A rare move for me, I'm posting this mix before I've had a chance to listen to it from beginning to end. I had to remove Bill Withers' cover of "Let It Be" due to length constraints, but this mix is relatively representative of the kind of time I've been having lately. It's all over the place.

1) James Taylor - Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me
2) The Hollies - Jesus Was a Crossmaker
3) Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun
4) Mickey & Sylvia - Love is Strange
5) Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness
6) John Prine - Angel from Montgomery
7) Neil Young & The Band - Helpless (Live at the Last Waltz)
8) Townes Van Zandt - My Proud Mountains
9) Kathleen Edwards - Away
10) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - It'll All Work Out
11) Hem - Night Like a River
12) Low - Nowhere Man
13) Josh Ritter - Kathleen
14) Josh Ritter - Snow is Gone
15) The Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See
16) I Nine - Same in Any Language
17) Jon Brion - Strings That Tie to You (It's in there. Trust me.)
18) Leonard Cohen - Sisters of Mercy
19) Solomon Burke - Cry to Me
20) Rachael Yamagata - Jesus Was a Crossmaker
21) Elton John - Ballad of a Well-Known Gun

I suppose it's impossible to miss that my mixes take their inspiration from films, friends, and funk (Don't ask about that last one).

This week, I'd like to thank two pretty terrible movies: Elizabethtown and Dirty Dancing. Don't get me wrong: I love D Squared. I love it only for its soundtrack and imagery. Elizabethtown's only redeeming quality is the ten or so seconds of the lush landscape of the heartland which steal away from the over-indulgent amount of screen time given to the face of Mr. Orlando Bloom, a Kentucky native, I believe. Oh that, and the twelve dozen or so "Dad Rock" songs Cameron Crowe manages to elbow into each of his films. I'm a sucker for dad rock, and this film which tries to be about fathers and sons - apparently, among other things - delves deep into many of the dad rock trappings: Tom Petty, early Elton John, and of course The Concretes.

I'm kidding, of course, but then again, so is this movie. Right? This was just some silly inside joke on the part of Crowe and his cronies as if to say, "Watch this.... No really! Ha, ha! We're going to convince you guys this is actually our second sub-par follow-up to Almost Famous, and you're going to buy tickets. And the movie will blow chunks, and then we'll all sit around, drinking Ale 8 One, and have a hard, heartful laugh." I'm still waitin' on the beverage, Crowe. You owe me.

As for my friends: Erin and Mike are to thank for a few of these selections. Both are a constant source of amusement. Erin seems to think that Mandy Moore and I have similar taste in music. Admittedly, I check the iTunes "Celebrity Playlists" every Tuesday. I was impressed with Miss Moore's selections. She seems to be rather level-headed lately, considering.... As for Michael, some people just have good taste. Monsieur Tres Simple is one such person. Merci, Mike.

Until next time, a bien tot.