Special Edition Report:The Tale of John "Legs" Surico

In what will hopefully become a recurring segment, I present to you the first Special Edition Report, this time written by Old School Movie friend, John Surico (pictured left). Below you'll find his post-semester thoughts on Florence, expressed through, of course, a list of songs. He wrote this awhile ago, but, well, I was rather slow in getting it up here. Whatever. Enjoy:

I usually don't do this type of thing (my posts consist more of funny cat videos and recipes for delicious vegan meals) but I have decided to drop a guest post on this here blog to share a voice on the semester in Toscana. Ya know, I can talk about Italian food, Italian women, where I have traveled or any of that other monotonous dribble but that would just be a waste of space and Internet oxygen. If you really care about those things, ask me personally and I will give you about ten or fifteen minutes of my time since I live, as most people know, an extremely busy life. However, instead, I have chosen to interpret my time here through the medium of music since I have a firm belief that music speaks twenty times louder than words, especially when it's blasting out of a speaker and you could not even hear the person speaking words next to you. With that being said, here is a playlist of my top ten favorite songs that I have been playing in my head while I, as a fellow colleague of mine would say in cold blood, "stared at you all". Mind you, there is no particular order or a sense of theme to them; if you wanted to find "deepening" in my choices, go take 'Writing the Essay" and then come talk to me. Until then, take ten minutes out of your time on Facebook and give them, for the love of Mother Nature, a quick listen:

Continue reading for John's picks.

1. The A-Has - "Take on Me"

Whether you like it or not, the 80s are back and better than ever and, since they weren't that good in the first place, that is saying a fucking lot.



2. LCD Soundsystem - "Home"

Maybe there is some subliminal meaning of homesickness in this one but, regardless, Mr. Murphy knows how to make a damn good song.



3. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - "Janglin"

If all else fails with journalism and I'm stuck patting kids down in Washington Square Park for money after they get out of class, I will try my very best to get my other dream job: The Guy That Chooses the iPod Commercial Song.



4. Belle and Sebastian - "Funny Little Frog"

These two hooligans have been doing great things for years.



5. Death Cab for Cutie - "Sound of Settling"

I don't know if it's the sheer amount of existential novels I have been reading since January or the Italian lifestyle but something is driving me back to my middle-school days and making me cringe that I am more or less done with puberty.



6. The Strokes - "Life is Simple in the Moonlight"

Missing the premiere of their new album, their sold-out show in Madison Square Garden, their return to stardom and any other wild exaggerated claim to the Strokes I can make was rough for a minute or two until I realized that I can still listen to their new album overseas.



7. Culture Club - "I'll Tumble 4 Ya"

No comment. See: Boy George, Billy Madison.



8. The Outfield - "Your Love"

You know those songs that you know for certain if someone didn't like them, you wouldn't like that special someone. ...Yeah.



9. Talking Heads - "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

If any of you bastards are holding my hand while I am laying on my deathbed, put down that damn Bible and use your other hand to put this song on per favore.



10. Simon and Garfunkel - "America"

At the end of the day, when the plane leaves from Peretola Airport, you have to remember where your real home is and that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel will be waiting for you at the terminal when you land, playing this song with their melodic and cerebral voices.

And as a reward for making it to the bottom of the page, check out this sweet picture of Sam, John, and Max:

Sam, John, and Max