would I like "Keep it Like a Secret" by Built to Spill

I have to delurk to respond this as it is a moral imperative since I am a gigantic Built to Spill fan. Completely biased response follows:

Yes. This is the album to get hooked on BtS with. The first song I ever heard of theirs was "You Were Right" - brilliant lyrics that quote all the cheesy rock classics:

You were right when you said all that glitters isn't gold
You were right when you said all we are is dust in the wind
You were right when you said we're all just bricks in the wall
And when you said manic depression's a frustrated mess

You were right when you said you cant always get what you want
You were right when you said it's a hard rain's gonna fall
You were right when you said were still running against the wind
Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone
You were right when you said this is the end

But the album is a lot more than this one song.

From the opening chorus of the first song "The Plan":

The plan keeps comming up again
And the plan means nothing stays the same
But the plan won't accomplish anything
If it's not implemented.

It is Doug Martsch's lyrics and guitar hero status that sets Built to Spill apart from their 90s indie-rock peers. Aside from that it is also a every-song-rocks type of album ("Sidewalk" is my favorite song to run to evah). I have turned countless people on to the band from this album. I would check it out for sure and if you like it, you would probably enjoy Ancient Melodies of the Future the album that followed it up and Perfect From Now On the album that preceeded it.

In other news, I am still listening to the Elliott Smith album incessantly especially "A Fond Farewell" and "King's Crossing". Also just picked up the Pavement remastered, reissued, repackaged, reblahed Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and it is refreaking great.

Possible poker songs --

"Moonlight Gambler" (Frankie Laine)
"From a Jack to a King" (Ned Miller)
"Taking a Chance on Love" (many artists, but I'm fond of Sammy Kaye's version)
"Solitaire" (The Carpenters OR Neil Sedaka)
"Four Little Diamonds" (ELO)

ABBA! Take a Chance On Me!

"Mr Gold and Mr Mud" and "St. John the Gambler" by Townes Van Zandt

"Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts" by Bob Dylan

For the depressed poker players, Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows:"

Everybody knows the dice are loaded

Everybody throws with their fingers crossed

On the upside, Joss admits he can sing the entire score to Phantom of the Paradise in the Firefly thread. On the downside, there's an announcement about the big damn movie.

You know, all these years, I've been conflating Phantom of Paradise and Kiss Meets the Phantom? I was sure Paul Williams was in both. That's what happens when you're forced to watch these things by your babysitting siblings.

Hey, I own the soundtrack to Phantom of the Paradise and saw it at the Midnight Movies several times. Mmmm, Jessica Harper.

Gambling -- How about that "Lucky, lucky, lucky, I should be so lucky, I should be so lucky in love" song? I know, that's not helpful, but that's all I've got of the thing, and now it's stuck in my head.

On a totally different topic, I saw the Magnetic Fields at Carnegie Hall the other night, and they sang "Reno Dakota" and dedicated it to their friend Reno Dakota, who they got to say "hi" from the mezzanine. It must be hard to meet new hipsters now if you're him.

Ooh, that's "I Should Be So Lucky" by Kylie Minogue, before she became goddess of the gay disco.

Her latest album, by the way, is really pretty darned great.

I love "Reno Dakota."

Except fuck, it's one hell of an earworm.