2018 E2TG Earie Awards - # 5 - Recap May 2018

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HOLIDAY SHOPPING ALERT!!!!: The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)

I was out of the office yesterday, so let's jump back into our Earie Awards and our Recap of 2018. We are now up to May 2018.  E2TG began its eighth year during the month of May, and we had some cool artists and tunes to feature that month. Let's go!

2018 E2TG Earie Awards - # 1 - Recap January 2018

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For your holiday shopping: The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)


I took an unexpected day off yesterday to fight off a winter cold - hopefully sucessfully... And busy end of week and weekend ahead.   

Guess what!  It is time for the 2018 Earie Awards.  Looking back, I believe this is year 4 of the semi-prestigious awards.  For those new to the E2TG fold, The Earies (tagline: The Earies: they sound kind of odd, but they really aren't) began as a way to recap the great music featured on E2TG over the last year. I don't do Top Ten (or more or less) lists. I'm not opposed to the concept, but I know I would obsess forever about what to include and what to leave off. So, I opted for giving out a bunch of awards.

The award names are arbitrary and sometimes silly, but the sentiment behind them is sincere.  E2TG could not exist without the amazing music that comes my way every day.  The music I feature ends up being a fraction of that submitted, and those that become "E2TG favorites" are a fragment of that fragment.

This year, I am trying something new- out of necessity. As I have been receiving and featuring more and more music, it became harder for me to keep up with it all. One way, I dealt with that in 2018 is to create Spotify Playlists for each month highlighting some of the music featured that month.  See the bottom of this post for links to the Spotify Playlists. 

To kick things off, today's special "Earier" shuffle comes from the January 2018 E2TG playlist. Enjoy!

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Laugh Until I Fart Mix

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For your holiday shopping: The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)

We are nearing the end of the week, the end of November, and really, the end of the year. Regular readers will know that E2TG spends a good portion of December handing out our anuual "Earie Awards". I feel a little overwhelmed this year - first of all because the end of this year really sneaked up on me, and second because we have featured more new music this year than ever before. But, I have a plan in mind - so stay tuned. I am also thinking ahead to some possible big changes for the new year to come.

Meanwhile, it is Thursday and time to see what is trending for today at E2TG. Let's shuffle!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Love in Winter Mix

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For your holiday shopping: The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)


Back from the extended holiday.  I listened to my Music City Monday Spotify playlist on my drive, and it made a great travel companion.  Check it out here and follow if you like.  It is a continuous work-in-progress with new music added regularly.  LISTEN HERE


It is Tuesday, and time for Trending Tuesday - where we explore a sampling of some of the newish music to come to E2TG.  Let's shuffle!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Keepers of the Gloom Mix

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All of this happened a long time ago when the world was a very different place. Of course, none of us knew that at the time.
(From The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres) Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)

I am continuing to work on my Spotify playlists for E2TG.  So far, I have completed seven - January - July2018.  These are meant to be a cross-section of music I featured during those months - not necessarily music released in those months.   If you are interested, you can check out the playlists (links below)  and follow my personal profile to find out when new playlists are created.

E2TG January 2018
E2TG February 2018
E2TG March 2018
E2TG April 2018 
E2TG May 2018
E2TG June 2018
E2TG July 2018
E2TG August 2018 (coming soon!)

Sometimes, I wonder if people really believe my shuffles are totally random - based upon the songs I have saved to a particular playlist...   My new music playlist has 619 songs currently - with more waiting to be added - as I slowly dig myself out of the AMA week hole. So, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays, I pull up that playlist and hit shuffle. The shuffle has a mind of its own, but I have decided to trust the shuffle.  Anyway, so some albums I have loaded take longer to show up in a shuffle, and some show up seemingly every day or every other day.

It's Friday - let's get to the shuffle.  These past two days, we have had some fairly long songs show up. Since my commute is more or less the same every day, longer songs means few songs. Yesterday, we had five, and today we have six. On average, we have eight or nine most days.  Again, I trust the shuffle - it all works out.  Let's go!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - She Wants Something Mix

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All of this happened a long time ago when the world was a very different place. Of course, none of us knew that at the time.
(From The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres) Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)

I am continuing to work on my Spotify playlists for E2TG.  So far, I have completed three - January - March 2018.  These are meant to be a cross-section of music I featured during those months - not necessarily music released in those months.   If you are interested, you can check out the playlists (links below)  and follow my personal profile to find out when new playlists are created.

E2TG January 2018
E2TG February 2018
E2TG March 2018


I am not someone who complains (publicly) (too much) when things are not going well in my life, and I am also not someone who likes to talk about it when things seem to be going well. Maybe that is because those two extremes often seem to come within minutes of each other. It's usually not very extreme - there are things that help with this - but anyway.... what was my point? Oh- this week has been interesting.  Parts have been challenging... but I have really enjoying catching up with some people I haven't had the chance to in a while, and I have enjoyed meeting new people.  And hearing some great music.  Tomorrow night is going to be one of those nights when I wish I could be in at least three places at the same time.

Oh and I go to the dentist this afternoon.  The last time I went there, I was there seven and half hours.  Hopefully, I will not be there until midnight tonight....

It is mid-week - a time when we get "wild" at E2TG and shuffle up all of the music saved to my phone. Let's do it!

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Buzzing Phase Mix

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My novel, The Drift is out now!  Paperback or Kindle (Buy the paperback and get a Kindle version for just $.99)

E2TG 7th Anniversary Residency is coming in June to The 5 Spot! The first night is just ONE WEEK away.  Come early for Clark Paterson, Rayvon Pettis, and The Big Dumb. 

Week 1 June 7:  Clark Paterson, The Big Dumb, Rayvon Pettis (ONE WEEK AWAY)

Week 2 June 14: The End Men, Ted Drozdowski's Psychedelic Circus, Ben de la Cour

Week 3 June 21:  Brian Milligram, Microwave Mountain, The Coal Men

Week 4 June 28: Joanna Barbera, Bee Taylor, Eli Cook

As you may be aware, for the past two years, I have been fortunate enough to co-host a radio show (Double Shot with Joe and Sue) along with my good friend Sue Havlish on WXNA-LP Nashville. This experience has been one of the most wonderful of my life. 

WXNA went on the air just under two years ago. It is a low-power, all-volunteer community, non-profit radio station, and it has taken this city by storm. I am so proud to be a part of it. It is time for the Spring Pledge Drive.  WXNA is People Powered Radio and relies on the generous support of the community to keep things going.  You investment (small or large) pays off everyday - by helping the station to keep on providing a home for independently programmed shows covering a variety of musical genres and topics of interest and benefit to the community.  The drive runs through Saturday at midnight. You can donate at wxnafm.org or by calling 615-933-WXNA (9962). 

Also, WXNA is throwing a huge birthday bash Sunday at The Basement on 8th Avenue from 3-6pm.  I don't know many details yet, but I will share them when I do. Nevertheless, I hope folks in Nashville will come out - this is a celebration of what YOU have helped to make happen. 

Meanwhile, the week moves on and believe it or not, this is the last day of the month of May! 

We have a relatively short shuffle - only 5 songs all from the NEW MUSIC playlist. Let's do it!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Blood on my Sleeve Mix

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Well, I have to say yesterday was much better than last Monday.  A week ago, I had spent 7.5 at the dentist office. Yesterday, I took in an afternoon baseball game, recorded a future Double Shot show, found out my proof copies of my first novel The Drift will arrive today, and I got my ticket in the mail for next week's Kris Kristofferson show at The Basement East.

Let's dive into the New Music playlist for what we like to call Trending Tuesday.  As usual, we have a crazy eclectic mix of music.  These are all relatively new releases or in a couple of cases recent to E2TG that we wanted to feature. 

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Cherry Red Anthology Mix

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The Magnolia Roads American Roots Hoedown III is getting very close. You can read our preview -
Part 1 (Ben Sparaco) 
Part 2 (Don Gallardo) 
Part 3 (James Scott Bullard) 
Part 4 (Rich Mahan)


Meanwhile, it is Thursday and time to jump back into the "New Music" playlist.

Let's just jump right to it!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - No No No But Yes Mix

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Well, country music was saved last night, thanks to Buck N Stuff.  Their CD release show for their live album Saviors of Country Music: Live at The American Legion Post 82 was held at The American Legion Post 82.  There was lots of Buck and a fair amount of Stuff to be had. The awesome Brandy Zdan opened the show. It had been a minute since I saw her perform, and it was a good reminder of how good she is.  She was playing songs from her forthcoming album which judging by her performance is going to be amazing.

It's time for our Featured Friday shuffle... The thing I love about playing random shuffles for my daily posts, is the weird things that happen with randomness. If you look at yesterday's shuffle and today's, it might be hard to believe that they came from the same playlist of songs.  Yesterday's shuffle was dominated by  EDM, industrial, punk, and jazz music. Today's is almost exclusively singer-songwriters (albeit each very unique and different).  I don't plan this - it just happens...

Let's shuffle!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Heart Grow Fonder Mix

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I had a good time last night representing WXNA at the BriteHeart Birthday Bash last night.  

BriteHeart’s mission is to engage, connect and empower citizens for positive change through voting and civic participation. BriteHeart connects individuals with organizations and organizations with resources.

#GetCivic

They had some great musical guests including Bill Eberle - whose new album is in our rotation.

The event was held in the East Nashville space of Helping Our Music Evolve - H.O.M.E..

This is a great new organization:

"HOME is a nonprofit community of music creators and music lovers. We’re here to help you with all things music-related. Whether you are a musician, producer, or music-biz professional, we have the space, resources, and networking opportunities you need to build your team and grow your career."

I also want to give a shout out to another organization that was represented at the event last night. Girls Write Nashville empowers youth in Nashville through mentorship, songwriting, production, and artistic community.  The organization was founded by Georgia English and Jen Starsinic.  I got to listen to some of the music - the music was impressive - made more so by reading that the youth making the music are in sixth and seventh grade.

Well - this difficult week is finally winding down... we have time for one final shuffle of the week.  This one features some of the fine, fine music that has come our way in recent weeks and months.

Dig!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Bright Castle Mix

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Woo hoo!  It's Friday!  And I have a three day weekend!   Don't be surprised if, despite my being off work, there is a Music City Monday shuffle on Monday.  Don't be surprised if there is not...

Had another fine reminder of Nashville's embarrassment  of riches when it comes to great musicians.  I attended the Joe Pisapia Love-In at The 5 Spot. When I first heard of Joe's music, it was in the 90s Nashville band, Joe Marc's Brother.  Joe's brother Marc was also in the band last night along with James Haggerty, Jim Hoke, Austin Hoke, Sam Smith, and Martin Lynds. They will be back at The 5 Spot next week, and I highly recommend it. As usual the show sounded great, thanks in large part to Eric - who was working his last night running sound at the East Nashville bar. He will be missed.

Let's get this weekend started with a Featured Friday shuffle...

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Super Awkward Mix

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Had a good night out seeing live music last night.  Starting at The Local to see a Ben de la Cour plus a wonderful set from the legendary Jon Dee Graham. I picked up a copy of Graham's CD Knoxville Skyline which features E2TG favorites Tim and Susan Bauer Lee.

After that, I headed to $2 Tuesday at The 5 Spot. I usual, I stayed up too late and had a very good time. Also as usual, I saw some great bands.  First up was Nashville band Volk - that I saw for the first time and really enjoyed.  Next was E2TG favorite Andrew Adkins with a superb band. As always it was a treat.  Next was Derek Hoke playing as a trio with Mark Robertson of the Legendary Shakeshakers and great Nashville drummer Steve Latanation (formerly of the band Agent Orange). One of my favorite local songwriters, Chris Moyse, closed the night with a band that featured Sean Quinn and Erin Nelson of Nelson, Zimmerman, and Quinn.

So, I guess it's Happy Valentine's Day or Singles Awareness Day, if you prefer, or Happy Wednesday, if you prefer that.  It is Wednesday, and every Wednesday, things get a little wilder than usual here at E2TG. We call it Wild Wednesday, and it is the day we shuffle up all the songs currently saved to my phone and see what comes up.

Only six songs in today's shuffle... the last track is over 9 minutes long. Let's shuffle!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Pigjam Ephemera Mix

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Again, I am pressed for time have a long list - so I will be brief in my commentary.  If you're ever interested in one of the band's I feature and cannot find more information based upon what I provide, please feel free to drop me a line, and I will try to steer you in the right direction.

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Ignite Albania Mix

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Okay... so I had a long commute to a training class, and I am pressed for time... so I am going to have to be very brief with my descriptions (especially on artist I've written about before and recently).  It will be the same tomorrow....


Here goes...  Sorry to be so brief... more on all of these artist/albums later.