Groovy

Yep, I'm up at 3 in the morning and I'm talkin' about music that randomly found me. I don't try to find music, it just tickles my ears every once in a while and I sift through a bit at a time.

Well, so far, the only good thing I can say about the show "Damages" is the music. Whoever they have behind the editing board cutting that tape and fitting music ... has fantastic taste in tune-age.

The first episode had a great piece by Phontaine entitled "Feels Like Home" that sent me on a search for more by Phontaine. I've found a few more I like quite a bit and I'm hoping to pick up the album sometime soon.

Tonight's viewing sent me on a search for Shawn Lee and his Ping Pong Orchestra. I heard "Kiss the Sky" and fell in lurve. Right now, I'm listening to his album and thinking about my childhood filled with Peter Sellers "Pink Panther" movies, alliterations to Austin Powers, watching re-runs of "Hawaii Five-O" while making myself sick on cookie dough with my sister and hearing all about the silliness of the '60s and '70s from my mother.

His album from 2007 called "Voices and Choices" is pretty funky, kids. You've got to be in a mood to experience something akin to what your first acid trip must feel like -- very out of your element, a little scared and too curious not to keep going deeper into the wild. (No, I've never tried drugs, but I figure that's sort of what the first hallucination is like.)

A few tracks reminded me of Dave Brubeck. If you haven't heard "Take Five" then I can only assume that you live under a rock. Christ! Educate yourself now!

The track "Changing Times" rips off the Mission: Impossible theme, but has a little fun doing it. Rambling "dum dum dum" singing makes me think of an imaginative neighbor (a la Peter Sellers) rather than a real agent.

If anything, I'll keep watching "Damages" just to expand my music repertoire. Really, it has no plot. No lawyer, no matter how cutthroat, will ever dirty double-cross themselves just to get a favorable verdict. For one, it'd require omniscience. For two, lawyers aren't necessarily the most patient bunch no matter how cold and calculating.

Glenn Close can keep her "Fatal Attraction"-era intense stare to herself. I'll take the tunes.

They're groovy, baby.