I failed to properly thank Zman for touting Les Coole and the Cukes recently. Cheers, mate.
Zed really teed up the Tiny Dictator and all you other road-trippers, commuters, and other bored listeners with some good extended-play sonic soul-quenching. Honestly, marathon trip that it is, you've got more music than time ready and waiting for you, rob.
Just remember what that strange bird Luis once quipped to me... you know, that special variety of advice that somehow lasts for 30 years in my noggin: "I just say FIDO... Fuck it, drive on."
Drive on, indeed.
...if you're so motivated, drop a public playlist on the Spotify to keep us engaged.
Well, you posted that ask last week, and that there is a #10 tin can o' worms and such that you opened for me. I went to work straightaway. And threw a whole mess of tunes into it.
What it became is the equivalent of "Clean Out the Walk-In Soup" at the diner. What it's intended to be is an eclectic set of sounds for you to play straight through, shuffle, skip about within, and (I hope) enjoy.
I tried to include songs you've never heard, or at least haven't heard in a long while. May or may not have succeeded at that.
At the very least, it's a time-eater.
I hereby present to you for your aural consideration
257 (and growing) songs
that occupy
17 hours and 20 minutes (and growing)
I worked very hard to come up with a clever name for this Public Playlist on Spotify. Well, I just named it "Car" at the outset and left it like many a roadside clunker for sale... As Is.
Safe travels, and I'll be curious to see if any of these tunes stick with you.
rob recently asked for musical recommendations for his lengthy roadtrip to Colorado. Offering musical opinions is one of my core competencies here. And postcount is huge. So here are some suggestions.
Starting in-house, you should check out We Defy Augury, especially the one about Charismatic Megafauna because you probably never think about these beasts. Also, Les Coole and the Cukes, available here on Spotify. I celebrate their entire catalog. And our resident professional musician, Rootstone.
Sometimes I let someone else do the driving musically when I'm driving automotively--I let the folks on the radio pick the music for me. I've touted WFMU here many times, and you can stream it from your phone to your car. In fact they have four different streams at all times: their radio live stream, Rock 'n Soul Radio, Give the Drummer Radio, and Sheena's Jungle Room. And they have an insanely deep archive. Rex Doane's Fool's Paradise is my personal favorite and he has over twenty years of shows available to stream. The Halloween and Christmas specials are always outstanding. You can also stream WBGO--Felix Hernandez's Rhythm Review on Saturday and Sunday mornings is my favorite. They have archives too but the interface is clumsy. I've found myself listening to WFUV during the day lately and you can stream them too.
Those three stations will take care of you. To w(h)it, whilst running a few errands yesterday and flipping between FMU and BGO (FUV is useless on Sundays, they play Irish folk music), I heard "Revolution Rock" by the Clash, "Me and My Baby Brother" (on BGO) and "Summer" (on FMU) by War, "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" by Marvin Gaye, "Never Can Say Goodbye" as done by Gloria Gaynor, "Brick House" by the Commodores, "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight and The Pips, "Master Blaster" by Stevie Wonder, and "You Outta Be Here With Me" by Annette Snell. I even heard "Don't Cha Wanna Ride" by Joss Stone and the song that it samples, "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited.
I don't listen to a ton of podcasts but I greatly enjoy The Bulwark's offerings. Charlie Sykes is always good. Here's one with Chris Krebs and Adam Kinzinger. Anything involving Tim Miller is fun, like this one with the Tribe's own Jen Psaki. Mona Charen will irritate you but I do think it's good to hear opinions that conflict with my own. Will Saletan's "The Corruption of Lindsey Graham" is a three-part tour de force.
Anyone with other/better ideas should list them in the comments. I eagerly await photographic reports from rob along the way.
Picking up where Zman and then Rob left off, it's time to highlight a few musical selections whose theme can be summarized by a decades-old borrowing from the venerable Adam Yauch:
I come from Norfolk 'cause that's where I'm from.
Rob bastardized the Zeezus' original concept, but I'm gonna take it back to simply this: 20 tunes by people from around my way. My way, as I did it, means Norfolk, VA and the surrounding entities. Hampton Roads, if you will. Tidewater, if you would have 30 years ago. Coastal Virginia. The Norfolk-Virginia Beach area. The Seven Cities. SEVA. The 757.
A quick and obvious asterisking... the finest musician/singer ever to come from these parts is undoubtedly the Queen of Jazz, the First Lady of Song, Her Majesty Ella Fitzgerald. The breadth of her ability can't be encapsulated in just three songs, but you would do yourself a favor to listen to "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," and "Airmail Special (Live At the Newport Jazz Festival" to get a sampling that stretches from gorgeous rendition to heart-warming duet to kick-ass scat talent that seems to forerun hip-hop as if ancestry.
Her work stands apart in style just enough to leave her be and corral the rest of the locals for a 757 playlist.
Here we go:
SPREAD THE LOVE Track 1. "Happy," Pharrell Williams (Virginia Beach) Track 2. "Get Ur Freak On," Missy Elliott (Portsmouth), produced by Timbaland (Norfolk)
"THE NORFOLK SOUND" Track 3. "Quarter to Three," Gary U.S. Bonds (Norfolk) Track 4. "If You Wanna Be Happy," Jimmy Soul (Norfolk) Track 5. "Just Ask Me," Lenis Guess (Norfolk) Track 6. "That Man of Mine," Barbara Stant (Norfolk)
ROCKABILLY, BEACH MUSIC, AND THE BLUES Track 7. "Be-Bop-A-Lula," Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps (Norfolk) Track 8. "I've Been Hurt," Bill Deal and The Rhondels (Portsmouth and Virginia Beach) Track 9. "Savin' Up," Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers (Chesapeake) Track 10. "Smoking Gun," Robert Cray (Newport News)
INTO THE EIGHTIES Track 11. "Copperhead Road," Steve Earle and the Dukes (Hampton) Track 12. "Mandolin Rain," Bruce Hornsby and The Range (Williamsburg) Track 13. "Queen of Hearts," Juice Newton (Virginia Beach) Track 14. "This Little Girl," Gary U.S. Bonds (Norfolk)
UNDER YOUR RADAR BUT NOT MINE Track 15. "My Latest Girl," The States (Norfolk) Track 16. "Baby Jane," Waxing Poetics (Norfolk) Track 17. "My My," Seven Mary Three (formed in Williamsburg) Track 18. "Switzerland," The Last Bison (Chesapeake) Track 19. "Another Man's Woman," Carbon Leaf (lead singer from Norfolk) Track 20. "We Are Doing Fine," Super Doppler (Norfolk)
Whit recently gifted me a few months’ worth of Spotify. He’s a mensch, to be sure, and famously generous. But the cynical Yankee jackass in me notes that this effectively doubles his capacity to find good music (I frequently text him stuff I find) and serves as a balm to his ego (I tell him that the stuff he sends me is outstanding, furthing the legend of his impeccable musical taste).
Snark aside, it’s a great gift. And it gives us something to do during these odd times.
The other day Whit proposed “dueling playlists with the same inspiration within one post” and asked me for “three one-word sentiments/principles/themes for the playlists.” I love this shit.
My first response was “nooners.” If I didn’t have kids this shelter-in-place order would be great. Nooners all the time! Nothing cuts through monotony like a nooner. If you haven’t tried it you’re missing out.
Then I said “uplifting.” We all need some uplifting music right now.
I concluded with “cocaine.” So many great songs involve booger sugar. I could just do 15 Rae and Ghost songs. Hell, I could just make a playlist out of Cuban Linx and call it a day. Or I could pull together a bunch of BoogieDownProductions stuff. But cocaine crosses all musical genres. It seemed like a great idea at the time, if not a great fit for the current state of the world.
Whit’s response was “Ah, the old N-U-C.” And thus two playlists were born. Enjoy them while locked at home alone or with your kids, not getting any noontime action.
Whitney
At my advanced age, I just enjoy when people are sporting. Something about taking life less seriously. Like when I chuck out a goofy idea and somebody says, "Yep, let's do it."
Zman is that kind of dude. And a wealth of music suggestions that are not on my radar.
Things are looking grim in my hometown right now. I won't bother linking to all the bad news. Teaneck's been through rough times before and the town will make it through. In the meantime here's a Teaneck playlist, annotated, to keep everyone occupied for a little while as we all hunker down.
Track 1. A schmaltzy way to kick things off, I know, but we're talking Jersey so we need Bruce.
Track 2. The Isley Brothers are from Teaneck. Their record label was T-Neck Records.
Track 3. Dray is THS class of 1988.
Track 4. Donald Byrd lived in Teaneck. "No need to worry 'bout tomorrow, and yesterday is gone." Sounds right to me.
Track 5. Phoebe Snow is THS class of 1968. Her stage name is from a train that used to run through town.
Track 6. The mayor is Mohammed Hameeduddin, THS class of 1991. From what I've read he's providing remarkably good leadership right now.
Track 7. The Wrens are allegedly from Teaneck. This song's title captures the situation.
Track 8. There's no way I'm only including one Isleys song. This one seems appropriate for a quarantine.
Track 9. Chubb Rock name-checks Teaneck (and Das EFX samples it on "Brooklyn to T-Neck").
Track 10. Ricky Nelson was from Teaneck. The title seems appropriate.
Track 11. Name-checks Phillip Pannell.
Track 12. Johnny Copeland lived in Teaneck and the title seems relevant.
Track 13. DMX was arrested for dogfighting and weapons possession in Teaneck.
Track 14. Rufus Reid lives in Teaneck. I went to school with his son.
Track 15. According to the liner notes to "Return of the Boom Bap," KRS-ONE had offices in West Englewood, which is a neighborhood in Teaneck. When I went to the address the office appeared vacant but whatevs, KRS is the don so he's included.
Track 16. Pat Boone lived in Teaneck.
Track 17. Biggie and Lil Kim lived and were arrested in Teaneck.
Track 18. Jodeci lived in Teaneck. All of them, in one house. I suspect the party scene was insane circa 1992 but I wasn't invited.
Track 19. MNDR is produced by Peter Wade. Before he created WonderSound Records, worked with J-Lo and Marc Anthony and Kylie Minogue and Lindsey Lohan and Spragga Benz and Sean Paul and Charlie XCX and Mark Ronson, released an album as Shitake Monkey, and won some Grammys, he hung out with me and did a lot of stupid stuff of questionable legality in and around Teaneck. THS class of 1992 represent. He has a bunch of very strong podcasts on iTunes, mostly dancehall and old school reggae shows from his days as station manager at KWUR. I just don't know how to link to it. Search podcasts for "peter wade".
Track 20. More from Pete.
Track 21. Sarah Bob is an amazing pianist and Artistic Coordinator of the New Gallery Concert Series. And she's simply the best despite being down with me and Pete, more class of 1992. Support NGCS, we need more art nowadays and it's a 501(c)(3) so you can write it off. Tell Sarah zman sent ya!
Track 22. I am aware of no connection between Slade and Teaneck but this seems like the right song to close things out, a message from me to COVID-19.
I'm a fan of Paste magazine. I was a subscriber when they used to have a print offering (which came with a CD of recently released songs). I am now on their e-mailing list and check out their online articles with some frequency.
Paste has a good feel to it. Highly knowledgeable writers for the most part, though there are times halfway through an article that I realize that the author was born when I was in college and therefore may not see things through the same lens. Still, always a decent approach and highly informative. That's good for a music geek like... some of you.
Tons of music. Also, movies, television, games, beer, pop culture, and even politics, but tons of music. Their music reviews aren't as esoterically harsh as Pitchfork, nor as Grammy-style clueless as Rolling Stone. Nor are their politics as pointedly extreme as RS's... though in some cases the writers at Paste bleed somewhat heartily.
Anyway, this week they have a new music piece on 1989, which happens to have been 30 years ago, and the albums which hit the shelves of your local record store that year. Record stores... you remember... those mom and pop ones like Tracks in Norfolk (RIP) and Birdland in Virginia Beach (alive and kicking). Or Tower Records in big cities. Places where Rob and I would peruse the shelves very deliberately and make choices insightfully sublime and just awful in equal measure.
1989... the three bad brothers you know so well were freshmen becoming sophomores after pledging a certain fraternity; some among our gang here were young teens in the tri-state area and the space coast; and Mr. KQ was raising kids and looking forward to slowing his pace as retirement crept closer. The music we respectively cued up on compact disc or cassette or tuned in via the FM dial... well, here it is.
The article is worth reading in full (linked above), and you can say whatever you want about opinion-based best-of lists found on the dork web, but the list simply took me back to a simpler, more ignorant, and more blissful, if not drunker, time:
PASTE - The Best Albums of 1989
30. The Blue Nile: Hats
29. Andrew Hill: Eternal Spirit 28. The Ocean Blue: The Ocean Blue
27. New Order: Technique
26. Lou Reed: New York
25. The Mighty Lemon Drops: Laughter
24. Yo La Tengo: President Yo La Tengo
23. Galaxie 500: On Fire
22. Neil Young: Freedom
21. Elvis Costello: Spike
20. Indigo Girls: Indigo Girls
19. Bob Mould: Workbook
18. The Replacements: Don’t Tell A Soul
17. The B-52’s: Cosmic Thing
16. XTC: Oranges and Lemons
15. Bonnie Raitt: Nick Of Time
14. Camper Van Beethoven: Key Lime Pie 13. Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation 1814
12. Bob Dylan: Oh Mercy
11. Nirvana: Bleach
10. Fugazi: 13 Songs
9. Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
8. Tom Petty: Full Moon Fever
7. Kate Bush: The Sensual World
6. The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses
5. The Cure: Disintegration
4. Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique
3. Madonna: Like a Prayer
2. The Pixies: Doolittle
1. De La Soul: Three Feet High and Rising
Debate it if you will, and you certainly can. That "See a Little Light" is coming in two spots behind "Love Shack" is going to confound at least one of our opinionated gang. I'm as pleased by Key Lime Pie's inclusion as I am Mother's Milk's omission. Madonna seems out of place, the Petty album is annoyingly ubiquitous but still mostly underrated, and 13 Songs was an amalgamation of two EP's, one from 1988, so it questionably counts (but should be heard when you're feeling angsty).
We talk about it ad nauseum in this space, but it still amuses to see Paul's Boutique get props left and right this millennium after being summarily ignored in 1989. Some stuff isn't appreciated in its time. Like Dazed and Confused. And "Arrested Development"... the television show, not Mr. Wendal. And the Cauc Hop.
Three Feet High and Rising, at #1, is curiously absent from Spotify, but I'll have to give it a re-listen on my private stock of Moving Pictures Experts Group Audio Layer 3 files... and YouTube videos like this:
More albums worth remembering from 1989... some that would certainly make my list:
The Cult: Sonic Temple
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Mother's Milk
Faith No More: The Real Thing Hoodoo Gurus: Magnum Cum Louder
The Connells: Fun and Games
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: In Step
The Pogues: Peace and Love
Drivin' 'n' Cryin': Mystery Road
Mötley Crüe: Dr. Feelgood
Big Audio Dynamite: Megatop Phoenix
3rd Bass: The Cactus Album
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Automatic
Biz Markie: The Biz Never Sleeps
Random Idiots: Bloodfinger
Paul McCartney: Flowers in the Dirt
The Smithereens: 11
Phish: Junta
Kirsty MacColl: Kite
10,000 Maniacs: Blind Man's Zoo
Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw and the Cooked
There was a lot lot LOT of dreck that year as well, of course. '89 releases from the likes of Starship, Warrant, Milli Vanilli, Richard Marx, Barry Manilow, Wang Chung, Cher, Michael Bolton, Mr. Big, David Hasselhoff, Bee Gees, and good ol' Kenny G. Plus bloaty, post-peak efforts from the Dead, the Stones, Mellencamp, Prince, Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Queen.
But there was far more that I loved. And such articles and ensuing discussions just make me want to play some of the old music.
The kid who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies now plays a gangster in the TV show “Snatch.” It’s extremely loosely based on the movie “Snatch”—many grimy Britons, a little boxing, and lots of crime. It’s ultimately a comedy though, so all the capers go pear-shaped and the main characters are constantly scrambling to avoid getting nicked by the polis or turned over by bigger sharks. It’s a fun 47 minute diversion from reality. Sony’s American subsidiary produces the show so no one’s accent is so thick that you need subtitles to decipher what they’re saying. You can stream it for free on Crackle.
2. Go Ahead in the Rain
I’m trying to read more this year so I read “Go Ahead in the Rain” by Hanif Abdurraqib. It’s a short and well-written read about A Tribe Called Quest, their music and their impact on the author’s life. Sometimes it’s an album review, sometimes it’s a history lesson. Other times it’s an autobiography, cultural commentary on the meaning of everything. Perhaps most uniquely, in a few places it’s letters written directly to individual band members. It won’t change your life but I recommend it if you like Tribe, hiphop, music, or good writing.
3. Another playlist for Connell
Abdurraqib drops tons of 1990’s music references in his book, so much so that I became motivated to dig through the crates and put together another playlist for Connell. I told Connell I would do this last summer but I didn’t because I’m simultaneously lazy and overworked. But here it is, better late than never. Rather than go “bangin old school” I went “smoothed-out old school.” Enjoy.
We've created posthumous playlists and CD's for friends we've lost along the way. Too late, I say.
I've had many music recommendations, influences, and shared fandom from many friends. John "Otis" Day is a good friend who's a music guy, in addition to serving as the scribe at Dangerman Futbol. He's always had a taste for tunes that aligns with mine, and we've gone to shows, exchanged recommendations, and turned it up to 11 together since 1988.
I can't provide much of a salve to the bad fortune he's had in losing both of his folks in the last few years. But as a small tip of the cap for the hours of great music I've enjoyed with or because of him, here's a swig of Jameson, a Spotify playlist, and an expectation of many more to come.
* Spotify doesn't have the "Straight to Hell" cover by Skinnerbox that Otis enjoys, so here it is.
And worth follow-up inclusion is Big Country, "Chance," from a show in their homeland in Glasgow, Scotland. The crowd participation is outstanding.
Cheers, Otie, and keep the recommendations coming.
I don't know if it'll make any change, but I figured it's time for me to start posting some music stuff again.
Last time around, I offered up 25 vintage 1980’s rap classics. This time I’ll throw out a five part-series of one of my favorite genres: the widely encompassing label known as punk. For what it’s worth, I love punk rock in all its form, really good and totally crappy.
If, as Harlan Howard surmised, country music is simply “three chords and the truth,” punk rock might be two chords and a sneer. Punk, after all, was and is much more about the attitude than the musicality. (“When I saw the Pistols, I suddenly realized that I wasn’t alone in the fact that I couldn’t play too well.” – Joe Strummer) In most cases in rock history, style over substance has made for utterly shite tunes . . . Somehow in this case that ridiculous formula worked masterfully in many cases, with the dirty little secret being that a lot of these guys were/became pretty damn skilled.
Here’s a layman’s recipe for punk rock music. Chuck in equal parts:
Driving guitars
Vitriolic disdain
Defiantly simplistic lyrics
Defiantly simplistic chords
Atonal singing
Nothing pretty at all costs
Short songs, some times startlingly so
A horribly menacing sound
Content that equates a middle finger or two
Your natural accent . . . or a bizarrely affected accent
Social message
Or antisocial message
Or anarchic message
Or peaceful message
Or no message
Or whatever the hell you want
Mix together and remember one thing more than the rest:
If it’s worth playing, it’s worth playing loud
The first segment of this playlist series is punk’s heyday, the 1970’s. I have intentionally left out three of the stalwarts of the genre, as they deserve individual playlists of their own. You’ll know of whom I speak right away.
1-2-3-4 . . .
1. The Adverts, “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”
Gary Gilmore was one of the most interesting murderers of all time, immortalized by Tommy Lee Jones, Norman Mailer, and The Adverts. Gilmore donated his eyes to science. Some poor sucker got them. Yikes.
1977
2. Tom Robinson Band, “2-4-6-8 Motorway”
Dave likes songs that count or say the days of the week (a la “Police on My Back”), and this one does the evens and odds for him. Enjoy, D. Pave. 1977
4. The Undertones, “Teenage Kicks”
This song was known for a couple of things – Feargal Sharkey and his mates were 19-year-olds from Northern Ireland who shot to fame and never really matched it, and famed British DJ John Peel fell head over heels in love with this tune like none before or since. Hype aside, it’s pretty damn good.
1978
5. Richard Hell and the Voidoids, “Blank Generation”
While Billy Idol’s Generation X would see their name plagiarized by lazy twentysomethings in flannel resembling Rob and me in the 1990’s, the blank generation was its punk predecessor. Other than Jello Biafra, John Doe, and Death, Richard Hell is arguably the best punk name.
1977
7. The Damned, “New Rose”
The Damned did everything first and got nearly zero credit, aside from Bob Marley’s song “Punky Reggae Party.” Damned if you do...
1976
8. The Modern Lovers, “Pablo Picasso”
So good, so punk attitude. You know Jonathan Richman from There’s Something About Mary, but long before, he explained the quintessential difference between guys like you and guys like Pablo Picasso. He never got called asshole. Not like you.
1976
9. Wreckless Eric, “Whole Wide World”
A little-seen film (that I heartily enjoy) called Stranger Than Fictionresuscitated this tune a few years back, but it’s another off-kilter song worth hearing or trying to play.
1977
10. X-Ray Spex, “Oh Bondage Up Yours!”
If you think the title or the shouted lyrics are punk, they pale in comparison to whatever the hell that ridiculous instrumentation that comes in about the :20 mark. (Bad sax?) Random Idiots-esque, and somehow they made it popular.
1977
11. Alternative TV, “Action Time Vision”
Lousy band name, lousy song name, but a rock song worth turning up.
1978
12. Blondie, “Hanging on the Telephone”
Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, and Co. went fairly pop before too long, but this is by far my favorite of their early efforts. And she was super-hot, for those that have only seen the latter-day beefy Blondie.
1978
13. The Jam, “Eton Rifles”
Beyond the Pistols and The Clash, you’d probably list The Jam as the next most prolific punk-origined band. Either “In the City” or this one as top early number.
1978
15. Television, “Marquee Moon”
Not terribly punk – the weak singing excepted, but it’s good guitar rock by rebellious bastards with some random cross to bear. Two chords, my ass, I can’t play it.
1977
17. Stiff Little Fingers, “Alternative Ulster”
Made me consult an atlas. And write “Alternative Norfolk,” which never made the charts.
1979
18. The Members, “The Sounds of the Suburbs”
The ultimate pain-in-the-ass middle class kid’s rejection of his surroundings. This is the sound.
1979
19. 999, “Homicide”
In punk songwriting, a one-word chorus is just fine, if that word is “homicide.”
1978
20. The Skids, “The Saints Are Coming”
Given a rebirth by Green Day and Bono on MNF when the Superdome reopened after Katrina, the original featured later Big Countryman Stuart Adamson. Good shit.
1978
. . . and now my 5 favorite punk songs of the 1970’s (not performed by The Clash, Ramones, or Sex Pistols)
21. The Buzzcocks, “Ever Fallen In Love”
Part of what's great about punk rock – just when you start to have it pegged, you’re wrong. Frenzied, guitar driven lover’s lament. The answer is yes. 1978
22. Dead Kennedys, “California Über Alles”
Easily one of my favorite punk acts for its humor-drenched fantastic rock songs. This should be the Cali state song.
1979
23. Wire, “Mannequin”
This is a real rock song, and a great one, while . . .
1977
24. Wire, “I Am the Fly”
. . . this is one of the most menacing songs ever recorded. It exists basically to torment, and is therefore exquisite. The repetition, aggravating sounds, and degenerate lyrics make it almost the perfect punk song. Second only to . . .
1978
25. Black Flag, “Wasted”
Pre-Henry Rollins. 52 seconds. Simple. Rocking. So great. This should be the first song every fledgling band learns. And it won’t take long. Did I mention 52 seconds?
1978
The First Anniversary of my marriage was Sunday. It was a wonderful day. I love my wife. Blah. Blah. Blah.
All of that's great but I'm not here to talk about any of it today. I'm here to talk about the one thing I was in charge of at my wedding. The music. Now, don't get me wrong. I had some input on my wedding. But in large part (and by design) I was only lightly involved in most of the aspects of my wedding. Frankly, I didn't care about most things nearly as much as my wife, or her mother, or her friends, or my mother, or my sisters, or probably a couple dozen other people cared. I cared about the food and the music. I voiced some opinions on the food but this was somewhat offset by the fact that my Father-in law owns a fine dining Italian restaurant (I made damn sure we had a mashed potato bar though. Take that WOPS!). So, when it really came down to things, I was in charge of the music. But, you see, even this wasn't completely true.
Wedding receptions are funny. You want people to dance and have fun. The problem is most people like to dance to awful music. That's just the way it is when you're an elitist. Wedding receptions also kind of need a DJ. If only to keep things moving in an efficient and orderly manner. So I wasn't really in charge of all the music. Just some of it. We were going to have to hire a DJ and we were going to have to meet with him to discuss what we expected. So I had to compile a list of musical "dos" and "donts" for him. So, I worked on a list. A list that skewed closer to the mainstream. This wasn't torture. Even as someone who doesn't favor pop music, there's plenty of really good, enjoyable and danceable pop music to choose from if you give yourself 30-40 years to work with so. We met with the DJ and I gave him my list. He was a good sport and listened to us (me, really). In fact, I think he was actually happy to get away from some of the terrible wedding standards. He said he'd do a good job and he did.
Then it came time to discuss the intro songs for our bridal party as well as my wife & I. I already had songs picked out. My wife and I would walk in to Spottieottiedopaliscious and our bridal party would be introduced to the instrumental of Kanye West's Flashing Lights. (Quick aside: The DJ tried to show off his "musical knowledge" by saying "I don't have the instrumental for Flashing Lights but it shouldn't be too hard to find. You know, Kanye was a producer before he was a rapper." Ohhh, you don't say?)
All of that was fine and good. Even though I went far more mainstream with reception's selections than my own personal tastes generally lean, I was confident that our reception music wouldn't suck. And that our intro music would be unique and enjoyable. The only music left to select was for the cocktail hour. And the cocktail hour was truly all mine.
Below is the entire list of songs from the cocktail hour. Remember that DJ? When we arrived at the reception he came up to me and asked where I got the CD I gave him for the cocktail music. I told him I put it together. He asked if he could have a copy of it. I told him to keep the one he had. At some point during this conversation, I hope he felt pretty stupid for the little Kanye factoid he dropped on me the week before. Anyway, if you're looking for some laid back music today. I've got you. It's my gift to you. Well, that and my absence at Gheorghefest this weekend. I blame my lazy kid.
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