music purchases today

John Mayer Trio.

I know, I know, he perpetrated all that college-freshman pussy pop that the White Zinfandel-and-pilates set seems to love, but this is actually pretty excellent bluesy rock.

But -- For all you husbands whose wives made you suffer through Mayer's first two cd's on every family road trip -- okay, so this isn't "Houses of the Holy," but remember, Mayer is a blues and jazz guitarist from Berklee College of Music before he turned into a pop-prince, and there are some great cuts here. Listen to the guitar playin' and try not to think about some of his cringe-worthy lyrics (but you know, come to think of it -- once you've written such craptacularly classic lyrics as "your body is a wonderland" pretty much anything is an improvement.)

I recommend "Out of My Mind."

I offer the confession here that I am guilty of listening to "No Such Thing" with open pleasure and still sing along every time I hear it. What can I say -- I love a great pop song. Which goes to show my everlasting schizophrenia about music -- here I offer a slap and a kiss to John Mayer. And I'm shameless about my prejudices, because I'm firmly convinced that what is tongue-in-cheek kitsch or a deeper appreciation of the art for me -- well, you may like the same things, but they are a demonstration of your obviously bad taste.

As exhibit #1, I offer the following example: Listening to and appreciating ABBA means that a) you either grew up in the 70's and really did love these songs, or b) you have an evolved sense of irony about the kitschiness of saccharine 70's pop music, or c) you live in Williamsburg and don't have an original bone in your body or a thought in your head or a fashion choice that hasn't been dictated to you by someone else. Listening to the original cast album of the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" -- well, that's just your obviously bad taste.

For the record, John Mayer does have those kissalicious lips.

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Rufus Wainwright: Want Two

Feeling a jones for Rufus, it was with some surprise that I realized I didn't have this in my collection. Buy this record. It is gorgeous.

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Jerry Garcia & Dave Grisman

First, let me tell you how much I hate the Grateful Dead. I hate the Grateful Dead so much that I have left parties at the first notes of a GD song that someone put on the stereo. I hate the Grateful Dead so much that when I see people doing that noodle dance I am instantly reminded of something my friend Shelly once told me, which was that the three scariest words in the English language are "White People Dancing." My sister (a fellow hater like me) described them as "mediocre musicians plunkin' away at bad folk music."

So, imagine my chagrin when Greg was playing a cd at the office that had some cool bluegrassy-sounding tunes on it -- it felt very NPR or Mountain Stage. When I asked him what it was, he laughed an evil laugh and told me that it was Jerry Garcia. I admitted that I was loving it.

But I still hate the Grateful Dead.