Party Music

Last summer, I posted a dance party playlist that had been evolving for a number of years. It continues to evolve. But tomorrow night, I am having a non-dance party. Well, I can't really make any promises. If too many alcoholic beverages are consumed, you never know what could happen. BUT I'm not planning on it. This is more of a chill, happy hour sort of party. Just because it's not dance music, though, doesn't mean I want boring music. Sure most of it will go unnoticed, but song-picking is what I like to do... So I used this as a chance to make a 3+ hour playlist that is a mix between upbeat stuff I might play at the start of a dance party and my usual radio playlist. I miss my radio shows, so making this list was fulfilling in some ways.

I decided to post the playlist since I can't pass on my music choices via radio anymore.

1. Jenny Owen Youngs - If I Didn't Know

2. Regina Spektor - Eet

3. Andrew Bird - Ten-You-Us

4. Bowerbirds - Northern Lights

5. Eskimo And Sons - No Shit

6. Here We Go Magic - Fangela

7. Harlem Shakes - Winter Water

8. Palomar - Bury Me Closer

9. Beck - Walls

10. Blur - Coffee & TV

11. Talking Heads - (Nothing But) Flowers

12. Coconut Records - Wires

13. Boy Least Likely To - Faith (Cover)

14. Fol Chen - Please John, You're Killing Me

15. Metric - Sick Muse

16. Beirut - My Night with the Prostitute From Marseille

17. Ladyhawke - Magic

18. Ladytron - Burning Up

19. School of Seven Bells - Iamundernodisguise

20. Jonathan Johansson - En Hand I Himlen

21. Self - Pattycake

22. Lykke Li - Little Bit

23. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Swimming Pools

24. Feist - 1234

25. Yeasayer - Tightrope

26. The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

27. Wilco - Heave Metal Drummer

28. James - Laid

29. Delta Spirit - People C'mon

30. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - 40 Day Dream

31. David Bowie - Queen Bitch

32. Wolf Parade - Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts

33. Handsome Furs - Legal Tender

34. Mates of State - For the Actor

35. A.C. Newman - Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer

36. Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls

37. Phoenix - 1901

38. MGMT - Kids

39. Hot Chip - Over and Over

40. Junior Boys - In the Morning

41. The Knife - Heartbeats

42. Gossip - Heavy Cross

43. Florence and The Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)

44. TV On The Radio - Golden Age

45. Passion Pit - Cuddle Fuddle

46. The Bird & The Bee - My Love

47. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Is This Love?

48. Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends

49. The Ting Tings - Great DJ

50. Cansei de Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above

51. Islands - Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone

52. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion

53. Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

54. Animal Collective - Lion in a Coma

55. Starfucker - Medicine

56. Architecture in Helsinki - Debbie

57. Justice - DANCE

58. Spank Rock - Bump

59. Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You

Music

Most recent musical obsession:

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below: This is such an awesome album. I had never heard of them until a friend mentioned the band in passing and then invited me to see them live a few days later. Since then, whenever iTunes is on shuffle and one of these songs pops up, I am instantly reminded of how much I love this band. The energy is amazing. In concert, they have such a fun presence, as if it's just a big party on stage - one that I would have loved to be a part of. One that I sort of felt I was a part of because of the ease with which the crowd was involved in the live show. A capella moments felt so rich. When an instrument wasn't in use, the band member would just sing and dance and remain completely involved in the music. And the music itself is fabulous. I'm a sucker for full sounds - but even when the instrumentals cut out, the vocals still excite me. If these guys play near you at all, you must see them.

Fashion PSA

White pants should always be lined. Or at the very least worn with flesh-toned underwear. Especially if you're wearing a thong.

Music

I think I said at some point that I had more time to listen to music now. I think that was either a very brief moment or just a lie. Cause I haven't had time... Until tonight. I got new speakers (mine had no bass after a going away party in Oregon - probably fitting for a final dance party to blow out the speakers). And so I have had new music on shuffle for the last few hours. A few quick thoughts:

Bowerbirds - Upper Air: Northern Lights consistently puts me in a good mood. I don't have very strong opinions about the rest of the album, but I could probably listen to that one song for an album-worth of time. Does that count?

Fanfarlo - Resevoir: I hadn't really heard anything about this prior to my listen. So I had no expectations (good or bad) going into it. I had my new music on shuffle and found myself checking to see what band it was when these songs came on. I take that as a good thing.

Gossip - Music for Men: I do not know if this is really "music for men," as I have yet to hear any man's opinion. But a local radio station has been playing Heavy Cross fairly often, and I find myself liking it more and more. Also, it's a nice sort of "reminds me of home" kind of feeling to hear a Portland band on an LA radio station.

There may be more later, as I have a billion other new-to-me albums to get through.

Podcast

I am planning to start a Podcast soon to replace the lack of radio show in my life. I will host it online somewhere and will keep you posted on the location - but in the meantime, I need a name! Help me name my online radio show!!

Dictation

For the first time, I am working in a hospital. When I have written progress notes for therapy before, I just write them as a word document and print it out for the patient's chart. In my last clinic, I sometimes just hand wrote them. But at the hospital, I now get to dictate. I was nervous at first, thinking it would be incredibly complicated and that to make changes I would have to start the dictation over or edit more after the transcription came through. But no. I learned that since an actual human being transcribes our dictations, we can talk to them like a real person.

When I get good at this, I will hopefully just call in and run through a shpeal about a patient, and be done with it. I like to think that I will bore the transcribers when I get to that point. I mean, their job is to sit there and type what I say - so boring. So in the meantime, I hope I'm entertaining them when I make a complete fool of myself by saying, "um, yeah, I don't really know what I was saying right then. Maybe just cut out that last non-sentence sentence." or in a recent note when I mentioned a couple times that a patient was 15-years-old, and then remembered that her birthday was yesterday, so she was now 16. "Oh crap...that should actually be 16-years-old. I guess that should probably change in the first section, too...and anywhere else I said her age." And that doesn't even touch on the first dictation I did, where I got so lost in the middle of it that I said, "ummmm, hold on......[30 seconds of silence before finally just hanging up]" I have no idea what they'll do with that one, since the transcriptions haven't shown up for me to sign yet.

Until I get better at this, the people doing transcription will think I am either the most entertaining person doing dictation or the most annoying...

Thriller

My roommate and I went to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tonight for their weekly summer movies - tonight's was Jaws in celebration of the 4th of July (when Jaws takes place). Before the movie started, they had DJs playing music, and just when it was finally dark out, right before movie-time, the DJ started playing Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough." People suddenly stood up and start dancing, prompted in part by an enthusiastic Ethan Embry who was in the crowd and started yelling for people to dance. That song was followed up, of course, by "Thriller." I can't possibly explain how surreal it was to be in the Hollywood Cemetery at night dancing to "Thriller" with hundreds of other people just over a week after MJ's death. And then there were fireworks...

Pictures didn't turn out very well because it was dark, but I posted some below anyway. Ethan Embry is in the blue baseball hat.