Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sunday Random 10
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!
12/04/2011
John Coltrane - Everytime We Say Goodbye
Laura Nyro - Stoney End
Dan Zanes and Friends - I Am What I Am
Dwight Yoakam - Wichita Lineman
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Simplest Love
The Autumn Defense - Why I'm Like This
Professor Longhair - Whole Lotta Loving
Allen Toussaint - Just a Closer Walk with Thee
The Beatles - Long, Long, Long
Allen Toussaint - West End Blues
The Nano was in a jazzy New Orleans mood, it appears.
12/11/2011
Dolly Varden - Some Sequined Angel
Wilco - That's Not the Issue
Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou
Badfinger - No Matter What
The Honeydogs - I Miss You
Greg Brown - Tenderhearted Child
Professor Longhair - Meet Me Tomorrow Night
Yusuf - Heaven/Where True Love Goes
Fountains of Wayne - The Girl I Can't Forget
Nick Lowe - All Men Are Liars
Even though we didn't get tickets for the Wilco/Nick Lowe shows last week, the Nano apparently thought we should have.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday Random 10
Tres Chicas - Drop Me DownHank Williams - Jambalaya (On the Bayou)Ace - How LongMuddy Waters - Stuff You Gotta WatchThe Who - We're Not Gonna Take ItDrive-By Truckers - The Righteous PathMichael Penn - Mary LynnThe Who - Call Me LightningThe Rascals - Mustang SallyTodd Rundgren - I Saw the Light
Rodney Crowell - Closer to HeavenLos Straitjackets - Que Verdes Son
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday Random 10 (x3)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wedding Bell Blues
Tell us again how allowing gays to get hitched undermines marriage?
Sunday Random 10 (x2)
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday Random 10
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday Random 10
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Take Me Out to the Cathedral
Take it away, Brian:
"By God's blessing, we have not been hit by a Muslim attack since 9/11," Fischer said. "I suggest that in part, we have Major League Baseball to thank. You remember that the week after 9/11 Major League Baseball converted the seventh inning stretch from the singing of 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' to the singing of 'God Bless America.'"
"Now 'God Bless America' is not just a song, it is a prayer. When we sing that we are inviting God to bless America, to stand beside her and to guide her through the night with a light from above," Fischer said.
"So for one brief, shining moment every night, Major League Baseball has converted our stadiums into cathedrals in which tens of thousands of ordinary Americans lift their hearts and voices as one and ask God to watch over and protect the United States," Fischer said.
"Ladies and gentleman, I think that those prayers have been heard and they have been answered," Fischer said.
First, some clubs only sing GBA on Sundays (for which TWDQ thanks God). We believe the Yankees do it every game less out of patriotism than to use Ronan Tynan's 17 minute rendition to ice a visiting pitcher that's in a groove.
Second, nothing got "converted". We still sing 'em both on Sundays at Target Field. More people sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Way more.
Third, though it may be a prayer, GBA is a sentimental, mawkish, schlocky prayer. Woody Guthrie disliked it so much he wrote "This Land is Your Land"--originally titled "God Blessed America for Me"--in response.
Fourth, his last line reminds us of a great line in Barbara Brown Taylor's "An Altar in the World":
“I do not know any way to talk about answered prayer without sounding like a huckster or honeymooner. When someone wants to tell me how God has answered prayer, those are the first two possibilities that occur to me, anyway: 1) This person wants to sell me something, or 2) This person is not quite sober yet.”
And lastly, the last time we checked, Irving Berlin, who penned GBA, was Jewish, leading us to This Week's Discussion Question.
So wouldn't that be synagogues instead of cathedrals?
Please keep the discussion civil and please do not wander off into "Values? What values?" but do feel free to wander off into your Slim Pickens impression. (Quote #2, to be precise.)
Discuss.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
She's Gone
In other news, the sun rose in the east today.
Palin's decision means, of course, that TWDQ's CEO will not be consuming his headwear in front of City Hall at high noon on November 6, 2012, as promised had the FHTG been the GOP nominee.
The story we linked to is headlined, "Sarah Palin's Decision Not to Run Shocks Supporters", which brings us to This Week's Discussion Question:
Really? Who didn't see this coming?Please keep the discussion civil and try to keep the guffaws down.
Discuss.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Idiot Wind
Who gives a rat's behind what Hank Williams Junior thinks about anything?Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "That's a mighty generous use of 'thinks', bucko," or "Remember kids, don't drink before breakfast."
Discuss.
Sunday Random 10
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!!!
Son Volt - Route
The Beatles - The Long and Winding Road (from Let it Be...Naked)
Badfinger - No Matter What
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Los Lobos - La Pistola Y El Corazon
Titus Andronicus - Four Score and Seven
Eurythmics - Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
Everything But the Girl - Oxford Street
Fountains of Wayne - Acela
The Beatles - Only a Northern Song
Really nice mix this week. Son Volt's debut, Trace, is one of those albums we could sing along to from start to finish by heart but couldn't name the song titles at gunpoint. (Seriously, this album is so deeply engrained that on a family vacation, I pulled the family off the freeway to see St. Genevieve, Missouri. A co-worker told me he'd also done the same side trip.) We're always thrilled by the Phil Spector-free version of McCartney's ballad following the 28 year wait after hearing it for the first time in the film "Let it Be" in 1976. There's Donovan's guest shot with Alice, some excellent rootsy Los Lobos (The Best Band America Has Yet Produced, in our not so humble estimation), some Civil War-based (sort of) Jersey rock, Aretha & Annie, and the vastly underrated and underheard Tracey Thorn and EBtG.
And, boys and girls, right there at number three is the first full-flower of power pop, with a tune from the fine new album by our current favorite power pop purveyors checking in at number nine.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Odds and Sods
Norquist to Buffett: Send Government Your Money - Here's the Envelope, You Pay for the Stamp
TWDQ to Grover: Here's the short pier, you take the hike.Crazy Train Keeps A-Rollin':
Seriously, how can anyone take this lunatic seriously?Montana GOP Fears School Lunch Fraud is Eating Taxpayer Money
Yeah, beating up poor kids for their lunch money is the way out of our economic malaise.There, that feels better.
Back tomorrow with tunes...
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Great Beyond
Had read some buzz about them and I have a strong memory of hearing "South Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" on an AM station while commuting home along I-694 one sunny afternoon and digging the jangle. I also loved Peter Buck's 12-string work on the Mats' great "I Will Dare", so I bought Reckoning, and in the not-yet-codified TWDQ Hierarchy of Recording Artists, they quickly became a "buy their new album on release day" band.*
* That said, didn't pick up Green until years later. Maybe they were playing it on the radio so much I didn't think I needed to. Never did get Up or Behind the Sun, possibly because I'd heard them first. ;-)
Loved Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Out of Time, Automatic, and yes, even Monster. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" still makes me want to grab a guitar and play along. Loud. And move like Peter Buck. The kids loved "Shiny Happy People" and even though I've seen it a thousand times, still think the "Losing My Religion" video is pretty terrific.
Only ever saw 'em live once. They were on the Vote for Change tour with Bright Eyes, Fogerty, and Springsteen (with interloper Neil Young) in 2004 and they were terrific, with an energetic Stipe bouncing all over the Xcel Energy Center stage. Got back on the release day bit with Accelerate, which is a terrific record.
So thanks, Bill, Peter, Mike, and Michael. It was a great run.
This is still my favorite:
Sunday Random 30 (catching up...)
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!
09/11/2011
Wilco - At Least That's What You Said
Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou
Loggins & Messina - House at Pooh Corner
The Kinks - Days
Los Lobos - A Matter of Time
Radiohead - How Do You?
Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
Steve Goodman - Somebody Else's Troubles
Professor Longhair - No Buts, No Maybes
Joe Henry - Hello Stranger
Interesting that the first track on the tenth anniversary of 9/11/2001 was from the one of the first notable post-9/11 albums. It seems like every September 11th since 2001 has been a beautiful, sunny day, just like that morning.
09/18/2011
Wilco - Someday Soon
Fountains of Wayne - Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart
The Beatles - For No One
Fountains of Wayne - Please Don't Rock Me Tonight
Old 97's - Streets of Where I'm From
Ben Folds - Gracie
The Baseball Project - Ted F***ing Williams
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (live)
Peter Wolf (w/Shelby Lynne) - Tragedy
Dan Zanes - Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!
Leading off with Wilco again. I think the Nano's getting ready for The Whole Love on Tuesday. (We're listening to them streaming live on NPR this very moment, singing along to "Jesus, Etc.") A couple of FoW tunes, including one from their excellent new Sky Full of Holes and one from their debut. The verse about Gracie falling asleep on Folds' arm chokes me up every time.
Started the Sunday New York Times Crossword when we hit shuffle on the Nano. We let it go for these...
The Replacements - I Will Dare
The Beatles - It's Only Love
The Who - Squeeze Box
...and finished it in the middle of this one.
Derek and the Dominos - Roll It Over (live)
Beat that.
09/25/2011
Professor Longhair - Go to the Mardi Gras
The Beatles - It's All Too Much
The Kinks - Apeman
Over the Rhine - All My Favorite People (demo)
Jonathan Rundman - Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
The Who - 5:15
Johnny Cash - So Doggone Lonesome
Wilco - Poor Places
Lucinda Williams - Sweet Love
Earth, Wind & Fire - Can't Hide Love
Bonus 11 - Gear Daddies - One Voice (I Wanna Drive the Zamboni)
Nice mix this morning. More Wilco, The Kinks' great "Lola" follow-up single, a terrific rocker from Quadrophenia, and my favorite EWF tune. I think the Nano knows they started playing exhibition hockey this week, too.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (Random 10 catch-up)
We've been to Maine and back and are still in the final throes of remodeling the living room at TWDQ, so let's get caught up on a month's worth of random tens.
08/14/2011
Old 97's - Marquita
Little Feat - All That You Dream
Janelle Monae - Locked Inside
Dan Zanes - Alba Mananera
The Coasters - Riot in Cell Block #9
The Kinks - See My Friends
Adele - Daydreamer
Paul Simon - Getting Ready for Christmas Day
Jonathan Rundman - The Prophetstown Tornado
Bob Dylan - Mama, You Been On My Mind
Bunch of stuff here from relatively recent acquisitions (97's, Feat, Adele, Simon).
08/21/2011
Al Green - Full of Fire
The Coasters - Youngblood
Old 97's - Curtain Calls
The Avett Brothers - Tin Man
The Thorns - I Can't Remember
Vince Guaraldi - Samba de Orpheus
Marshall Crenshaw - Better Back Off
Girlyman - Invite Me In
The Avett Brothers - The Ballad of Love and Hate
Nick Lowe - Without Love
Nothing at all new here, but a very nice mix.
08/28/2011
Over the Rhine - Only God Can Save Us Now
The Thorns - I Can't Remember
Jonathan Rundman - Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I'll Still Be True
Lost Dogs - Pray Where You Are
Muddy Waters - Train Fare Home Blues
Legendary Shack Shakers - Everything I Ever Wanted To Do...
Uncle Tupelo - Whiskey Bottle
Suburbs - Drinking with an Angel
Sam Cooke - Only Sixteen
No recent tunes, but those lush Thorns harmonies pop up again this week. Nice run of liquor tunes leading into Sam Cooke's teenage lament.
09/04/2011
R.E.M. - What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Kaivama - Pirun Polska
She & Him - Ridin' in My Car
Lost Dogs - Red, White and Blue
Los Straitjackets - Magia Blanca
XTC - Mermaid Smiled
Boiling Point - Incomplete
Mavis Staples - Last Train
Golden Smog - Glad and Sorry
The Replacements - Dose of Thunder
We've always appreciated the noisy Monster album, She & Him's NRBQ cover jangles so nicely, and the Smog's cover of the Faces is really a wonderful tune.
Back tomorrow with a fresh ten. We'll see if the Nano knows what day it is and pushes out a somber mix. Maybe even a question or two.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Sunday Random 10
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!
Lone Justice - The Train
Fountains of Wayne - Fire in the Canyon
Lost Dogs - Jesus Loves You, Brian Wilson
Little Feat - Old Folks' Boogie (Live)
Muddy Waters - Still a Fool
Bettye LaVette - No Time to Live
Crowded House - Nobody Wants To
Jimi Hendrix - The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice
Bob Dylan - 4th Time Around
Jonathan Rundman - Dialysis Carpool
Nothing from the new Fountains of Wayne album, which has been dominating the various players around TWDQ HQ, but we did get one from their previous release along with a Little Feat tune from the recently-acquired Waiting for Columbus. Also, the fabulous Crowded House tune led off one of our annual Faves compilations.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question ("Off by $2 trillion? Is it any wonder these clowns missed the boat on sub-prime mortgage securities?), already in progress.
Friday Not At All Random Ten (Tiny Cabana Edition)
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sunday Random 10 (x 2)
Here's what the little green Nano offered up the last couple of Sundays. Let's...Hit...Shuffle!
07/24/2011
The Beach Boys - I'm Waiting for the Day
The Wild Tchoupitoulas - Big Chief Got a Golden Crown
Nick Lowe - All Men are Liars
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - She May Call You Up Tonight
The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - And Your Bird Can Sing
Patty Griffin - Icicles
Neil Young - Like a Hurricane
Adam Again - River on Fire
The Avett Brothers - Shame
07/31/2011
Brendan Benson - Feel A Whole Lot Better
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - She May Call You Up Tonight
The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations
Kirsty MacColl - Innocence
Derek & The Dominos - I Looked Away
Wilco - Dreamer In My Dreams
Radiohead - Anyone Can Play Guitar
Adam Again - Hopeless, Etc.
Tom Waits - On the Nickel
The Baseball Project - The Magic Mitt of Jason Byles
Bonus 11th track: U2 - Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Last week's ten was pretty remarkable for the back-to-back "And Your Bird Can Sing" renditions. Also, if you've never heard Adam Again's haunting "River on Fire", go check out the clip. We really miss Gene Eugene. Same goes for Patty Griffin's "Icicles".
This week's list is really interesting because each of the first two tunes was a lead-off track on one of our annual Faves compilations, immediately followed by another Faves track. Also, Derek & The Dominos remains Mr. Clapton's career high point.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question ("Do you suppose Paul Krugman spent this morning's This Week roundtable listening to Grover Norquist, yearning for such a sock?"), already in progress.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday Random 10
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!
Mavis Staples - Downward Road
The Decemberists - January Hymn
Robert Plant - Angel Dance
The Replacements - Bastards of Young
The Decemberists - Rox in the Box
Joe Henry - A Friend to You
AfroCubism - Djelimady Rumba
The Suburbs - Drinking with an Angel
Lyle Lovett - An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy
Buddy Miller - That's How I Got to Memphis
Couple of tunes from the excellent new Decemberists album, couple from great Twin Cities bands (not counting The Jayhawks backing Mr. Henry), and a couple featuring Buddy Miller (he's the guitarist in Mr. Plant's Band of Joy).
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question ("What liberal media?"), already in progress.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sunday Random 10 (a bunch of them)
Here's that Sunday's ten, plus the holiday weekend edition and...wait for it...today's random ten!
Let's...Hit...Shuffle!!!
06/26/2011
Eddie Vedder - Without You
The Avett Brothers - I Killed Sally's Lover (Live)
The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend
The Beatles - When I Get Home
Steve Dawson - Temporary
Sam Dees - The World Don't Owe You Nothing
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Willin'
The Beatles - Lady Madonna
Eddie Vedder - Can't Keep
Johnny Cash - Come In Stranger
07/03/2011
The Baseball Project - The Ballad of Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson
Fountains of Wayne - All Kinds of Time
Nick Lowe - True Love Travels on a Gravel Road
Fountains of Wayne - Leave the Biker
Earth, Wind & Fire - Sing a Song
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - The Game Gets Old
Ry Cooder - Fool for a Cigarette/Feelin' Good
Sam Cooke - Only Sixteen
Wilco - Everlasting Everything
Kirsty MacColl - You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby
07/10/2011
Marshall Crenshaw - What Do You Dream Of?
Solomon Burke - Cry to Me
Jonathan Rundman - What Wondrous Love is This
Erik Brandt - Ain't Broke
The Beatles - If I Needed Someone
Robert Brown and The Sons of The South - Nobody Knows
Beki Hemingway - Fort Bragg
Jonathan Rundman - Church Directory
Lucinda Williams - Kiss Like Your Kiss (The Kitchen Tapes)
Beki Hemingway - Saturday
And today's bonus 11th, since you've all been so patient:
Ivy - Digging Your Scene
So three weeks ago, the Nano had a thing for the sweet new Eddie Vedder "Ukulele Songs" record and the Fab Four. Last week it was Fountains of Wayne (new album available for pre-order now!) and this week it was into Ms. Hemingway and Mr. Rundman in a big way. We also think it's reminding us about the new album Mr. Brandt will be recording this coming week.
We'll try to be more prompt next week.
We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question ("How do you reach a compromise with people who doesn't understand the meaning of the word?"), already in progress.