No Down In My Down Time

John Winkelman

New books for the week of July 10, 2021

Today is the last day of my two-week break from work, the first break since ConFusion in January, and the first full-on vacation since the Christmas holidays. I enjoyed not having to work for two weeks, but the minutes, hours and days were so quickly filled with tasks, chores, and Things To Do that those two weeks included almost no rest at all. Last Tuesday I managed to get some time to myself, about three hours in which I walked around the neighborhoods, visited a cafe and a couple of bookstores, and wrote for a little while. And that was the only down-time, the only real relaxation, in the entire two weeks.

In other words, I need a vacation.

Earlier this week Zyra and I drove to Detroit, where we stayed in a moderately terrible hotel and ate fantastic food at a variety of excellent restaurants. We also, at the suggestion of one of our friends from the East Side, hit The Book Beat, a fantastic little bookstore in Oak Park, Michigan with an eclectic and surprisingly deep selection of books and magazines. Highly recommended, would visit again. While there, I picked up a couple of books:

First up is Nomadology: The War Machine by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, published by Semiotext(e). I think I owned a copy of this small book once upon a time, back in the 1990s. I am not sure what became of it. Probably lost in one of my many moves over the past quarter-century.

Next up is Black Mountain Poems, an anthology of work from the Black Mountain poets, edited by Jonathan C. Creasy. I picked this up because of my interest in the works of Paul Blackburn, specifically his beautiful “Matchbook Poem” which I return to again and again.

In reading and writing news, not much happening, because too much is happening EVERYWHERE ELSE. I did start Ana Simo‘s wonderfully strange Heartland, which arrived at the house from Restless Books a few years ago. And I’m still working my way slowly through my stack of The Paris Review, which is an absolutely wonderful experience.

I find it depressing to say that, since I head back to work tomorrow, I may finally have time to do some reading and writing. Selah!

Bottom of the Top #28

John Winkelman

The week after the Fourth of July has always felt to me line the first *real* days of summer, where from here on out life is all working for the weekend. No more big plans, no more holidays (which is a blessing) and just getting into the groove of summer and enjoying it as best I could before September arrived and it was back to school. And, like so many other patterns which are imprinted in our early lives, this one persists well into middle age.

1977: Elvis Presley, “Way Down”

I…am certain that I have never heard this song before, which leaves me feeling conflicted. On the one hand, Elvis recorded A GREAT MANY songs and I am not an Elvis superfan. On the other hand, IT’S ELVIS! HOW COULD I HAVE NOT HEARD THIS SONG?

So perhaps I did at some point, though the immediate hit of nostalgia brought with it memories of the soundtrack to Grease, which I heard a lot of in third and fourth grade. Maybe there was some Elvis on rotation in there too.

Elvis died in August 1977, a little over a month after this song hit the charts.

1982: Haircut One Hundred, “Love Plus One”

This is definitely another song which only appeared in my life thanks to Pandora. I have no associations with this song which don’t involve sitting in front of a computer and writing code. That said, “Love Plus One” is a lot of fun.

1987: Cutting Crew, “One for the Mockingbird”

When “Mockingbird” charted I was working in a pickle factory for minimum wage ($3.35/hour) and hating every minute of it, as well as loathing most of my coworkers, who were not having any more fun than I was. I mostly listened to the oldies station on the drive to and from work, which in 1987 meant songs from the fifties and sixties, with the occasional early 1970s super-hit. I do not remember “Mockingbird” at all, though I had heard “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” which was blessed with a lot of air time. If I did hear “One for the Mockingbird” it was early on a Sunday morning while milking cows, which I was still doing even with a summer job, in an effort to save every penny for my first semester at Grand Valley.

1992: Elton John, “The One”

Though I have no specific memory of this song, (and not much of the associated album, also titled The One) I don’t see how I could have NOT heard “The One.” Wikipedia says this album was John’s first after completing drug and alcohol rehab, and certainly feels more introspective and down-to-earth than his previous studio album.

1997: Trisha Yearwood, “How Do I Live”

“How Do I Live” is beautiful, and it is certainly the only Trisha Yearwood song I have heard before, and I only heard this because of it being one of the high points in the otherwise completely mediocre Con Air. Which means I probably didn’t hear it until well after the movie was released to home video and I rented it from Blockbuster sometime in the early 2000s.

So This is What Down Time Looks Like

John Winkelman

New arrivals for the week of July 3, 2022

It looks a lot like work, except without the work. All of the things I hoped to accomplish (reading and writing, mostly) have fallen by the wayside as the hundred other tasks and chores which I have put off for the past six months have reared their ugly, dirty, dusty heads.

I have added several new books to the library over the past week.

First up is volume 7 of The Long List Anthology, which collects the finalists for the Hugo Award for short fiction.

Next up is Ocean Vuong‘s novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, which I picked up from the best bookstore in the city, Books and Mortar.

Next is Progeny of Air, Kwame Dawes‘ first book of poetry, which was published in 1994. I grabbed this from Argos Books, which I have not visited in about a year.

I also picked up Listening to the Fire: The Poetry of Fountain Street Church, which was published in 1998. I would have overlooked this one were it not edited by my old friend and co-worker from the bookstore days, Linda Rosenthal. I don’t remember when Linda left the bookstore but I was still there when this collection was published, and I am a little embarrassed that I had not heard of it until now.

In reading news, I finished Andrés Neuman’s brilliant How to Travel Without Seeing, which I first picked up back in 2016, and immediately stuck on a shelf and spent the next five years eyeballing uncomfortably, as if I had committed a small sin by not reading it immediately.

But I have read it now, and my life is much the richer for it. How to Travel Without Seeing is a travelogue of sorts, notes taken by the author on a book tour through nineteen (!) Latin American countries. Neuman is a brilliant writer and I will likely return to this book more than once over the coming years.

I am still working my way through back issues of The Paris Review, and have reached calendar year 2017, so I am only five years and change behind the present. This is another case where I regret not reading these journals as they came out, because much of the prose and poetry herein is simply remarkable. I have already added some books to my lists for later perusal, and will likely continue to do so throughout the rest of this exercise.

In writing news, I haven’t accomplished much, thanks to the specific mental/emotional hangover of having a break from work for the first time in six months.

IWSG, July 2022: Where Would I Live?

John Winkelman

A Curious Chipmunk

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. Life has been hectic and crazy, so I have not written a lot since the last IWSG back at the beginning of June.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group question for July 2022 is:

If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

The easy answer, and therefore the answer I am going with here, is the world of Amber, from Roger Zelazny‘s Amber Chronicles. This is because by its very nature the world (or more accurately, multiverse) of Amber contains all possible other worlds. Were I of the royal blood of Amber (and really, how could I not be?) I would be able to, after certain trials and tests, travel to any world that I desired, simply by picturing that world in my head and then going for a walk.

With the easy answer out of the way, let’s look at some other possibilities.

I have read huge stacks of fiction over the past 40+ years. With few exceptions, none of the worlds therein are worlds I would like to live in, no matter how compelling the world-building.

For instance, Bas-Lag from China Mieville‘s books Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and The Iron Council. Beautifully rendered, exquisite worldbuilding, richly detailed, and full of horrors (slake moths, the Malarial Queendom, and the Remade, to name a few) like I have seldom encountered elsewhere.

Tolkein’s Middle Earth is a possibility, but the realities of living in a pre-industrial society just don’t appeal to me.

The world Susanna Clarke created in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell has potential, but then I think of all of the horrors of the twentieth century (and also the 21st!) and add magic to the mix, and I don’t see it being anything other than unimaginably worse than what the mundane world has seen in the past hundred-plus years.

And I suppose that is a good reason for the ambiguity of the answers: a heroic story exists in a world where heroes are needed, and such worlds tend to be terrible for all but the most privileged, who themselves are usually the reason heroes are needed in the first place.

Even the world of Amber is not immune to these issues. The protagonist is a prince and potential heir to the throne, and is himself the cause of much suffering across the multiverse in his quest for revenge. That he is the hero of the story doesn’t mean he is a Good Guy, and as some of the revisionist super-hero comics of the last decade have demonstrated, when heroes and villains clash, the collateral damage can be massive.

Moving into mainstream and literary fiction would bring us into the present world perhaps at a single remove or enhanced in some subtle ways. Bruce Sterling coined the term “now-punk” to refer to any fiction written about the contemporary world, e.g. a story about the world in 2022 which is written in 2022. I would add a secondary definition to now-punk which is “reality, only moreso.” And an amped-up reality has been the base state of reality for about the past twenty years, and even more over the past five, so by any honest measure we are currently living in a cyberpunk dystopia.

So all that being said, I will stick with my original answer of living in the Amber universe, with the possibility of taking a walk to any other world I can conceive of, if only for a short vacation.

I understand Arrakis is beautiful this time of year.

(So with all that being said, where would you like to live, or visit, or avoid at all costs?)

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The Bottom of the Top #27

John Winkelman

Happy Independence Day, to those of you to whom such applies, even if only ironically (I’m lookin’ at you, US of A).

1977: James Taylor, “Handy Man”

Ah, James Taylor. This is the James Taylor song, probably the most ubiquitous of his oeuvre, at least in the mid- to late- 1970s. I certainly heard it when it first came out, though likely didn’t pay much attention, as I really don’t think eight-year-olds are his primary audience.

1982: J. Geils Band, “Angel in Blue”

A repeat from last week, proving that inertia can affect the Top 40 list, no matter where a song appears on the chart. Interesting experiment idea: graph all of the top-40 songs by week, from the beginning to present, and see which songs lingered in which position the longest.

1987: Billy Idol, “Sweet Sixteen”

I have heard Sweet Sixteen before, though I don’t remember when and where. Maybe on MTV, though that seems unlikely. Despite the potential creep factor hinted at by the title, this is not adult Idol lusting after a teenager, but a song inspired by Edward Leedskalnin, who created the Coral Castle in Florida, channeling Leedskalnin’s nostalgia about a lost love from his youth. It’s a beautiful song but apparently never received much air play.

1992: Ugly Kid Joe, “Everything About You”

I listened to this song a lot while working as a prep cook and expediter at the restaurant during and after college. I imagine everyone at that place felt this way about everyone else at that place at one time or another.

1997: Blessid Union of Souls, “I Wanna Be There”

I have no memory of this, though late 1990s power ballads all tended to converge around a specific sound, and my memory of “I Wanna Be There” could be jumbled up with memories of a score of other songs.

The Anticipation of Down Time

John Winkelman

Reading material which arrived in the week of June 26, 2022

As of 17:00 on Friday, July 1, 2022, I am on vacation for two weeks. This is my first significant break from work since the Christmas holidays, and it is long overdue. I don’t have any particular plans beyond heading out of town with Zyra for a couple of days when her schedule allows. I hope to find time to read, write, and hang out at the lake until my head is clear of work stress and I am re-centered and ready to resume the daily grind. Then again, two weeks is likely nowhere near enough time for that.

This week’s only new arrival is the new issue of Poetry Magazine, the July/August issue, which was the last volume of words I read to completion in the month of June.

In reading news, I picked up Andrés Neuman‘s How to Travel Without Seeing, which arrived at the house at least six years ago from my old subscription to Restless Books. Ostensibly a collection of essays, this book reads more like a collection of journal entries focused on each of the many countries Neuman visits over the course of the books. And that could very well be what they are, though the cumulative effect is less travelogue and more lyric essay or prose poem. Neuman writes beautifully, and his translator Jeffrey Lawrence deserves serious props as well.

In writing news, not a lot going on. The past several weeks of work have been exhausting and what little free time I usually have has been put to use assisting Zyra with the many and varied events in which she and her company Gallafe have been participating. I have managed to transcribe a few more of my April poems, and even made some notes for a couple of new pieces, but I just haven’t had the mental and emotional space to do anything more than the occasional entry in my journal.

June 2022 Reading List

John Winkelman

What I read in June 2022

I finally made it through all of the back issues of Poetry Magazine I have been collecting for the past decade. Forty-some issues, read and appreciated and ready to be archived. Now I am working my way through back issues of The Paris Review, and enjoying the experience. I will likely let my subscription lapse at the end of the year, or go to digital-only, which gives me access to the entire online archives, which is an AMAZING resource. But no more physical copies.

Books and Journals

  1. Poetry Magazine #219.2 (November 2021) [2022.06.01]
  2. Poetry Magazine #219.3 (December 2021) [2022.06.03]
  3. Poetry Magazine #219.4 (January 2022) [2022.06.05]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  5. Voices 2022 [2022.06.06]
  6. Poetry Magazine #219.5 (February 2022) [2022.06.06]
  7. Poetry Magazine #219.6 (March 2022) [2022.06.07]
  8. Poetry Magazine #220.1 (April 2022) [2022.06.09]
  9. Poetry Magazine #220.2 (May 2022) [2022.06.09]
  10. Poetry Magazine #220.3 (June 2022) [2022.06.09]
  11. Hariharan, Githa, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  12. The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  13. The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  14. Monáe, Janelle, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  15. The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  16. The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  17. Poetry Magazine #220.4 (July/August 2022) [2022.06.30]

Short Prose

  1. Hurley, Kameron, “The Judgment of Gods and Monsters”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.02]
  2. Hurley, Kameron, “Broker of Souls”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  3. Hurley, Kameron, “The One We Feed”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  4. Hurley, Kameron, “Corpse Soldier”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  5. Hurley, Kameron, “Levianthan”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  6. Hurley, Kameron, “Unblooded”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  7. Hurley, Kameron, “The Skulls of Our Fathers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.03]
  8. Hurley, Kameron, “Body Politic”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  9. Hurley, Kameron, “We Burn”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  10. Hurley, Kameron, “Antibodies”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  11. Hurley, Kameron, “The Traitor Lords”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.04]
  12. Hurley, Kameron, “Wonder Maul Doll”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  13. Hurley, Kameron, “Our Prisoners, the Stars”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  14. Hurley, Kameron, “The Body Remembers”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  15. Hurley, Kameron, “Moontide”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  16. Hurley, Kameron, “Citizens of Elsewhen”, Future Artifacts: Stories [2022.06.05]
  17. Hariharan, Githa, “Seven Cities and AnyCity”, Almost Home [2022.06.07]
  18. Freudenberger, Nell, “Found Objects“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.09]
  19. Hariharan, Githa, “Two Cities of Victory”, Almost Home [2022.06.12]
  20. Martin, Andrew, “With the Christopher Kids“, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.13]
  21. Hariharan, Githa, “Toda Cafe Blues”, Almost Home [2022.06.14]
  22. Szalay, David, “Lascia Amor e siegui Marte”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.15]
  23. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 3”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.16]
  24. Hariharan, Githa, “Mapping Freedom”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  25. Hariharan, Githa, “Speaking in Haiku”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  26. Hariharan, Githa, “Trailblazing in Andalusa”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  27. Hariharan, Githa, “Looking for a Nation, Looking at the Nation”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  28. Hariharan, Githa, “Bittersweet Danish”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  29. Hariharan, Githa, “Seeing Palestine”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  30. Hariharan, Githa, “Almost Home”, Almost Home [2022.06.17]
  31. Bischel, Peter, “Two Stories”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.17]
  32. Sorrentino, Christopher, “Apparition of Danhoff”, The Paris Review #215 [2022.06.18]
  33. Hale, Benjamin, “Don’t Worry Baby”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  34. Zevi, Anne-Laure (Angel, Mitzi, translator), “Nom”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.18]
  35. Teicher, Craig Morgan, “Four Stories”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.19]
  36. Beach, Jensen, “Migration”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.20]
  37. Gombrowicz, Witold (Bhambry, Tul’si, translator), “The Tragic Tale of the Baron and His Wife”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  38. Johnson, Dana, “She Deserves Everything She Gets”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.21]
  39. Monáe, Janelle and Johnson, Alaya Dawn, “The Memory Librarian”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.23]
  40. Bachelder, Chris, “The Throwback Special, part 4”, The Paris Review #216 [2022.06.23]
  41. Monáe, Janelle and Lore, Danny, “Nevermind”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.24]
  42. Cusk, Rachel, “Freedom”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  43. Arthurs, Alexia, “Bad Behavior”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.24]
  44. Nugent, Benjamin, “The Treasurer”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  45. Kroll-Zaidi, Rafil, “Lifeguards”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.25]
  46. Monáe, Janelle and Ewing, Eve L., “Timebox”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  47. Monáe, Janelle and Delgado, Yohanca, “Save Changes”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  48. Monáe, Janelle and Thomas, Sheree Renée, “Timebox Altar[ed]”, The Memory Librarian [2022.06.26]
  49. Campbell, Bonnie Jo, “Down”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  50. Gladman, Renee, “Five Things”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  51. Murnane, Gerald, “From Border Districts”, The Paris Review #217 [2022.06.26]
  52. Léger, Nathalie, “Barbara, Wanda”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.27]
  53. Martin, Andrew, “No Cops”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  54. Barrodale, Amie, “Protectors”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  55. Beattie, Ann, “Panthers”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]
  56. Sharma, Akhil, “The Well”, The Paris Review #218 [2022.06.29]

The Bottom of the Top #26

John Winkelman

Ah, the space between the end of Spring and the first major event of Summer, Independence Day. At this point in the year the post-school routine has been established and the summer job (or just the job, post-college) is in full swing.

1977: Rod Stewart, “The Killing of Georgie (parts 1 and 2”)

Wow. I am certain I had not heard this song before putting this post together. And certainly not in the summer between second and third grade. It’s beautiful, and sad, and Stewart sings it perfectly.

1982: J. Geils Band, “Angel in Blue”

I have no specific memory of hearing “Angel in Blue”, but I feel a general nostalgia associated with the song, which brings back memories of possibly summer camp, such as it was back in the early 1980s. “Angel in Blue” was overshadowed by the J. Geils Band’s bigger hits like “Freeze Frame” and “Centerfold,” but it is just as good as the other songs, and Peter Wolf sells it beautifully.

1987: Fleetwood Mac, “Seven Wonders”

Yeah, this was the song of the sustained enervation of being done with the familiar and on the cusp of the great unfamiliar of college. Hanging out with the one or two remaining high school friends and wondering how I would maintain the unrequited crushes on the girls who remained in my hometown when I left for college. What an odd (in hindsight) thing to worry about! How can I ineffectually lust after someone who is a hundred miles away! Also, I could listen to Stevie Nicks sing all day.

1992: Guns N’ Roses, “November Rain”

I remember the huge splash this song (and the associated album) made when it hit. I have never liked Guns N’ Roses, and I have never appreciated Axl Rose (Slash is the true heart and soul of GN’R), so listening to “November Rain” made me want to eject the CD from the CD player and pop in the most recent release from They Might Be Giants, or whatever.

1997: Bruce Springsteen, “Secret Garden”

I might have heard this one, at the bookstore when the soundtrack to Jerry Maguire was receiving some play. I have no specific memory (and also no associated memories) of this specific song, but I loves me some Bruce Springsteen so I more than likely have heard it at some point. According to the internets, “Secret Garden” was not one of Springsteen’s most popular songs, which is unfortunate, as it is quite lovely.

Shorter Days Are Also Long Days

John Winkelman

Books which arrived in the week of June 19, 2022

With the summer solstice behind us the days are slowly getting shorter but the work never ends and so I have resigned myself to the sight of the late afternoon shadows lengthening ever so slightly earlier every day. And summer has just begun.

Two new bookish things arrived in the past week. First up, from Two Lines Press, is a special edition bilingual chapbook which contains the first part of Jazmina Barrera‘s Linea Nigra, printed by Impronta Casa Editora. This little book is gorgeous, and has reaffirmed my opinion that chapbooks are absolutely a viable mode of publishing, for prose as well as poetry. The full version of Linea Nigra arrived at the house back in April.

Next is the latest issue of The Paris Review, which will go on the bottom of the stack of my back issues, through which I am steadily reading.

In reading news I am on issue #217 of The Paris Review, with (does the math) [N] more to go until I am caught up to present. The most recent issue came with a note that the Winter 2022 issue will be the last issue of my subscription, and I admit I am conflicted about letting the subscription lapse, if only because, poetry and prose aside, the interviews in The Paris Review are AMAZING!

I am also reading Janelle Monáe’s remarkable The Memory Librarian, and may well have it finished by the time this post goes live. I can’t say enough good things about it. Beautiful queer cyberpunk with a strong helping of bio- and neuro-punk on the side. Highly recommended.

In writing news, nothing to report. Maybe next week.

The Bottom of the Top #25

John Winkelman

With school finally in the rearview mirror, summer has officially kicked off in its various incarnations across the 25 years represented here.

1977: 10cc, “People in Love”

I do not recall ever having heard “People in Love” before adding it to this list. It is lovely, if not really a standout. “People in Love” peaked at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100, so this was probably it’s only week in the limelight. “People in Love” sounds very late-70s and makes me think of vans lined with shag carpet.

1982: Van Halen, “Dancing in the Street”

Given the realities of access to music in the early 1980s and in rural south-central Michigan it is likely that I heard (or became aware of) this version of Dancing in the Street before any of the older ones, or indeed the original. It is fun, if light, and it peaked at #38. I think it is indicative of Diver Down as a whole, in that is is not great, but it is awesome! Reminds me of bus rides to and from middle school with overly aggressive high school students using shoulder-punches to imprint us with a proper appreciation of the musical stylings of Eddie Van Halen.

1987: Company B, “Fascinated”

I wasn’t sure if I had heard this song before until the refrain, and then I was all “Oh yeah!” Though I had heard the song (and the video also seemed familiar) I don’t remember ever hearing of Company B qua Company B. I dig it. It’s fun, and probably got quite a bit of play on MTV, back in the day. As a point of interest, the Wikipedia article on Freestyle music has examples of some really great songs.

1992: Mariah Carey, “Make it Happen”

The early nineties are something of a dead zone in my music history, apparently. I have heard a lot of Mariah Carey, but I think the first time I heard this song was while putting together this post. Then again it was not one of her more popular songs and it came from one of her less popular albums, which means according to the rules of capitalism it was shuffled off to the side. But yeah, Carey has an amazing voice, and since coming across “Make it Happen” I have listened to it several times.

1997: Babyface, “Every Time I Close My Eyes”

I like this one. I don’t remember it, but I don’t see how I could have NOT heard it at some point, particularly with backing vocals by Mariah Carey (!) and Kenny G. on sax. I mean, that’s a whole lotta talent in one place. The summer when this charted, I was listening mostly to Tom Waits and Renaissance Fair music, so I amost certainly would have heard this one on MTV or at work.