A little while ago, I finished watching “The Christmas Show” episode of Studio 60. The show closes with an awesome performance by New Orleans musicians who are supported by the Tipitina’s Foundation. The group performs one of my favorite Christmas songs, “O Holy Night”, and you can still snag a MP3 from Studio 60’s music page.
Tag: music
On September 25th this year, our church hosted a concert by Derek Webb, of Caedmon’s Call fame, along with his wife, Sandra McCracken.
Derek Webb, accompanied by his wife, Sandra McCracken.
I had a good seat (thanks, Samantha!), and took a few shots of the couple as they performed, plus of the good-sized crowd before the concert, and in between sets.
Beyond his lyrical abilities, one of the things I admire about Derek is his desire to simply get the message of God’s love out there. At one point during his set, he remarked how he was going to freak out all the lawyers and record executives by telling all of us to share his music with whomever we wanted to. Earlier this year, he had even gone so far as to put his latest album, Mockingbird, online as a free download. He says it was a very successful experiment.
I came away from my wife’s company’s Christmas “holiday” party Thursday night with this thought: There should be a law against skinny blonde white women singing “Respect“.
The more I think about it, there should be a law against anyone singing “Respect” except Aretha. Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, baby.
I’m not sure what external or internal stimuli prompted it, but “Don’t Change” (iTunes Store link) by INXS popped in to my head about an hour ago. I’ve been listening to it repeatedly since.
The last time I heard this song was when I took my beloved to the INXS concert in July. The band closed the encore with it.
Kicked on ye olde iTunes in shuffle mode yesterday morning, to give myself some background music while I commenced writing this year’s novel. What’s funny is that I had earlier finished the chapter on the beauty and apparent oddities of the iPod’s shuffle mode in Steven Levy’s The Perfect Thing, his book devoted to the little white wonder from Apple.
Part of the chapter was devoted to the randomness of shuffle mode, the mathematics behind it, and how when true randomness is really at work, we begin to believe it’s not really so random at all. Like say when people notice their iPod–and here I’ll also throw in the iTunes application itself–seemingly playing a lot of the same type of music in a row. Such it was this morning, when I had an all-mellow mix.
As before, songs are linked to the iTunes Store, albums to Amazon.
1. “Never Say Goodbye” – Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet
2. “September Skies” – The Brian Setzer Orchestra – The Brian Setzer Orchestra
3. “Yellow Ledbetter” – Pearl Jam – Jeremy
4. “Flesh for Fantasy” – Billy Idol – Greatest Hits
5. “DJ Culture” – Pet Shop Boys – Discography
6. “If I Leave This World Tomorrow” – Glenn Kaiser – Spontaneous Combustion (I’ve always loved Kaiser’s voice, and think his blues work is so much better than when he fronted Resurrection Band/Rez)
7. “Understand Your Man” – Johnny Cash – Unearthed, Vol. 1 – Who’s Gonna Cry
8. “Last In Love” – George Strait – Pure Country
9. “Your Presence” – By the Tree – These Days
10. “(Now and Then There’s) A Fool Such As I” – Elvis Presley – Elvis 30 #1 Hits
and a bonus, because I like the song so much:
11. “Loved and Forgiven” – Lost Dogs – Gift Horse
Hit the shuffle button in iTunes this morning, and here are the first ten songs to play. Podcasts and audiobook chapters were ignored with help from the forward button. Song links go to the iTunes Store, album links go to Amazon.
1. “Soldiers Under Command” – Stryper, Soldiers Under Command
2. “Heaven Is a 4 Letter Word” – Bad English, Bad English
3. “Already Gone” – The Eagles, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975
4. “Party” – Boston, Don’t Look Back
5. “Come, Now Is The Time to Worship” – Noel Richards, I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
6. “Do You Hear What I Hear” – Out of Eden, City On a Hill: It’s Christmas Time (When you shuffle your entire iTunes library, invariably you’ll get a Christmas tune or two.)
7. “Weather the Storm” – Michael James, Closer to the Fire
8. “Partita No. 3 For Violin: Menuets 1 And 2” – Baby Needs Baroque
9. “Bring the Rain” – MercyMe, Coming Up to Breathe
10. “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” – Glady Knight & The Pips, Forrest Gump: The Soundtrack
So what are you listening to today?
I learned of The Friendly Indians earlier this year, after watching and becoming a fan of the USA show Psych. The Injuns, as they call themselves, are responsible for the show’s theme song, I Know You Know, which can only be downloaded (direct link to MP3) from the band’s web site. This is true of any music by The Friendly Indians; you won’t find them on the iTunes Music Store.
They offer several songs for download, eleven in total, though you’ll have to hunt their site for one in particular. Nearly half of the available songs are from their most recent disc, Pure Genius, which is the only one currently for sale.
I picked up subtle vibes throughout some of the songs which reminded me of Paul Westerberg and The Replacements, with a little Better Than Ezra, too. “Fat Tuesday” was most evocative of the latter, seeing as how BTE is from New Orleans, and the Injuns’ song is about the most party-filled day of the year in the Big Easy. “Pump Room”, and “Just This Side of Insincere” are among my personal favorites, as well as “Vancouver”.
If you’re in Orange County, the band’s home base, be sure to catch a live show. The rest of us will have to live off the provided downloads, and for now, the sole CD for sale. The band’s fun, the songs toe-tapping, and neither disappoint.