November: unHAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

This little compilation celebrates the fact that not everyone’s holiday season will be filled with Norman Rockwell scenes and pristine snow-scapes.  Enjoy the romp through holiday depravity including over-consumption of food and drink, out of control consumerism and fractured relationships. 

**Note that track #20 is NOT family or work friendly due to the “F” in WTFAMP.**

1.       Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant- Diamond Rugs-  When I heard this song early in 2012, it immediately inspired me to make this compilation.  Diamond Rugs is another genius collaboration from John McCauley of Deer Tick that also includes Robbie Crowell of Deer Tick, Ian Saint Pé  of the Black Lips, Steve Berlin from Los Lobos, Hardy Morris from Dead Confederate and Bryan Dufresne from Six Finger Satellite.  The Diamond Rugs album was definitely in my top 10 releases in 2012.

2.       Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues- Sonny Boy Williamson II-  Recorded in the early 1950’s.  My favorite blues musician of all time.

3.       Your Christmas Whiskey- The Minus 5-  Young Fresh Fellows’ Scott McCaughey and R.E.M’s Peter Buck head up The Minus 5, which is my second collaborative group on this compilation.  This is from a 2007 Christmas sampler from Yep Roc records called “Oh Santa! New & Used Christmas Classics”.   Paul and I are looking forward to a vacation in Mexico this winter that will include a music festival featuring many Yep Roc artists, including The Minus 5.

4.       Lonely Christmas Eve- Ben Folds Five-  This song is from the 2000 film How The Grinch Stole Christmas. 

5.       We’re Following The Wrong Star-  Billy Bragg-  A fantastic song from musician and activist Billy Bragg.  He offers this song as a free download at his website www.billybragg.co.uk.

6.       Father Christmas- The Kinks-  A song we’ve all heard before, but it fits perfectly on this compilation.   

7.       Blue Christmas- Robert Gordon-  I ripped this song from my ultra-cool, white vinyl “Rock Billy Boogie” album I bought in 1979.  Several years ago Robert did a show in our area and I had him autograph the album cover!

8.       Indian Giver- Squirrel Nut Zippers-  From their “Christmas Caravan” album.  I highly recommend it for some well-produced, out of the ordinary holiday music.

9.       Christmas Cookies- anote4you-  I don’t know much about this Christmas novelty album called “Holiday Heckles”…but I like it enough that 3 songs from it ended up here!

10.   Sexy Christmas Baby Mine (Live)- Morphine-  This beautiful yet creepy song was originally the B-side to “Cure For Pain” on a 1000 piece pressing of a 7” vinyl record in 1993.  Now available on the “The Best of Morphine 1992 – 1995” CD. 

11.   Beatnik’s Wish- Patsy Raye & The Beatniks-  From the CD box set “The Beat Generation” from Rhino Records.  “Let’s go Daddy-o!”

12.   Lil’ Drummer Boy- The Bomboras-  An all instrumental surf punk band from L. A. who sadly broke up in 2000.  Paul and I had the pleasure of seeing them live at The Middle East in Cambridge where their disregard for Cambridge open flame laws was just a small part of an extraordinary evening.

13.   (I Want a) Rock and Roll Guitar- Johnny Preston-  Johnny Preston is best known for his #1 hit “Running Bear” from 1960.  This song is a little light-hearted to be on this compilation but there is something quirky and infectious about it that I find appealing.

14.   Christmas Is Here- anote4you- Another short little carol from the “Holiday Heckles” album. 

15.   Santa Claus-  Sonny Boy Williamson II-  The only  thing better than a Christmas compilation with a Sonny Boy Williamson II song on it is one that has two!  Poor Sonny Boy needs to stay out of his baby’s dresser drawer!

16.   Santa Bring My Baby Back- The Reverend Horton Heat-  From the Rev’s 2005 “We Three Kings, Christmas Favorites CD.

17.   Back Door Santa- B. B. King-  This Santa is makin’ the women happy while the men are out at play.

18.   Mistletoe Kiss-off- anote4you-  A bluesy break up song and the last of my offerings from the “Holiday Heckles” album. 

19.   Super Rock Santa- The Fleshtones-  A garage band from NYC who debuted at CBGBs in 1976 and are still making great music together….despite never quite making it in the music business.

20.   (WTFAMP) the Christmas Song- Letters To Cleo-  Popular in Boston and beyond in the ‘90s, Letter To Cleo broke up in 2000 but briefly got back together again in 2007 and 2008.  This song is from their 2008 release of B-sides and unreleased material called “When Did We Do That?”

21.   Santa’s Beard- They Might Be Giants-  Reminding us to beware of friends wearing red suits.

PS-  The shabby, paint-peeling, missing-handed Santa on the cover is a photo I took in Christmas, Michigan (located next to the town where I grew up).  Santa is 50 feet high and is standing along the highway, right in between the casino and the trailer park.

               UNHAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!   MMM

November is in the mail!

Just a quick note that I put the November CDs in the mail today.  I'll give it a few days before I post the play list and notes.  Hope everyone enjoys the tunes!  MMM

Is this thing on?

In an effort to make this blog more useful - or at least more user-friendly - I've made us all into "Admins". What I'm hoping this will do is to notify us when the blog is updated. Up until now everyone except for the Admin (me) had to keep checking the blog for updates. Now we should each get an email for each update - hopefully including this one.

The Last Drive In (October)

Hi everyone! I'm late, but I am sending packages out tomorrow (really, they are sitting here addressed and sealed) and I still managed to beat the end of the month!

Spoiler alert: If you're into movies like I am, this mix might be like listening to a trivia game so don't read the tracklist below (and when you receive it) if you want to play. Liner notes below:

October Eleventilicious—The Last Drive In

When I was selecting last year’s mix, I didn’t realize until afterward how many songs were from movies. I probably love movies and music equally, so I thought it would be fun to make a movie-inspired mix. First I thought about picking only songs from really amazing opening sequences, but I realized that a lot of memorable opening sequences are set to scored music, songs that are a little too overplayed to be in Eleventilicious (e.g. “The Times They Are a Changin’” for the beginning of Watchmen), or songs that I wouldn’t necessarily want to listen to again and again, even if they fit the movie well (“Peaches” by The Stranglers for Sexy Beast). One song I would have loved to include is “Strangers” by The Kinks (from The Darjeeling Limited Indian funeral scene), but Chuck had that on his mix last year! I will say this: Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola own this category. I could have easily made an album just from their memorable movie scenes/songs. Martin Scorsese also uses music well, but he tends to use well-known songs that none of us really need an extra copy of.

So I just decided to settle for songs that are strongly associated to movies for me. Some of these are legendary movie-music associations (like the first song), or will be one day, I predict (like the second song). Some of them are more low-profile, but they stuck in my head and I wanted to include them.

If you’re a movie fan, it might be fun to listen to this album without looking at the tracklist to see how many of the movies you can name. The cover photo and title of the album are from a picture I took when I went to my first (and last?) drive-in movie theater, in rural Texas. I hope you enjoy listening!

Angela

1. “She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride” by Taj Mahal, from (what else??) Blues Brothers. I downloaded both the original Taj Mahal version and the soundtrack version sung by John Belushi. Although I wish I could have used the Belushi version for maximum nostalgia, it sounded a bit too overproduced and crisp for my taste.

2. “Nightcall” by Kavinsky, from Drive. This was probably my favorite movie from 2011 and I loved the entire esthetic of the film, including the retro-ish music. This song plays over the opening credits and I still think of L.A.-driving-at-night when I hear it. Also, it makes me feel like a badass.

3. “I’ll Try Anything Once” by Julian Casablancas/The Strokes, from Somewhere. This Sofia Coppola movie had a trailer using this song, and the song’s wistful tone really suits the movie’s tone. Honestly, I can’t remember if it was actually in the movie but the trailer created a strong association for me anyway. I had a tough time finding a recording of this song, as the Somewhere soundtrack seems to be unavailable and this song is actually a demo version of “You Only Live Once,” a Strokes song. I recommend checking out that song too if you’ve never heard it—it has completely different lyrics, key, and everything!

4. “Across 110th Street” by Bobby Womack, from Jackie Brown. I think this is an underrated movie and Pam Grier is awesome as a sexy, past-her-career-prime flight attendant trying to make a living. This song plays over the opening credits as she stands still on the airport’s moving sidewalk, then runs to the gate to work her flight.

5. “Here Comes Your Man” by The Pixies, from (500) Days of Summer. I have a huge crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt for a few reasons: he’s an incredible actor who almost always chooses intelligent, challenging scripts; he has sex appeal that seems to come from his personality as much as his looks; and he is involved in a lot of cool artistic projects through his website, HitRecord.org. This movie was decent (not great), but the scene where JGL’s character drunkenly karaokes this song is probably the most endearing of the movie, for me.

6. “Playground Love” by Air, from Virgin Suicides. Another Coppola movie, and Air did the entire soundtrack. This languid, young-lust song really has an eerie tinge to it because of the movie’s plot.

7. “A Real Hero” by College, from Drive. I included a second song from Drive because I liked it that much. This is the love theme from the movie, although the lyrics were apparently inspired by something else entirely (you can find the story online, but sometimes my enjoyment of a song is affected when I hear the back-story, so I won’t explain it here).

8. “Glass, Concrete and Stone” by David Byrne, from In Good Company. This was a not-that-popular romcom starring Scarlett Johansson, Topher Grace, and Dennis Quaid. I like it because it wasn’t really a romcom so much as a story about the latter two’s characters: young versus old, technology versus human contact, wealth versus family, quarter-life crisis versus mid-life crisis. This song accompanies the opening scenes.

9. “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf, from Inception. The “kick” song…and supposedly the deep squawking boom of the Inception score (the part that kept getting parodied and mocked) is actually this song’s horn parts slowed down. You know, like dream-time.

10. “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” by Smashing Pumpkins, from Watchmen. I am almost certain this song was only used in the trailer and not the actual movie. However, what a trailer! I saw it several times that summer and each time, I was captivated by the music and the visuals. I couldn’t wait to see this movie! Anyway, this song is originally from another soundtrack, Batman and Robin. I was in high school when it came out and I remember watching the music video for this song’s faster, harder counterpart (“The End is the Beginning is the End”) on MTV. I knew this other song existed but I didn’t realize how dark and atmospheric and great it was until seeing the Watchmen trailer.

11. “Where Do You Go To My Lovely?” by Peter Saarstedt, from Hotel Chevalier/The Darjeeling Limited. Hotel Chevalier was a 13-minute short that played before The Darjeeling Limited during its theater run. Jason Schwartzmann’s character self-consciously plays this song as a forced soundtrack to his encounter with his ex, Natalie Portman, in a hotel room in Paris. The song plays a few times in the short and once in The Darjeeling Limited as a bit of character continuity. Also, the lyrics, with all their name-checking, are like a 1960s rich hipster version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”…very informative Wikipedia page on this song.

12. “I’m Your Man” by Leonard Cohen, from Secretary. Secretary is one of my favorite movies, and this song plays over a montage of bondage and dominance/submission scenes when Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Mr. Grey (James Spader) finally give into their erotic desires. Leonard Cohen sounds mischievous and sultry and knowing in this song.

13. “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” by The Velvet Underground, from High Fidelity/Away We Go/Zombieland. Yes, this song has been in three of my favorite movies. Each scene is poignant, too: in High Fidelity, Rob is devastated when he finds out that his ex has finally slept with someone new, and in Zombieland, Columbus is about the leave the group when he realizes that they’re the only family he has, and decides to stay. But the scene from Away We Go is absolutely heart-wrenching: a young woman (a secondary character) who’s just had her fifth miscarriage performs a forlorn, haunting, fully-clothed pole dance to this song during an open mic night. It is an incredibly moving, mysterious, and compelling scene.

14. “Wait” by Alexi Murdoch, from Away We Go. This song plays over the final scene and closing credits of Away We Go. The scene usually makes me cry, even though it’s a happy ending.

Hi All. First, my sincerest apologies. Initially my September CD was going to be called, "Fall Back". Since I failed to get the CD out in September, I decided to call it, "September in October" but also realized that in my haste to get the CD out before a business trip, I forgot to change the title of the CD. My flakey-ness is inexcusable and I make no excuses. Just kindly accept my most sincerest apologies.


Fall in September:



Originally, I was going to call this CD collection, “Fall Back”-the turning of the leaves and time. However, since this was supposed to be a September CD and it’s getting out in October, I prefer the name, “September in October.” Apologies for this being so late. Somehow between travel and some new business and having a kid on the Cross Country Team, I fell back and didn’t turn the leaves of time but only allowed time to turn on me.


Havest Moon/Neil Young-While I don’t have the expanded musical taste of most in this club, I tend to fall back on tried and true tunes like this one. Neil Young is so talented. Love the sweetness in his voice, the intelligent lyrics, and the slow and easy pace of this song.


September/Earth Wind & Fire-This song is always reminiscent of the leaves turning to me. While we live in California, there is still a distant memory of the leaves turning and the weather suddenly going cooler in September.


I Fall Down/U2-U2 is one of my all-time favorite artists. This track is a little more along the lines of my original intent of the CD of “Fall Back.” It’s early U2, before they became one of the biggest bands on the planet and you may have forgotten about this one.


October/U2-Did I mention I like this band?


Weather with you/Crowded House-This one is for the creator of this club, Paul Mena. Crowded House is specifically for him and for all of us to enjoy alongside of him.


Bad Moon Risin/CCR-How can I go wrong with CCR? Whether you like indy rock or classic rock, it is my personal feeling that one can never go wrong with CCR. A Bad Moon risin’ seems like it’s only when the weather turns from fair to funky so I added this to the playlist.


Time Has Told Me/Nick Drake-This song always reminds me of when we start lighting the fireplace in the Fall. Drake’s early demise is my reward each and every time I want to relax, enjoy a cup of wine, and stare for hours at the fireplace. Hope you remember this talent that left us way too early.


California Dreamin’/The Mamas & The Papas-Living in CA, so many people reminisce about summer when the weather turns cold and dark in other parts of the country. This is my personal effort to bring some warmth to other parts of the country who may not have the sun during this time of year.


Turn!Turn!Turn!/The Byrds-”There is a season. Turn! Turn! Turn!”-What better lyrics to remind us that not only does music reflect life, but it also reflects a time and a place when it was written. I can’t help but think of The Byrds drinking hot apple cider as this piece was being worked on in the studio. Well, ok, maybe not. But it’s the mental image in my head.


November Rain/Guns ‘n Roses-I had long forgotten about this track but recently my husband introduced our son to some of the guys from Guns ‘n Roses and they have been on my mind of late. The Title fit the “Fall Back” theme and it also works with the new theme of September in October because it’ll soon be October in November if I don’t mail this sooner!


Autumn Almanac/The Kinx-This happy tune is primarily chosen for it’s title, beat, and happy go-lucky rhythm. What can I say? It is the “Autumn Almanac. Yes, yes, yes!”


No Fun/The Stooges-When the weather turns cold, dark, and the sun hides, I always think it’s “No Fun, walking here by myself” too. This song is about staying in and having no fun. Although we’re spoiled with sunny warm weather in California, fall and winter is our rainy season and “No Fun.”


Fall on Me/REM-While this song has absolutely nothing with the weather, the title does plus it’s a catchy tune! Enjoy.


Again, September in October almost became October in November. May your fall be sunny, bright, and filled with fun!


Ileana

September in October is here!

My sister-in-law Ileana mailed out her "September in October" compilation early last week, so most of you should be receiving it shortly if you haven't already.

Where Are They Now?

When Will and Katherine reluctantly told us that they would be too busy to participate in this year's Eleventilicious CD Club, they weren't kidding! First, they got married not long after their "Queen of Languages" offering in April. Then, they moved from Brooklyn to Portland, Maine and are busily working on their own coffee roasting business, Tandem Coffee Roasters. We hope to be able to visit them in the not-too-distant future. In the mean time, visit their Facebook page, and - if you happen to be in the area - visit their shop!