Halloween Mix

Well, it's my favorite time of the year again. I posted this mix last year but I like it so much there is no reason not to offer it up again for you all. I hope you like the tunes....

Ah...Halloween. It's always been my favorite holiday. Dress up in scary costumes and people give you candy?! Sure blows away Hanukkah. So crank up the tunes and don't hand out those horrible Tootsie Rolls on Halloween night! You're just asking to get tricked.....

Side A


Side B


Side A Tracklist:
1. Intro-The Haunted Mansion
2. Every Day is Halloween-Ministry
3. Hells Bells-AC/DC
4. This is Halloween-The Nightmare Before Xmas Soundtrack
5. Bella Lugosi's Dead-Bauhaus
6. The Ghost in You-Psychedelic Furs
7. Killing Moon-Echo and the Bunnymen
8. Thriller-Michael Jackson
9. Bloodletting-Concrete Blond
10. Halloween Theme-John Carpenter
11. Dead Souls-Nine Inch Nails
12. It's Halloween-The Shaggs
13. Black Celebration-Depeche Mode
14. Scary Monsters-David Bowie
15. Monster Mash-Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
16. Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath

Side B Tracklist:
1. Halloween-The Misfits
2. Lullaby-The Cure
3. Highway to Hell-AC/DC
4. The Shining Theme
5. The Story of a Ghost-Phish
6. Psycho-Shower Scene
7. Don't Fear the Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult
8. Dead Man's Party-Oingo Boingo
9. The Exorsist-Theme
10. The Purple People Eater-Sheb Wooley
11. I Put a Spell on You-Marilyn Manson
12. Ghostbusters-Ray Parker Jr.
13. Dead Souls-Joy Division
14. Frankenstein-Edgar Winter Group
15. For Whom the Bell Tolls-Metallica
16. We Only Come Out At Night-Smashing Pumpkins
17. A Forest-The Cure
18. Little Ghost-The White Stripes
19. Halloween-Siouxsie and The Banshees

A Gorgeous New R.E.M. Track

A sweet new R.E.M. song and a video featuring nothing but Kirsten Dunst's face? A win/win all around! Happy Friday.....

Tom Waits is BACK!!

A new Tom Waits studio album is always cause for a celebration (at least in this house) and especially when it's been 7 years since the last one. This week finds me obsessively listening to the ragged beauty that is "Bad as Me". Waits is one of those polarizing artists that you either love or hate....there is no in between. But this new album may accomplish a feat that is almost impossible for an artist who's been in the business 40 years; this thing is so good that Waits may just find himself with a whole new generation of fans.

It's all here; the gruff howls, low bellows, high squeals, and the soft lamenting as only Tom Waits can pull off. And the fact that none of it sounds dated or regurgitated is amazing considering how long he's been at this. In fact, this album sounds as fresh and new as anything my ears heard in this fantastic year in music.

Helped by a stellar cast of characters featuring Waits' longtime guitarist extraordinaire Marc Ribot, Los Lobos's David Hidalgo, and the immortal Keith Richards, the music sounds like a strange postcard from a rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley fueled, lowdown house party from beyond. And the lyrics...oh those lyrics. This is what we Waits freaks keep coming back, and our hero certainly doesn't disappoint here.

Will this rank up with Waits classics like "Small Change", "Rain Dogs", or "Mule Variations"? It's too early to tell and I don't care. I feel like a kid with a strange new toy, and I'm gonna keep playing with it until I get bored or it breaks down.

Thanks Tom!!!

This Day in Rock and Roll History

A Great Ode to Lynyrd....and rock and roll in general

Say it Isn't So!!

Imagine how hard it is to keep a rock and roll band together for 30 years. Now imagine how hard it is to do when two of the lead members are married for 27 of them. Now picture what will happen to the band when those two members decide to separate. Unfortunately, that is the fate us fans of Sonic Youth have to ponder this evening. The coolest rock couple of all time (sorry Lou and Laurie); Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore have decided to separate, obviously leaving the fate of the band hanging by a thread. I feel very deeply for what Kim and Thurston are having to go through and assume the band is not foremost on their minds at this time.

Sonic Youth's music simply changed my life. Hearing "Teenage Riot" in 1988 completely altered what music was and could be for me. It changed the way I would hear and feel music forever. They opened my eyes to the fact that music could be chaos and beautiful at the same time. Having seen them on every tour since 1988, they have been such a huge part of my life that I hope they can somehow find a way to continue to create their art together. While my thoughts are with their family tonight, my ears are buzzing with their blissful noise.

Freak Out with "American Horror Story"!

Watching the pilot episode of the new TV mindfuck "American Horror Story" I was immediately transported back to 1990 when I first saw the pilot for the Godfather of all TV mindfucks; "Twin Peaks". Which is to say that is the ultimate compliment I can heap on a TV show. Like "Peaks", "American Horror Story" transports us into a sexy, wild world where we are never quite sure what's real or imagined. Where the unseen is more frightening then what is obvious and on the surface. Both shows push boundaries and make you scratch your head and say, "did I really just see that on my television"?!

Without giving too much away....troubled family moves into scary, freaky house with a murderous history, with Jessica Lange as the weirdest neighbor you wish you never had. And that's just where the sexy, frightening fun begins. The show is scary, but not in the traditional sense of "boo"! It is unnerving to the point where I had to pause it and check email just to get some sense of reality for a minute. Did I mention it's also sexy as hell? Not to give anything away, but if what went on in the first 70 minutes of the pilot continues for the series, this show may help troubled sex lives all across the country.

As someone who has never been a huge fan of weekly network TV shows, I can honestly say that now because of the abundance of cable channels and the loosening of allowable content, television seems to have surpassed film as far as creative, smart, boundary pushing quality programming. "American Horror Story" has me more excited for any TV show since HBO's masterpiece "The Wire".

BOO!!!

An Evening with Wilco in Captial City

So last night I had the distinct pleasure to see my favorite band in maybe my favorite city.....Wilco in Madison, WI. The setting couldn't have been better; a sunny, warm early fall day, Wilco's fantastic new album being a week old, 10'th row center seats (thanks Bruce), all while playing in the acoustically perfect venue of Overture Hall. I have seen Wilco countless times since around 1996 and with all sincerity, I can say they have never sounded better then they did last night. With the band's core members solidified for for 3 albums now, they are simply a well oiled machine that even on their "off" nights, would certainly blow most acts off the stage

Appropriately opening with the new "Capital City" segueing into the album's gorgeously epic closer "One Sunday Morning", the band quickly threw down that this was a night to celebrate the new. In fact, a whopping 9 songs were played from the new album, yet each one fit perfectly into the set aside the familiar tunes, as if we've known them for years

I realize I am still buzzing from the show, but I can honestly say that the first 12 songs of the set had me completely transfixed and in awe. I have seen epic Wilco gigs in the past, but this was like Wilco on steroids. It's just amazing to see a band you truly love playing better than ever and continuing to evolve in front of your eyes. I suspect most in the audience would love any Wilco show at this point, but the band is no way content to stay the same and that was obvious in their intensity and boundrey pushing last night. See them soon if you can and remember what they were like. I suspect it won't stay that way for long.....

Wilco: Madison, WI October 6, 2011
Capitol City>
One Sunday Morning
Poor Places>
Art Of Almost
IATTBYH>
I Might
Black Moon
Bull Black Nova
Impossible Germany
Born Alone
Jesus, etc.
Handshake Drugs
War On War
Box Full Of Letters
Standing O
Via Chicago
Dawned On Me
A Shot in the Arm
-----------------------------
Whole Love
36 Inches High [Jim Ford] (w/Nick Lowe on lead vocals and electric guitar)>
I Love My Label [Nick Lowe] (w/Nick Lowe on vocals and electric guitar)
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Monday>
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

July Flame

Every once in a while you hear a song that just simply gets under your skin. You may not be able to explain why, but once you fall under its spell it stays with you, nagging at you to play it again. Its these rare songs that make me so happy to be a music freak!

One of those for me is Laura Veirs wonderful "July Flame", the title track from her underrated album of 2010. There is just something about the song that kills me. Maybe it's the innocence in her voice plainly and futilely asking "can I call you mine".

"July Flame
I'm seeing fireworks
They're so beautiful
Tell me why it hurts"

It's such a deceptively simple song but one that has buried itself in my head. And I love it!!