Michael Franti and Spearhead

Oh thank you KFOG for the suggestion! I love Light Up Ya Lighter, Everybody Ona Move, Hole in the Bucket, Say Hey, Red Beans and Rice. Another great song is Have a Little Faith on All Rebel Rockers. Here's Franti's, and an inspiration by John Hiatt.

And thinking about concerts

Marc Broussard played a free concert in Pittsburgh last summer. Where is he now? Would like to know...

Scanning the Lollapalooza Lineup

Reads like my most recent bunch of Starbucks freebies. Take that as you will.

Compare with Alice in Chains at the tiny little House of Blues in Cleveland in September. Yeah. Got my tickets. Waiting patiently.

Ed wanted to know

... where in all this 90's music was Dave Matthews? On Letterman tonight, that's where, and again on Friday if Friday is the 31st. So the iMix gets its first addition thanks to Ed's suggestion. I'm adding in Ants Marching for its all-around appeal, but I'll agree that it's definitely time to hear the new album.

Not for me today, though, because I'm listening to Pele Juju! And yeah, you probably need to be from Berkeley to get that reference.

Thank you Starbucks

...for the Melody Gardot freebie, Who Will Comfort Me (my collection is sadly lacking good jazz). And for the lunchtime lattes that keep me going.

Random Rediscoveries

So the random event about a year ago was finding 10 Things I Hate About You on sale on iTunes for $4.99, and thinking, hey that had some great shots of Seattle and I kind of remember liking that movie. Then forgetting about it for a long time, and rediscovering it a few weeks ago. Thinking hey, those are still great shots of Seattle and that is an awesome soundtrack! Next thing you know I'm playing the end credits a hundred times while pausing, rewinding and trying to write everything down. What came out of this was a hunt for all the songs I could find, including

Madness - Wings of a Dove (a Celebratory Song)

Joan Armatrading - The Weakness in Me

Spiderbait - Calypso

Jessica Riddle - Even Angels Fall

Sister Hazel - Your Winter

The Colourfield - Can't Get Enough of You Baby

George Clinton - Atomic Dog

Semisonic - F.N.T.

and Letters to Cleo with Come On, Cruel to Be Kind, I Want You to Want Me. The final shot of the band on the roof - excellent.

What I couldn't find included Sprung Monkey - Get 'Em Outta Here and some others. One thing leads to another, including the dialogue reference to Bikini Kill reminding me that I loved L7 when they played in a dorm (!) at Bryn Mawr while I was in college. So along comes Bricks are Heavy.

That was the high school movie, next up is the reunion movie. Grosse Pointe Blank, including the Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun. I'll have to work on that...

Madness

Song of the day - Wings of a Dove by Madness. More on this later.

Owl City

... was reviewed by EW this week. Surprising for "Hello Seattle" fans who got the link from their sister who got it from her 15 year old son who got it from another kid on the bus at frisbee camp in Wisconsin somewhere. Surprising until you read that his is the "fourth-most-played act on MySpace, where teen girls eat that stuff up." (credit the quote to Melissa Maerz who wrote the review for EW) So I'm now in the teen girl category, yikes. I almost bought the el cheapo ticket when he was playing at the Grog Shop in Cleveland, due to the sheer surprise that he was traveling or playing live at all. And no, I don't know who "he" is. I'd have to actually go to MySpace for that. But now I'm going to go check out Ocean Eyes, the new cd, and listen to "Dental Care". Because how can you not be interested in a song with a name like that?

Sum of the Parts

There are times when your shuffle seems to reflect the day perfectly. Individual parts may be exciting but the sum of those parts? Bleh. John Hiatt followed by Placido Domingo followed by Aerosmith. In solo awesome, together... bleh.

Then along comes Solsbury Hill.

Just like that I was 19 again and riding in the back of our friend's car on a warm Italian night, windows open for the breeze, looking behind us at the lights of Rome, a Peter Gabriel tape serenading our drive as we headed up a hill above the Colosseum, all brightly lit stones and shadowed archways.

Squeeze

... provided the song of the day today - Take Me I'm Yours. It popped up in the iPod shuffle on the way home from work. It's an acoustic version from KFOG's Live From the Archives 1. For those who don't know this San Francisco radio station, every year they do a benefit for Bay Area foodbanks with proceeds from the sales of the CD's. All tracks are donated by the artists, and are live from KFOG's studios or from Bay Area clubs. The very first year Squeeze did what is to this day my favorite version of the song. We have the first 7 or so years of CD's and recently did an online search. CD buyers are paying about 12 bucks a CD for the old ones, and selling them for over $75! Think I'll hang on to it. But mostly, because Squeeze got it right.

And in a well shuffled follow up, Modern English - I Melt With You. Ah, nostalgia...

Music and Driving - Notes from the Road

After 3 days, 2 nights and 65 miles on a river, getting back behind the bug-covered windshield, the funky smell of wet clothing permeating the jeep, a brisk wind blowing, ACDC on the car stereo and that huge cup of coffee you've been waiting 3 days for - is there anything else more energizing?