Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Set the Dial to Black and White Mix

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Still reeling from Saturday night's Raging Fire reunion at Exit/In.  So many memories stirred, the band sounded so good, and the songs were still as awesome as always.  My (perhaps) unique perspective.  I was a huge fan of the Nashville music scene in the mid to late 1980s, but just a fan and mostly at a distance.  I only made it to Nashville on the rare occasion I could round up people to go with me. I was lucky enough to see some of the great bands of  that era, but I didn't know anybody.

That being said, the music was important to me, and WRVU and The Metro and later Fireplace Whiskey Journal were my lifelines.  So, it was a pretty cool experience to be at this show and to actually know some of the people involved.  And speaking of WRVU, when Adam Dread fist bumped me during the Raging Fire set... my eighteen/nineteen year old self suddenly felt very cool.

And to be redundant, Raging Fire absolutely killed it. Melora Zaner is still one of the best and sexiest rock vocalist around, Mark Medley kept the whole thing in perfect time, bassists John Reed, Les Shields (and the other one I didn't know) were awesome.  The very large shoes of the late Michael Godsey were filled by not one but two of the scenes very best - Joe Blanton (The Enemy, Royal Court of China, The Bluefields) and Jeff Cease (Rumble Circus, Black Crowes). They were perfect for the role, having known Michael and having been present...

We jump into a Monday Morning shuffle....

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Sno-Cone Mix

It's all but officially summer.  Temps are supposed to climb into the mid to upper 90s here this week, and I'm sure the humidity will ratchet up and few notches.  Here in the South, we know it's not the heat, it's the humidity....

Reminders:  The Band of the Month polling has begun - exercise your right to check out righteous music and pick your favorite's here. (Voting continues until the end of the month, and this time you can come back and vote as often as you like).


Over the weekend, we offered the World Premier of the brand new promo video for our April Band of the Month - The Disappointment.  The post which is here, also offered detailed to purchase and download the band's latest release and provided details for checking out the band live in Brooklyn.  Again - it is here.


Finally - Ear to the Ground's favorite cartoonist (and an early and often influence on our tastes in music - as well as our partner-in-crime at a number of live shows in the late 80s and early 90s), Ron Ruelle has released a new book featuring the Sunday strips from his At the Zu/Darwin & Co. strips. 

 You can order the book here. And check out the dedication page!  

One last thing before we get to the morning shuffle - Today is the 70th Birthday for the "Cute" Beatle (Paul McCartney) and another Paul (Weller) of The Jam & The Style Council, has released version of  the Beatles' Birthday which you can download today only on Amazon:

 

Tonight, we plan to load in a ton of songs into the mix, but before we did, we thought we should take a shuffle through some of the coolest songs in our archives.

Blue Sky Mine the sort-of title track to Midnight Oil's 1990 album Blue Sky Mining found the Australian band and their politician/activist/environmentalist lead singer offering up a scathing indictment of the greed over people and the planet mentality, and doing so in an amazingly danceable format. 

   

Don't Be Cruel was recorded in the summer of 1956 in New York City buy a 21 year old singer from Tupelo, Mississippi named Elvis Aaron Presley.  The song was written by Otis Blackwell. The Jordanaires sang back-up on the record. When my daughter was in 4th Grade, I helped chaperone a trip to Memphis which included a tour of Graceland and accompanying us on the field trip was the grandfather of one of my daughter's classmates who happened to be Gordon Stoker - one of the original Jordanaires, how cool is that?

  

And finally, we have Free Man in Paris by Joni Mitchell from her classic 1974 album Court and Spark.

 

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 Affiliated Links:

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil

Elvis Don't Be Cruel Framed Record This beautifully framed and matted record has been silverized and is presented along with an image of Elvis. High-quality components and hand-cut mats. Black metal frame measures 12" X 16". Limited edition of 5,000.Made in the United States

Court and Spark Court and Spark isJoni Mitchell's most overt attempt at making a hit record, full ofglossy production, catchy choruses, and even guest stars from everystratum of rock culture, high (Robbie Robertson) and low (Cheech andChong). The record was a smash, reaching number two on the charts inMarch of 1974, spawning three hit singles; Help Me, Free Man in Parisand Raised on Robbery and cementing Mitchell's position as a commercialas well as an artistic force. Sean Nelson, a well known musician himself (Harvey Danger, the Long Winters), is particularly well equipped to understand all the elements that went into the making of this classic album, and he does so with clarity and wit.