all souls' day

11 THINGS: All Souls' Day

Thursday, November 2, 2006

1. Death: "The full cessation of vital functions in a biological organism" (according to wicked Wikipedia).

2. Bauhaus: "Bela Lugosi's Dead": "The bats have left the bell tower/ the victims have been bled/ red velvet lines the black box/ Bela Lugosi's dead" (or undead).

3. Joy Division: "Dead Souls": "Someone take these dreams away/ That point me to another day/ A duel of personalities/ That stretch all true reality" (oh Ian).

4. The Dead Boys: "All This and More": "I'm just a dead boy/ You know that I'm just a dead boy/ I wanna be a dead boy" (Sorry Stiv, you're immortal).

5. The Dead Milkmen: "Punk Rock Girl": "One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead/ I met a girl there and she almost knocked me dead" (typical).

6. Death From Above 1979: "Black History Month": "Can you remember a time when this city was/ A great place for architects and debutantes/ A nice place for midwives and crossing guards .../ And on, and on ..." (DFA1979's best song lives on ... and on).

7. White Zombie: "More Human Than Human": "I am the crawling dead/ A phantom in a box, shadow in your head -- say" (Remember kids, I'm just a messenger).

8. The Pixies: "Ed Is Dead": Enough said ("Death to the Pixies!").

9. Grateful Dead: "Dark Star>St. Stephen": If the Pixies = LoudQuietLoud, then Dark Star>St. Stephen = QuietQuietQuietQuietQuietQuietQuietQuietLoud.

10. Kim Death: With apologies to the Dead Kennedys and Death Cab for Cutie, a quick non sequitur hello to my friend in Oregon. (Why? 'Cause we only live once.)

11. The Life of Brian: "Look on the Bright Side of Life": "For life is quite absurd/ And death's the final word ..." (so seize the day now while you still can).

Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

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