Autumn Swelter
It’s almost September. In many parts of the country you can comfortably make a statement like “Fall is just around the corner.” Not in Austin. It’s something that I have not yet come to grip with. Fall is a long way off. It’s probably my biggest gripe about living in Central Texas. In fact, I think I moved here the first week of a September. It was about ten years ago–back in 1999. Carefree, heady time. I was behind the wheel of the Red Rascal before the odometer pegged 200,000 miles. And while the Rascal could boast of an assortment of dents, dings, torn seats, ripped ceiling vinyl, and a missing dash console, air conditioning wasn’t happening. I remember my dad and I stuck in Dallas work traffic in some hellish, cavernous freeway tunnel. It was so miserable I swore I would never return to the city. That began my education about how seasons work around here. Nevertheless, my brain has been programmed since birth that it’s almost time to break out the Autumn sweater and I think this has effected my current playlist:
1. Now It’s Overhead: A Skeleton on Display
2. The Innocence Mission: Joan
3. Cocteau Twins: The Spangle Maker
4. The Smiths
5. Blonde Redhead: Anticipation
6. Death Cab For Cutie: Amputations
7. Peter Murphy: Cuts You Up
8. The Verve: Lucky Man
9. Pinback: Crutch
10. Superchunk: Her Royal Fisticuffs