NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
CALEXICO . . . . . Black Heart . . . . . Feast of Wire
GRIZZLY BEAR . . . . . Fine For Now . . . . . Veckatimest
JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS . . . . . Temporary People . . . . . Temporary People
RICHARD BUCKNER . . . . . Spell . . . . . Meadow
EXENE CERVENKA . . . . . Sound Of Coming Down . . . . . Somewhere Gone
CLEM SNIDE . . . . . With All My Heart . . . . . Hungry Bird
NEKO CASE . . . . . Vengeance Is Sleeping . . . . . Middle Cyclone

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE . . . . . Cortez The Killer . . . . . Weld (2 disc set)
THE DECEMBERISTS . . . . . After The Bombs . . . . . Causes 2
JOSH RITTER . . . . . Girl In The War . . . . . Animal Years
THE IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION . . . . . Broken Parakeet Blues . . . . . We Belong to the Staggering Evening
STEVE EARLE . . . . . Ashes To Ashes . . . . . Jerusalem

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG . . . . . IRM . . . . . Irm
THE MODERN LOVERS . . . . . Hospital . . . . . The Modern Lovers
BOB DYLAN . . . . . Lovesick . . . . . Time Out of Mind
THE CLIMAX BLUES BAND . . . . . You Make Me Sick . . . . . Rich Man
RAY CHARLES . . . . . Unchain My Heart . . . . . Genius! - The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection
SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS . . . . . Giving Up . . . . . Daptone Gold
DIONNE WARWICK . . . . . Don’t Make Me Over . . . . . The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her All-Time Greatest Hits
DAN PENN . . . . . I’m Your Puppet . . . . . Do Right Man
ELVIS COSTELLO . . . . . My All-Time Doll . . . . . Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . Midnight Rambler . . . . . Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!
PAUL WESTERBERG . . . . . Drop Them Gloves . . . . . PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys (Amazon.com Exclusive)
LITTLE WALTER . . . . . Boom, Boom Out Go The Lights . . . . . Blues Masters, Vol. 6: Blues Originals
AL KOOPER & MIKE BLOOMFIELD . . . . . That’s All Right . . . . . Live Adventures Of Michael Bloomfield & Al Kooper
ELVIS PRESLEY . . . . . I Wanna Play House With You . . . . . Elvis: The First Live Recordings
SPOON . . . . . Well-Alright . . . . . Dark Was the Night
THE CLASH . . . . . Brand New Cadillac . . . . . London Calling
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN . . . . . Pink Cadillac . . . . . Tracks (4CD)
THE BLASTERS . . . . . Long White Cadillac . . . . . Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings (1981-1985)

This program was the first to air after I saw Neko Case and Calexico in concert out here in Northern NJ. There was a bit of controversry with Neko's portion of the proceedings, as she cut her set short and didn't come back for an encore. The cause was consecutive electric shocks she received from her microphone while performing "Polar Nettles," which seemed to pull the plug on he enthusiasm for performing from that point forward. It didn't seem to affect her singing or the other members of her band, but you got the sense she didn't want to be up there near that mic any longer. So while I enjoyed her set, it was disappointing to find set lists from other shows on this tour and realize some of the tunes that were left out, which includes the one that closed this opener. Ah well, such is life. As for Calexico, it was just Joey Burns and John Convertino (except for a couple of tracks when they were joined by two members of Neko's band), but they were terrific. The tune that began today's show sounded much different coming from a duo, but it still knocked me out. In between we heard tracks from Grizzly Bear, Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts, Richard Buckner, Exene Cervenka and Clem Snide that traveled from the dislocation felt in the Calexico tune to the memories of a fractured relationship in the Neko Case track.

Calexico included a haunting cover of an old Neil Young favorite in their set; here we heard it in a live version that goes back to around 1990 featuring Neil with Crazy Horse. It is both amazing and sad to realize that at least as far back as the 1500's, when Cortez arrived in Mexico and slaughtered the Aztecs, humans have been consistently engaged in battle somewhere on this planet with fatal consequences for untold numbers of victims. The tunes from the Decemberists, Josh Ritter, the Ike Reilly Assassination and Steve Earle that followed in this set reflect each artists' reaction to the terrible toll that war inflicts on human civilization.

This section began with the title track from Charlotte Gainsbourg's upcoming disc, which if you read it backwards is the acronym for a test you might undergo in the hospital, say, after having a cerebral hemorrhage. Of course, that's what happened to Charlotte a little over two years ago, and on this new record she's reflecting back on that life-changing event. We followed that track with an old one from the Modern Lovers, and then it was Bob Dylan followed by the Climax Blues Band carrying us further into that special kind of sickness that love and romance can inspire. From there we heard Ray Charles begging to be set free, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings surrendering, Dionne Warwick pleading to maintain her sense of self, Dan Penn acknowledging the futility of of it all and Elvis Costello unable to shake free of what the memories.

The Rolling Stones have released another version of their 1970 live album, considered by many to be the best concert disc ever—and you can count me among them. But considering the tight money situation these days, I don't think I'll be springing for this new package, even though it contains the entire Madison Square Garden show from 1969, including opening acts B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. The news did inspire me to pull out the original disc for the tune that kicked off this finale, which seemed to flow nicely into one from Paul Westerberg's new EP. The harmonica on both those tracks can be traced back to Little Walter, and from there we moved to Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield with a hot version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's tune, which is still associated by most folks with Elvis Presley. After a very early live performance from the King we moved to a Spoon track that certainly has a rockabilly feel to it. That fed quite well into the Clash followed by Bruce Springsteen and the Blasters, with those three sent out to our friends at General Motors, who announced they would return a portion of the money we gave them earlier this year. It doesn't seem likely that we'll ever see a return on our investment, let alone get all of it back, but at least it's something.

Here's another one from Calexico