a soundtrack for america's underbelly

if you were to take a road trip this summer (and you really should because it's time to bring back that 80's middle class version of travel. screw airplanes. see your country the old fashioned way... by burning some good ole 'american' fuel as your tires thwap the pavement in their ever-rhythmic way... open the windows, turn up the radio, and gaze ahead to the open road and countless days in front of you filled with the good stuff of america's underbelly - 24 hour trucker stops, gas station gift stores, billboards, toll booths, diners with 2am all-you-can-eat buffets, no-tell motels, drive-in movies, small town bakeries filling their towns' version of main street with the smell of freshly made pie dough...) anyway, i digress. where was i? oh yes... if you were to take a road trip this summer, summer of 06, what would be the top 3 albums you would shuffle on your ipod?

we embark thursday morning on our trip. post your opinion and help me invest in some new music for our jaunt to the east coast.

here, are a few of my favorite "if-this-steering-wheel's-a-rockin..." road trip artists to get you started. this list is non-conclusive, innaccurate, and probably a lie:
mat kearney
the fray
sheryl crow (tuesday night music club only, not any of her happy toothpaste commercial pop sh*t)
jamiroquai
grayshot
kenna
imogen heap
soulive
owsley
wilco
bruce cockburn (no, it's not pronounced how it's spelled. come on, when you order thai, do you really order the 'fuck it noodles'? no. you order the phuket noodles. don't ask me why.)
black eyed peas
wheat
the white stripes
prince
east mountain south

now come on. give me three...

please be transcendent

this is your breath and your flesh, hopeless skin braided with the hope of heaven, twisted up with all these contradictions. but just for a moment, your feet leave the ground. you are grasped and lifted up. look down, you are still standing here. you can see the floor under your shoes, you can feel your fingers as you rub your palms together. yes, you're still here. but something is different, transcendent, and other. and this is your memory of heaven.

how can you have a memory of a place you've never been?

because you've been there, every day. heaven is all around you. and in these moments, Something is transcendent. Something simply has to be, or this is all emotional turbulence and you're just going to lose cabin pressure. because when this moment is over (and it will be because every time the veil is lifted, it's over just as soon as you realize what is happening) you're just going to go have some dinner, maybe take a nap, turn on the tv, or brush your teeth.

but hold fast. breathe in slower. deeper. because the moment might be over, but the veil is rent in Christ alone and this Transcendence is not temporal. carry it with you. this is your memory of heaven.

what, on earth, is next?

i purchased a shirt yesterday at delia's, and in return received a candy bar.

yes. i'm serious.

i signed the receipt, and the very-smiley-way-too-skinny girl behind the register offered me my choice of 'crunchy', or 'peanut butter'. i looked at her sideways, thinking that this was some sort of mean trick she plays on fat bottom girls. but when she kept smiling at me, i realized she was serious and just doing her job. so i chose 'crunchy' (who wouldn't?) and went on my chocolate-induced blissful way.

whose "brilliant" idea was this?

i wish someone at super america would offer me a new pair of jeans when i pay for my candy bar. i'd like my choices to include 'low rise', or 'don't-leave-your-house-with-these-on' illegally low rise.

maybe we could start doing this at church. whenever someone raises their hands in worship, a twix from heaven could fall into their open palm. this would be perfection.

so thank you delia's. fashion and chocolate never tasted so good together. except for the time i put a rolo in the back pocket of my khaki's and then got into the microwave...