Under The Influence - Late Night FV

This mix was originally part of my Ladies Night series and mostly consisted of songs from the mid 2010's which I put together around the time I retired. That series was incorporated into my Final Version collection and in the Late Night group.

Elle King and her band in the photo.

Under The Influence - Late Night FV

1. Under The Influence – Elle King, 2015
2. I Never Wear White – Suzanne Vega, 2014
3. Dark Sunglasses – Chrissie Hynde, 2014
4. Back To Black – Amy Winehouse, 2006
5. I Need A Man – Muddy Magnolias, 2016
6. Archie, Marry Me – Alvvays, 2014
7. Deeper Than Love – Colleen Green, 2015
8. Hi-Five – Angel Olsen, 2014
9. She’s Not Me – Jenny Lewis, 2014
10. Nobody To Love – Gaby Moreno, 2016
11. Set Fire To The Rain – Adele, 2011
12. Nothing To No One – Gin Wigmore, 2015
13. Chandelier – Sia, 2014
14. Every Little Thing – Robyn & Royksopp, 2014
15. Mercy – Duffy, 2008
16. I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore – Lucy Dacus, 2016
17. She Turns Me On – Mary Lou Lord, 2015
18. Avant Gardener – Courtney Barnett, 2013
19. Your Best American Girl – Mitski, 2016
20. The Warden – Chelsea Wolfe, 2013
21. Digital Witness – St. Vincent, 2014
22. Could I Be – Sylvan Esso, 2014
23. Emotions and Math – Margaret Glaspy, 2016
24. Are You With Me Now? – Cate Le Bon, 2013

I Could Be So Happy - Reflections FV

I put this mix together about eight years ago as part of my Reflections series and now it is part of my Final Version series. There are a lot of good songs here from around the mid 2010's. It always sounds nice.

I Could Be So Happy - Reflections FV

1. Be So Happy – Heartless Bastards, 2009
2. Misty’s Nightmare 1 & 2 – Father John Misty, 2012
3. Epic – Calexico, 2012
4. Take Me To Church – Hozier, 2014
5. Down By The Water – The Decemberists, 2011
6. Lorelai – Fleet Foxes, 2011
7. Simple Song – The Shins, 2012
8. Born Alone – Wilco, 2014
9. Whole Lotta Losin’ – Monsters of Folk, 2009
10. Red Eyes – The War On Drugs, 2014
11. Dissolve Me – alt-J, 2012
12. The Less I Know The Better – Tame Impala, 2015
13. Ones Who Love You – Alvvays, 2014
14. A Simple Answer – Grizzly Bear, 2012
15. I Don’t Want To Let You Down – Sharon Van Etten, 2015
16. I Just Don’t Understand – Spoon, 2014
17. If I Wanted Someone – Dawes, 2011
18. I Found You – Alabama Shakes, 2012
19. Talking Backwards – Real Estate, 2014
20. Supernova – Ray LaMontagne, 2014
21. Keep In The Dark – Temples, 2014
22. Out In The Way – Beach Fossils & Wild Nothings, 2011
23. Shuggie – Foxygen, 2013

Dinner and Mask Reversal

Today has been another smokey day. I stayed inside all day to avoid that toxic smoke and did put on a mask to get our trash containers from the street. Becky wore a mask to drive over to her studio again today. There is still a constant blast of news stories about the wildfire smoke all over the country and especially in the East coming down from Canada.

We decided to go over to the Steer for dinner tonight. We put on our masks to go outside, kept them on in the car, wore them in the parking lot and took them off when we entered the restaurant. This was a very strange reversal of our mask wearing over the past several years. Instead of being safe outside and wearing a mask indoors we were now suddenly wearing masks outside to be safe and them taking them off when going into a public place indoors.

We did have a very nice dinner this evening with plenty of leftovers for dinner tomorrow night too. Becky ordered a pizza and a caesars salad which we split and I ordered a BBQ pork baguette sandwich along with sweet potato fries. It was a wonderful meal.

I also had a pint of Flower Power IPA from Ithaca Brewery and a Harp's Lager.

Motown Anthologies - Vinyl Spins

Vinyl Spins. Motown Anthologies

I especially loved the Motown songs of the 60's and I went out and bought many singles. I still have that box of 45's. The Motown albums of that time were mostly a couple of hit singles and lots of filler. I did buy many of their annual collection albums with titles like 16 Hits of 1966. The first actual artist album from Motown I got was The Temptations' Cloud Nine in 1969.  Later Motown issued their Anthology series of double albums in the 70's which I loved and went out and systemically purchased as they were released. I have many of them in my collection: The Temptations, The Supremes,  The Four Tops, Martha & The Vandallas, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and Junior Walker & The All Stars. Each anthology album had the same format and layout but with different colors.

Smokey Skies

Today was a very unusual day here in Buffalo and round the East Coast because of the wildfire smoke plume coming down from Canada. We had been seeing some spectacular sunsets over the past week due to the haze in the sky coming from wildfires across the plains of Canada but it wasn't until the fires broke out all over Ontario and Quebec. Yesterday we were smelling smoke all day around the neighborhood. It seemed like someone was having an all day cookout down the street but this was very different. Then today it got much worse. Very bad. The sun was bright red at sunset because of the smoke and haze.

There was a haze everywhere today and that cooking smell became an irritating  stench. As the day went on we saw news stories coming from all up and down the East Coast about how bad the air pollution caused by the fires was affecting the potential health of Americans. New York City and Philadelphia were especially hit bad. Then Washington DC and down into the Carolinas. Everywhere was bad.

We saw people walking their dogs today wearing masks. The person delivering our mail today was wearing a mask. Becky wore a mask going to the studio and to the store. It was weird to take off her mask when she went into the store which was the opposite of what was done over the past few covid years. New York City was especially bad and there were hazardous air quality warnings.

This evening was the first Parkside Wine on Wednesday and the hosts were two of our neighbors behind our backyard. We didn't go. It might have been cancelled or it should have been postponed. I don't think very many people if any at all ventured out in the smoke haze to socialize and drink wine. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be bad again and perhaps for many days more. It somehow seems like the opening to a post apocalyptic movie or novel. We've seen it before where climate change wildfires block out the sun and create havoc around the world. Of course this is just the beginning of fire season. What is to come?

Help Me If You Can - Songs 1965 FV

 

Help me if you can...  The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds, The Animals,  The Fugs and on and on. Such a collection of great songs from albums in my collection released in 1965.

The Beatles in the pic from the movie Help. I remember very well seeing that film at our neighborhood movie theater with a bunch of friends in 1965. 

Help If You Can - Songs 1965 FV

1. Help - The Beatles
2. Help Me Rhonda - The Beach Boys
3. Maggie's Farm - Bob Dylan
4. Shapes Of Things - The Yardbirds
5. What'cha Gonna Do About It - Small Faces
6. It's Just A Little Bit Too Late - The Mindbenders
7. Mystic Eyes - Them
8. Satisfaction - Otis Redding
9. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Pt. 1 - James Brown
10. He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' - The Velvettes
11. Something About You - The Four Tops
12. Nothing But Heartaches - The Supremes
13. It's Growing - The Temptations
14. The Boy From New York City - The Ad Libs
15. Girl Come Running - The Four Seasons
16. Lika A Baby - Len Barry
17. Seventh Son - Johnny Rivers
18. Don't Mess With Bill - The Marvelettes
19. How Sweet It Is - Marvin Gaye
20. Take Me For A Little While - Jackie Ross
21. The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
22. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Brothers
23. It's All Over Now Baby Blue - The Byrds
24. I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
25. It's My Life - The Animals
26. Too Many People - The Leaves
27. A Must To Avoid - Herman's Hermits
28. So What!! - The Lyrics 
29. Slum Goddess - The Fugs
30. Cleo's Mood - Jr. Walker & The All Stars
31. Soul Sauce - Cal Tjader
32. No Matter What Shape - T-Bones
33. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man - The Rolling Stones

Let It Happen - Late Night FV

The Let It Happen mix goes back many years as on of my Late Night mixes. Probably around fifteen years. It was also the title of one of my eight hour long Decade 6 Reflections mega mixes. It has always been a collection of some of my favorite upbeat alternative indie rock songs from that time between around 2010 to 2015. It is of a time and sounds it with that rockin' dance feel but definitely modern sounding.

So now it is part of my Final Version Late Night series of mixes and runs for about an hour and a half.

Let It Happen - Late Night FV

1. Let It Happen – Tame Impala, 2015
2. Midnight City – M83, 2011
3. Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 2009
4. Cult of Love – Dum Dum Girls, 2014
5. 11th Dimension – Julian Casablancas, 2009
6. Last Dance – The Raveonettes, 2009
7. Seasons (Waiting For You) – Future Islands, 2014
8. Rolling In The Deep – Adele, 2011
9. Break The Walls – Fitz & The Tantrums, 2013
10. Gold On The Ceiling – The Black Keys, 2011
11. Electric Feel – MGMT, 2007
12. Love Is The Answer – Aloe Blacc, 2014
13. Love That Girl – Raphael Saadiq, 2008
14. Back Seat Lover – Mayer Hawthorne, 2013
15. Happy – Pharrell Williams, 2014
16. Crazy – Gnarls Barkley, 2006
17. Ooh La La – Goldfrapp, 2012
18. Get Lucky – Daft Punk, 2013
19. Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars, 2014
20. Just Dance – Lady GaGa, 2009
21. After The Disco – Broken Bells, 2014
22. To Dust – Alice Russell, 2013
23. Elevate – St Lucia, 2013

Chilly

We had some really exceptionally hot weather over the past few days and then suddenly it got chilly. Jacket weather after 96 degrees. Now it's in the 50's at night and getting into the 60's during the day. Suddenly. We went for walks with our hoodies on.

It was nice weather to work in the garden.

Lost Together - Reflections FV

This mix goes back about twenty years and was originally posted to the Art of the Mix site around that time. It really hasn't changed very much and the last time I posted it anywhere was in 2017 as part of my Love & Heartache series. Now this is the Final Version and is included in the Reflections FV group.

The first song and title track is a great song from Blue Rodeo and most of the songs following it are in the Americana style of indie rock and includes many of my favorite artists. The music is from the mid to late 1980's, through the 1990's and into the early 2000's and the mix runs for an hour and a half.

Lost Together - Reflections FV

1. Lost Together – Blue Rodeo, 1992
2. I’ll Stand By You – Pretenders, 1994
3. You’re Still Standin’ There – Steve Earle, 1996
4. Still I Long For Your Kiss – Lucinda Williams, 1998
5. I Think I Need A New Heart – The Magnetic Fields, 1999
6. Devil With The Green Eyes – Matthew Sweet, 1993
7. Real Fine Love – John Hiatt, 1990
8. There She Goes – Chris Isaak, 1995
9. If You Don’t Get It At Home – Greg Brown, 1996
10. Turn Around – Whiskeytown, 1997
11. Nobody’s Angel – Nanci Griffith, 1994
12. Baby’s Got New Plans – Alejandro Escovedo, 1993
13. Time To Move On – Tom Petty, 1994
14. Dry My Tears and Move On – Richard Thompson, 1999
15. I Will Not Forget You – Sarah McLachlan, 1991
16. Tougher Than The Rest – Bruce Springsteen, 1987
17. Fourth Of July – Dave Alvin, 1987
18. Misery – BoDeans, 1986
19. A Matter Of Time – Los Lobos, 1984
20. No Love At All - T-Bone Burnette, 1986
21. Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, 1984
22. You Can't Say No Forever - The Go-Betweens, 1988

Miami of the North

Sometimes recently I've heard Buffalo referred to as the Miami of the North. This past week Buffalo has certainly lived up to that name. Today the temperature went up to 96 in our backyard and 92 yesterday. So, yes, it has been really hot. For the past two weeks the temps have been in the mid to high 80's. No rain either. We did have a rather chilly April and rainy early May. The plants have been loving it and the tulips lasted a very long time this year. Once the rains stopped we have been spending a lot of time working in the garden. Then it got brutally hot.

Well, tomorrow the weather should go back to normal. It will be sunny and cool and we expect rather seasonally cool weather for the next couple of weeks. There will be some off and on rain too. Back to normal maybe.

Becky has been out in the garden multiple times a day watering the flowers. She has made several trips to the garden centers and has come home with many flats of flowers. After planting they have all needed constant watering because of the lack of rain.

Today we had the AC on for the first time. Cooled the house down great. Earlier in the week we had the windows open and the fans going. I think this was the earliest we've ever ran the air conditioner. We went out to dinner on Thursday night of this week but avoided the outdoor patio seating because it was so hot. We looked for a nice air conditioned dinning room.

We have been talking about Buffalo as the Miami of the North but it certainly has not been the tropical style of Miami. Just the heat.