Not on REX MANNING DAY! A Song List for The Bumps in the Road

I happen to be a devout devotee of the movie Empire Records. If you haven’t seen it, go do so.  I’ll wait.

If you didn’t notice, this film has a nice little cast that became famous.  The adults were the top billers, and while I love Debi Mazar, the teens are the ones who’s careers exploded after this movie.  Two went on to have starring roles on CSI: Miami.  One stars on The Mentalist.  One was in That Thing You Do, Sweet Home Alabama, and keeps racking up credits. One went on to be an elven princess in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  One was Bridget Jones and got to say “You had me at Hello” to Tom Cruise back when he was sane.  


One of the *many* scenes that I love in this movie is where, after things just start to spiral down, Mark (with a K) comes running down the grand staircase, breaks the fourth wall and says, “We mustn’t dwell.  Not today.  It’s Rex Manning Day!”  Rex Manning day is my public code for when days just go completely wrong.  It’s on those days that I need music to pick me up, because I’ve lost my public face, and I can’t call in sick, and I just have to pull myself together.  So I have a list of songs that I use to pull me back from the doldrums and at least duct tape myself emotionally from the edge.  I sit in my car, blast as loud as I want, and sing my heart out until I feel better.  Or I play them in the library with the teens, and make them have an impromptu dance session.  These are my songs.  Share yours in the comments, and let’s get a kick butt list together for when we’re all having Rex Manning Days…

Filed under: Uncategorized