Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sunday Random 10

Finally starting to get wintry here in the land of TWDQ. Fortunately, not wintry enough to shovel or blow winter out of the driveway.

Let's see what the little green Nano has in store for today.

Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Mary Lou Lord - His Indie World
Nick Lowe - I Read a Lot
Ry Cooder - Do Re Mi
Todd Snider - Disorganized Crime
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Girl (Live)
Fountains of Wayne - Nightlight
Tracey Thorn - Late in the Afternoon
Al Green - You Ought to Be with Me
The Avett Brothers - All My Mistakes

The wonderful Mary Lou Lord song that leads this off is one we'll throw on repeat, so this list could well have been ten repeats of that. Couldn't find it on YouTube, but there is a nice version from the BBC in the link above. Nick Lowe is aging so, so gracefully. We highly recommend his most recent album. Couldn't find a live clip of the Split Lip Rayfield tune, but do check out the clip to see the awesome gas tank bass.

We even got a little Al Green this week, which is a pretty good excuse to link to the other Al Green we got this week. The kid thought the aside to the wings was so The West Wing.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sunday Random 10

Let's see what the little green Nano produced this morning!

Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

XTC - Blame the Weather
The Beatles - Sea of Time
The Beatles - Lovely Rita
Dr. John - Mos' Scocious
Brook Benton - Rainy Night in Georgia
Lyle Lovett - Cowboy Man
Los Lobos - Carabina .30-30 [Live]
The Temptations - My Girl
Elvis Presley - Blue Moon of Kentucky
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

Love that it picked up from last week's XTC song at #10 to leading off with XTC this week. (Again, not that the odds of it hitting an XTC tune are terribly long.) The first of the Beatles tracks is one of the instrumentals from Yellow Submarine. (The odds of hitting a Beatles tune are way shorter than XTC.) Brook Benton's tune is from the album that is pound-for-pound the Best Album in Our Collection. [1] There's our choice for the Best Band America has Produced [2], followed by The Tempts singing The Greatest Song Ever Written, and the B-side of the record that made it all happen for The King. It wraps with those crazy Canadian kids who were the highlight of last year's Grammys telecast. [3] Not a bad ten at all.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question (Is Mitt Romney a serial killer?), already in progress.

[1] Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947-1974 - Volume 6 1966-1969. Try to find a 2-album set with more great songs on it, we dare you.
[2] Excellence in a broad variety of styles, solid body of work, longevity, same lineup all these years.
[3] But were noticeably absent from tonight's commercial for this year's ceremony.

Monday, January 09, 2012

57 Channels and Nothin' On

Saw the following item in the latest Comcast Xfinity e-mail under the heading "Editor's Top 5 Picks":

Rob: Rob Schneider stars in this new sitcom as a bachelor who marries into a tight-knit Mexican-American family.

An "editor" picked that? Sweet Mother of Pearl, we've only seen the commercials for this stinkfest, so here's This Week's Discussion Question:
How much cash would someone have to pony up to get you to watch an episode of that "editor's pick"?
Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "I think there's an editor with a death wish -- or a new Mercedes," "To paraphrase Arthur Dent, 'Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word "stars" that I wasn't previously aware of," or "Hell, it'll make the Republican presidential debates look like Masterpiece freaking Theatre."

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

Let's see what the little green Nano offered up this week!

Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Erik Brandt - The Ballad of Janos Sinko
Blind Pilot - We Are the Tide
Husker Du - Makes No Sense At All
Nick Lowe - Somebody Cares for Me
Ike Reilly - Put a Little Love In It
Wilco - Someone Else's Song
Wilco - Solitaire
John Hiatt - When New York Had Her Heart Broke
Los Straitjackets - Close to Christmas (The First Noel)
XTC - Generals and Majors

We're thinking about catching Mr. Brandt opening for Koerner and Glover in the near future. Bought the Blind Pilot album via download on Saturday after seeing them on Letterman (and recalling my buddy Tom raving about them). We're suckers for a band with an extra tom-tom player. Five bucks on Amazon. The Husker tune is the A-side of the single we bought years ago for the terrific B-side, the video of which we'd never seen until just now. There's a pair of pretty obscure Wilco tunes, and Los Straitjackets track is from their terrific new album, Yuletide Beat. And let's just say that as time goes by, the chance of an XTC tune popping up in the mix gets more and more likely.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Monday, January 02, 2012

Sunday Random 10

Happy New Year! Here's what the Nano dropped on New Year's Day 2012!

Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Eurythmics - Missionary Man
The Band - When I Paint My Masterpiece
Gear Daddies - African Killer Bees
Florence + the Machine - Hurricane Drunk
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
Fountains of Wayne - Revolving Dora
Todd Rundgren - Marlene
The Beatles - Get Back (Let it Be...Naked)
Old 97's - Love Is What You Are
The New Standards - The Dark End of the Street

Hope 2012 is off to a good start!

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question (Iowa? Really?), already in progress.

Sunday Random 10 (catching up for 2011)

Getting caught up here after a long holiday week. Here's the last of the 2011 randoms. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

12/18/2011
The Coasters - I Must Be Dreamin'
Joe Henry - This is My Favorite Cage
Florence + the Machine - Cosmic Love
Fountains of Wayne - All Kinds of Time
The B-52's - Good Stuff
Ivy - She Really Got to You
Todd Snider - Unorganized Crime
The Beatles - Misery
Diane Birch - Forgiveness
The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself

12/25/2011
Ry Cooder - Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All
Susan Werner - Sunday Mornings
Beki Hemingway & Jonathan Rundman - Easy Chair
Beki Hemingway & Jonathan Rundman - Everything to Everyone
Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
Wilson Pickett - I'm In Love
Over the Rhine - Here It Is
Dolly Varden - Balcony
The Replacements - I'll Be You
The Ike Reilly Assassination - Garbage Day

Didn't have a lot of holiday music on the Nano this year--or anywhere, for that matter--so it's nice that Over the Rhine's terrific Christmas tune turned up on Christmas Day.

"I'm wrapping up my love this Christmas and here it is."

Peace on earth, goodwill to all...