Rob Lifford

Keith passed me this musical-baton meme that’s been going around… I’m game:

Total volume of music files on my computer:

6.4 GB. Bringing discs in from the living room very slowly; not really buying anything online but the occasional must-have standalone track.

The last CD I bought:

Calexico, Feast of Wire. Actually, my amazing wife bought it for me. Thanks again, kiddo, it’s a good’un.

Song playing right now:

“Clandestino,” by Manu Chao

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

• “Living With the Law,” Chris Whitley. First song off the first album by the artist who’s probably changed how I view music and musicians more than any other.
• “The Battle of Who Could Care Less,” Ben Folds. I will never forget driving down Tioga street in Ithaca, NY, and the “damn, who is that?!?” that went through my head and down my spine when that tune came on the radio.
• “A Day In the Life,” The Beatles. It really doesn’t mean much of anything, does it? Then how did they make if feel so overwhelmingly meaningful, you know?
• “Positively 4th Street,” Bob Dylan. Imagine if “the middle finger” were a song. How’d he do that?
• “Out of Range,” Ani DiFranco. Just gotta drive.

Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:

• Both Jon and
• Sarah, with whom I have the distinct pleasure of working every day;
• Anthony, who will soon re-join that team and I’ll be pleased to get to know better;
• Brian, who, like me, may occasionally need to be nagged to blog more; and
• Bunker, who will likely bring a fresh perspective, considering the folks I’ve seen participating in this one so far have far and away been from the 35-and-under set.

Feel free to add your own responses in the comments if you’re not on that list. I actually didn’t expect to enjoy doing this writeup nearly as much as I did (thanks, Keith!) and hope it’ll be the same for those five I’ve tagged if they have a chance to play along.