I Walked Into a Local Record Store and Asked for an American Music Anthology

(New Pornographers, Myriad Harbour)

I'm about to head out the door to the airport - weekend in NYC. I couldn't be more excited to be spending some time in the City, and seeing my family, although I have seen my family once or twice in the last 5 years, though it has been 5 years since I've really spent any time in the greatest city in the world, so that's really what I'm pumped about.

I'm sure I'll have some sort of report post-trip, but in the meantime, here's another mixtape, New York style. Enjoy, and have a good weekend.

We've Got Solid-State Technology, Tapes on the Floor, and Some Songs We Can't Afford to Play

(Wilco, Red-Eyed & Blue)

So, I started making this mixtape last night, while I was sitting around, bored and watching whatever was on the Food Network, and I started putting together some of the songs I've been listening to lately, and then I realized that it was sort of turning into an "I miss Amanda" mix (she's in Israel right now, for another 2 weeks, in case anybody didn't know), so rather than fighting it, I just embraced it (which is about where Transatlanticism made its appearance). Deal with it. Actually, there's only like maybe one sappy song on there, the rest of it is, if I may, pretty damn good.

And Bait and Bows and Sows and Troughs. I've Coughed Enough and I've Walked As Much.

(Tapes n' Tapes, Just Drums)

I'm a regular reader of Pop Candy, which is USA Today's pop culture blog. Whitney Matheson, the blog's writer, has just about the best job in the world, which is, from what I can gather, to watch TV, listen to music, go to movies, and just surf the web and have fun. And every so often, go do some sort of music or film festival. This is more fun than any human being should be allowed to have, and the rest of us should feel lucky that she shares it with the rest of us, bit by tasty bit.

Her latest offering is Mixwit, where you can create your own mixtape online and post it to your own blog or website, or just email it out to friends. Her first attempt (which is WAY better than mine) is "Lost Candy," featuring music that has appeared on Lost. (She's a junkie for the show as well.) Mine is, well, I'm sure you can figure it out. Just click on the tape to play. And the tape actually plays!!

I have no doubt that this might be a regular feature. Sort of like my own podcast, only, not nearly as cool.