Sunday Random 10

Busy day yesterday at TWDQ HQ, first out celebrating birthdays and anniversaries with a New Orleans brunch, then back to HQ for some televised baseball & World Cup, then some lawn mowing and a movie. Finally got around to the little green Nano late last evening. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Jason Falkner - Miracle Medicine
The Beatles - Honey Don't
Laura Nyro - He Was Too Good to Me
Shawn Colvin - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
XTC - Books Are Burning
Old 97's - Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue
The Jayhawks - Six Pack on the Dashboard
Dave Edmunds - Girls Talk
The Beat Farmers - Happy Boy
Joe Henry - Stop

If you've only heard "Happy Boy" on the daily segment on Ian & Margery's radio show, you're missing a couple of verses that might put one off one's breakfast.

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

Sunday Random 10

Sorry we missed you last week, been a whirlwind couple of weeks around TWDQ HQ and while we shuffled up the iPod last week, we didn't get around to posting. So here's another two-fer.

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

06/13/2010
The Beatles - You Won't See Me
Oberhofer - o0O0o0O0o
Fountains of Wayne - You're Just Never Satisfied
Professor Longhair - Thank You Pretty Baby
Jonathan Rundman - In Thee Is Gladness
Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground
Laura Nyro and Labelle - Gonna Take a Miracle
Shawn Colvin - Polaroids
Rosanne Cash (w/Neko Case) - Satisfied Mind
Beki Hemingway & Jonathan Rundman - Easy Chair

06/20/2010
Lucy Wainwright Roche - University Drive
Van Morrison - Wild Night
This Train - Seafoam Green
Sarah Jaffe - Stay with Me
Los Lobos - One Time One Night
Kirsty MacColl - Can't Stop Killing You
Professor Longhair - Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand
The Replacements - Here Comes a Regular
Ike Reilly - The Assassination of Sweet Lou Diablo
Patty Griffin - Flaming Red

Let's see...we just saw the amazing Ms. Griffin last evening with the amazing Buddy Miller, there's a pair of tunes from 'Fess reminding us that we must get ourselves to New Orleans some time, we're looking forward to Ms. Cash's gig at the free bandshell at the State Fair this August, and we've already mentioned Laura Nyro & Labelle's wonderful Gonna Take a Miracle album and if you don't already have it, you should stop reading this instant and go get it.

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

Graveyard Shift

After catching Jake Tapper's roundtable on This Week this morning, here's This Week's Discussion Question (Thanks for the idea, Arianna!):

Man, how much overtime does the PolitiFact crew have to put in when Liz Cheney's on This Week?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Why does anyone care what Liz Cheney thinks about anything?" or "Holy crap, I agree with George Will that Bud Selig did the right thing! Sorry to anyone who got splattered when my head exploded."

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

Before we head out for some quality contemplative time behind the TWDQ HQ lawnmower, here's what spilled from the little green Nano this week.

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

U2 - Until the End of the World
The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cinnamon Girl
Sally Seltman - Harmony to My Heartbeat
Crowded House - Everything is Good for You
World Party - And I Fell Back Alone
Fairground Attraction - Falling Backwards
The Beatles - Hold Me Tight
Los Lobos - I Will Go Sailing No More
Dan Zanes and Friends - I'm Flying

Feel free to post your own random ten in the comments.

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

Sunday Random 10

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! We at TWDQ hope you're taking time out to honor the memory of those who've served this nation and all those who have gone before.

Here's this week's shuffle:

Wilco - Say You Miss Me
Ike Reilly - God Damn Shame
Fountains of Wayne - Peace and Love
Over the Rhine - Suitcase
The Muppets - Wipe Out
Joe Henry - Tiny Voices
Rhett Miller - Refusing Temptation
The Hold Steady - The Smidge
Fountains of Wayne - Hung Up on You
Patty Griffin - Mary

Way poppier this week. Looks like the little green Nano is back from its Tom Waits obsession.

Still looking for time to post a question or two. In the meantime, the right-wing hissy fit about the President's Memorial Day plans not including Arlington National Cemetery (which the president--even the Republican ones--hasn't always done every Memorial Day, but facts always seem to get in the way of a good hissy fit, don't they?) does make us wonder if we were this damned whiny during the eight years of Junior's administration. It's a shame nobody could be bothered to get worked up over torture or a war sold with lies.

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

The iPod Has Been Drinking (or Sunday Random Tens)

Sorry we missed you last week, kids. Been busy 'round TWDQ HQ. Here's a couple of weeks worth of Sunday Random 10s for you.

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

05/16/2010
The Pogues - The Broad Majestic Shannon
Mary Lou Lord - Speeding Motorcycle
Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin'
The Replacements - Valentine
The Replacements - Nightclub Jitters
Norah Jones - Young Blood
Gear Daddies - Time Heals
Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Way You Look Tonight (Live)
Beki Hemingway & Jonathan Rundman - No Regrets
The Coasters - I Must Be Dreamin'

05/23/2010
Mary Chapin Carpenter - Mrs. Hemingway
Over the Rhine - Ohio
Tom Waits - Metropolitan Glide (Live)
Tom Waits - Trampled Rose (Live)
Over the Rhine - Born
Beki Hemingway - Over With
Preservation Hall Jazz Band (feat. Tom Waits) - Corinne Died on the Battlefield
Vince Guaraldi - Mr. Lucky
Tom Waits - Shiver Me Timbers
Over the Rhine - All I Want Is Everything

This week's list is really interesting. Once that first song kicked in, I was wondering if one of Ms. Hemingway's cuts would pop up. Sure enough! Then the little green Nano definitely had it in a big way for Mr. Waits and we swear it KNOWS we contributed to the Let's Make a Record project so Over the Rhine could spend this past week in Los Angeles recording their new album with Joe Henry. (Mr. Henry's luminous "Love Is Enough" from the excellent Civilians made an appearance a few songs after the initial ten wrapped up.)

Gonna be a busy week, but stay tuned, we might have an actual question here soon.

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

Sunday Random 10

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day! Gorgeous day here.

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

Crowded House - Not the Girl You Think You Are
Old 97's - Can't Get a Line (Live)
The Beatles - One After 909
The Ike Reilly Assassination - I Will Let You Down
Bob Dylan & The Rolling Thunder Revue - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Live)
Crowded House - Everything Is Good for You
Joe Henry - Want Too Much
Jason Falkner - Take Good Care of Me
Neil Young - A Man Needs a Maid
Preservation Hall Jazz Band (feat. Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger) - Blue Skies

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

Sunday Random 10

Hey, it's Sunday again! And no Discussion Question again! It's a good thing we got us an iPod, eh?

Here's what it shuffled up today. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!!!

Jonathan Rundman - Kuortane
Patty Griffin (feat. Buddy Miller) - Never Grow Old
The Pogues - Sit Down By the Fire
The Heardsmen - She Knows It
The Beatles - Get Back
The B-52's - Mesopotamia
World Party - When the Rainbow Comes
Tom Waits - Get Behind the Mule (Live)
Bruce Springsteen - Backstreets
Joe Henry - Widows of the Revolution

Wow. That's about as solid a list as it's ever produced. We're going to see Mr. Rundman Wednesday night and Ms. Griffin (w/Mr. Miller opening) in June. We just saw the amazing Mr. Henry in March. The Pogues and Springsteen tunes are from our stack of desert island discs. The Heardsmen tune is from one of our favorite film soundtracks. The kid played in a B-52's cover band while in college. We wore out World Party's Goodbye Jumbo and Waits' "Mule Variations back in the day. And, of course, it all comes back to The Beatles. (BTW, "Help" was the 11th tune up.)

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question already in progress for several weeks now. We know, we know.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday and you know what that means? (We mean besides the Twins blowing the final game of a series instead of sweeping.)

It's time to see what the little green Nano's going to cough up! Let's... Hit...Shuffle!!!

The Replacements - Gary's Got a Boner
Los Lobos - La Bamba
The Beatles - I Need You
Laura Nyro and Labelle - I Met Him on a Sunday
Talking Heads - Love -> Building on Fire
Rufus Thomas - Walkin' the Dog
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - Some of the Parts
Over the Rhine - Born
Dan Zanes - California
Kristina Train - I Can't But Help

Interesting mix. Once again, if you don't already have that Laura Nyro and Labelle album Gonna Take a Miracle, it's less than eight bucks here. Go! We are also huge fans of the Dan Zanes record, which is so loose and fun it made Springsteen's Seeger Sessions disc seem like a dull lecture.

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

Sunday Random 10

It was a beautiful Sunday in TWDQ's neck of the woods and we got mildly sunburned watching baseball, which is a possibility once again in TWDQ's neck of the woods! Now it's time to fire up the little green Nano.

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

Over the Rhine - When You Say Love
Peter Wolf (w/Neko Case) - The Green Fields of Summer
She & Him - I'm Gonna Make It Better
Elvis Presley - Good Rockin' Tonight
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle
Gnarles Barkley - Crazy
The Beatles - Two of Us (Let it Be...Naked version)
Johnny Cash - Luther Played the Boogie
The Beatles - Let It Be (single version)
The Twilight Hours - Dreams

Thanks to everyone who raved about the new Wolf record. We're so glad we picked it up.

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

This Is How We Do It

Here's This Week's Discussion Question:

Isn't this beautiful?

Please keep the discussion civil and do feel free to wander off into "Da da da da da" or "All together now!"

Sing.

What the World Needs Now, Vol. 41110

Since she didn't show up in today's random 10, here's This Week's Discussion Question:

Why is anyone still watching American Idol?

Please keep the discussion civil, but for cryin' out loud, people, if you want a new singer who came out of obscurity, there isn't a better story than a funky, gritty, 50-something former Rikers Island corrections officer fronting a top-notch soul band.

And if you want to watch competition, baseball season just started.

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again! Let's see what the little green Nano has to offer this week.

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

The Beatles - Lonesome Tears in My Eyes
The New Standards - Maps
The Rascals - Lonely Too Long
Miles Davis - Blue in Green
XTC - Ball and Chain
The Who - Substitute
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
Kirsty MacColl - Can't Stop Killing You
The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace with God
Patty Griffin - Carry Me

Cool. Something from the newly-acquired Beatles "Live at the B.B.C." and the title track from one of our Desert Island albums.

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

Sunday Random 10

Let's see what springs from the little green Nano on this Easter Sunday. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Wilson Pickett - I'm in Love
Dan Zanes - Phone Call Home
Dan Zanes - The Colorado Trail
Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham - I'm Living Good
The New Standards - Bring It On Home to Me
The Beatles - I'll Cry Instead
The Who - A Legal Matter
Nick Lowe - Homewrecker
Fountains of Wayne - Joe Rey
Dusty Springfield - I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore

Hope you all had a great day! We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again! Hey, did we mention that we're in the paper this morning?

Well, let's see what surprises the little green Nano has in store for us today. Ready?

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

Kristina Train - I Can't But Help
The Suburbs - Rattle My Bones
Dan Zanes and Friends - Gary, Indiana/The Wells Fargo Wagon
Shawn Colvin - I'm Gone
Muddy Waters - She's Nineteen Years Old
U2 - FEZ-Being Born
Miles Davis - All Blues
The Coasters - Smokey Joe's Cafe
Allen Toussaint - Solitude
Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras in New Orleans

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

Sunday Papers

Hey! We're in the Sunday paper!

Hot, Hot, Hot

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to point you--once again--to Fred Clark's blazing work at Slacktivist.

Boy, oh boy, Fred OWNS the internets these days.

Go. Read. Now.

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

Been a busy day at TWDQ HQ, so we had to wait until tonight to see what the little green Nano would shake out. Ready? Let's...Hit...Shuffle!:

Son Volt - Roll On
The Rascals - See
Wilco - Muzzle of Bees (live)
Wilco - Misunderstood
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
Gear Daddies - Get It Right Someday
The Beatles - Rocky Raccoon
Dusty Springfield - So Much Love
The Decemberists - A Bower Scene
XTC - That Wave

We'll have more in a few days on a couple of great shows that book-ended last week, as well as some more pointers to our favorite blogger, who is currently owning the internets, so stay tuned.

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

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again, so Let's...Hit...Shuffle!:

The Who - Call Me Lightning
Kirsty MacColl - Caroline
Allen Toussaint - Blue Drag
Tinted Windows - Back with You
Gary U.S. Bonds - Not Me
Muddy Waters - (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
Gear Daddies - No One's Home
Over the Rhine - Here it Is
Joe Henry - Monkey
The Beatles - If I Fell

Hope you've all adjusted your clocks accordingly and will enjoy the later sunset this evening. We're off to a darkened jazz club to see the artist responsible for the penultimate tune and the production on the third track.

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

Monday Morning Rock (Belated Sunday Random 10)

Didn't get around to shuffling the little green Nano yesterday, so here's the mix from Monday morning. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Van Morrison - Domino
Joe Henry - Prelude: Light No Lamp When the Sun Comes Down
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Jonathan Rundman - Continental Divide
Joe Henry - Lighthouse
Bob Dylan & The Rolling Thunder Revue - Hurricane
Aaron Neville - Waiting at the Station
Tom Waits - What's He Building?
Brendan Benson - Feel Like Taking You Home
Alice Cooper - School's Out

The little green Nano must know we're going to see Mr. Henry next Sunday evening at a cozy little jazz club. The list also features no fewer than three tracks from the annual faves compilations we've been assembling since 2003.

Mr. Waits' spoken-word track is also a long-time favorite from which some of the TWDQ HQ crew regularly recite lines: "He has no friends, but he gets a lot of mail. I'll bet he spent a little time in jail," or "I'll tell you one thing, he's not building a playhouse for the children," or just "What the hell is he building in there?" (Naturally, one needs to recite these in his/her best Tom Waits growl.)

And last, but not least, the final cut prompts This Week's Discussion Question:

Is there any verse more rock 'n roll than this?:

Well, we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can't even think up a word that rhymes

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion; Grease is the way we are feeling," or "Well, since she put me down there's been owls pukin' in my bed..."

Discuss.