You Excited? You Should Be - The Excitement Plan

Todd Snider is at it again.  In the wake of East Nashville Skyline, The Devil You Know, and the Freak Flag flying, Peace Queer, comes his latest, and perhaps Greatest effort, The Excitement Plan. The gloves are off - if they were ever on at all.  With the help of the legendary Don Was (Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Paul Westerberg, etc.), Todd comes out bare knuckled, championing the Common Man, and, quite possibly, high on, er, Life?  And, weed.  I can dig it.

Have you ever played that Music Trivia Game?  Aw, hell.  You know the one.  'Name One Song that Best Relates to You.'  Or some such.  Until The Excitement Plan I always drew a blank.  Well, maybe that one Divinyls song.  But most everyone can lay claim to that one.  So I kept searching.

And then, as if 'ol Todd knew my frustration, The Excitement Plan offers up Track #3 - America's Favorite Pastime.  My search was at an end.  Me and Doc Ellis.  Although, baseball wasn't my game.  My game is soccer.  And just like Doc, I didn't think I was playing in that NCAA Div I game that evening.  It was, after all the Finals.  The Big Game.  The be-all-and-end-all Game.  Bragging rights on the line, and a couple of us Nogoodnicks were watching the game in style. 

Not familiar with Doc Ellis?  Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher notorious for beaning Reggie Jackson in retaliation for a King-hell homer Jackson crushed out of the park in the '71 All-Star game.  Oh.  He also pitched a no-hitter under the influence of LSD. 

And Todd paints with his lyrics what Doc was going through that day.  Well.

Taking the ground / the mound turned into / the icing on a birthday cake

The lead-off man came up / and turned into a dancing rattlesnake

The crowd tracked back and forth / in waves of color under the sun

The ball turned into a silver Bullet / his arm into a Gun.

Me too Doc.  Only mine was a soccer goal that was 15' wide and 20' tall.  And the goalie was a mess of

All somewhat vague drug references aside, The Excitement Plan offers two fingers of Bourbon self-awareness mixed with Honky-Tonk hi jinx.  Again, props to Don Was for bringing in the Heat the likes of session drummer Jim Keltner and the great Loretta Lynn who duets with Todd on Don't Tempt Me where Todd flirts with a disastrous crush on Ms. Lynn.  

Unorganized Crime is a track in which one can learn a life lesson about wrong and Right.  Also, a "dirty fist-fight trick that only works half the time."

Don't let this barefoot Troubadour / Singer-Songwriter fool you.  Sure, he's a self proclaimed "tree-huggin', peace-lovin', pot smokin', porn watchin', lazy-ass hippie", but under his "I'm your college roommate and I have an acoustic guitar and Hey(!) listen to this song I wrote last night" lies a storyteller fro the Ages.  Listen close, kiddies, underdogs, and Underachievers.  This ones for you all.

Closing Remarks...If you get a chance, drop $10 - 20$ and catch a live performance of Mr. Snider.  Odds are, he'll tell you the story about how Tony Bennett stole $65 dollars from him.  It didn't piss him off though.  "It's only money Brothers and Sister, and that shit, technically, grows on trees.

Comments

[Palinode]

Those lyrics are totally druggy gold. I'm in.

[brandi]

Todd Snider on Mamapop! Get out! I didn't know he had a new record coming out. This is very exciting.

[Mama Lost]

Woot! I love Mr Snider madly. Me and my dh hope very much to see him live before we die. Can't wait to check out the new album (!!!!).

If you haven't heard him, you have no idea what you are missing. You need him!

Mama Lost

[Amy]

I'm trying to "train" my husband to be a lover of pop culture. He's come a lonnnngg way since he met me but convincing him to read Mamapop would have been a stretch.

And then low and behold I stumble across your post. Todd Snider on Mamapop! (you said it brandi). My hubby got me hooked on Todd Snider and now through Todd, I can sneakily get him hooked on Mamapop.
THANKS!!! Muhahaha

And yes, I am EXCITED!