Topical Thursday Morning Shuffle - I'm Wide Awake Mix

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Today I'm mostly gonna let my Topical Thursday playlist speak for me.  I will say that the world and history and many Americans are watching.  We are seeing those who are in positions to do something about the corruption and nepotism and dishonesty and... - and who are doing nothing.  Meanwhile, many, many people who are not in positions of power are actively resisting.

Last night, another really excellent night of music at The 5 Spot. Beginning with a full-band set from Adrian + Meredith followed by TV Mike and the Scarecrows (who were fabulous), Quinn Deveaux (who is now local - after leaving LA) also wonderful, and ending with the triumphant return of Buck n Stuff. I even got a shout-out from the stage before they did their version of "A-11", This will likely be the last time I see this band for a while - as 2/3 of the band are headed to Europe next week.  The American Legion recordings are being worked on - so maybe some Buck n Stuff recordings are out on the horizon somewhere.

Well... Nashville is staring down the barrel of some potentially bad storms this afternoon and evening.  But...

Tonight at The 5 Spot. Richie Owens and The Farm Bureau are celebrating 25 years of great music with appearances from the many members over those years.  As an added bonus, The Movement are said to be reuniting to open the show.  The last - and only time I saw The Movement live was Labor Day Weekend 1985, when my friends Boyd and Ron along with a younger guy named Greg drove from Cookeville to Cat's Records on West End (there is a bank or something there now) to see The Movement, Tim Krekel and the Sluggers, and Jason and the Scorchers.  I sure hope the weather cooperates and that I am not huddled in an interior space.

After that show, the Family Wash is to be my destination to see Russell Thompson, Megan Palmer, and Sergio Webb.

Okay - time to move on to the Topical Thursday shuffle.  Usual disclaimers... I have a topic in mind, but I'm not explaining it.  The songs may only fit due to an alternate interpretation of the title, or some loose connection in my mind, or they may explicitly fit the topic.  In all cases, I am not implying in any way the artists/writers/performers share any particular view point.

Also, I think there may be some repeats from previous Thursday shuffles - I refreshed the playlist and may have added some songs back - whatever- they are all good songs and they all still fit the topic. Other than that - enjoy.

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Artistic Freedom Mix

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Monday after a productive weekend of writing...  look for some of that productivity to be posted soon and some later than soon...

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Experience Mix

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Today's shuffle is all about experiences (or at least I've tried to make it so): good, bad, past, and future... Are you experienced?  'Cause I am...

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - E2TG v2.1 Mix

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Guess what....  we have a Shuffle!  It's good to be back and I won't waste any precious time with further commentary on that.  We have a swell list of songs today - so let's get to it.

Pre-Shuffle:

“Vivid”/Rewpart/ ½

“Surrender to the Storm”/Joseph Arthur/Redemption City

“Grey (Under the Sky)”/The Jean Jackets/Field Theory Blues**

“Blood is Not Enough”/Tomas Doncker/Power of the Trinity

“Straight to Hell”/The Clash/5 Studio Album Set (Combat Rock)

“Sing to Me”/The Delta Saints/Death Letter Jubilee

“T.H.M.F.O.T.F.O.T.E.”/Sam Davison/Always Around**

“Don’t Swallow the Cap”/The National/Trouble Will Find Me*

“K’Rar”/ Tomas Doncker/Power of the Trinity

“Do No Harm”/Charles Howl/Charles Howl

“Oh Henry”/The Civil Wars/Bare Bones EP

* - from a annual mix CD by the illustrious DJ Ronnie B.
** - from Mama Coco's Funky Kitchen (more on them below)

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Pure and Noble Breed Mix

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We press on...

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Ziggy, Elvis, and Rex Mix

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January 8th!  E2TG sends out a heartfelt Happy Birthday! to four individuals who helped shaped my musical tastes.  Elvis Presley and David Bowie need to introduction.  Rex Silo and Ron Ruelle were by my side through many of my musical adventures and shows in the late 80s to early 90s. They remain good friends and I hope they will both raise an Old Bru (mentally add umlauts) today.

On to the shuffle which does not include Elvis or Bowie, but in honor of Rex and Ron (and purely by happenstance) does include several artists I know he likes....)

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Waiting For My Man Mix

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Time, Time, Time, see what's become of me...

Last week, I managed to move the overall current stuff playlist to down below 400. I'm planning to add more tunes tonight, so let's make another dent today.

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Chim Chim Mix

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Have to make it quick today.  Nineteen songs in the Mix.  12 in the Bonus Mix and 7 in the daily shuffle.

First,  Nashville band Humming House, who are featured twice in the Bonus Mix today, have just released a video for the first single from their forthcoming album. "Fly On (Forever is Better With You)" is a great song, and the video features the parent's of the band's newest member - Leslie Rodriquez. By the way, her parents happen to be a couple of the coolest people I know. Watch the video, and I think you'll get a glimpse of why I say that.




Now to today's songs

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Keep on Wailin' Mix

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Here we go... it seems like I've been adding more songs every week then I have time to feature. So to help clear the backlog and to feature more songs - I'm going to add a Bonus Mix feature.  And, just like it's better to eat dessert first, so it is better to present the Bonus Mix first...

It all gets going after the leap (jump):......

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - That Day in November Mix

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Lot's of music - let's get to it...

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - A Ordinary Day Mix

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Well, we're still and here and hopefully you are, too. How about some seriously cool tunes to celebrate the continued existence of this world which is clearly broken but still capable of awesome beauty when it puts its mind to it.

 Quick summary of voting in our Band of the Year Poll.  Total Votes: 534

Currently leading: The Disappointment Skeletons in the Piano
Currently 2nd:  Skeletons in the Piano The Disappointment -7
 Currently 3rd: The Great American Novel -31

Voting continues until 11:59:59 on December 30 cause even I am not music nerd enough to be checking results on New Years Eve* 

*okay actually I am, but I don't want you to know that.

 Shuffle after the jump:

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Exclusive Exclustivity Mix

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 Greetings from Nashville.  Back with a long set of music for today's shuffle.  So, no more ado about nothing....

Shuffle will follow the.... Might as well.... Jump!

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Funky-Ass Car Mix

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If you haven't yet, and are eligible to, please vote tomorrow.

We have a whopping six songs in today's shuffle - so let's get to it!


If Rhode Island and Alt-Country don't make much sense to you, then you need to familiarize yourself with Providence band Deer Tick, and it will all become clear.  I, myself, was late coming into the Deer Tick fold, but I've been hooked ever since that first listen.  Today we open up a jam packed music shuffle with the opening song from the band's debut album - War Elephant.  The song is Ashamed. 

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are like an unstoppable force. Their album Here We Rest was one of the best albums of 2011.  This time, we go back a couple of years to the predecessor - the self-titled album was the first to feature the  400 Unit.  Today, we have Soldiers Get Strange.

All Mod Cons by The Jam is consistently one of my favorite albums of all time. It was released thirty-four years ago this past Saturday, and man oh man does it hold up well.  Today we have the second song on the album To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time).

 

Elizabeth Cook was born in Wildwood, Florida.  Today, we have a song from Welder her critically acclaimed Don Was produced album which was released back in 2010. The subject of this song is the Chevy vehicle which helped me to get a letter to the editor published in the original print edition of Film Threat magazine.  In case you weren't aware, the El Camino has appeared in an incredible number of motion pictures over the years. The list is too long to mention, but if you watch movies with an eye out for the car/truck thing, you will begin to notice a trend.  Anyway, Elizabeth Cook's song is really good.

Detroit Rapper Danny Brown released a non-album single earlier this year.  Grown Up has a sweet, nostalgic bent to it.  It's good stuff.

And we close out this long set of music with the opening track off The Plimsouls second album, Everywhere At Once.  Shaky City highlights the band's signature brand of power-pop. 

 

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The New Avett Brothers album, The Carpenter is $5.99 today only at Amazon:


 

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Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Flights of Fancy Mix

Thanks for visiting and reading Ear to the Ground. We know you have a wide choice of music blogs to read, and we are glad you chose to spend some time with us.

There is this moment (at least for me) in blogging when you realize that people other than your immediate circle of friends and acquaintances are reading your posts. This is the moment (at least for me) where everything can come off the rails and an inflated ego can cause me to think I need to say something profound and important. As when people say, that they enjoy my blog or call it "cool" or offer praise of my writing, and I think I better hit a home run with every post or I will lose this admiration.  The truth (at least for me) is that I began writing just what was on my mind - just narrating the stream of thoughts going through my brain. Fortunately, should be ego get out of whack, I have a teen-aged daughter to bring me back to earth.  "Dad, stop talking, my friends are here."


I try and fail not to get to caught up in the Blog Stats so readily available, but it is interesting to see the search streams which get people to my site.  Of course, I can't always tell if they stick around.  These search streams range from the insightful to the strange.  More than one recent visitor got here from the search string "Sad Easter". To my knowledge I did not write about a sad Easter.  Also, there have been (over time) a number of visits via a search for Zombie Apocalypse Music Shuffle (or some variation).  Now, I did have a post which was subtitled Zombie Apocalypse Mix but like many of my posts, the song shuffle associated with that title did not have tangible connection to the subtitle, and so I think maybe those who came here from that search might have been disappointed????


Enough - to today's song shuffle:


San Francisco's The Fresh and Onlys are up first with a newish track called, Do What I Came to Do which is right now available on a free Mexican Summer sampler at Amazon.  The picture above links to that sampler.  Did I mention it's free!

Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks) has a new band called Off! We featured the song Upside Down earlier.  That song is on the first 4 EPs release which you can find above (the album with the Raymond Pettibone cover art.  Today's track, King Kong Brigade is from the forthcoming self-titled first studio album.  You can grab the MP3 of the song over here. Off! will be touring with the reunited Refused this summer.

The music of Always The Light by Band of the Week alums ELIKA continues to amaze and delight me.  We Had it All is the luscious offering in today's shuffle.  Always the Light is on Amazon using the picture above (little girl with the balloon).

And finally, continuing yesterday's cover theme.  We have English Rose a lovely Paul Weller penned ballad originally on the Jam's seminal release All Mod Cons.  We have the classic Jam compilation Snap! linked above.  The cover is by Hull band Everything but the Girl and if off of Ambition Volumes I & II: The History of Cherry Red Records which is linked above also. 

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The Fresh & Onlys The Fresh & Onlys

The Best of Flipside Video, Vol. 1: Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Dickies, Weirdos Two of the best-known and longest-running bands on the Southern California punk scene, the Circle Jerks and Bad Religion, skank up a storm in this video, which combines footage from two live concerts. Bad Religion performs 11 songs, including "Damned to B

The Best of Everything But the Girl The Best of Everything but the Girl is divided between selections from their early records and remixes of '90s hits such as "Missing." Consequently, the album draws a slightly misleading portrait of their career, yet it still functions as an excellent introduction to the band, since it features many of their best songs, including "Apron Strings." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

English Rose (Import) For reasons that no one seems to recall in detail -- but for which we can be grateful -- when it was time to release a second Fleetwood Mac LP in America, producer Mike Vernon and the band didn't just send the existing Mr. Wonderful album across the Atlan