And then we came to the end.

As posted previously, we’re moving all of our future posts over to 77 Santas—check in there for regular updates, including the final two posts of The Simpsons.

Indian Dance Music: July 14, 2006 – July 26, 2007

It’s been a fun run here at IDM, but all good things must end, or at least change to a different blog. We’ll keep this one up for the sake of historical record (um, yeah, right). Today, we’re going to end with our first song, after which we were named, and three others. Enjoy, and we hope to see you at the new site.

Jaan Pehechaan Ho – Mohammed Rafi

Add It Up – The Violent Femmes

Blankest Year – Nada Surf

The Thanks I Get – Wilco

The Simpsons Celebration Part Two

Back for another day of Simpsons-centric tunes. One of the many things I love about this show is its ability to explore side-characters. No other television show (with the possible exception of The Wire) manages to introduce the audience to such interesting and complex background characters.

Send In the Clowns – Krusty the Clown and Sideshow Mel
Dan Castellaneta’s masterful performance as Krusty the Clown, with the voice based on WGN’s classic Bozo the Clown, always astounds me. Originally, Homer was to be Krusty—look closely at the characters and you’ll see that Krusty is simply Homer with different hair and face paint. This rendition of Sondheim’s tune comes from the episode “Krusty is Canceled.”

Cash and Cary – Krusty the Clown
A spot-on parody of Johnny Cash’s Folsom performance. This ends with one of my favorite lines from the show.

Krusty the Clown Main Title
Yet another example of Alf Clausen’s brilliant orchestrations on the show.

Quimby Campaign Commercial
During the recent contest for Springfields around the country to win the title as The Simpsons’ hometown, Ted Kennedy showed that he had a good sense of humor about himself in the Springfield, Massachusetts entry. The corrupt Mayor Quimby, so obviously drawn from the Kennedy clan,

Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel!
Part of the brilliant “Twenty-Two Short Films About Springfield” episode, this minute-long segment features everyone’s favorite redneck. In a later episode, we’re posthumously introduced to “smellhound” Geech, one of my very favorite moments from any episode.

Can I Borrow A Feeling? – Kirk Van Houten
Though not all of us went to Gudger College, few people ever could write such an awful song, delivered in a strained off-key.

Our next installment will be focused solely on Homer.

The Simpsons Celebration

Indian Dance Music launched a little over a year ago. It’s been a great ride here—along with PC and SeveredHands, we’ve posted some fantastic songs. But all good things must come to an end. Or at least chance. On Friday, July 27, we’re going to move IDM to the other site we run, 77 Santas. In November and December, 77 Santas will post only Christmas songs (right now, we’re doing a Christmas in July feature), but throughout the rest of the year, we’ll feature the same posts and music as we have been doing on IDM. For whatever reason, 77 Santas receives way more readers than IDM—in fact, we’ve gotten twice the amount of hits in a few days there than IDM receives in over a week.

So bookmark 77 Santas if you haven’t already—we’ll be there on July 27, 2007.

But until then, I want to take IDM out with something near and dear to me—some post about The Simpsons.

The long-awaited Simpsons movie opens on Friday. For me, no other piece of popular culture has been as influential on me. Not only did the humor of writers Matt Groening, John Swartzwelder, Al Jean, George Meyer, Jon Vitti, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, and many, many others influence my own, but the show has generated an endless list of quotations that pop up everyday in my conversation. For many years, I taped every episode, often watching them two or three times throughout the week until a new episode aired.

Okay, okay—I’m going on and on here. There will be more time for that throughout the week. Today, let’s kick things off with a few of the classics from the show. The Simpsons has always featured some of the best music, from Danny Elfman’s seminal theme to Alf Clausen’s wonderful scores to each episode. And of course the musical numbers have also been outstanding. Check out Songs in the Key of Springfield and Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons for more.

The Simpsons Main Title
Perhaps the most perfect theme music for the television show ever, it’s impossible to imagine the show without Danny Elfman’s amazing theme.

Canyonero
The Simpsons has consistently proved itself the most liberal show on television, never shying away from controversial topics. This hilarious advertisement for the SUV Marge buys, perfectly sung by Hank Williams Jr., delivers an apt message about the vehicles.

Hail to Thee, Kamp Krusty
Originally, way back in 1993, the producers considered turning the classic Kamp Krusty episode into a feature length movie. It didn’t pan out, but that episode featured a version of “Hail to Thee, Kamp Krusty.” This version comes from The Yellow Album, a largely forgettable CD (The Simpsons Sing the Blues, anyone? Anyone?) with the cast signing some original songs.

We Do (The Stonecutter’s Song)
If I had to pick a favorite song from the show’s run, this would be in the running to take the top spot.

Flaming Moe’s
A spot-on parody of the Cheers theme song. The Simpsons has constantly had a finger firmly on the pulse of popular culture, from dialogue references to the many film and television parodies.

It Was a Very Good Beer
This one is for PC. “My name was Brian MaGee…”

In A Summer Place

We had a month-long blackout. Looking back, it’s been almost exactly a month since The Sopranos went off the air, so in theory, we could have been in mourning. But that’s not the case—we were just busy. Over at 77 Santa’s, we are preparing a Christmas in July feature that will start around July 21.

Since the Mix CDs I had posted in the past received a kind reaction, I thought a summer mix might be fun. Of course, with my tendency toward excess, I ended up with six CDs. But that’s okay—we all want a long, fun summer, right? For these CDs, I tried to combine that feeling of lazing around on a sunny afternoon in the summertime with that rush of driving on interstate highways with the windows down and the radio blasting. Each CD begins with an instrumental track, something I usually don’t like to do, but just seemed to fit this time around. I found many of these tracks on other blogs, had many in my own collection, and had some mix CDs that PC just gave me for my birthday.

Here’s the complete tracklist to the mixes, along with a few songs that you can download on your own. If there’s anything you’d like added, leave a comment and I’ll do my best.

Enjoy the summer.

Mix 1.

















Lonely Girl – Dorothy Ashby
Learning the Lie – The Hidden Cameras
Vanishing Girl – The Dukes of Stratosphere
Myriad Harbour – The New Pornographers
The Underdog – Spoon
Weapon of Choice – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
My Moon, My Man – Feist
Devil Do – Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs
Young Folks – Peter, Bjorn, and John
Ooh La La – Goldfarb
No Pussy Blues – Grinderman
Big Chair – Travis
Roscoe – Midlake
I Thought You Were My Boyfriend – The Magnetic Fields
Naïve – The Kooks
Master of None – Beach House
Slug Line – John Hiatt
A Girl Like You – The Smithereens
I Want You Back – Hoodoo Gurus
What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths
It Makes No Difference – My Morning Jacket

Mix 2.

















Ecstasy of Gold – Ennio Morricone
Things That Scare Me – Neko Case
Middleman – Bright Eyes
Monty Got A Raw Deal – R.E.M.
Somerville – The Pernice Brothers
Portions for Foxes – Rilo Kiley
30th Century Man – Scott Walker
A House Is Not A Motel – Love
(Antichrist Television Blues) – The Arcade Fire
Laisse Tomber Les Filles – France Gall
Bonnie and Clyde – Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot
Theme From Mean Season – Rench
Baby It’s You – The Smith
The End of Summer – Dar Williams
Half Acre – Hem
One, Two, Three, Four – Feist
Easy to Be Hard – Three Dog Night
Strange Form of Life – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Golden – My Morning Jacket
Hands In Dirty Ground – Great Lake Swimmers
Alex Chilton – The Replacements
Thinking of Suicide – Dr. Frank



Mix 3.












So Long Lonesome – Explosions In the Sky
The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack – The Liars
Tin Soldier – The Small Faces
Beechwood Park – The Zombies
4th of July – X
Deus Ibi Est – Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
I Want to Hear What You Have to Say – The Subways
Summer Evening – Gillian Welch
Stolen Car – Beth Orton
Beautiful Girl – Pete Droge
Bad Reputation – Freedy Johnston
Breathe Me – Sia
Miss You – The Concretes
East of the Sun (West of the Moon) – Jon Rauhouse with Neko Case
Hold On, Hold On – Neko Case
Love Comes to Me – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
When U Love Somebody – Fruit Bats
Wolves – Josh Ritter
Meds – Placebo
Evidently Chickentown – John Cooper Clarke
Love Reign O’er Me – Pearl Jam

Mix 4.














Gassenhauer – Carl Orff
In Ten Years From Now – Bobby Bay
Our Lady In Havana – The Essex Green
City Lights – Husky Rescue
Catch A Collapsing Star – The Mendoza Line
Boys of Melody – The Hidden Cameras
In My Head – The Ballet
Pepper – Butthole Surfers
Woman – Wolfmother
Age of Consent – New Order
Still In Love Song – The Stills
Let’s Get Out of the This Country – Camera Obscura
Can’t Hardly Wait – The Replacements
Paint the Moon – The Czars
Some Kind of Love – The River Detectives
Song for the Fields – Fields
Here Comes A City – The Go-Betweens
Flashback – Another Band
It’s Nothing To Me – Lee Hazelwood
The Golden State – Joe Doe with Kathleen Edwards

Mix 5.













Riot In Thunder Alley – Eddie Beram
Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) – The Hollies
Hush – Deep Purple
I Want to Help You Ann – The Lyres
Heart In A Cage – The Strokes
Happy Kid – Nada Surf
Goddess On a Hiway – Mercury Rev
Behind A Wall of Sleep – The Smithereens
Happy When It Rains – The Jesus and Mary Chain
People Who Died – Jim Carroll Band
That Great Love Sound – The Raveonettes
First of the Gang to Die – Morrissey
Gravity’s Gone – The Drive-by Truckers
Railroad Man – eels
Windowsill – The Arcade Fire
Did I Step On Your Trumpet – Danielson
Sour Girl – Stone Temple Pilots
Heaven Beside You – Alice in Chains
No One Would Riot for Less – Bright Eyes
Running to the Ghost – James Blackshaw

Mix 6.













Carnival of the Animals – Camille Saint-Saens
Long Way Home – Supertramp
Ordinary – The Alternative Routes
I Won’t Let You Down – Travel by Sea
His Majesty Rides – Josh Rouse
Lilian, Egypt – Josh Ritter
Summersong – The Decemberists
The Good Advice – Pete Yorn
The Saints Are Coming – The Skids
Painted By Numbers – The Sounds
Poor Girl – X
You’re All I’ve Got Tonight – The Cars
Wig-Wam Bam – Sweet
State of Love and Trust – Pearl Jam
Tarantula – The Smashing Pumpkins
I Summon You – Spoon
Rag & Bone – The White Stripes
99% -- The Mooney Suzuki
Fireworks – Knoxville
Assholes – The Damnwells
My Rights Versus Yours – The New Pornographers
Dayton, Ohio - 1903 – Randy Newman

Made In America UPDATED! Don't Stop Believing

On Sunday night, HBO will broadcast the final episode of The Sopranos. After 86 episodes, we’ll finally see the fate of Tony’s families—both his decimated mob crew (Paulie Walnuts, a comatose Silvio, and low level guys we barely know still survive) and his tumultuous home crew (a suicidal A.J., a disappointing Meadow, and Carmela, always afraid of what will happen if, as in the opening episode of this season, this “is it”).

Like most great television shows, The Sopranos has had its share of peaks and valleys. The Wire, the finest show ever put on television, remains the only serial show that achieves pure perfection with each episode. However, the first two seasons of The Sopranos are near-perfection. The following seasons, while always engaging and entertaining, lacked a bit of the depth and complexity I had come to expect for the series. Did we really need that long dream sequence? Were we surprised when Ralphie and Tony B. died? In both cases, the answer is no. With the first part of season six, which aired last year, I began to worry that perhaps the show had finally come unglued. Storylines involving a comatose Tony (er, Kevin Finnerty) and a homosexual Vito living it up in New England seemed almost like a different series. Vito could have been a spin-off. Or better yet, what’s become season six, both parts one and two, could have been fifteen phenomenal episodes if show creator David Chase and his writers had done another pass through the typewriter.

Luckily, the second of season six, which has aired over the past eight weeks, has been a welcome return to form for the show. It has matched the level of those first two seasons. After the penultimate episode, featuring perhaps the highest body count in the show’s history, the stakes are clearly set for the final hour. However, I’m willing to bet that David Chase will not take any easy routes. Chase is known for bucking audience expectations and he has certainly filled this season with red herrings—possible Muslim terrorists, dealings with the FBI. Each season of The Sopranos has been about decline—moral, physical, economical. It is a decidedly American story that plays to nearly everyone, not just New Jersey mob bosses. I have no clue how Sunday night’s finale, fittingly titled “Made in America,” ends. I only hope that it is satisfying and surprising, as so much of this show has been. My only prediction: ducks.

In a tribute to Tony and the gang, here are a few tracks featured throughout the series, beginning with the opening credits song.

Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Remix) – A3

It’s Bad You Know – R.L. Burnside

It Was a Very Good Year – Frank Sinatra

Inside of Me – Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul

I Feel Free – Cream

State Trooper – Bruce Springsteen

Complicated Shadows – Elvis Costello & the Attractions

I’ve Tried Everything – The Eurythmics

Every Breath You Take/Theme from Pete Gunn – The Police/Henry Mancini (Mr. Ruggerios’s Mix)

The Captain – Kasey Chambers

My Lover’s Prayer – Otis Redding

Black Books – Nils Lofgren

Frank Sinatra – Cake

Thru and Thru – The Rolling Stones

High Fidelity – Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Living On a Thin Line – The Kinks

Return to Me – Bob Dylan

Make No Mistake – Keith Richards

Space Invader – The Pretenders

Tiny Tears – Tindersticks

Gloria – Van Morrison

Core ‘ngrato – Dominic Chianese

This Magic Moment – Ben E. King

Evidently Chickentown – John Cooper Clarke

Are You Alright? – Lucinda Williams

Running Wild – Tindersticks

Dialogue
“It’s all a big nothing.”

The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore – The Walker Brothers
This is just my guess about what the last song is going to be. Any other predictions?

UPDATE!
For my money, the final five minutes of The Sopranos delivered what may be the best ending to a television show I have ever seen. David Chase gave us no easy answers but did deliver closure to many plotlines. Still, the cut to black at the end apparently frustrated many viewers. Notice the episode title yet again: "Made In America." Does an American audience need their entertainment forcefed down their throats?

Here's how I read the scene: the Italian-looking guy who kept glancing at Tony was The Sopranos version of Michael Corleone. The last we saw of the man, he was walking to the bathroom, just as Michael walked to the bathroom in The Godfather to grab a gun and then murder his dinner partners. The cut to black? Remember that scene in the opening scene of this season when Bobby said that someone getting show probably would never see it coming, wouldn't even hear anything. We didn't, nor did Tony.

However, three of my friends all read the ending differently. I'm not going to disagree with them. I think The Sopranos meant so much to people, they need to draw the conclusion on their own. Take the characters and the show and decide what comes next. Some call that a cop-out but I don't think so. David Chase has trained his audience how to watch this show. When the final moments came, none of us should have been surprised, neither with our own frustration or the show's last act of brilliance.

Don't Stop Believing -- Journey

Live from (insert city here)

Hello there friends. I have been a bad blogger and a bad friend. Forgive me? Good. I've got treats for everyone and I would just like to move this along as quickly as possible. I am officially calling this the Live EP post. I've got three songs from three great acts released on three recent live EPs. I hope you can enjoy and maybe these posts will become a more regular thing....unless, of course, the site were to suffer a stroke. In which, these posts will become less regular. Moving on...

First up: Mr. Josh Ritter. He is my favorite of the singer/songwriter crop right now. His words seem to bleed imagery. I've never been to Idaho, but Josh Ritter makes me feel as though I've lived there my entire life. This song is the lead-off track from his Live at the Record Exchange EP recorded in Boise, Idaho on August 16, 2006. Beautiful song...

Josh Ritter - Peter Killed the Dragon

Second: Pearl Jam. I woud have given a lung and a half to be at this show. A small, independent record shop in Seattle. 200 people there, tops. And the greatest band in the world in a room smaller than some apartments. Wowswers. This is a funky-introed (Ed on guitar, probably) version of "Porch" taken from the Live at Easy Street EP recorded in Seattle, WA on March of 2005 (I think. I can't find the date and I'm too lazy to look it up.)

Pearl Jam - Porch

Finally: What live recording blog entry would be complete without a song from The Hold Steady. Surely, their star is rising and it will not be long until everyone knows that a Hold Steady show is a near-spiritual experience. I saw them two months ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. There might not be a tighter band touring these days....you must see them if possible. This song is taken from their recently released Live at Fingerprints recorded in NYC (again, I think) on October 15, 2006. Enjoy.

The Hold Steady - Cattle and the Creeping Things

OK, that's what I have for today. Hopefully I'll see you again soon. Or not. Totally up to you. Call me?

It Just Doesn't End

Man, oh man. Man oh man oh man. It’s Friday night and what am I going to do? Why, I’m going to blog my fucking brains out. What’s that you ask? How was my week been? Well, it was shittier than the New York City sewer system. Oh sure, sure, things could be worse—I could be immortal or something. You know, I could sit here and write out what sucks. But why would I want to do that? Okay, the brief rundown: My neighbors are having a party and I’d like them to all suffocate, I probably got scammed by a moving company, I can’t get a job in the town that I’m moving to, I have so much stuff to do in the next two weeks, my recent graduate degree is probably worth about $50, and the book that I’ve wrung every last drop of blood into thus far hasn’t gotten much interest in New York. In case you didn’t know, it’s that book part that really just rips the fucking soul out of my body. I’ve been close, but close doesn’t matter.

Just remember:
If something can go wrong, it will.
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Everything takes longer than you think.

That’s Murphy’s Law, my friends. In a past life, I must have been named Murphy. So, while you contemplate the meaningless and disparity of the world and I suppose life, sit back and listen to some music while enjoying my smarmy, self-important commentary.

Nobody’s Fault But My Own – Beck
That is true.

It Makes No Difference – The Band (live, from The Last Waltz)
No, it does not.

Hallelujah/I Know It’s Over – Jeff Buckley (live, from Mystery White Boy)
Christ, it must be bad—I’m bringing out the Buckley!

Late for the Sky – Jackson Browne
Have you heard this fucking album? Surely one of the best of the seventies.

Weeping Wall – David Bowie
Thomas Newman is waiting for his royalty check.

Five Years – David Bowie
Actually, it’s only three years here, but it sure feels like five. Is that good or bad? “Smiling and waving and looking so fine!”

Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide – David Bowie
Time takes a cigarette…

Spirit In the Sky – The Blind Boys of Alabama
The place that’s the best…

Get Me Out of Here – Billy Pilgrim
Please?

Are You Alright? – Lucinda Williams
Nope. But thanks for asking.

Unsuffer Me – Lucinda Williams
Take away the pain. Unbruise, unbloody. Wash away the stain. Anoint my head with your sweet kiss. My joy is dead. I long for bliss. I long for knowledge. Whisper in my ear. Undo my logic, undo my fear. Unsuffer me.

The Book – Sheryl Crow
Oh Jesus, I really can’t think about the book.

House on Fire – The Clientele
I said that I didn’t want to talk about the book.

I See A Darkness – Johnny Cash
Great rendition of Will Oldham’s beautiful song—one of the few pieces of music, no matter the version, that could move me to tears.

Well, you're my friend
And can you see
Many times we've been out drinking
Many times we've shared our thoughts
Did you ever, ever notice, the kind of thoughts I got
Well you know I have a love, for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive, for life I won't let go
But sometimes this opposition, comes rising up in me
This terrible imposition, comes blacking through my mind
And then I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Do you know how much I love you
Cause I'm hoping some day soon
You'll save me from this darkness

The Suicide Life – Eels
…

Railroad Man – Eels
I feel like an old railroad man
Who's really tried the best that he can
To make his life add up to something good
But this engine no longer burns on wood
And I guess I may never understand
The times that I live in
Are not made for a railroad man

Black Eyed Dog – Nick Drake
Growing old and I want to go home.

IDM will be around for a few more days yet. But there are some changes coming. For better or worse, there are some changes coming.