No hit wonder? is a new series dedicated to that one song, the gem, that you love but nobody seems to know anything about and for some unknown reason was never a comercial success. It is amazing that in the late 60's and early 70's (aka The Heyday) there was so much brilliant music being made that some of the most achingly beautiful music went relatively unheard. These days if two people like a song there is a blog, a Facebook page, and a 10 city tour booked... There is a great scene in that movie SCRATCH FREE DOWNLOAD Where DJ Shadow is standing in the basement of a record store surrounded by mountains of vinyl relics, Shadow compares beat digging to picking through the bones in a cemetery: "Buying records keeps you humble, because you're rooting through a graveyard of broken dreams." Well in keeping with that spirit I will share a few of my favorite "broken dreams" and hopefully you'll love them too and maybe you'll spread them around enough that those dreams could be, at least partially, realized.

Johnnie Taylor - "Party Life" from the album "One Step Beyond" on STAX records I was given this record by Juergen from Jazzanova back when we used to produce a lot of shows. He thought I needed it and I think he was right! Johnnie Taylor had some success in his day. Most notably "Who's Making Love?", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968 but those were disco tracks. This track "Party Life" tells the story of a prostitute who after years of living the party life passes away at a pretty young age. The main point of the song is that all of the guys who were presumably her johns really cared for her and mourned her death, yet they didn't want anyone to see them mourning the death of a prostitute. I think he was really trying to say that every life is valuable to someone out there. I played this song in New York at a gig once at the end of the night and this guy in his 40's came up and asked to see the cover and started crying when I showed it to him! He told me that his since deceased Grandma used to play this record all the time around the house and that he hadn't ever heard, or even thought about, it again until I played it and it instantly brought him back... Music blows my head wide open sometimes.

ENJOY!

Elodie Swan Antonia born December 14th at 12:29pm 7lbs 14oz 19.5 inches. Parents Michael & Elizabeth are over the moon!

I was crest fallen when I heard that Little Joy's LA show was going to be on December 8th as our baby's due date was December 10th! Everyone says that first babies are usually late so I waited til the last minute to buy tickets and when Sunday came Elizabeth was feeling fine so we set out for The Troubadour

The Troubadour has played host to everyone from James Taylor, Dylan, Neil Young, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen, to Metallica, GNR, and Radiohead! So Needless to say I was pretty excited even before we got there. I wasn't let down. We got to the show and the head security guy took pity on us (due to wifey's guts) and gave us VIP passes so we would have a seat on the balcony with a perfect view of the show! Little Joy live was everything that I mentioned in the album review I did HERE plus they were cute, charming, and genuinely excited to be playing. I wish more bands would see that it is equally cool to be happy as it is to be pensive on stage!

On a smokey (wildfires) night in LA back in November I grabbed a Tecate tall boy in a paper bag (just like the kids!) and stood on the curb outside the Echo Curio waiting for The Wavves (http://www.myspace.com/WAVVES) to take the "stage" (by stage I mean floor) with my friend Brian. Having only heard 2 or 3 songs before the show I didn't know exactly what to expect so of course I expected the worst! I went in and was instantly reminded of being 17 years old (if you're reading closely you might have said to yourself "He is way too old to be drinking beer on the street waiting for a band", but what the hell do you know?) and travelling between Seattle, Olympia, and Portland, to see bands like Unwound, The Halo Benders, KARP, and Elliot Smith to name a few. Take a tiny space, a crappy sound system, a bunch of kids drinking on the street, oh yeah, and smother it with painfully loud rock and roll and you have the main ingredients for a good ass time. A good ass time that we here at Flashdance have been missing like the brother we never had.

As for THE WAVVES, and especially "I'm So Bored". I haven't been instantly drawn to a track like this since The White Stripes - You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl) which was like 8 years ago? Really? WTF? Anyway, I am really pumped on this song right now! It made the Songs for November cut which can be found HERE and here we are in January and it is still getting nearly daily play! Wifey gets aggravated when I play it, claiming that it is "so loud and obnoxious!" Yesssssssir it is. I'm So Bored (due to be released officially sometime this year on 7inch by THE FADER which will replace the cassette only versions that the band sells) harks back to Nirvana Bleach and has all the hallmarks of a revolutionary early grunge / garage / punk song. A Stooges like drum beat, Beach Boys style vocals, Nirvana-esque guitar and a hell of a lot of weed references is a very good way to get our attention! It is hard to match the intensity of this track. Check it for yourself and let me know what you think! Turn it way up for maximum enjoyment.

I have had a lot of requests lately to post song lists / playlists and while I think it comes off a little corny on all those lame "Wedding DJ websites" I can understand why someone would want to look at the songs I have in mind for the most important dinner party of their life! This is NOT a complete list, it is NOT me bragging about how many records I own, and it is NOT intended to display what I would play at your wedding...It is just a list of artists in no particular order intended to be a starting point to begin the discussion of what you would like to hear (or more importantly NOT hear!). We can add or subtract from here, or you can just use it as inspiration for a cd (or i pod playlist) that you could make yourself.

Here are some of the artists that will make you, your mom, your grandma, and your niece shake your buts...together!

Every month I make a compilation of the songs in heavy rotation at my house. I have been doing this since forever for my friends and I thought I would offer it to you guys as well. Email me your address HERE and I will start sending them to you every month free of charge. Here is what made the cut this month.

1. Simple Man - Graham Nash 2. Unattainable - Little Joy 3. After The Gold Rush - Neil Young 4. Slipped Dissolved and Loosed - Lambchop 5. Don't Make Promises - Tim Hardin 6. Little Bit of Rain - Fred Neil 7. Just One More - George Jones 8. She Came and She Touched Me - Townes Van Zandt 9. Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River 10. You May Be Blue - Vetiver 11. Ride A White Swan - T.Rex 12. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 13. Bat Macumba - Os Mutantes 14. My Favorite Things - John Coltrane 15. Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio 16. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley 17. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Doris Day/Dean Martin 18. American Tune - Paul Simon

There's Trouble Brewin' - Jack Scott

Christmas In Jail - The Youngsters

Santa Claus Blues - Champion Jack Dupree

Country Christmas - Loretta Lynn

Truckin' Trees For Christmas - Red Simpson

I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee

Back Door Santa - Clarence Carter

We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo - Big John Greer

I'd Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas - Hank Thompson

Put The Loot In The Boot, Santa - Mae West

Old Toy Trains - Roger Miller