Shatner does it again!

There is a WHOLE ALBUM!  Christmas gift alert!

The Holiday Lush

I've always thought this song was incredibly creepy.  Finally, someone embraces it.

YES.

New Girl Talk album.  Whatever, it's magical.  So far.

Bounce that

Song of the day: "As We Enter" by Nas and Damian Marley.  The music section is becoming the only reason I can tolerate listening to the Monocle Weekly.

The once and future Captain

Rounding out a musical Thursday, it's William Shatner singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart".  Listen now, this site takes down songs after a few weeks.

Cover Freak: Randomonium

Appointment with awesome

I was looking for an embeddable video of Rachid Taha's Bonjour (lame video, fun song) and instead found this video for a cover of the Ornella Vanoni song "L'Appuntamento" reminiscent of "Sabotage".



Sanford Co.: Calibro 35 Version of "L'Appuntamento"

Being George

My first exposure to George Plimpton was his brief but hilarious role in "Good Will Hunting", and everything I learned about him subsequent to that suggested that he was The Man.  With graduation season upon us, I think there are few people at transitional moments in their life who would not benefit from hearing the song composed in his honor.

Jonathan Coulton: Thing a Week 23: A Talk with George

Goodbye, afternoon

Build your own animated beatbox arrangement? Yes please.

via Very Short List: Incredibox

All together now

Apologies if this OK Go video isn't new to you, it's too fun not to share.  Maybe it'll give marching band a much needed image revamp?

Singing Saw

Christmas songs performed on saws.  I think listening to the whole album would put a little bit of a damper on your holiday spirit, but it's definitely an interesting break from Bing Crosby.

Merge Records: The Singing Saw at Christmastime

Copy of a copy

I heard a snippet of this song in the movie "East is East" and it's taken years for me to figure out where it came from.  In "East is East", Archie Panjabi is lip syncing the song and dancing in her backyard.  In the original film "Pakeezah", the star Meena Kumari is also lip syncing- the voice is that of playback legend Lata Mangeshkar- and the dance is actually performed by a double because Kumari was ill.

Germany's Shame

Germany wishes we could all just forget about its past enthusiasm for a once charismatic but now discredited figure- David Hasselhoff.  Unfortunately, the nation must continue to confront and atone for its past excesses.


Der Spiegel: Our Bad: Germany Still Looking for Freedom from David Hasselhoff

Back to my home on that old river shore

Maybe it's the influence of my new surroundings, but I heard this song for the first time yesterday and it seemed almost unbearably poignant.

I wish I lived in Antwerp

Sort of a real-life version of what's happening here, from ad broad: "I've posted about flashmobs before. But what makes this stunt in Central Station of Antwerp, Belgium so refreshing was that it wasn't orchestrated by a global brand to push product, but as a promotion for a local TV program looking for a lead in the musical "The Sound of Music." 200 dancers. 2 rehearsals. 4 minutes of delight for early morning commuters."

One man dance-a-thon

Videos of people doing goofy dances are a dime a dozen but I thought this one-of a guy dancing to snippets of his 100 favorite songs- showed impressive planning. Sure, "Where the Hell is Matt?" was shot in slightly more exotic locales; but I think the sight of this kid shaking his moneymaker with amazing vigor in bathrooms, hallways, and what appears to be his parents' living room has its own charm. It's about 10 minutes and you might be tempted to conclude around song #45 that you've seen all there is to see; but I urge you stick with it.

Studio360 blog: Guaranteed to improve your Monday
Ely Kim: Boombox

Music to work by

Since I started working from home I've been listening to KCRW a lot. "Morning Becomes Eclectic" is a bit of a misnomer because on the east coast it airs from 12 to 3 p.m., but this show plays a lot of really fun interesting music that's perfect background when I want to drown out the garbage trucks but my task is too complicated for me to listen to people talking. When I'm working a little bit late I like Evening Music on WNYC, but that's even more narrowly suited to be in background -if I was listening to it in the car there's a chance I'd zone out and drive off the road.

What street is this?

Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele

I'm still getting over my hope hangover from Tuesday's outdoor inauguration adventure. Lots of tea and huddling in my apartment under several wooly layers helps, and "Meet Me in the Garden" by Dent May of Oxford, MS somehow makes me feel like I'm someplace balmy. Should play automatically on his MySpace page.

Two Greats

Kottke.org: Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash - Blue Yodel No. 9