Setlist Society

Nostalgic References:
#1 - "Reading Rainbow" - Obvious. Watching Levar Burton every morning as a young lad definitely influenced my desire to read and explore my imagination.

#2 - "Leader of the Pack" - As the youngest child in my family, I have a lot of fond memories of running errands with my mom during the day while my siblings were all in school. We often sang along to our local Oldies station while driving -- this is one of the classics I will always associate with that special bonding time.

#3 - "Pop Goes the World" - Always makes me think of my sister Jenn. This is one of the many 80s songs she played over and over as a teenager, so if I was hanging out in her bedroom this was part of the soundtrack.

#4 - "Something to Believe In" - I remember listening to this entire album over and over again after school with my 7th grade friends like it was yesterday. Playing ASCII games on BBS's and The Offspring. Awesome.

#5 - "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" - Aside from the Seattle memories (again, local Oldies station), I specifically remember singing this song a capella many times with a classmate I sat next to in 9th grade Physical Science. We'd often adapt the lyrics to our situation, too. One time this guy Ryan turned around and started giving me lip, so I sang, "Ryan, you're a queer boy! ...," and continued in form, and my buddy immediately jumped in with the backup vocals without missing a beat: "You're a queer boy! ... Such a queer boy!" 9th grade-level insulting, but Nth-level creativity!

#6 - "The Impression That I Get" - First time I heard this was just before the end of my freshman year, before I entered high school. A group of my peers covered this song in a pep assembly. Pretty vivid memories -- stirs up a lot of emotions I was going through in that transitional phase of my life.

#7 - "Danny Boy" - Twofold memories here. Firstly, Jared used to pop in either Mel Torme or Harry Connick, Jr. every morning as we drove to early morning seminary, so anytime I hear Harry's voice, I'm taken back to those crazy drives. Secondly, this specific song was sung at our grandfather's funeral when I was in high school. He was a sailor during WWII and came home from the war convinced that this was the song he wanted sung whenever he passed on. I remember my mom poking fun at him behind his back for this, but when my Uncle George beautifully performed this number when the day finally came, it took on a lot more meaning for all of us, I think.

#8 - "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" - Jared, our mom, and I used to deliver phone books to earn extra cash for vacations. It was also excellent bonding time, and often our mom would play showtunes and blast the volume so we could hear it as we ran house to house. "Hello, Dolly!" was a regular request, and I specifically recall Jared doing a little twirl once when Babs says, "Ambrose, do a turn -- let me see!"

#9 - "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - This song always makes me think of a Young Men's activity where we took two speedboats out to the middle of Lake Washington, only to have one of them (ironically, the nicer/bigger one) mysteriously shut down all of a sudden. My boat (the smaller boat) proceeded to tow the other one back to shore, which took a solid two hours or so. But despite the long ride, my boat passed the time by going crazy and singing/dancing to music on the radio. This is the only song I remember specifically. I also remember pulling silly visual pranks on the boat behind us, where Dave and Jared were on board (i.e. pointing off in the distance as if there was something noteworthy, even though there wasn't, just to see their reactions).

#10 - "Ants Marching" - Summer evenings, driving around Downtown Seattle.

#11 - "Boat of Car" - Long drives from Renton to Kirkland with nothing to listen to but Jared's TMBG album he left in the car when he went on his mission, and thereby falling in love with this band.

#12 - "Say My Name" - Randomly leading my high school choir and band in this song during a bus trip home from San Francisco.

#13 - "Rhapsody in Blue" - My 18th birthday, which to this date is my favorite birthday to date, as my friends kidnapped me and took me out for Baskin Robbins and a late night viewing of "Fantasia 2000" at the IMAX (which, incidentally, I haven't seen since).

#14 - "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" - Memories of being in this play TWICE in high school -- once at my 1st school with Jared on stage with me and Dave in the band pit, and again at my 2nd school, this time with ME playing the character who sings this number. Awesome times.

#15 - "Turtle Power" - Memorized this song with a friend of mine to perform it at a jazz choir concert just to be able to say that we did. The concert got canceled. I am forever stuck (or blessed?) with these lyrics in my head.

#16 - "Kryptonite" - I remember exactly where I was when I first heard this song over the radio -- in the back left seat of my friend Hillary's car, driving in the rear parking lot of my high school and my friend Jeremiah riding shotgun and commenting on how much he loved this ditty. I soon joined the sentiment.

#17 - Dean Martin medley - Purchasing this CD at my local Fred Meyer and listening to it over and over as I would walk the 3+ miles to work and back every day after I graduated and stayed in Renton while my parents had moved to Utah. Used to sing at the top of my lungs and sometimes even dance, depending on car traffic and where I was walking.

#18 - "Five State Drive" - This song was on a punk/ska mix CD Jared compiled shortly before I came home from the mission. I always think of the first time Jared played this CD in our parents' car for me when I hear this.

#19 - "Hide and Seek" - A song I entirely dedicate to Amanda every time I hear it. She introduced me to it, and I remember feeling a little weirded out by how carried away she got by it, but eventually fell victim to the same vibes. But the best was how we would text each other the lyrics and leave voice mails where we'd sing parts of the song to each other on a whim. Such a fun, soothing, creative song.

#20 - "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - My cousin's wedding reception, her cute maid of honor who loves this song and was totally jamming to it (and later asked for my phone number)... But best of all, this became one of the inside jokes between me, Jared and Darren while we were roommates, singing the high parts unintelligibly and laughing our heads off. Oh, man, I miss those days.

That weirded you out? Man, I must weird you out all the time...

It was one of those occasions where the person who wants to share something with their group of friends is WAAAAAAY more hyped about it than those on the receiving end. I don't think I was in the right mood that day. I just remember looking at you and you had your eyes shut and you were swaying and rolling your head and hands to the music and I was like, "Okaaaaay..."

But in the end I realized that you were entirely in the right the whole time, it just took me a couple extra listens to stop being a poser.

Just to set the record straight, I was in Mookie's boat, not Jared's, so I was also pranking the guys in back (and telling them there was no soda in the cooler when there was plenty).

I KNEW THERE WAS SODA!

You owe me an orange Crush.