to go with him.

"Should I put on some clothes - er, do I need anything?"

"No. Just let's go."

A wave of clean exhilaration over takes you. You don't need anything, but just go.

It occurs to you that perhaps you are still sleeping in your bed - that this is just a product of your brain steeping in the tropical steam heat in your bedroom. Either way, you follow Mr. Before New Year's down the stairwell and leave last year behind.


I love the time between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Whether or not we want to, we are compelled to look back over the year and make plans for the future. At the same time we are avalanched by Year End Round-ups and Top Ten Lists. (Ends of the Decade are the mother load. Not only are you offered a Year in Review, but you get a glimpse back at the past ten. 10 years ago, I had just closed a show about the End of Days called Apocalypse, and was furiously writing to finish my adaptation of Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor.)

According to my iTunes play counts on a month by month basis, 2009 was a pretty random year. Below is my official Top Twelve List. Here are the songs I added to my library, month by month, and with the highest play counts. In some instances, I offer an explanation. In other...judge me if you will - I bet you have some pretty handsome musical skeletons in your library as well.

(To be fair, some of these with astronomically high play counts would be classified as "Running Music" or "Show Music". In other cases, who am I kidding? I love Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga.)

1. Sober, P!ink (Added 1/24/09, played 42 times) I think I had a wound only Pink could salve.



2. Don't Phunk with My Heart, Black Eyed Peas (Added 2/8/09, Played 18 times)



3. Poker Face, Lady Gaga (Added 3/11/09, Played 65 times)



4. Soft Rocked by Me, Jonathan Coulton (Added 4/21/09, Played 12 times)



5. I hear the Bells, Mike Doughty (Added 5/18/09, Played 25 times)



6. My Life Would Suck Without You, Kelly Clarkson (Added 6/3/09, Played 60 times)

As lip dubbed by my Kerpatty! boys...



7. If My Heart Was a House, Owl City (Added 7/23/09, Played 29 times)




8. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, Dream Academy (Added 8/7/09, Played 10 times)



9. In These Arms, The Swell Season (Added 9/17/09, Played 10 times)



10. Sexyback, Justin Timberlake (Added 10/9/09, Played 23 times)



11. Bad Romance, Lady Gaga (Added 11/9/09, Played 30 times)



12. Sovay, Andrew Bird (Added 12/9/09, Played 9 times)




What were your most listened to songs this year? (Not just the good ones...but the most listened to.)