Category: Music

On May 17, 2018, I asked my Facebook friends to help me create a music playlist. I was picky about the rules in my posting:

Help me build my ‘Names’ iTunes playlist. The rules… songs titled with just a single name; Alison, Eloise, Lola, Veronica, these all qualify. 

Anything with more than one word is out, so that means; Bennie and the Jets, Ricki Don’t Lose that Number, David Watts… sorry, all are DQ’d.

By 322 comments later, a new 225 song playlist that runs for 14 hours and 20 minutes was born, and so was a a tradition that for me helps bring the ‘social’ to social media… crowdsourced playlists.

There have been 20 more crowdsourced playlists since this original, and I thought it might be fun to pull them all together in a bit of a retrospective. I hope you enjoy them!

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Foreign Tongues

Date: Sep 1, 2018
The Prompt:

OK music loving friends. Help me build another playlist. This one called ‘Foreign Tongues’. The rule is that it is a cover version of a familiar tune, performed in any language other than english. Hamba! (Zulu for Go!)

Result: 19 comments, 8 songs, 44 minutes
My Favorite Song: Ça Plane Pour Moi, Plastic Bertrand

A tougher ask to be sure

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Honky Tonk

Date: Nov 15, 2018
The Prompt:

I’ve begun a playlist based on just the word/s ‘honky tonk’. (One word or two?) Suggest an addition OR another word inspired playlist

Result: 35 comments, 28 songs, 1 hour 32 minutes
My Favorite Song: Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, Trace Adkins

That was the final playlist of 2018.

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Friends

Date: Feb 6, 2019
The Prompt:

I need your help with a new playlist. Share your favorite songs about friendship. I’ll share it back when finished. Thanks!

Result: 56 comments, 51 songs. 3 hours 8 minutes
My Favorite Song: You’re My Best Friend, Queen

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Personal Anthems

Date: Feb 21, 2019
The Prompt:

What’s your personal anthem? The song/s that can juice you with a needed dose of inspiration or adrenaline or mojo on demand? Sure, it’s kinda personal. They’re personal anthems after all. Here’s my current playlist, an hour of pump you up gold. What’s yours?

Result: 29 comments, 24 songs, 1 hour 30 minutes
My Favorite Song: Walls Come Tumbling Down, Paul Weller

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Phone

Date: Nov 16, 2019
The Prompt:

Hey Friends, looking for your help on a new hive mind playlist. The theme is ‘telephone’ and the playlist will include songs thematically related to phones and phone calls. Inspired by today’s listen to The Jam’s ‘Setting Sons’ (40th Anniversary today h/t Neal for that tidbit), the first song is ‘Girl on the Phone’. Help me build from there… GO!

Result: 172 comments, 67 songs, 3 hours 58 minutes
My Favorite Song: Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell

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COVID Isolation

Date: 4/5/2020
The Prompt:

TLDR: Give me your COVID-19 rock block or playlist, minimum of three songs. Be uplifting, be dark, whatever you want.
More detail: Yesterday iTunes random selection while I was on a pharmacy run. The Damned “Sick of Being Sick”, The Tubes “What Do You Want From Life”, then U2 “Beautiful Day”. Deep!
My brother’s followup suggestion; “Fever”, “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.”
You get the idea. GO!

Result: 64 comments, 94 songs, 6 hours 10 minutes
My Favorite Song: Don’t Stand So Close to Me, The Police

Pandemic! Crazy times for a list inspired by a pharmacy visit! We still had to play it on repeats if we were gonna flatten the curve right?

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Transportation Tragedy

Date: July 10, 2020
The Prompt:

New playlist: cars wrecking, planes crashing, boats sinking. GO!

Result: 103 comments, 61 songs, 4 hours 21 minutes
My Favorite Song: 30,000 Pounds of Bananas, Harry Chapin

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Salute to the USPS

Date: Aug 23, 2020
The Prompt:

New Playlist! To celebrate the US Postal Service, share songs about the mail! Letters, stamps, anything mail related. Include a clip if you can!

Result: 39 comments, 13 songs, 45 minutes
My Favorite Song: Please Mr. Postman, The Marvelettes

Remember when our corrupt orange president tried to interfere with the election by slowing down the mail? Fuck that guy. And here’s to the mail carrier’s, greater Americans and public servants than HE ever could be.

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Election Day

Date: Nov 3, 2020
The Prompt:

My friend Bryan suggests an Election Day playlist is needed, and that’s an excellent idea! Give us your favorite political songs, especially looking for mention of campaigns, candidates, voting! It may provide some useful distraction through today’s long wait! Share the video link if you can find one!

Result: 26 comments, 10 songs, 41 minutes
My Favorite Song: Elected, Alice Cooper

Another you’ll have to repeat to get through your wait in line at your polling station.

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Country Drunk

Date: Nov 25, 2020
The Prompt:

Playlist time! My thought was I’m gonna make a playlist of country music drinking songs, then the rational part of my mind asked, “How’s that different from tuning in to any country station on the radio?”. Fair point rational mind! So I had to refine and go with ‘FAVORITE country drinking songs”. My playlist so far is this, what would you add?

Result: 45 comments, 44 songs, 2 hours 33 minutes
My Favorite Song: Beer Never Broke My Heart, Luke Combs

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Country Cheat

Date: Dec 30, 2020
The Prompt:

Seeking your help on a new Country Playlist! The ‘Country Drunk’ playlist turned out so well, it needs a companion I’ll call ‘Country Cheat’. Please share all your favorite country music songs about cads and cheaters… go!

Result: 60 comments, 34 songs, 2 hours 1 minute
My Favorite Song: Stay, Sugarland

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Swear It!

Date: Jan 10, 2021
The Prompt:

New Playlist! And this one’s gonna be good. A lot of “bad” words have crossed my lips of late, and partly inspired by the Netflix series “History of Swear Words”, I want a playlist of songs with swearing. And not just in the lyrics, give me songs that swear in the title. Don’t be shy and cute with asterisks and such, and just share the best fucking ones.

Result: 115 comments, 63 songs, 3 hours 36 minutes
My Favorite Song: Fuck You, Wesley Willis

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Celebrating Mom!

Date: May 7, 2021
The Prompt:

Time for a new crowd sourced playlist, and this time we’re honoring Mothers! Please share any songs about Mothers, Moms, motherhood, etc. Bonus points if Mother or Mom is in the title, but not a requirement. Share a link to a video or online version so we can listen. We’ll get this built so we all can play it on Sunday.

Result: 90 comments, 52 songs, 3 hours 6 minutes
My Favorite Song: Loves Me Like a Rock, Paul Simon

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Ages

Date: Jun 20, 2021
The Prompt:

OK Friends, it’s playlist time! And it’s one for the ages! Give me songs that mention a specific age in the title or lyrics. I’ll seed the list with “I’m Eighteen/Alice Cooper”, and “When I’m 64/The Beatles”. Thanks for helping me grow the list!

Result: 104 comments, 58 songs, 3 hours 36 minutes
My Favorite Song: I’m 18, Alice Cooper

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Beaches

Date: Aut 8, 2021
The Prompt:

OK Facebook, summer’s not over yet and it’s time for a new playlist. Please give me your favorite songs about the ocean, waves, and beaches! GO!

Result: 79 comments, 62 songs, 3 hours 42 minutes
My Favorite Song: Theme from “The Endless Summer”, The Sandals

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Space

Date: Nov 18, 2021
The Prompt:

New playlist time! Prepping for an early morning alarm in hopes to catch some lunar eclipse action, I’ve been inspired to seek a new playlist. The theme, Space. Give me your favorite songs about celestial things. Go!

Result: 66 comments, 43 songs, 3 hours 5 minutes
My Favorite Song: Space Oddity, David Bowie

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Sun & Moon

Date: Oct 29, 2022
The Prompt:

Need a new playlist! Songs with titles that include  or ! GO!!

Result: 101 comments, 83 songs, 5 hours 23 minutes
My Favorite Song: Sun and Moon, Miss Saigon Soundtrack

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Flying

Date: Sep 28, 2023
The Prompt:

Hey Facebook! It’s time for another crowdsourced playlist. There’s an airshow coming to town this weekend, and so I’m looking for tunes about planes and flying. Go!

Result: 88 comments, 49 songs, 3 hours 14 minutes
My Favorite Song: 99 Luftballons, Nena

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City Songs

Date: Oct 29, 2023
The Prompt:

It’s time for a new crowdsourced playlist, and this one is called ‘City Songs’. I want songs that have a city name in the title. A city mention in the lyrics isn’t good enough, it must be in the title. Bring it on!

Result: 293 comments, 181 songs, 11 hours 34 minutes
My Favorite Song: To Live and Die in LA, Wang Chung

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2024 Eclipse

Date: April 4, 2024
The Prompt:

OK music lovers. I read about an Eclipse playlist on Spotify made by an AP reporter, but I know WE can do better. Songs should mention the Sun, the Moon, Eclipses, or generally meet this notion of looking skyward at a celestial event. We need it by Monday for our Eclipse watching music, so GO!!

Result: 153 comments, 129 songs, 8 hours 40 minutes
My Favorite Song: Standing Out in the Universe, Paul Weller

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I owe a great debt of gratitude to all who have indulged my whims and played along. There are many among my Facebook friends who embrace these challenges with a fervor that really delivers. I won’t attempt to credit all by name, as I would surely overlook and insult someone, but you know who you are and I thank you. It’s good Facebook fun that I hope to continue as the music moves me.

What does it mean when White Punks on Dope has become an oldie? Shit, I dunno. My big bro was introduced to them in college (Thanks Cormack!), and brought them home to baby brother. They were a band for rebellious teens to love and parents to hate. I had one of these stickers on my Bel Air.

The Tubes have never been a typical rock show. They are a theatrical experience, with props and costume changes that immerse you in the performance of a song in ways your ears alone never could. I ‘think’ I’ve only seen The Tubes once before (my memory sometimes fails me), no wait… definitely at least twice (mental images of different stage perspectives have confirmed). Whatever, it would have been in the early ’80s, following the release of their album The Completion Backwards Principle. I remember the concert with elaborate costumes used in the numbers for Sushi Girl, Sports Fans (with the Tubes Cheerleaders, including Cynthia Rhodes of Flashdance/Dirty Dancing fame), and Mondo Bondage. But the moment everyone in the audience was really waiting for was the appearance of Quay Lewd, a persona adopted by Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill, most typically when performing their most memorable anthem, White Punks on Dope.

I dragged my friend TJ to see The Tubes in DC at The Hamilton last night. He understood that for me the opportunity to see the Tubes again was a ‘must see’ concert, and also that among my friends he was most likely to be able to appreciate them. The Hamilton is a beautiful new DC restaurant and live music venue just a block from the White House. I was their once before for a free jazz show when they first opened, but this was my first time seeing an act I meant to see. The venue, food, drink and service are top notch. Go there. It did feel a bit odd to be sitting at a table for a show, rather than spending the whole time on your feet as is often typical. But somehow being seated seems to sap some energy. When the Tubes took the stage, it was to an uncomfortably quiet room, not able to manage the energy to maintain an anticipatory chant of ‘Tubes!’. But mine wasn’t the only balding head in the room, on the contrary, we were in the majority. And one nearby table had a fans walker propped against the table.

But a small crowd and aging act and audience didn’t diminish seeing The Tubes live again at all. Fee still dons a variety of costumes as expected for each song, and Roger still rocks his guitar with every bit as much energy as back in the day. My favorite Tubes album is 1979’s Remote Control, songs from which were notably absent from their setlist for the night. But there were many bonuses, not least of which was learning a little Virginia Music history when I looked into the background of the instrument ‘Rumble’ that they covered, and the opportunity to meet the band after the show.

I managed a couple of video snippets during the show, attempting to catch WPOD from the start. I ended up instead getting his intro, and then just the beginning of the song before my iPhone self-censored and shut down. It was the best I could do, but you had to be there.

Thanks Tubes! Hope I see you again.

“If you were 16 in 1979, the Specials were easy peasy lemon squeezy the greatest band on the planet. If you’re 46 in 2013, nothings changed.”

That’s what is says on the Twitter account for one of my favorite bands, The Specials. Well in 1979 I was 14, and now in 2013 I’m on the eve of my 48th birthday. So while their math is wrong, the sentiment is right, nothing’s changed. I was introduced to Ska music through the 1981 multi-act concert film ‘Dance Craze‘, a movie which opened and closed with The Specials, and also introduced me to favorites The English Beat and Madness.

Seeing The Specials live tonight was a major ‘bucket list’ concert for me. I came close to skipping, overcoming my evil apathetic instincts to drag myself and my ever patient wife to Maryland to see one of my favorite bands of all time. But I realized that I may never get a chance again to see them, so I had better damn well seize the moment now. So glad that I did!

Here’s what they played:

Do the Dog
Dawning of a New Era
Gangsters
It’s Up to You
Monkey Man
Concrete Jungle
Blank Expression
Rat Race
Hey Little Rich Girl
Why
It Doesn’t Make It Alright
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Stereotype
Man at C & A
Do Nothing
A Message to You Rudy
Nite Klub
Little Bitch
Too Much Too Young
Enjoy Yourself

Encore:
Ghost Town
You’re Wondering Now

And here’s a couple of iPhone snippets…

A Message to You Rudy

Nite Klub – audience sing-a-long

This week Katie and I caught a great concert at the University of Mary Washington. The draw was Ben Folds, who has been a recent favorite on my iPod and whose new album, Way to Normal, is particularly great. And due to musical associations with Amanda Palmer and Regina Spektor, my daughter Katie was willing first to give Ben a listen, and then actually excited to join me at the concert. And the night began with a concert first for me, a free gift at the door in the form of a commemorative plastic Ben Folds shot glass. The night was filled with promise!

A commenter on Katie’s Facebook page tipped her off to pay close attention to the opening band, Jukebox the Ghost, and they did not disappoint, we really enjoyed them.

Ready then for Ben, there was one more surprise opener, The Virginia Sil’hooettes, an all-female a cappella group from the University of Virginia. Later this month, Ben is releasing an album titled Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella, a compilation album of, obviously, University A Capella groups performing Ben Folds music. The Virginia Sils performed a couple songs, including their rendition of ‘You Don’t Know Me At All‘.

After a painfully long wait, Ben and his band took the stage, starting off with ‘Errant Dog’, followed by ‘Annie Waits’, and from there heading into a lengthy and fun performance o songs new and old. During ‘The Bitch Went Nuts’, Ben stopped twice, having messed up the words. And that led to a brief bit of storytelling, about a time he was performing in England and stopped mid song about 20 times. He said each time there was the slightest noise from the audience, he would stop and start the song at the beginning, and he did eventually finished when they achieved absolute silence. They thought he was an uptight performer, he says he was just fucking with them. And speaking of ‘Fuck’, that was of course a shouted sing-along highlight of the song ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs‘.

As is typical, I tried to share some tunes, calling my brother Kevin to share ‘Effington‘, and my sister Jennifer to share ‘Brick‘. Not sure if either got through, but it’s the thought. Later, I finally got around to getting my sibs something for Christmas (yes, last Christmas, yes, I know it’s April), buying each of them Jukebox the Ghost’s album titled Let Live and Let Ghosts. I hope they enjoy it, I am.

Thanks to Katie for joining me on a great night of music. It a pretty cool thing, taking your daughter to a concert (maybe less so from her point of view, but cool for a dad anyway).

dig deeper …

Review of ‘Let Live & Let Ghosts’
The Washington Post – March 7, 2008

My friends and I have a long standing tradition of sharing a live song with each other via cell phone whenever we’re at a concert. It’s a nice way of saying, “Wish you were here”, and a treat to be on the receiving end of such a call (although frequently you’ll hear nothing but a unrecognizable cacophony of noise).

So it was a not unexpected when my brother Kevin called one night last week, just as I was tucking in for bed. We didn’t speak, but knowing he was at the Eagles concert in Columbia, Missouri, I had an idea what was in mind, and I thoroughly enjoyed a few minutes of Joe Walsh singing his hit “Life’s Been Good“.

Last Saturday, I listened to music from my iPhone for the last four miles of the half-marathon that I ran with a friend. And from the shuffle play of my ‘workout’ playlist, guess which song brought me across the finish… Life’s Been Good.

The two encounters with the song brought me back. I was 13 years old the year ‘Life’s Been Good’ came out, a summertime hit that reached #12 on the Billboard charts. I have one specific memory of singing along, while in the family station, loaded with friends and on our way to the beach.

Anyway, the The coincidence led me to enjoy a Joe Walsh tunefest. I certainly have more in common with the ‘Ordinary Average Guy‘ that Joe sang about in 1991 than the rock star of ‘Life’s Been Good’ from ’78. Regardless, I’m a fan, and there are many classics and favorites in Joe’s library. Thanks for the great tune’s Joe.

read more about Joe…

Joe Walsh Rides Again
Rolling Stone, 8/9/2006

I confess I was a bit skeptical. After having recently watched VH1’s failed attempt to reunite one of my favorite bands, The English Beat, I knew that the bill being called ‘The English Beat’ tonight at the Birchmere in Alexandria actually only included one original band member, lead singer Dave Wakeling. But I need not have worried. Although it would be great to see and hear the whole band together again, Dave and his band were perfectly capable of taking me on a nostalgic tour of my musical youth.

I first heard The English Beat in a movie theater, watching a midnight showing of the 1981 Concert movie Dance Craze. I remember the night, it was memorable both for the music it introduced me to, and for the fact it had us dancing in the theater aisles. Later, in 1982, I would see The Beat open for the Clash at the Hollywood Palladium, one of my best concert memories.

So tonight at the Birchmere, with an intimate and appreciative crowd of about 550, it was a joy to again hear The Beat. And my buddy TJ stepped up big time as an impromptu roadie. After doing Tears of A Clown, Dave told the audience that he’d broken a guitar string and that they were too cheap to have a roadie, so he asked if anyone in the audience could string a guitar. TJ raised his hand and got the job, earning Dave’s thanks and a dedication of Twist and Crawl to him for his efforts.

Here’s the set list…

Whine & Grine / Stand Down Margaret
Ackee 1-2-3
Hands Off She’s Mine
Best Friend
Doors of Your Heart
Tears of a Clown
I’ll Take You There
I Confess
Twist and Crawl
Sole Salvation
Rough Rider
Two Swords (Dave shared a good tale of his brick-throwing youth before this one)
Can’t Get Used to Losing You
Never You Done That
Tenderness
Ranking Full Stop
Mirror in the Bathroom
Click Click (noted as a point of pride as having been the fastest song in the movie Dance Craze)
Save It for Later
Encore – some appropriately picked encores…
End of the Party
Jackpot – I’m sorry to say that I’m on my way, I won’t be back for many a day, so Goodbye Everybody!