AmeriCorps~ Vol. 2

The second soundtrack
representing my year in
Los Angeles, 2002/03.

YOU'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE by Jo Dee Messina. "He said 'I grew up near Wichita, in a Mayberry kind of town'..." and "boy let me warn ya, in Southern California we got some fast trains here." Kind of sounds exactly like my life in August of 2002.
ALL THAT JAZZ by The Cast of CHICAGO. CHICAGO was my first big LA movie experience. (I will never live down dragging my new friends to THE GOOD GIRL, that little indie movie starring Rachel Greene from FRIENDS) I was blown away by the movie and I became obsessed. The first night I saw this movie is the first time I ever remember an audience applauding at the end. I stood AND applauded. Being that I lived in LA, I got to experience the phenomenon months before my gang back in Kansas. When I came home to visit for Thanksgiving, I got to treat my mama and my brother to it.
ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE by Aaron Carter. I make no secret that I am a loud and proud teenybopper, now and forever. I loved me some AC then, like I do now. This song represents two events... the album was released while my friends and I ventured to Mexico for our extended Labor Day weekend. I bought it coming back to LA. While we were away, LA had a mild earthquake I didn't get to feel. (I was bummed. Until months later, when our apartment on Albers rocked for .54 seconds and I screamed at Sarah "IS THIS AN EARTHQUAKE??" Nevermind I was trained to teach earthquake safety and to stay calm and it was over before I finished my sentence.)
LOUISIANA WOMAN, MISSISSIPPI MAN by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. This old country classic represents my first two DR's. Hurricane Lili in Louisiana, and the flooding of Mississippi. I had Toni and MC on the first, and Toni returned with me for the second mission.
BIG YELLOW TAXI by Counting Crows. I remember this song and seeing the movie TWO WEEKS NOTICE with Sandra Bullock. (She was in the movie, I didn't see it with her.) I did see Kit deLuca from PRETTY WOMAN once in a park while I lived there, though... I wanted to say- "This ain't a buffet, Kit."
DROWNING by Backstreet Boys. Prior to my LA move, I had a falling out with the Boys of Backstreet. My best friend/soul mate Ang and I were BSB all the way, until we fell *NSYNC. I fell back into the street pretty quickly... with the release of Nick Carter's solo album, and this song playing constantly in the billboard (if you just asked what the billboard was, I refer you to volume 1) Susan and I were slaves to Radio Disney and KIIS FM.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA by Ruben Studdard. I know... Ruben Who?? Alas, seasons 1 & 2 of American Idol wrapped during my stint on the Left Coast. This live performance represents the second season, but more importantly- MC's visiting friends from Samford University, in Alabama- A.Rae, Amy & Kelly. I wish I had a song called HEAD IN A FRIDGE, but since I don't, this is the one that made the cut. (ps- didn't Clay Aiken really win??)
HAWAIIAN ROLLER COASTER RIDE by Lilo & Stitch Soundtrack. My Sarah Syp song! Lady Sypniewski!! The VERY reason I even made it to LA in the first place. I thank her for changing the course of my life for the better, and for good. My LA apartmate, friend to the animals and constant inspiration. LILO& STITCH at our retreat in Malibu: priceless.
WITHOUT ME by Eminem. "Hi- do you have 2 Trailer Park Girls Go Round the Outside?" Toni, requesting this song at a random bar with dollar beers (and free napkins!) on our Mexican getaway weekend. "RED CROSS IN THE HOUSE!!" This song also represents Eminem and his first movie, 8 Mile, I saw with friends in LA.
M!SSUNDAZTOOD by P!nk. My Deidre song!! Deidre- my second LA apartmate, who I would catch watching my Idol tapes on our 2 inch tv screen on the living room floor at 2am. I remember Deidre bringing this disc home and I fell in love with it. Of course, this also represents my Halloween in LA... Syp, Deidre, Susan and I ventured to West Hollywood to see P!nk in concert, where a sk8r boi was on the loose and innocent victims took a wing to the face.
ONE VOICE by Kelly Clarkson & Idol 2 Top 12. My original Headliners group at Butler performed this song in 1995... and Kelly Clarkson. LOVES.
SHE'LL LEAVE YOU WITH A SMILE by George Strait. My Toni song. I remember watching the CMA Awards and hearing this song for the first time and thinking THAT'S TONI! I don't know if I even listened to the words completely, but at that moment in time, this song, like Toni, leaves me with a smile.
SHE'S MY KIND OF RAIN by Tim McGraw. My Mary-Curtis song!! It might have something to do with the after-party in Hollywood with a head in a fridge, being pulled over and a girl in a trunk. But then again, it might not.
SUDDENLY by LeAnn Rimes. Did I mention how spoiled I was in LA? I got to see LeAnn perform this song at a taping of The Jimmy Kimmel Show, which was just starting out. I stole a cue card with her name on it, that I still proudly display. (Also at that taping- Seth Green and Snoop Dogg.) "I'm gonna wage my private war." This song was linked to the Gwyneth Paltrow movie VIEW FROM THE TOP, a box office bomb she never supported. I actually saw the movie as a member of a "test audience" in Marina del Rey and LOVED it. (Still haven't seen the final cut.)
YOU'RE THE REASON GOD MADE OKLAHOMA by David Frizzell and Shelley West. Another old country classic that makes me remember when. Mary-Curtis and I made a last-minute decision to go on a final DR a month before our program ended, and I gained so much from that trip. MC became my Scarecrow, and I feel like she's the reason God made Oklahoma...
I DON'T WANT TO WAIT by Paula Cole. The DAWSON'S CREEK theme song. I was never a huge CREEK fan (because I felt it was a shadow of the Zip Code of my life) but there was some melancholy with it ending as I wrapped my year in LA. I quoted Joey's speech in the penultimate episode at our AmeriCorps graduation, and I think the series finale (that I watched w/ Syp, Deidre and MC on Albers) will go down in history as 2 of the finest hours of a television farewell for me.
WAS THAT MY LIFE? by Jo Dee Messina. The further I get from my year in AmeriCorps, the more surreal it becomes, and the more I ask myself... was that my life?? If I didn't live it myself and if I didn't have pictures to prove it, I would call bullshit on the story of me moving to LA alone to dedicate a year of my life to service with people I had yet to meet. I feel like I cheated the system. I feel like I got so much more out of that year than any person the American Red Cross assisted on local or national disasters that year. To make friends with people that not only inspire me, but choose to remain in my life all these years later? Seriously?? WAS THAT MY LIFE??? This song is an AmeriCorps anthem of mine. And it just so happens, the album this song is on, Jo Dee's Greatest Hits, was released while MC and I were on location on OKC.
WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN by Faith Hill. While CRY was the big Faith song of the year, the lyric in this song- "as another star falls from the Hollywood hills, without a sound"- always made me relish the life I was living. (And of course, to this day.) I remember driving, especially at night, seeing the lights in the hills... I can't even attempt to put it into words. Magic.
LOW by Kelly Clarkson. Obviously, Kelly claimed the original Idol title- and her debut album, THANKFUL was released in April of 2003- and I bought it in Mississippi. This song was my instant fave, and my first memory of her moving on, post-Idol.
GOODBYE TO YOU by Michelle Branch. I wasn't even really familiar with this song, but when it began to be used in commercials for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale, it struck a chord. Mary-Curtis and I witnessed Sunnydale, CA cave into the Hellmouth for Buffy's Last Stand while in Oklahoma City. "Goodbye to you, goodbye to everything that I knew." Indeed.