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!

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...

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - To Good to Be True Mix

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Moving along.  In case you missed by Facebook post, the #E2TG Facebook Page (see link above), just reached 1,200 "Likes". I'm grateful for everyone who reads E2TG. You are reading this and are not yet following us, I would like to personally invite you to hit that "Like" button.

Anyway, it's Tuesday and time to shuffle up the "New Music" playlist. I have a ton of new music I still need to add to my phone memory, but I also have a ton of music already in the "New Music" playlist.

Let's shuffle:

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Almost Summer Mix

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Okay, after a couple of days of long lists and short words, things go back to normal today.

Today is Thursday, and we have a shuffle taken from the "New Music" playlist which started the day at over 470 tracks. 

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Colorful Recipes Mix

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Well, I'm back after being a little under the weather yesterday.

Happy Birthday to the 2014 E2TG Artist of the Year, and the most tagged artist in E2TG history - Darrin Bradbury!

Only 7 more shuffles and 7 more days of the 2017 Earies.  After next Friday, I will be out for the rest of the year, but you can expect the Golden Earie Awards to drop during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, we have another batch of Earie awards that are burning a hole in my pocket (small award or big pocket?).   As always, no nominees - my categories are arbitrary and sometimes silly but the awards are heartfelt.

Mondo Monday Morning Shuffle - Befriending Dogmas Mix

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Well, it's Monday, the world is screw-up, life is hard, and hope is fleeting. But, it's December, and time for the 3rd Annual E2TG "Earie" Awards.  "The Earies, they sound strange but they're really not".

For the uninitiated, the "Earie" awards are my annual chance to give kudos to the musicians and others who made my year better. Unlike, the Brand X awards, at the Earies, we don't mess around with nominees, our categories are... um... non-standard, and the eligibility period is liquid and determined solely by me.

As we did last year, we are going to embed many of the awards into the shuffles.  The awards will continue throughout December and culminate in the awarding of the "Golden Earie" awards for band(s) and artist(s) of the year.

Let's get to it...

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Leave the Rest Mix

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Another reminder to donate to WXNA during this week's Fall Pledge Drive!  If you donate at least $72.00 (that's just $6 a month as a recurring payment), you get a spiffy WXNA coffee mug, and more importantly, you get the satisfaction of knowing you helped keep Nashville's Best Radio Station on the air! 

Well, the sun is shining and my mood is much improved. I'm not sure if it's the sun or the fact that I got some things done last night (or both). 

Anyway, it is Tuesday, and we have a shuffle into what is trending at WXNA . Between adding some new music to the playlist and cleaning up some of the previously played songs that never got deleted, the list stands at 415 songs. 

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Turned 24 Today Mix

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Several years ago, someone pointed out that I would often make a very subtle sarcastic comment or joke, and then ruin the effect by saying "Just kidding". This guy even started calling me "Just kidding Joe".  I think he was right. My desire was to make sure I was understood. Like, if people thought I was being serious they might think I was an idiot or mean or whatever. But, it's not my job to explain myself to everyone and it is not my business what they think about me. 

I have tried since then to catch myself when I want to add a "just kidding" - although full disclosure: emojis have kind of given me a cheat on this  ;-) And I'm working on that now, too.  Twice in the last two days I have posted something on social media that was facetious without a "tell" that I was kidding. The first case, if anyone took me as serious, they would think I was kind of stupid and maybe a little self-important. The second case, could potentially lead to a political reaction of some sort...

I don't know. 51 1/2 years in and I'm still working on this life thing, and I'm kind of okay with that for today....

Let's jump headlong into some featured music for a lovely Friday in Nashville...

Musique qui est nouveau Monday Morning Shuffle - It Takes a Pillage Mix

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Well... we finally got some cooler weather here in Nashville.

The world continues to be a pretty screwed up place, and I struggle to find the line between staying aware of all that is going on and maintaining my sanity.

This Saturday night, two E2TG Artists of the Year appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage (backing up Elizabeth Cook) - Jon Latham (2015) and Brian Wright (2016).  I say this just because I am really proud of those guys - not just for this but for all that they are doing.

Disheartened to see all the "Me, too" posts on Facebook from friends and people I admire. I have always believed in the basic goodness of people... and counted bad behavior as an aberration. Sometimes, I begin to doubt that.  This is one of those cases... I have a many female friends involved in  entertainment and sexual harassment and worse seems to be an almost universal experience. And it's not just the entertainment industry.  I wonder sometimes what percentage of men have done this, and what percentage have witnessed it and not spoken up. Am I in that latter group... sadly I know I am. This has to change. We need to talk about this and we need to denormalize (is that a word?) this behavior. I'll admit, I still have questions about what things I need to do or stop doing.  I need to admit that I have those questions and start conversations to get the answers.


In other news, if you wish me Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or Season Greetings... heck if you say anything to me out of kindness, I am okay with that and I appreciate it.  If you say you are praying for me or sending good thoughts or sending positive energy or anything meant to offer support, I am okay with that and I appreciate it. I think the "War on Christmas" is a lie perpetuated by the far right to divide people.  That's my feeling.  Throughout this "holiday season" try to treat people with kindness, try to think of those who are alone and lonely this time of year in particular, try to give more than you receive.  Do that (or at least try) and you are okay in my back not what if or what you celebrate. 

Ug.... a lot on my mind, and I didn't really intend to write any of that, but it's what came out....

The "New Music" playlist is just under 400 songs, but I have more ready to be added.  Let's shuffle:

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle- Lipstick Tubes and S**t Mix

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I'm running short on time... It's Tuesday where we take a look at what's "trending" on E2TG.   By the way, my "New Music" playlist just topped 500 tracks. Which means I have a ton of new and newish music yet to be featured here....  it's a great problem to have - especially since I only add music I dig.