Ramblin' Rovin' Rob

“Painted desert more like tainted yogurt.” “Nice.” Ed and I had fallen into our typical road trip routine of ironically bad jokes and playing the worst songs we could find. By now we had found our way to a road trip classic for us, “Pinch Me” by Barenaked Ladies. We had been driving for a good three and a half hours and now found ourselves on the I-40 just miles away from the painted desert. “Rocks more coc-“ “Wait, Ed, I think we’re here.” A vast expanse of prismatic rocks had just appeared before us. Shades of purple, white, red and brown rock were stacked on top of each other like multicolored pancakes. We continued along I-40 weaving in and out of valleys of purple and brown and over mesas white and rusty orange. A giant brown highway sign told us ‘PAINTED DESERT VISITOR CENTER’. We pulled off and got out of the car into a paved yet dusty parking lot. I looked around and saw just about what I expected, a ranger station, a gift shop, those dirty national park restrooms that ar

One of the quintessential college experiences is a spring break consistent of beaches and binge drinking. Yes, most of my peers found themselves wasting away to the chants of “Chug, chug, chug,” at the Mango Deck Club in Cabo, Mexico this past week. I never had that experience, however. Five days of suffering through a crowded and boozy beach for $1500 just isn’t my thing. In my pattern of deviating from the normal college spring break I couch surfed at an old friend’s apartment in San Francisco for a few days. I touched down in San Francisco to the confusing ballad Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches with grey wet skies overhead. It was a fitting entrance considering the hellish week of tests and lab reports I finished before my escape into break. My friend, Eddie, who had flown in from Phoenix a few days earlier, and my host, Carter, picked me up from the airport in an old Dodge SUV Carter’s roommate from New York let them borrow. We drove from SFO to the Richmond District,

I can’t stand the radio. “Hot 97.5 in the mix with today’s top tracks!” Really, Hot 97.5? Are they really  today’s hottest tracks? Because, to me, they all sound the same played out pop music formula that’s been cut up and recycled so many times that its almost like no one cares what the final product is anymore. Oh cool, another lazy chorus sandwiched between some predictable pop beats, exactly what I was looking for. I won’t even touch on the disaster that is country music, I’ve shown enough of my self-perceived music elitism already. Anyway, here’s a playlist I made: The songs on here aren’t necessarily my favorite songs, they’re mostly ones that I like and think would set a good mood for a laid-back hip-hop/R&B infused road trip. Some of my favorite quotes from the keystone tracks: Like a Ship by Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir: Just like a ship, without a sail. But I’m not worried because I know. But I know we can make it. Broken Cl