Whatever you do, take care of your shoes...

Just one quick thing before I bore you with the banalities of my morning music choices.

Shoes.

Shoes are the most important article of clothing one can own. This is important, so don't leave or scroll down the page or roll your eyes. This week alone I have seen so many terrible shoe choices that I am simply left with no choice but to comment. To me, shoes are articles of clothing, and not accessories. I generally only wear a hat when I absolutely have to, so I can't really consider hats clothing. They are, at least in my eyes, an accessory, and more often than not, a security blanket of sorts. A good hat on the right person can be fabulous, of course. Not my thing, but that's okay; I have my own problems. But shoes are a must. Everyone wears shoes. Shoes are everything.

Guys--and I see this all the time--you wear pressed, dry-cleaned pants, a nice shirt, a sharp ties...and some sort of rawhide dog toys on your feet. Scuffed, raggedy, sad clumps of leather with blown-out soles and frayed laces that should have been euthanized ages ago. And no, sneakers do not go with everything. Sneakers have their place, but they pretty much suck. I could go on about men's ridiculous footwear decisions, but this would be pointless.

I knew I had to bring up shoes when I saw a young woman yesterday with a ruby-red V-neck cashmere sweater and ruby-red shoes. WHAT?? My eyes began to tear up, as I was on the verge of hysterical laughing. Dear God, don't ever do that. Please. Her sweater was very easy on the eyes. Her shoes could have been amazing. They were almost a bold, sexy, confident choice. But what negated that was the fact that she had decided it would be wise to match her shoes to her sweater, essentially bookending herself in the same color. That's just wrong on so many levels. For one, if you are short, this only serves to emphasize it. Secondly--and this is the biggest reason--it makes your shoes less exciting. This woman would have had on bold, sexy, confident heels had she not been wearing any other ruby-red on her body. There are many exceptions to this rule--nothing wrong with a black dress and black heels, for sure--but if you splurged on fancy green croc slingbacks, why in the world would you pair it with a bag of the same color or a jacket of the same color? You'll just look silly.

Okay, so now that I have made myself sound like the most shallow, arrogant, unmanly man (I say that, but I know for certain I am right about the shoes thing) on planet Earth, let's move on.

Anyway.

Music for Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Patsy Cline, "I Fall to Pieces": I have been to somewhere around 75 Phish shows (and counting?), give or take a half-dozen, and after almost every single one "Crazy" would float in over the PA just as the house lights flicked on. It always, at least to me, seemed like a perfect epilogue to what was almost always a head-rattling, guitar-solo-heavy show. Tender, soft, vulnerable. Everyone loves Pasty Cline, don't they? She transcends country. She makes you want to jump in your car in a rumpled, too-small suit (and fucking amazing shoes), with a grocery-store rose in hand, and get your woman back. I'm not sure what the woman's side of that would be, but I'm sure it's equally inspiring. "I Fall to Pieces" is a heartbreakingly gorgeous song by one of the finest voices voices ever pressed to wax.

Jakob Dylan, "Will it Grow": Jakob Dylan, backed by a top-notch three-piece band, opened for Willie Nelson when I saw him in September. If, like me, all you know of Jakob Dylan is "One Headlight" and the rest of The Wallflowers stuff he put out in the '90s, you would be floored by his latest album. It is mostly a gritty-but-quiet acoustic folk record with lots of fingerpicking, moody and organic lyrics, and shuffling brushed drums. I love it, especially this song. The lyrics are so good. I am particularly partial to one line: "I'd be robbing these trains if I could catch me one." For whatever reason that lines grabs me every single time. Best of all, last I checked this album is $7.99 on iTunes. I just spent that much on a shitty bagel and tea this morning.

Josh Rouse, "Streetlights": Josh Rouse is one of the most underappreciated artists I know of. I realize this world is full of underappreciated artists, but he's in a class my himself. I have just about everything JR's done, but to my ears Nashville is his best album. Every song is a winner. "Streetlights" isn't my favorite on the album, but it is damn good. I especially love how the orchestral beginning sounds like fantasical fairy dust--like a movement out of Fantasia--and yet the first line of the song is "Rock and roll..."

Jackie Greene, "Shaken": I firmly believe that if Jackie Greene lived in NYC and toured more of the East Coast cities, he'd be a household name by now. Dude's a genius, and has spent the past two years front Phil Lesh's touring band, singing Dead songs, a gig that has gotten him notoriety in the jam band community. But his own work is so frigging good. He is based in the Bay Area (first Sacramento, now SF), however, and I feel it has slowed his career down a little. But no matter, if you are talented enough, and even more so, if you work harder than everyone else, you'll get noticed. He's only 28. He'll be around a long time. He's that good.

Whiskeytown, "Avenues": This is how good Ryan Adams is: he has so much excellent solo material that he can afford to ignore three superb albums he wrote and recorded with his first band, Whiskeytown. All of us alt-country nerds are huge fans of all things Whiskeytown. In just his early 20's, Adams was writing songs the rest of us wish we could touch, everything from booze-fueled rockers to tender twilit acoustic tunes. When the band's co-founder and fiddler Caitlin Cary heard this new Adams song after he'd recorded it, it scared her to death because she knew right then that Whiskeytown's days were numbered; he was too good not to go solo. "Avenues" is a simple, yet brilliant song about growing up in the big city.

Sheryl Crow, "Can't Cry Anymore": I have defended Sheryl Crow so often to naysayers that I believe she owes me money. Anyone who thinks it is easy to write a pop song is smoking crack. If it's so easy, go do it. It's hard to write a good, smart, catchy song and have it become a radio smash. And she does it ALL THE TIME. I, somehow, own a lot of her music, and it is mostly all really good. Sure, she's written some duds, but for every dud she's penned two classics. And her lyrics are underrated. Listen to even just the hits off Saturday Night Music Club. The lyrics on that album make me jealous. For a moment. Then they make me work harder.

And finally, The Vince Guaraldi Trio, "Skating": Vince Guaraldi is the man responsible for all the music in the "Peanuts" TV specials we all know and love (or should). He wrote music outside the "Peanuts" world, but this was largely ignored. His laid-back West Coast jazz sound, along the lines of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," is playful, melodic, and catchy as all hell, with a bossa nova feel that was super popular during that time in the jazz world. "Skating" is off the "Charlie Brown Christmas" album, but to me, it's just a winter song. If "Skating" does not make you want to rush to Rockefeller Plaza and watch the skaters glide in figure-8s under that giant trimmed tree, beneath those tall buildings, while wearing warm mittens cupped around a cup of hot cocoa, out of your mind in love, with a rosy winter-kissed nose, and the smell of roasted nuts and the jingle of sleigh bells in the air, then you aren't human.

Or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic who needs to wake up and stop dreaming. Life can't really be like that.

Can it?

I don't know, but until I find out I'll continue to keep "Skating" on my iPod year 'round.