Hello again.

Below you will find a couple of normal-speed (non-slow) mixes, made using two turntables, a mixer & some free audio software.

I’m sure more will be on the way at some point. It’s all very important. If you enjoy these mixes, why not tell a friend?

xdonx

MIX NUMBER ONE:

One morning near the end of December 2008, I woke up at 5.45 & couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up & started playing records. It’s about an hour long; no real theme, just a bunch of songs I like & that may or may not have had some vague relevance to me personally or to the world in general, over the last year (& into the next).

xdonricklesx presents:

STAY AWAKE 2008

a mix for a new day

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6zmikz

Jonathan Richman : You Can have a Cell Phone, That’s OK, But Not Me

Jacques Brel : Le Bourgeois

Tenpole Tudor : Wünderbar

The Dark : Judy [1]

The Sweat : Why’d You Have to Lie?

Jon Astley :  Jane’s Getting Serious [2]

M : That’s the Way the Money Goes [3]

Baccara : Sorry, I’m a Lady

Alicia Bridges : I Like the Night Life (Disco Round)

Shannon : Let the Music Play [4]

Indeep : Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

Falco : Do It Again (Steely Dan)

David Bowie : This Is Not America (from The Falcon & The Snowman) [5]

Willie Nelson : Whiter Shade of Pale (feat. Waylon Jennings)

Elvis Costello : Watching the Detectives

Chuck Mangione : Children of Sanchez

Kenny Loggins : I’m All Right (from Caddyshack)

Suzanne Vega : Stay Awake

Notes:

1. An old-time Boston band. Remember the Channel? (I don’t; it was gone before I got here.) I heard this song on WMBR back in like 1999, then found the 7” the next weekend for .50 cents at Record Hog. (Remember Record Hog?)

2. My new band (name tbd) is doing this song. It’s a lot of fun. Apparently the opening bit was used in a ketchup ad a few years back.

3. The lesser-known single that preceded “Pop Muzik.” Still relevant today, though. “The best times can be the hard times / So spend it while you’ve got it.”

4. I left the little skip in, because it’s vinyl & these things happen. For the purposes of this mix, think of it as the imperfection woven into an otherwise immaculate rug to avoid offending the dude upstairs, who’s the only one who can create perfection. (Which always perplexed me—isn’t the implication, then, that the rug maker actually could have created something perfect, yet chose not to? Isn’t there even more hubris in that contention...?)

5. 5.For my chopped & screwed version of this song, please click the word “here,” here.
   

MIX NUMBER TWO:

This one’s a little less structured, but has a light dusting of theme scattered over it; something to do with stars who sing. & after all, isn’t that what we’re here for?

xdonricklesx presents:

Hang Out the Stars

shine on you crazy

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lrbdvr

Terms of Endearment : My Renoir

Spotlight On! Jack Nicholson : Who is There Among Us Who Knows?

Lynn Anderson : Sunday Morning Coming Down

War : Cisco Kid

Bob Marley & The Wailers : Burnin’ & Lootin’

Stevie Wonder : Have a Talk With God

Duane Eddy : All I Really Want To Do

David Garrick : Dandy [1]

Tom Jones : Wichita Lineman

Spotlight On! Sylvester Stallone : Too Close to Paradise (from Paradise Alley)

Elaine Stritch : The Ladies Who Lunch (from Company)

Clubhouse : Do It Again/Billie Jean [2]

Spotlight On! Phoebe Cates : How Do I Let You Know? (from Private School)

Yazz : Situation

Grace Jones : Pull Up To The Bumper

Julian Cope : East Easy Rider

New Mayfair Dance Orchestra : Hang Out the Stars in Indiana (from Withnail & I)

Notes:

1. If you can guess which British Invasion-era legend wrote this song, you win a cool prize. (There’s a pretty broad hint at the end...)

2. Mashups? Is that what you kids call this stuff nowadays? Oh yeah, we’re all over that. IN 1983, SQUARES!