One time – I don’t know what possessed me – I picked up a copy of “The Sun Also Rises” and tried to go drink-for-drink with its protagonist, Jake Barnes. I believe I was about twenty pages in before I capitulated. The amount of drinking that takes place in this story – even in just the first fifty pages – is enough to get a fraternity’s charter revoked. With drinking comes drama, and Hemingway’s smash hit of a first novel delivers both in equal measure.

There’s a lot of music in this week’s edition that I really like. In partcular, I really enjoy the transition from Fleet Foxes’ “Drops in the River,” which is meant to accompany a scene where the characters have a friendly relaxed dinner before the start of the fiesta, to the distant fireworks and the explosion of festivities in “The Nights of Wine and Roses.” And I’m not a fan of Fallout Boy, but I think their biggest hit was fitting for Robert Cohn’s self-inflicted social implosion as we learn why it was relevant to include that he was a boxing champion at Princeton.  And I think my favorite song on here – and one that I’d never heard before I started putting this mix together – is the acoustic version of “Boxer” by the Gaslight Anthem.

Jack will be back in two weeks with the final installment of his magnificent Harry Potter series. Stay tuned!

Popdose Conceptual Theater – The Sun Also Rises

1. “Lost Generation” – Young Chinese Dogs
2. “Boxer (Acoustic)” – The Gaslight Anthem
3. “Absinte Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” – Minus the Bear
4. “She’s the One” – The Beta Band
5. “Fault Lines” – The Mountain Goats
6. “Let’s Talk About Spaceships” – Say Hi to Your Mom
7. “Herding Cats” – Lupen Crook
8. “The Peacock” – Beirut
9. “Fools” – The Dodos
10. “Suedehead” – Meg Olson
11. “Drops in the River” – Fleet Foxes
12. “The Nights of Wine and Roses” – Japandroids
13. “The Matador” – The Mighty Imperials
14. “Massive Nights” – The Hold Steady
15. “Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing” – Chris Isaak
16. “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” – Fallout Boy
17. “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” – Frightened Rabbit
18. “So Here We Are” – Bloc Party