road trip songs

Tomorrow my wife and I are making a quick road trip down to Portland to visit Katie! Inevitably, I always make a road trip mix for the ipod and for one reason or another, these 10 songs usually make the cut (some have "road" themes, others are just fun):

1. The Winner Is - Devotchka & Mychael Danna
~ Pretty much just because it's from Little Miss Sunshine - one of the best road trip movies ever!
2. Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane
3. Many the Miles - Sara Bareilles
4. Beautiful Day - U2
5. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
6. On a High - Duncan Sheik
7. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
8. Catch My Disease - Ben Lee
~ This one really doesn't make any sense, it's just so damn catchy!
9. Love and Memories - O.A.R.
10. Leaving So Soon? - Keane

What are your favorite road trip songs?

Kate Nash video

Happy Tuesday everyone, here's a music video for "Mouthwash" by Kate Nash - isn't she just adorable? Watch out for the sci-fi stage performance a minute in:


Kate Nash - Mouthwash - Kate Nash

Songs about Rain

Following my weather theme I've got going, here are ten songs about our precipitous friend (or fiend?) we call rain. Did you know there is a song called "Sun King" by the Beatles and "Rain King" by Counting Crows (though the latter is a reference to the 1959 novel Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow) - strange coincidence I thought:

1. Rain King - Counting Crows
2. Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby
3. Every Time it Rains - Charlotte Martin
4. Rainy Day - Coldplay
5. Come Rain or Come Shine - Frank Sinatra
6. It's Raining Again - Supertramp
7. Fool in the Rain - Led Zeppelin
8. November Rain - Guns N' Roses (one of my all-time favorites)
9. Who'll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
10. The Rain, the Park and Other Things - The Cowsills

What are your favorite rainy day songs?

Its Raining Again - Supertramp

Songs about the Sun

It's clear skies and sunshine in Spokane today, here are 10 songs about that yellow dwarf we call the Sun:

1. Sunshine - Keane
2. Sundrenched World - Joshua Radin
3. Sunburn - Muse
4. Brighter than Sunshine - Aqualung
5. Listen for the Sun - The Eames Era
6. Island in the Sun - Weezer
7. Sun King - The Beatles
8. California Sun - The Rivieras
9. Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
10. Sunshine - The All-American Rejects

What are your favorite songs about the Sun?

Sunshine - Keane

Erin McCarley vids

A couple videos of Erin McCarley in the studio performing "Sticky-Sweet" and "Blue Suitcase":


Sticky-Sweet - Erin McCarley


Blue Suitcase - Erin McCarley

Also, her website now says she'll be performing in Denver, Colorado, which is still a fair distance from Spokane but it's in the right direction. You can visit Erin's website here or read my original post.

putting the ho in "Jai Ho"

I got that line from my favorite movie blog www.AwardsDaily.com*. They had a post about the Pussycat Dolls doing a rendition of A.R. Rahman's Academy Award-winning song "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. Many film buffs were offended. The music community? Not so much. You can view it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_7AyQpsukM.

* By the by, this is a fantastic blog for you cinephiles out there; it has a great community of smart and devoted bloggers.

Have you heard...

Muse has been around for a while. The British rock trio formed in Teignmouth, Devon, England in 1994. I was first introduced to them back in high school by our pep band's bass player, which is fitting because Muse has soaring, interesting bass parts. Their sound is also characterized by a blend of soft and hard rock elements, intentional feedback, stunning keyboard work and a Radiohead-type sound. They've gained popularity recently with their music being featured in movies like "Twilight" and games like "Guitar Hero". They're not for everyone and all of their music is not for me, but these are a few tracks I love: "Starlight" from Black Holes and Revelations, "Falling Away With You" from Absolution, "Sunburn" from Showbiz and ""New Born" from Origin of Symmetry.

RIYL: Incubus, Interpol, Radiohead, Coldplay, Keane