It's the middle of another hectic workday Wednesday, but here's what my iPod just returned to me on shuffle (along with some unsolicited comments, as if you cared...):

1) Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones (no comment - just rocking out)

2) Rooster - Alice In Chains (I've had the Essential Alice in Chains in my player since last summer, and I suddenly got a flashback while listening to this of driving home from another classic weekend in Hardwick, Vermont and stopping at the Tilt'n Diner in Tilton, NH)

3) Black Dog - Led Zeppelin (All of a sudden, a lobotomized classic rock DJ crawled into my iPod supposedly ... what's next, Aerosmith? Steve Miller? Love the song, but my iPod apparently doesn't care to dig up album tracks - then again, every track off of the '4 symbols' album is pretty much a single - not that I've heard 'Four Sticks' on the radio recently)

4) Nothing's Changed - Chris Isaak (A friend of my wife's moved ALL of her music on to our Mac, and I had to go through and throw a bunch of crap away - no offense, Miss J - but this was one of the few that had enough legs to survive. Not a big Isaak fan, but this is a good track.)

5) Love and Happiness - Al Green (When this was playing, a work friend brought her child in. Children are a direct product of 'Love and Happiness' and the wife and I are working quite often with that chemistry, but still nada ... how are there so many people in the world when it's so tough to get preggers?)

6) Belle - Al Green ( a very rare artist repeat on 'Shuffle Songs,' especially amongst 1,000 tracks to pick from)

7) Autumn Serenade - Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane (no comment - just relaxing in the thick of the workday)

8) Ooby Dooby - Roy Orbison (actually, replace The Essential Roy Orbison with The Essential Alice In Chains above - they're interchangeable as classic summer pickups for me, not long after I received the iPod as a birthday gift from my aforementioned lovely wife).

9) Soul Driver - Bruce Springsteen (This was another one that barely survived the purging of Miss J's catalog - Human Touch generally has a lame, overbright pop tone to the whole album, but this one stands as one of the best - maybe the best - on a weak album from 'Da Boss')

10) Swing Shift - Circus Devils (a great discovery for 2007 for me - an offshoot of Guided by Voices - very Bowie-esque and, what a surprise, very GBV-esque, but a little more slanted, angular than the more straight-ahead power-pop of Rob Pollard & Co.)

11) In California - Neko Case (from Live at Austin City Limits - right away, I remembered she's coming to New England in just weeks - am waiting to hear back from my lady on whether it's OK to get tix for her Calvin Theatre show in Northampton, Mass, on 2/2, the anniversary of our first date back in, what else, '02. This song could be one of the all-time greats, and Neko's delivery just films a movie for you - very somber, yet reflecting of the sun-glazed surroundings. Absolutely love this one)

12) Out on the Tiles - Led Zeppelin (a friend gave me all the Zep albums this past summer, allowing me to restore my collection, which I'd purchased on tape originally. Relax, music lawyers, Robert Plant has long since filled up his Maserati's gas tank on all the money I gave LZ in royalties as a teenager. I even re-bought Song Remains the Same on CD - there, happy?)

13) Rough Alley Blues - Blind Willie McTell with Ruth Willis (refer to Bob Dylan song 'Blind Willie McTell,' and check out the version of that by Elliott Murphy and Ian Matthews on their La Terre Commune album - a lost classic).

14) Run Diddley Daddy - Bo Diddley (from the I'm a Man: The Chess Masters, best reissue of 2007 in my ears. After buying this on iTunes, I was a little bummed to not have background info on the tracks, so I e-mailed the record company and a very kind gent mailed me the liner notes free of charge. Thank you, sir, wherever you are)

15) Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton (still a slap in the face to the soul more than 15 years later - lovely song, terrible tragedy)

I'll do a 'regular' post sometime later (in the week, probably)