I Am the Fly

Even as love and fatherhood have remade my life, I’m not immune to falling into a bit of a rut. But in early-aughts New York, you never know when a chance conversation with Lady Gaga will set a course for the future.

SONGS EXCERPTED IN THIS EPISODE

“Never Understand” - The Jesus & Mary Chain 

“London’s Burnin’” (live) - The Clash

“We Are the Sleepyheads” - Belle & Sebastian

“A Method” - TV on the Radio

“Daylight” - Aesop Rock

“Girl on Fire” - the Royal Chains

“Sometimes” - the Brian Jonestown Massacre

“God Only Knows” - the Beach Boys

“I Wanna Be Adored” - the Stone Roses

“My Kingdom” - Echo & the Bunnymen

“Sea Cruise” - Volcano Suns

“Love Sick Dog” - Willie “Loco” Alexander

“Little Wonder” - David Bowie

“88” - Anna Domino

“Rocket 88” - Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

“88 Lines About 44 Women” - The Nails

“Strawberry Letter #23” - the Brothers Johnson

“Route 66” - Bobby Short

“I’m Eighteen” - Alice Cooper

“Edge of Seventeen” - Stevie Nicks

“‘95 aka Make Things Right” - Lemon Jelly

“Rockin’ the Suburbs” - Ben Folds Five

“Ain’t Got No” - “Hair” Broadway soundtrack

“I Am the Fly” - Wire

 My leap into the online dating pool is like 15 years of my dating life condensed into three weeks — a couple of no-shows, a visibly disappointed manic pixie dream-girl, and some fast action on my living room couch.

Maybe Alice … Something with an H will be the one to turn the tide.

SONGS EXCERPTED IN THIS EPISODE

“Good Life” - Inner City 

“N.Y.C. (Can You Believe This City?)” - Charles & Eddie

“Space” (Philadelphia Spectrum, 1979)- Grateful Dead

“The Affiliated” - XTC

“Visions of You” - Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart, feat. Sinead O’Connor

“Gentlemen Who Fell” - Milla

“What is Sound?” - Blyzz

“Visions of You” - Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart featuring Sinead O’Connor

“Iron Clad Lou” - Hum

“Guaglione” - Perez Prado 

“Just” - Radiohead

“Tukka Yoot’s Riddim” - Us3

“Dig It” - The Beatles

“I Think We’re Alone Now” – Tiffany

“Dead Man Walking” - David Bowie

“720 Times Happier Than the Unjust Man” - The Loud Family

“The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy

“Bewilderbeast” - Badly Drawn Boy

“Magicality” - Salako

“Barhopper 1” - Kid Koala

“Drop” - Cornelius

“It’s a Crime” - Magnetic Fields

“Wipe Me, I’m Lucky” - The Clean

“I Am the Fly” - Wire

Thanks to Jivamukti Yoga, I’m spending more time doing downward dogs than downing beers. But it turns out that changing your habits is easier than changing your scene.

SONGS EXCERPTED IN THIS EPISODE

“Shanti Ashtangi” - Madonna 

“Once in a Lifetime” - Talking Heads

“America” - Simon & Garfunkel

“Aya Mood 3.5” - Lizzy Mercier Descloux

“La Vie Boheme” - Rent soundtrack

“For the Society” - Audio Letter 

“Kingdom of Lies” - The Folk Implosion

“Visions of You” - Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart featuring Sinead O’Connor

“Tomorrow Never Knows” - Monsoon

“Na-Na’s Waltz” - Aqua Bassino 

“Music for a Found Harmonium” - Penguin Cafe Orchestra 

“An Ending (Ascent)” - Brian Eno

“Je Ma” - Wah

“Shock the Monkey” – Peter Gabriel

“Hold On” - Sarah McLachlan

“Electric Becomes Eclectic” - Christopher Franke

“A Meeting By the River” - Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt

“Namah Shivaya” - Krishna Das

“Ode to Ganesha” - Bhagavan Das

“Trimm Trabb” - Blur

“Mary” - Supergrass 

“A Final Hit” - Leftfield

“The Immigrant Song” Led Zeppelin

“The Sensual World” - Kate Bush

“Green Is the Color of Evil” - Salako

“My Love Will Never Die” - Diamanda Galas

“One Will Be the Highway” - The Loud Family

“Arrival Pad #19” - East River Pipe

“Simple Harmonic Motion” - Fridge

“Crying at Airports” - Whale

“Hello Earth” - Kate Bush

“Relaxin’ with Cherry” - Kid Loco

“Blood Simple theme” - Carter Burwell

“Treachery” - Kirsty MacColl

“Chan Chan” - Buena Vista Social Club

 “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” - Ananda Shankar

“Arkle” - It’s Jo and Danny

“Govinda” - Kula Shaker

“Treefingers” - Radiohead

“KId A” - Radiohead

“Toblume” - Susumi Yakota

“When You Notice the Stripes” - The Shins

“Govinda” - Kula Shaker

“Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand” - Beulah 

“I Am the Fly” - Wire

If you can possibly avoid it, do not take part in a lavish Brazilian wedding without a date. To avoid this ignominy, I'll have to woo the sea goddess Janaina through the power of song.

Songs Excerpted in This Episode
”Good Beat” - Dee-Lite

“Comin’ Home Baby” - Herbie Mann

“The Pimp Walk “ - Bohannon

“Life During Wartime” - Talking Heads

“Caramba” - Jorge Ben

“Wild Blue Yonder” - Screaming Blue Messiahs

“Burden” - Ghostland

“Mentira” - Marcos Valle

“Modular Mix” - Air

“She’s a Carioca” - Antonio Jobim

“Manha de Carnival” - Stan Getz

“Desafinado” - Gal Costa

“Lucky Day” - The Carl Stalling Project

“Vivo Sonhando” - Luiz Henrique

“A Waltz for Diane” - Luiz Henrique

“Leaonzinho” - Caetano Veloso

“The Girl from Ipanema” - Stan Getz

“Green Dolphin Street” - Miles Davis Sextet

“Spirit in the Sky” - Norman Greenbaum

“Dusk You and Me” - Groove Armada

“Genie in a Bottle” - Christina Aguilera 

“Praise You” - Fatboy Slim

“All-Star“- Smashmouth

“I Am the Fly” - Wire

My best friend is marrying the Girl from Ipanema, and I’ll be sharing best-man honors with Stephen Mailer, who may be the funniest person I’ve ever met.
And I’ve met Joey Bishop.

Come … fly with me.

Songs Excerpted in This Episode
”A Trip to Brazil” - Luiz Enrique

“The Swag” - Link Wray

“Jubilation” - Davy Graham

“Mais Que Nada “- Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66

“The Girl From Ipanema” - Stan Getz w. Astrud Gilberto

 “South American Getaway” - Burt Bacharach

“Desafinado” - Gal Costa

“Donovan” - Happy Mondays

“Great Escape” - The Chills

“Zaar” - Peter Gabriel

“The Lost Day” - Brian Eno 

“Tanto Ande” - Marcos Valle

“Deus Brasileiro” - Marcos Valle

“Something Big” - Burt Bacharach

“Crickets Sing for Anamaria” - Marcos Valle

“I Am the Fly” - Wire

I have been given a gorgeous, slightly warm but not at all damp, men’s shirt by Prada — jet black. But taking the shirt off another person’s back has an ancient, damning implication, and there is a price to be paid. Inhabiting the discarded shell of a hermit crab with washboard abs in front of Brad Pitt’s ex is arguably worse than being booed by Led Zeppelin, my other peak moment of celebrity humiliation.  

An eyelash, Tiny Sized Chiclets, and a miniature hangman's noose ...
Love is a many-splendored thing.

Hitching my star to the Broadway Danny Rose of the ICM Literary Department feels like a slap, but tonight, with the help of Burt Reynolds, maybe we can start a brand-new working folder.

I’m no rabid U2 fan, but I can think of worse ways to spend the last Saturday in August — when all the shrinks are in the Hamptons and anyone who’s anyone has somewhere better to be — than at a storied sports arena in the company of rock stars.

My first cousin, Winona Ryder — Noni to me — is engaged to Johnny Depp, and this has afforded me a weird kind of occasional close access to Johnny, a rising star on the cusp of epic hugeness. Tonight, we’ll take Manhattan.