"Down In the Valley"

Today was one one of those days readymade for oblivion. Nothing remarkable. A workday. Mild weather. Chores performed. I've been transporting boxes of documents to the new building in Seatac; loading up the local's minivan and heading south on I-5. Tenant improvement construction is still underway. I have to don a hardhat and safety goggles when I enter. The ambiance of a construction site remains unchanged from when I toiled as a laborer in my twenties. Grumpy, sadistic men trapped in an eternal recurrence of junior high physical education class. As I shelve the old documents in the new file room I get to listen to my iPod. I am out of sight. This afternoon, really the best thing that happened all day, I heard "Down In The Valley" by The Head and the Heart:

Max Roach + The Head and the Heart

I listened to several Max Roach albums this Presidents' Day morning, including We Insist! a couple times. Here's "Freedom Day" with Abbey Lincoln on vocals, Booker Little on trumpet:

But this afternoon I've been stuck on Seattle band The Head and the Heart. I'm a sucker for the Maureen Tucker-esque sweet-girl vocals of Charity Rose Thielen on 'Winter Song":