What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

Willin' (Lowell George cover) - Jackson Brown, Lucius, and Greg Leisz

My insomnia playlist for tonight:
Sad Cafe - Every Day Hurts
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn
Mike & The Mechanics - The Living Years
Mike & The Mechanics - Over My Shoulder
Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis
Roxy Music - Midnight Hour
Gary Benson - Don't Throw It All Away
Andrea Ross - Moon River
10CC - I'm Mandy, Fly Me
10CC - I'm Not In Love
Graeme Godley & Lol Creme - Cry
Kate Bush - Babooshka
Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This
Judie Tzuke - Stay With Me 'Til Dawn
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle
Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out
America - Ventura Highway
Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me
Simply Red - Holding Back The Years
Simply Red - Fairground
Billy Ocean - Suddenly
Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
Duffy - Warwick Avenue
Go West - King Of Wishful Thinking
Mr Mister - Broken Wings
Ultravox - Vienna
 
Right now, 600 LB Life is on in the background while I sit and eat Chinese takeout.
It's a thing I do with my kids. We get fast food and watch this show.
 
Now we're watching Hoarders. I think we're making up for the 5 or 6 years that we didn't have tv.
Haven't listened to any music in a few days, which is really strange because I love music.

I'm thinking about getting rid of our tv service. All we have is hulu that we pay 99 cents a month for and youtube tv which is way more than that sadly because I am a junkie for forensic type shows.
 
My insomnia playlist for tonight:
Sad Cafe - Every Day Hurts
Justin Hayward - Forever Autumn
Mike & The Mechanics - The Living Years
Mike & The Mechanics - Over My Shoulder
Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis
Roxy Music - Midnight Hour
Gary Benson - Don't Throw It All Away
Andrea Ross - Moon River
10CC - I'm Mandy, Fly Me
10CC - I'm Not In Love
Graeme Godley & Lol Creme - Cry
Kate Bush - Babooshka
Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This
Judie Tzuke - Stay With Me 'Til Dawn
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle
Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out
America - Ventura Highway
Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me
Simply Red - Holding Back The Years
Simply Red - Fairground
Billy Ocean - Suddenly
Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
Duffy - Warwick Avenue
Go West - King Of Wishful Thinking
Mr Mister - Broken Wings
Ultravox - Vienna

That's a slick selection. Hats off.

I can't compete with that right now. Writing fantasy calls for a very specific kind of music, thus:

Grand Magus - Iron Will (album)
https://youtu.be/DCWbFwF9Uyk
 
I've just survived the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. Now I am enjoying the silence.

Apart from a very few oddities, ESC has no music which interests me, but the show, the pomp and the self-aggrandization is off the charts and something to behold. Also, it's a huge piece of schadenfreude to see my native country, Germany, crash and burn most of the time. The song this year, "Sister" by a hastily cast girl duo called *sigh* S!sters, deservedly landed on a very generous third-to-last place. The ladies had no chemistry, one of them was extremely unpleasant on the ears and the song itself, structurally and lyrically, was a mess, wildly oscillating between minimalist electropop in the verses with huge rise and drop and a kitschy musical-style refrain even Andrew Lloyd Webber would toss in the bin. *shudders*

I *did* like some tunes this year though. Australia's "No Gravity" was a nice Kate Bush hommage, with a mind-boggling stage presentation to boot. Iceland's Frankie Goes To Hollywood meets Jimmy Sommerville meets Marilyn Manson hot mess was pretty amazing and Norway's "Spirit in the Sky" could only have been better if they had exchanged the backing track for something with something Pagan Metal. And hot effin' damn, that French singer... I wouldn't mind him sending me nudes :)

A special mention goes out to freaking Madonna. She was the big celebrity guest star this year - and something went horribly wrong during her live rendition of "Like A Prayer." Probably an issue with her in-ear monitors, but she totally butchered her song before launching into her latest single which made me wonder WTF was that. One of the most distinct pop voices, completely garbled through autotune, with an irrelevant duet partner who sounded even worse. I think it's time Madonna moved to Florida and hung up her mike. One thing I had to hand it to her though - her plastic surgeon and make up crew did an amazing job. She didn't look 60, despite her ugly cyber-viking-pirate outfit.

Now, the big issue I had with the whole show. The usual ESC message of "universal peace, love and happiness, inclusion and mindless fun" rang incredibly hollow since the whole affair took place in Israel which is very unpeaceful and horribly non-inclusive in regards to their closest neighbors. Maybe the attendants could switch off their brains for that evening, but every time the "we love each other SOOOOO much" card was played, my wife and I only sighed and added "except for the Palestinians, right?"

There is a good case to be made to separate politics from events like the ESC, but it simply doesn't work that way. Ukraine boycotted the event over the still raging hostilities with Russia, and let's face it - the moment an event is built around the idea "which country has the best thing", nationalism, favoritism and all the other ugly -isms raise their head. If it truly were only and only about the best song, nationality would not be an issue. And given how many mercenary artists and songwriters worked on the show, maybe the concept should see a thorough reworking. My pet peeve still is the "Big 5" rule, which offers special protection to the founding nations of Eurovision, so no matter how often and how badly they mess up each and every year, they don't have to qualify. That rule has to go. I want to see decent songs from Germany, not some high-level, written-by-committee message bullshit like this year's horrendous non-song. Along with North-Macedonia and Greece, Germany's had the worst "hook". Lets face it - when you can't fuck or dance to a pop song, it's not a song, it's bullshit.

And that's metal head me saying that.
 
My insomnia playlist for tonight:
Sad Cafe - Every Day Hurts
...
Ultravox - Vienna

Sauerkraut 'n Solar Energy - Norman Blake / Jethro Burns / Sam Bush / Vassar Clements / Dave Holland / Butch Robins / Tut Taylor

I thought about posting a playlist of the songs I quote in my stories, but ... nah. It's kind of a long playlist.
 
Sisters of Mercy - Leonard Cohen

I Am Easy To Find - The National

Sisters Of Mercy, the Leonard Cohen cover by Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris, is cued up next, along with the rest of that wonderful album.
 
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