Happy Holidays / Christmas Playlist

In the spirit of this site’s annual Christmas playlist, my personal playlist is here and below for you all to listen to (because it’s Christmas Eve and I’m too lazy to go through YouTube and put something together/Spotify is easier to stream than YouTube across devices). It’s a massive variety, all with the same holiday sentiment (because it is made for my sister who doesn’t like Christmas music; my dad who believes in the spirit of yule, good tidings, and Elvis for all; my personal affection for belting dumbass tracks like “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” and “Santa Tell Me”; and my grandmother who is super into Hallmark and any song featured in one of their movies. Ever).

A playlist featuring John Legend, Miley Cyrus, Gianni and Sarah, and others

I know that this year’s posts were few and far between, but 2019 will bring far more posts and a possible, super plausible, return to the old writing style (i.e. less formal because who has the time when all I really want to say is “I fucking love everything Samm Henshaw puts out and why are Smith & Thell still such a secret when Soulprints was gorgeous and Telephone Wires is a snapshot of sweet longing?”). Plus, it’s just not fun anymore when you take yourself out of it.

I truly do appreciate every one of you who continued to visit the site and check the Song of the Day while I took time to return to my family’s business and work in an environment that had little to do with technology while playing with crystals and brushing up on my reading and intuition. Music by good people only helped to fuel my connections but it took a lot to put my all into being authentic only to turn around and cut myself out of the equation while writing objectively.

Check out the Christmas playlist, skip and repeat what you may, and look for more posts about good music from kind people in the new year; because there’s always good even if all else seems bleak and music is good at helping you to remember that.

Here’s to very good music, new posts, and a bunch more Mueller indictments in 2019. Cheers and happy holidays!

P.S. Enjoy this photo of my dog in Christmas gear trying to think of a reason not to hate me.

30 Days, 30 Songs - Press Release

Created by writer Dave Eggers and the team that brought you 2012's 90 Days, 90 Reasons, 30 Days, 30 Songs is a daily, evolving playlist. It will feature a mix of new material and unheard tracks by many of our greatest independent musical voices, all of whom want a Trump-free America (Read the project's mission statement HERE).

Beginning today, 30 Days, 30 Songs will release one track per day until Election Day. The collection's first week will feature original compositions by Death Cab for Cutie, Jim James, Aimee Mann, Thao Nguyen, clipping., and Bhi Bhiman. The week also includes a never-before-released live song by R.E.M. 

The project kicks off with "Million Dollar Loan," an original Death Cab for Cutie song accompanied by a lyric video directed by Simian Design. Explains DCfC frontman Ben Gibbard, "Lyrically, 'Million Dollar Loan' deals with a particularly tone deaf moment in Donald Trump's ascent to the Republican nomination. While campaigning in New Hampshire last year, he attempted to cast himself as a self-made man by claiming he built his fortune with just a 'small loan of a million dollars' from his father. Not only has this statement been proven to be wildly untrue, he was so flippant about it. It truly disgusted me. Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he is unworthy of the honor and responsibility of being President of the United States of America, and in no way, shape or form represents what this country truly stands for. He is beneath us".

Future weeks will feature an incredible lineup of artists. Each song will go up at 9 am Pacific time daily on 30days30songs.com as well as via the Spotify and YouTube playlists.

The genesis for 30 Days, 30 Songs began after Eggers, horrified by the Trump campaign, attended a Trump rally in Sacramento for The Guardian. "While the audience was waiting for Trump to appear, I was pretty surprised to hear music by Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Queen," says Eggers. "None of these musicians support Trump, of course, so it occurred to me that this election would benefit from the timely resurrection of the political protest song. From Woody Guthrie to Public Enemy, we know that songs can change minds, and particularly now, we need to motivate voters to stand against bigotry, sexism, hatred and ignorance".  In the weeks that followed, dozens of songwriters were contacted, and those who had the time and inspiration wrote songs for what became 30 Days, 30 Songs.

All proceeds generated by 30 Days, 30 Songs will be donated to the Center for Popular Democracy (CDP) and their efforts to achieve Universal Voter Registration for all Americans (https://cpdaction.org/).

Many more songs - a grand total of 30, to be exact - are set for release over the next few weeks, so continue to go to 30days30songs.com for more...

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