Mental Nomad Podcast 145: The Agony and the Ecstasy and the Music

Here's another show where I don't really do any talking, again in a similar chill mood to last week's episode but with some bluesy and jazzy diversions.

Here's what you'll hear today (right-click to download or open in a new tab or window):

Dala: "Levi Blues"
46bliss: "In a Long Time (Hon Chillout Remix)"
Sufirumi (Lee Abramson): "The Rose Is Gone"
Ithamara Koorax and Juarez Moreira: "Bim Bom"
William Brooks: "A Misdemeanor or Two"
Sufirumi: "The Agony and the Ecstasy"
Greg Spero: "The Way You Look Tonight"
46bliss: "8 O'Clock Train (Jay Brannan Remix)"
Deborah Boily: "French Medley: Mon Homme/Ne Me Quitte Pas/Comme D'Habitude"
Sufirumi: "Beauty of the Heart"
Ithamara Koorax and Juarez Moreira: "Minha Saudade"
Dala: "Levi Blues (AM Transistor Remix)"

(Total play time: 1:01:52)

Tracks 1-2, 8 and 12 are courtesy of Ariel Publicity; tracks 3, 6 and 10 are played by arrangement with the artist; tracks 4, 9 and 11 are courtesy of the IODA Promonet and may be downloaded below; track 5 is courtesy of Magnatune; and track 7 comes from Music Alley.

Sufirumi is guided by the same musician who appeared in Mental Nomad Podcast 137 under the moniker Ace NoFace, a Michigan musician composing and producing his work with one finger while living with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease). For the recordings under the name Sufirumi -- inspired by the Persian poet Rumi, at least lyrically -- he enlisted his physical therapist to provide female vocals against an electronica background.

(Dancing Mattress Productions humbly asks you to consider making a donation to the ALS Association if your resources allow.)

Ithamara Koorax, Juarez Moreira
"Bim Bom" (mp3)
from "Bim Bom - The Complete João Gilberto Songbook"
(Motema Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album



Deborah Boily
"French Medley: Mon Homme / Ne Me Quittes Pas / Comme D'Habitude" (mp3)
from "Thank You For The Music"
(LML Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album



Ithamara Koorax, Juarez Moreira
"Minha Saudade" (mp3)
from "Bim Bom - The Complete João Gilberto Songbook"
(Motema Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Bizarro Files: 25 November 2009

Today is Independence Day in Suriname (since 1975), National Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Famous folks born on this date include: Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán (1920-2009); American actress Noel Neill (born 1920); science fiction writer Poul Anderson (1926-2001); singer Percy Sledge (born 1941); artist Patrick Nagel (1945-1984); actor John Larroquette (born 1947); Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole (born 1963); American singer Mark Lanegan (who has worked with Screaming Trees and the Gutter Twins and Twilight Singers as well as solo recordings, born 1964); Scottish actor Dougray Scott (1965); Canadian actress twins Jill Hennessy and Jacqueline Hennessy (born 1968); American actress Christina Applegate (born 1971); and actress Katie Cassidy (born 1986).

Prominent people who died on this date include: American journalist, politician and writer Upton Sinclair (1878-1968); British singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948-1974); and American comic actor Flip Wilson (1933-1998).

Events and No. 1 songs on this date:

The Agatha Christie murder mystery play The Mousetrap opened at London's Ambassadors Theatre on this day in 1952 and would become the longest continuously running play in history.

Old-school chart-toppers in the U.S.: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" by Harry MacDonough and the Haydn Quartet (1908); "You Made Me Love You, I Didn't Want to Do It" by Al Jolson (1913); "Over There" by Nora Bayes (1917); "There's a Rainbow Round My Shoulder" by Al Jolson (1928); "Three Little Words" by Duke Ellington (1930); "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" by Bing Crosby (1932); "Red Sails in the Sunset" by Guy Lombardo (1935); "Pennies from Heaven" by Bing Crosby (1936); "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller (1941); "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955); "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley (1956); "To Know Him Is to Love Him" by The Teddy Bears (1958); "Are You Lonesome Tonight" by Elvis Presley (1960); and "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean (1961).

President John F. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery this day in 1963.

London's famed Harrods department store closed to the public on this day in 1965 to allow The Beatles to do their Christmas shopping in peace.

The double album The Beatles -- aka The White Album -- was released in the United States on this day in 1968. It spent 101 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at No. 1.

More No. 1 singles in the U.S.: "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las (1964); "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock (1967); "Love Child" by Diana Ross and The Supremes (1968); "Come Together/Something" by The Beatles (1969); "Top of the World" by The Carpenters (1973).

"Fly, Robin, Fly" by The Silver Connection topped the U.S. singles chart on this day in 1975, so no, Quentin Tarantino didn't just make up that song title and band name for Steven Wright's DJ character to read off on the radio in Reservoir Dogs (in case you were wondering).

The Band -- or at least its classic lineup -- made its final performance on this day in 1976, at a guest-packed concert called "The Last Waltz."

The Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" was recorded by 36 top musicians 25 years ago today in a Notting Hill studio to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief.

Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin topped the U.S. singles chart with the duet "Separate Lives" on this day in 1985.

Nadirs of Western Civilization Dept.: Twenty years ago today, Milli Vanilli's "Blame It on the Rain" started a two-week stay atop the U.S. singles chart, while New Kids on the Block hit No. 1 in the U.K. with "You Got It (The Right Stuff)." (Note the lack of links to these.)

Other No. 1 singles on this date: "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" by P.M. Dawn (1991); "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men (1994); "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" by Whitney Houston (1995, from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack); and "Run It!" by Chris Brown (2005, though Ye Olde Podcaster never heard of the guy until he beat up Rihanna -- whom he'd heard of but has still never, to his knowledge, actually heard sing, and again, note the lack of a link to buy this creep's music).

Sources for stuff I didn't just make up: Wikipedia, This Day in Music.com, JoshHosler.biz.