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10 on Tuesday: the music edition

Here's a list of songs that are on constant repeat on my iPod these days. It's a random eclectic mix, but these are the songs I'm enjoying right now for a variety of reasons. Feel free to share your recent favorites with me, too, in the comments section below.

1. Magpie to the Morning, Neko Case -- I just love her voice, and this one just makes me want to sing along.

2. Be Here Now, Ray LaMontagne -- This song is just so fitting for this time of year, although I think it will be even more so in the winter.

3. Wake Up, Arcade Fire -- I keep listening to this as a reminder of Where the Wild Things Are. Love how the music progresses here.

4. Glass, Ingrid Michaelson -- I'm a sucker for a sad song, and this is easily one of my all-time favorites.

5. Rise Up with Fists!, Jenny Lewis -- Thanks to Pamela for introducing me to Jenny Lewis. Hers is another voice I'm in love with right now.

6. An Ocean and a Rock, Lisa Hannigan -- One that has grown on me. Quirky and interesting, and Hannigan's voice is just enchanting.

7. Magick, Ryan Adams -- This sounds like a Neil Young song to me, which reminds me of my dad.

8. Falling or Flying, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals  -- Another good one I came across; gorgeous voice.

9. The Fixer, Pearl Jam -- I'm a fan of anything Pearl Jam. 'Nuff said.

10.Wunderkind, Alanis Morissette -- Another one I keep coming back to. The girls enjoy it too.

weekend playlist

Build a fun playlist for your weekend. Here's how I put mine together:

1. Select a song at random from your music library.
2. Pick one of the words in the title of the song and do a search for other songs containing that word.
3. Select a new song from the list and repeat step 2.

You might want to set a limit on the number of songs you put in your playlist, as this could potentially go on and on and on; that's totally up to you. I usually stick with 20 as a general number.

Here's what I came up with.

Have You Ever, Incubus
Will I Ever Make It Home, Ingram Hill
She's My Ride Home, Blue October
Let It Ride, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Let It Be Me, Ray LaMontagne
Wrong With Me, Ani DiFranco
Something's Always Wrong, Toad the Wet Sprocket
Always in Love, Graham Colton
Closer to Love, Mat Kearney
Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls
Our Finest Year, Better than Ezra
Silent All These Years, Tori Amos
All We Are, Matt Nathanson
We Can Work It Out, Heather Nova
Something I Can Never Have, Nine Inch Nails
There is a Light That Never Goes Out, The Smiths
Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth, Neko Case
Back to the Earth, Rusted Root
Face of the Earth, Days of the New
There's a Face, Eve 6

cover songs

I'm not a huge technogeek, but there are times when advances in technology -- even small things -- can make me really happy. As I've mentioned before, I have to drive a lot for work; most of the schools I work with involve a four-hour round trip each day, which adds up to a lot of time spent in the car.

That adds up to a lot of time spent scanning radio stations in search of something decent to listen to.

But not anymore. Motor pool -- the transportation department at the university where I work -- has a number of cars that feature a cool little bit of technology that makes my commute so much more enjoyable.

Hello Sync, I think I love you.

All I have to do is take the USB cord for my iPhone and plug it right into the USB port on the car's dashboard and voila, I can listen to my iPod during the entire trip, using the car's speaker system and controls. It definitely made my last trip for work (800 miles in 5 days) much more enjoyable.

Since I upgraded to the iPhone, I find myself listening to music much more than I used to. I like that I'm able to take it with me and everything fits in my pocket; I used to listen to CDs in the car, but I hated the storage options and ended up listening to the same one over and over. With my iPhone, though, I'm listening to old favorites and discovering new ones, and that's making me quite happy right now.

When it comes to music, one of the things I love most are cover songs. I think it just rocks when a band I love takes a song I enjoy and covers it, especially in a live show -- it's just so much fun. So I thought I'd put together a little collection of some of my favorite covers for you. Enjoy.


Goldfinger: 99 Red Balloons
A punk version of the 80s classic -- I absolutely love it. Especially when the bass line kicks in.

Ingram Hill: Solsbury Hill and Suspicious Minds
The YouTube versions are all live versions shot with someone's digital camera from the audience, so the quality is quite low. However, if you'll scroll on down, Ingram Hill has a number of great clips where they've covered some fun songs in their studio, like Amy Winehouse's Rehab, Beyonce's Single Ladies, and Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl. These guys are a lot of fun; I've seen them in concert twice and really enjoyed them. They're a young Memphis band, and I'll admit that some (but not all, since I do love the song) of the appeal of the Suspicious Minds cover is watching lead singer Justin get his groove on -- it's minute mark 1:26, if you're interested. *grin*

Graham Colton: No Myth
This is off his newest CD; it came on while I was on the road, and I was just so excited to hear it -- havne't listened to this song in forever. (I couldn't find his version online, so I linked you up to the original Michael Penn version). Graham is a really sweet guy; I have a picture floating around on our home server of me and him taken several years after a concert in Baton Rouge; he opened for Better than Ezra, and I was really impressed with his talent and just how genuinely nice he was.

Better than Ezra: Love is Stronger than Death
This is just a beautiful song -- again, the quality is not perfect, but I love it still. I've seen BTE in concert something like 10 or 12 times, and they always add a few fun covers to their sets. Some of my favorites include Madonna's Don't Tell Me mixed with Outkast's Ms. Jackson, Beck's Debra, and Bill Wither's Use Me.

Rage Against the Machine: Ghost of Tom Joad
I'm a big RATM fan, even though they are radically different from a lot of the other music I love. Just a great song about a character from one of my favorite books.

Jewel: Have a Little Faith in Me
She did this cover for the movie Phenomenon, and I think her version is just beautiful.

Sarah McLachlan: Blackbird
I've enjoyed the entire I am Sam soundtrack, but this song is one of my favorites.

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite cover songs are; I'm always looking for new additions to my list. Leave a comment and let me know!

filling my ears

I've always been a music lover -- it's something that I think just came naturally, since my dad was always so infatuated with music. As I talked about in one of my previous posts, I've never actually been very musical myself, but I appreciate good music (good music...that phrase just made me chuckle out loud, because I know how subjective that description can be!)

I seem to take listening to music in spurts though -- sometimes I'll listen all day at work or while I'm working on my laptop at home, and other times I won't listen to any music for months at a time. Right now, though, I've hit one of those listening modes, and I thought I'd share some of the CDs that are in heavy rotation right now.

Paper Empire, Better Than Ezra
Truly one of my favorite bands. I think their first album, Deluxe, is still one of the best albums ever made, although that's probably more for the memories I have associated with it than for the actual quality. And it doesn't hurt that Kevin Griffin, their lead singer, is still so gorgeous! I've seen these guys in concert close to a dozen times now, and they put on a fantastic show. So excited to hear new stuff from them after several years of solo work and no touring.

Middle Cyclone, Neko Case
This woman has one of the most stunning voices I've ever heard. I came across a clip of her singing "Maybe Sparrow" (my favorite song by her) on dooce.com and was instantly smitten. There's a tinge of Appalachian balladeer in her voice, as well as a tinge of alt-country, and a nice dollop of modern folk.

Blue October, Argue with a Tree (Live)
I love live albums. If I can get a live album by an artist, I'll choose that version any day over a regular studio version. There's an energy, a vibrancy, that live albums contain that you don't get in a studio -- it's the interaction, the give and take, with the crowd that really comes through on good live albums. I love seeing artists live; in fact, that's how I became a fan of Blue October. They opened for Better than Ezra in St. Louis several years ago; I had never heard of them, and wasn't too impressed with what I had heard on their website. But then, when I saw them, several of their songs really caught my attention. I was a fan from that point on, and it makes me so happy to see that more and more people are finding out about their music. I'll warn you -- there's a lot of cursing on this album, and their music is dark, so this isn't for everyone.

What about you -- what are you listening to over and over these days?