Ok, so I’m working on a new project, which calls for a Brand New Playlist. It’s part historical fiction, part contemporary women’s fiction. It’s the story of the bad-ass female samurai, Tomoe Gozen, who was either the wife or concubine of Yoshinaka Minamoto, a samurai who lived in the late 12th century. His story is absolutely Shakespearean in content (family betrayals! Cousin against cousin!)and basically, her story inspires a pair of contemporary half-Japanese sisters to confront their own problems. Yes, I’m sort of being deliberately vague, because the story is in its nascent stage and I don’t want to scare it away by talking about it too much.
This time around, I’ve been slightly obsessed with The Airborne Toxic Event since we saw them in concert at the Del Mar racetrack, and their music has been perfect for the mood of what I’m working on. Besides, what other band can you name who wrote a song based on a short story? (All I Ever Wanted is “loosely based on the short story, “The Hitchhiking Game,” by Milan Kundera.) Of course I love them.
These all link to YouTube.
This is Nowhere(The Airborne Toxic Event)
Numb (The Airborne Toxic Event)
Numb by The Airborne Toxic Event
Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead)
Somewhere Only We Know (Keane)
This Modern Love (Bloc Party)
All I Ever Wanted (The Airborne Toxic Event)
Dirty Girl (The Eels)
Changing (The Airborne Toxic Event)
A word of caution: “Changing” stuck in my head for like 35 hours.
Falling (Florence and the Machine)
watch?v=vPLrqKrnYts
Addicted to Love (Florence and the Machine)
watch?v=ycrhIpd4ZWU&feature=related
MARGARET DILLOWAY 
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