This Way Up

For the next in the "Jamie Rides The Hobo Rails" theme mix series, I bring you a mix based on Up. And no, not Up, the-recent-Pixar-movie-that-everybody-loves-but-nobody-tells-you-is- totally-sad-and-you-have-to-find-this-out-yourself-after-a-really-rough-week-when-all-you- need-is-a-breezy-happy-film-so-you-decide-to-watch-because-it's on-Watch-Instantly-and-15- minutes-in-you-have-to-turn-it-off-because-you're-overwhelmed-by-feelings-of- sadness-about-your-own-mortality-and-inevitable-loneliness-and-not-even-changing-gears- and-turning-on-Richard-Pryor's-The-Toy-can-help-you-shake-it. Just the word "up" in the title. (Also confidential to Pixar - you should be forced to pay for at least one of my therapy sessions.)

This Way Up

1. Desktop - Fired Up (Johnny Headband Remix)
2. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Solly Remix)
3. Girl Talk - Warm It Up
4. Royal Bangs - Waking Up Weird
5. Forest City Lovers - Light You Up
6. The New Pornographers - Up In the Dark
7. The National - Lit Up
8. Johnny Cash - Further On Up The Road
9. Phosphorescent - Pick Up the Tempo
10. Lambchop - Close Up
11. The Theater Fire - Kicking Up the Darkness
12. Ben Kweller - Wake Up Whispering
13. Tom Waits - I Don't Wanna Grow Up
14. BOAT - Illustrate the History -when i grow up-
15. Woods - Pick Up
16. Danielson Famile - We Don't Say Shut Up
17. Ween - Piss Up A Rope
18. Talking Heads - Pulled Up
19. The Cars - Shake It Up
20. YACHT - See A Penny (Pick It Up)

My Hand In Your Hands

Mix #3 in the "Jamie's Got A Long Drive" series. This time the theme is hands. The only thing I regret is that I didn't have a song called, "Wash Your Hands" to include. Because that's something more people should do, and more frequently. A very lazy attempt at tracking down a song by that name led me to Bill Frisell's "Will Jesus Wash The Bloodstains From Your Hands," which, for name alone I would have loved to include. (And for the record, no. No Jesus will probably not.) But seriously, wash your hands.

My Hand In Your Hands

1. Mayer Hawthorne - Held The Hand
2. The Rosebuds - Hold Hands And Fight
3. Richard Buckner - Hand @ The Helm
4. Jolie Holland - Your Big Hands
5. Okkervil River - A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene
6. Bodies Of Water - Here Comes My Hand
7. WHY? - These Hands
8. Victor Mourning - Taste My Hand
9. Bowerbirds - Human Hands
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Right Out Of Your Hand
11. Calexico - Victor Jara's Hands
12. Josh Small - $5 In Hand
13. Crooked Fingers - Boy With (100) Hands
14. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
15. Cotton Mouth - Black Hand
16. Portastatic - On Our Hands
17. Tarnation - The Hand
18. Camera Obscura - Hands Up Baby
19. Swan Lake - A Hand At Dusk
20. Damien Jurado - With Lightning In Your Hands

If you have any suggestions for more mix themes, please leave them in the comments. I will attempt them! And as always, if you want a copy of this mix, let me know - we can trade!

BOO!! Ghost Songs

Theme mix #2 is complete in my series of mixes for Jamie's drive-in commute. I got a few suggestions for this one from D'Anne, but mostly I came up with them my own self. The theme is simple enough: songs with the word "ghost" in the title. I was inspired by the recent Concrete Blonde show, because I didn't expect them to play my favorite song of theirs. Then they did and it was awesome. I am now on a quest to find a karaoke spot in town that has "Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man" in its collection.

Here's how the mix turned out:

BOO!! Ghost Songs

1. Parry Gripp - Ghost Slug Theme (suggested by D'Anne)
2. Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man
3. Mojave 3 - Ghostship Waiting
4. Spoon - The Ghost Of You Lingers
5. Heartless Bastards - Searching For The Ghost
6. The National - Anyone's Ghost
7. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - I'm A Ghost
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost
9. Harlem - Friendly Ghost
10. The White Stripes - Little Ghost
11. Breathe Owl Breathe - Ghost in the Morning Moon (suggested by D'Anne)
12. Patti Smith - Ghost Dance
13. Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks
14. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Natural Ghost
15. Glass Rock - Ghost Of A Dream
16. Stars - The Ghost Of Genova Heights
17. Sea Of Japan - Undead Ghost
18. Trembling Blue Stars - The Ghost Of An Unkissed Kiss
19. Ed Harcourt - The Ghosts Parade
20. Amy Millan - Bruised Ghosts
21. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - The Ghost

If you have a good theme mix suggestion, please leave it in the comments.

Aaaaand ACTION! Songs Related To Movie Films

So now that my girlfriend goes to Plymouth every night for her drive-in movie job, she's got a decent commute - one that I am committed to making more tolerable through a series of mix CDs. But I like a challenge, and asked her to assign me various topics or themes for these mixes. The first one was songs related to the movies. I thought it would be fun to open this up to the many folks I know who are music minded, so I asked for suggestions on my Facespace page. Though only a few of those songs made the end mix, I was really happy to see so many great suggestions and this exercise reaffirmed that I have surrounded myself with people of exquisite taste. I have a list of the left over songs and almost have enough for a second mix - so if you think of any more great movie-related songs, please leave them in the comments. Here's the mix:

Aaaaand ACTION! Songs Related To Movie Films

1. Soda Dog Refreshment Squad - Groovy Time For A Movie Time
2. Thrush Hermit - From the Back of the Film (suggested by John)
3. The Long Blondes - Lust In The Movies
4. HorrorPops - Hitchcock Starlet (suggested by Andrea)
5. Morrissey - Drive-In Saturday (live)
6. St. Vincent - Actor Out Of Work
7. Of Montreal - The Actor's Opprobrium
8. Dubstar - I'm In Love With A German Film Star
9. Belle & Sebastian - Like Dylan in the Movies (BBC Session)
10. Rags & Feathers - Silent Movie Starlets (suggested by D'Anne)
11. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams At The Film Club (suggested by D'Anne)
12. Curtis Eller - Buster Keaton (suggested by Scotter)
13. Lambchop - Steve McQueen
14. The Divine Comedy - When The Lights Go Out All Over Europe (suggested by Ras/Michael)
15. Richard Davies - Why Not Bomb The Movies?
16. Earlimart - The Movies
17. Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
18. April Smith and the Great Picture Show - Movie Loves A Screen
19. The Everly Brothers - Wake Up Little Susie (suggested by Seth)
20. Yo La Tengo - Deeper Into Movies
21. Black Francis - Cinema Star

I would make this one of those fancy mp3 lists that you can go ahead and download and stuff, but I don't want Blogger to shut me down. Because they love to do that apparently. Plus I don't know how! BUT - if you for real want a copy of this mix, I would be happy to make you one. We could trade! It will be like 1998 all over again.

Next challenge? Songs about comics/superheros! Know any good ones? Please leave them in the comments!