Phil’s Faves: Songs, June 2, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of June 2, 2013

1. Last Date—George Bedard
2. Riven Man—Crime & The City Solution
3. Sare Kon Kon—Antibalas
4. Possum—Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights
5. Whip It—Drazy Hoops
6. I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra—Paul McCartney
7. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban
8. Ships With Sails—The Doors
9. When the Music’s Over—The Doors
10. Love Addict—Jessica Dayle
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, June 2, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the Week of June 2, 2013

1. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, & Keith Urban
2. Radioactive—Imagine Dragons
3. Troublemaker—Olly Murs and Flo Rida
4. Boys Round Here—Blake Shelton
5. Mama’s Broken Heart—Miranda Lambert
6. #Beautiful—Mariah Carey and Miguel
7. Jump Right In—Zac Brown Band
8. Gone, Gone, Gone—Phillip Phillips
9. Get Your Shine On—Florida Georgia Line
10. Lego House (Lego Version)—Ed Sheeran

1) “Highway Don’t Care”—An amazing song and video from Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Keth Urban! This video should be shown in all driver’s education classes!
2) “Radioactive”—I guess I just like the silliness of the puppets in Imagine Dragons’ warped video!
3) “Troublemaker”—For some reason, I still like Olly Murs’ video!

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“Q” Bombs: June 2, 2013

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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Icona Pop and Charli XCX made it to the bottom and appear to have a long run in them. ODWITS!!!
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Worst Videos for the week of June 2, 2013

1. I Love It—Icona Pop with Charli XCX
2. Lego House—Ed Sheeran
3. I Drive Your Truck—Lee Brice
4. 1994—Jason Aldean
5. Downtown—Lady Antebellum
6. Stay—Rihanna with Mikky Echo
7. Heart Attack—Demi Lovato
8. Mirrors—Justin Timberlake
9. Hey Pretty Girl—Kip Moore
10. Blurred Lines—Robin Thicke with T.I. and Pharrell

1) “I Love It”—I HATE IT!!!!!!
2) “Lego House”—Ed Sheeran is smearing the good name of “Lego!” Somebody, please, stop that man!
3) “I Drive Your Truck”—Yeah! Right to the junk yard……….
4) “1994”—Yeah! Take me back there where this Jason Aldean song doesn’t exist…………….
5) “Downtown”—It just doesn’t seem like Lady Antebellum had their heart in this video…………
6) “Stay”—Hopefully, Rihanna and Mikky Echo will only be around for one more week………
7) “Heart Attack”—I was hoping Demi Lovato would have made a quick exit, but since she decided to hang around, I finally got tired of the video, and here she is………….
8) “Mirror”—Justin Timberlake’s video could use a little smoke so I don’t have to see it………
9) “Hey Little Girl”—You have to give Kip Moore some props! He keeps hanging on……….
10) “Blurred Lines”—Some of the lines in Robin Thicke’s video look pretty good. But what a boring song……………………….
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Phil’s Faves: Songs, May 26, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of May 26, 2013

1. Riven Man—Crime & The City Solution
2. Last Date—George Bedard
3. I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra—Paul McCartney
4. Possum—Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights
5. Whip It—Drazy Hoops
6. Sare Kon Kon—Antibalas
7. Green Hills of Tyrol—Andy Stewart
8. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban
9. Love Addict—Jessica Dayle
10. Sweet Sue—Terry Collins
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, May 26, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the Week of May 26, 2013

1. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, & Keith Urban
2. Boys Round Here—Blake Shelton
3. Mama’s Broken Heart—Miranda Lambert
4. Radioactive—Imagine Dragons
5. Troublemaker—Olly Murs
6. Pirate Flag—Kenny Chesney
7. 22—Taylor Swift
8. Gone, Gone, Gone—Phillip Phillips
9. Get Your Shine On—Florida Georgia Line
10. Like Jesus Does—Eric Church

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“Q” Bombs: May 26, 2013

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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Worst Videos for the week of May 26, 2013

1. Downtown—Lady Antebellum
2. I Love It—Icona Pop with Charli XCX
3. I Drive Your Truck—Lee Brice
4. 1994—Jason Aldean
5. Lego House—Ed Sheeran
6. Stay—Rihanna with Mikky Echo
7. Feel This Moment—Pitbull and Christina Aguilera
8. Wildest Moments—Jessie Ware
9. Hey Pretty Girl—Kip Moore
10. When I Was Your Man—Bruno Mars
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“Bandwagon”–New Music!!! from Joanie Leeds and The Nightlights

I’ve had a lot of fun over the past few years listening to Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights and their “music for all ages.” Well, a new album is coming out on June 25th, called “Bandwagon,” and to celebrate the occasion, the band is releasing 14 videos every other day in June. Here is a fun DIY take on the album’s title track. (I am going to have so much fun with this stuff!!!):

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, May 19, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of May 19, 2013

1. Riven Man—Crime & The City Solution
2. Last Date—George Bedard
3. Red Dress—Matthew Morgan & The Lost Brigade
4. I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra—Paul McCartney
5. Possum—Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights
6. Fossil Fuel—Roy Scoutz
7. If I Didn’t Have You—Thompson Square
8. Judge & Jury–Hatchetmen
9. Whip It—Drazy Hoops
10. Love Addict—Jessica Dayle
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, May 19, 2013

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the Week of May 19, 2013

1. Mama’s Broken Heart—Miranda Lambert
2. 22—Taylor Swift
3. Radioactive—Imagine Dragons
4. Troublemaker—Olly Murs and Flo Rida
5. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, & Keith Urban
6. Pirate Flag—Kenny Chesney
7. Like Jesus Does—Eric Church
8. Gone, Gone, Gone—Phillip Phillips
9. Get Your Shine On—Florida Georgia Line
10. Boys Round Here—Blake Shelton

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Jimmy Fallon, Weird Al, Ray Manzarek, and The Doors

With the recent passing of The Doors’ keyboard player Ray Manzarek, it made me think about The Doors and their continuing popularity. Most of it has to do with the incredible music that they created. But this is a particularly interesting year because of the fascination with lead singer Jim Morrison, who would have turned seventy (70!!!) had he lived. So these are some of my recent favorite Doors’ impersonations:

First up, is the incredible “reincarnation” of Jimmy Fallon as Morrison. Chris Martin of Coldplay told him that he, “had the gig if he wanted it!”:

Next up is a pretty good impersonation, not surprisingly, by Weird Al from his most recent “Alapalooza” album! It’s called “Craigslist.” Ray Manzarek played keyboards on it:

Ironically, I ran across this video that Weird Al posted of Ray in the studio working on “Craigslist.’ This is what Weird Al had to say about the experience:

“I had the extreme honor of working with Mr. Ray Manzarek at Jerry Harrison’s Sausalito Sound recording studio in 2009. He played keyboards on my song “Craigslist,” which is a pastiche of The Doors, which of course is the seminal rock group that Ray himself had founded. The Sausalito session was one of the absolute high points of my life — Ray was amazing. This video documents him learning to play “Craigslist” in the studio. R.I.P. Ray.”

And finally, let’s watch the authentic band, on their first Ed Sullivan appearance–the way that most people remember seeing the band for the first time performing “Light My Fire:

So long Ray. You will be missed, but your spiritual beauty will go on forever!

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