iPod 8-Ball Time!

Using iPod Shuffle as your own Magic 8-Ball advisory service is nothing new, but it really never grows old. So I figured while I'm off on my 10-day excursion through the northwestern U.S., I'd give you a little mix of songs courtesy of one run through my Magic iPod 8-Ball.

1. How will this whole economic debacle turn out?
Stand By My Woman - Lenny Kravitz
If this is s'posed to mean I should vote for Sarah Palin, then I'm ignoring it, 'cuz she ain't my woman. I think this means we don't give up on Lady Liberty. Or, um, the governmental oversight required to make sure Lady Liberty doesn't turn into a two-bit whore.

2. How will Islamic terrorists fare in the next few years?
Social Disease - Elton John
If we attack the Middle East with a heavy onslaught of Elton, not even the lure of 10,000 virgins could compel them to attack our great country.


3. My girls. What happens with them and us when they become teens?
Home - Simple Minds
At first glance this song title seems perfectly appropriate, but the song itself is kinda disturbing, and I don't like this game anymore. iPod 8-Ball Lesson #1: Don't ask the iPod 8-Ball questions to which you don't really want to know the answers.

4. Will this trip out West be awesome or what?
All My Life - Foo Fighters
I always thought Grohl was saying "Waking me down," like it was a pun on "Waking me up." But apparently he's saying "Weight keeping me down." Seems like a good song for a trip with six different stops along the way -- "Done and I'm onto the next one."

5. What's going to happen in the next season of LOST... if it ever arrives?
A Little Less "Sixteen Candles," A Little More "Touch Me" - Fall Out Boy
This is Kate telling me to get over her already. I'll never have what Sawyer or Jack have.

6. Who holds the key to Greyskull? Who has the power? Where is He-Man in our hour of need?
Grip Like a Vice (Black Affair Remix) - The Go! Team
Maybe She-Ra is the new He-Man. Sarah Palin might not make a great VP, but she'd make a good She-Ra.


All of the above songs are available online and come from albums worthy of your purchasing consideration. Shop around on iTunes or Amazon.com. Please support your musical artists by buying their albums, especially Elton John. That dude needs more money.

Yeeaargh! My Jack Sparrow Summer Mix

[NOTE: Apologies to all the people who are coming here looking for the music files below. File hosting sites suck, even when you pay them money. At least, the ones to whom we're paying money seem to really really suck. More of my whining on the subject is available.]

As mentioned several times before, the superkewlest side benefit of BOTG is discovering a handful of really awesome music blogs and endless numbers of other blogs worth perusing in the late evening hours when the only sounds in my house come from some other music blog's song files.

So today I post my Best of Other Music Blogs mix, which I have lovingly dubbed my Jack Sparrow Summer Mix. Depending on how much you like the mix, you can choose to believe this mix was inspired by the first, second or third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. All of the songs below were nabbed lovingly from other music blogs. I highly recommend visiting some of the ones we've included in the left column.

But if you could give a flip about reading and only want to steal songs, there's really only one destination for you: The Hype Machine. THM is gold, Jerry! Pure gold! Want to hear a song? Want to hear a particular band? Type in the the name into THM's search feature, and it will search through a shitload of music blogs to find what you're lookin' for! Most of the time it'll find something tasty for you to sample, and you don't even have to read all the crap they write!

(I'm just kidding about that last part. Please read our crap. The music is s'posed to be the dangled carrot that gets you to read us. We're buying your eyes by bribing your ears.)

Enough banter. Enjoy the mix.

1. First Sight - These United States (mp3)
2. The End - Alejandro Escovedo (mp3)
3. Hey Muscles I Love You - Muscles (mp3)
4. The Plot - White Rabbits (mp3)
5. Dark Place - Barton Carroll (mp3)
6. Graveyard Girl - M83 (mp3)
7. When Water Comes to Life - Cloud Cult (mp3)
8. Pot Kettle Black - Tilly + The Wall (mp3)
9. Feel the Love - Cut Copy (mp3)
10. I'm Coming Home - Wild Sweet Orange (mp3)
11. Another Day - Jamie Lidell (mp3)
12. I'm Not Scared - Ladytron (mp3)
13. Run to Your Grave - The Mae Shi (mp3)
14. Windows - N.E.R.D. (mp3)
15. From This Moment On - Poi Dog Pondering (mp3)

Almost all of these artists and their songs can be purchased at either Amazon.com's mp3 site or through iTunes.

Gym Rats

Editorial Note A: Due to technical difficulties, and because a week to God is however the f*#k long God wants it to be, The First-Ever BOTG Jesus Week has been extended to eight days. Unless He tells me to stretch it to nine or ten.

Editorial Note B: By God, we'll get at least the last week's worth of music up and running very soon. Probably by Wednesday (tomorrow) night.

THE FIRST-EVER BOTG JESUS WEEK
(sponsored by Yeungling)

Post #5: Gym Rats

Always Running Home - Paloalto (mp3)
Washed by the Water - Will Hoge (mp3)

I got a mix CD in the mail today from my good buddy Mark. It was the final product of an experiment which went far better -- and cost far more -- than either of us ever would have imagined.

Basically, he sent an email to 19 people in his email circle asking for songs that would perhaps inspire a little more gusto in his exercise routine. The "carrot" he dangled -- probably absent-mindedly, thinking only a couple of us would respond -- was that he would provide all participants with a CD of all his favorites. Mark ended up receiving almost 200 recommended songs, not including entire albums that got plugged by one person or another. I won't go into my theories on why Mark got so many responses, 'cuz all of them involve making fun of him for one reason or another.

What was certain, however, to all who know him was that Mark would obsess over this. He's meta-obsessive. He's never going to stalk Jodie Foster or anything, but his bulldog nature is unwavering, and once he's focused on something -- a person, a competition, a professional goal, a color of M&M -- he's going to bleed that passion dry and then keep squeezing.

Everyone also knew he'd follow through, not just on sending every CDs, but on using the songs for their original purpose -- to boost his obsessive exercising. Although he occasionally falls off the wagon, most of Mark's life has involved a heavy dose of physical exercise. Preferably in a form where he can push himself to an unreasonable zenith. Also preferably in a form where he can burrow into the weak psychology of others.

He's not a Gym Rat, but he is an Exercise Freak.

Exercise Freaks enjoy their rush even alone on an open road, on a basement weight bench, on a solitary mountain trail. Gym Rats require a very specific environment in order to feed their needs. They savor particular machines or benches. They feast off the social aspect, of people constantly buzzing around them, all of their endorphins and hormones bouncing off one another like radio waves. Exercise Freaks need nothing, need no one. Gym Rats need other Gym Rats.

I worry sometimes that, if I was stranded alone on an island, I would lose my religion. I wouldn't lose it all at once. It might even hang out for a while and keep me company, like Wilson the Volleyball. It would help keep me sane at times and even sustain me in those darker moments. I would eat dinner with it and want it by my side even if I gave up all hope.

But eventually, I fear I'd fall asleep and wake up only to discover that my religion had floated away while I slumbered, drifting well beyond my grasp, never to be retrieved.

Some of us, even those whose faith is carefully considered and deeply heartfelt, still need other living creatures around us to help keep that faith strong and reliable.

I'm more of a Jesus Rat than a Jesus Freak.

Will Hoge is a struggling but stubborn musician headquartered in Nashville. He is a touring rock madman who puts on one helluva live show. "Bible vs. Gun" is from his EP America. "Washed by the Water" was first performed at a Nashville concert to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina and was later included in his most recent album, Draw the Curtains.