Raise Your Voice! to support public broadcasting

170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting is a terrible name for an activist group, but at least it's to the point. It also promotes a cause that's very dear to me. And, courtesy of ANTI- Records, they've assembled a great lineup for a compilation you can get free by signing up for the campaign with your e-mail address, which I encourage you to do.

Raise Your Voice! features Tom Waits, Wilco, Lost in the Trees, Neko Case, Dr. Dog and more. The marquee track in my mind is "Progress" by Booker T. Jones featuring Jim James of My Morning Jacket; the video's embedded above. It's apparently from Booker T.'s album The Road from Memphis, which was released earlier this year. Who knew?

If supporting causes isn't your kind of thing, here's a mariachi band serenading a beluga whale.

So many shows, so little time...

Here are some of the show highlights for the week here in NYC (Brooklyn is, as always, representing pretty hardcore):

Tuesday
TV on the Radio @Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn BENEFIT)
Middle Distance Runner @ Union Hall

Wednesday
Miracles of Modern Science @ Union Hall
Bat For Lashes @ Webster Hall - sold out!

Thursday
BLONDIE, PAT BENETAR and THE DONNAS @ Asser Levy/Seaside Park (Seaside Summer Concert Series) - FREE!!!!!!
Tori Amos @ Radio City Music Hall

Friday
Animal Collective @ Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn - BENEFIT)

Saturday
Lights On and Drink Up Buttercup @ Union Hall
Animal Collective @ Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn - BENEFIT)
Xylopholks @ Drom

And no, that is not a typo - Animal Collective is doing TWO benefit shows for Celebrate Brooklyn. Please feel free to comment with NYC shows that you're excited about and even shows in other cities (just be sure to list the city and venue so people can buy tickets if they want to!)

Theme Thursday - Dreams

So I'm going to start something I am going to call Theme Thursdays - an idea I will admit that I kind of stole from the University of Minnesota Radio Station, Radio K. So Theme Thursday is going to work as follows: I'm going to pick a word or a concept and find three songs (or so) that relate somehow - either by title, artist or album.

Today's theme (we're going to start off with an easy one) is Dreams. And I think I'm going to try to hit up a few different decades for this one.

So first we have the 80s classic Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (mp3) by the Eurythmics (iTunes). This song like, IS my childhood and I still love it to this day.

Next we have the 90s hit Dreams (mp3) by The Cranberries (iTunes). Man, some great music came out of the 90s. In fact, we're going to do three 90s songs, because Dreamlover (mp3) by Mariah Carey (iTunes) is another great one. And to represent the later 90s, With You in Your Dreams (mp3) by Hanson (iTunes). Not gonna lie - I didn't appreciate Hanson in the 90s, but I do now. Especially after everything they went through to get their newest album released (I got to see the documentary, Strong Enough to Break, about it and meet them. They gave everyone free CDs and autographed them. Way cool.) Yes, they are indeed Indie now. They left their label. Go Hanson. In fact, the just released a new CD, "The Walk," two days ago. It's pretty good. I think I liked "Underneath" better though.

I kind of want to put up a song by the short-lived girl band Dream, but I will resist... I'm not going to sink that low today. But their songs were pretty hilarious.

And now for this decade, Fever Dream (mp3) by Iron & Wine (iTunes), and Dreams (mp3) by TV on the Radio (iTunes) - who I sadly don't get to see for free on Sunday at McCarren Park Pool because I am going to be in Connecticut... boo...

And let's do one foreign song, since it's such an easy theme: Dreams Come True (mp3), by Korean group SES (iTunes unavailable). And yes, this is the Korean version (though some parts are still in English). I don't like the English version because my favorite part of this song is the rap part toward the end, which was excluded from the English version. It reminds me of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Listen to it. You'll understand.

Ok, happy Theme Thursday! Sorry if I'm a little flaky about posting over the next few days. I've got some craziness coming up. But I will do my best to keep the posts coming. Tata dahlings.