Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-14-22

by with No Comment Uncategorized

Today’s playlist celebrates the October 14 birthdays of The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward, Usher, Cliff Richard, The Chicks’ Natalie Maines, All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis, Nazareth’s Dan McCafferty, Bill Justis, Thomas Dolby, Robert Parker, Karyn White, and Omar; and the October 15 birthdays of The Jacksons’ Tito Jackson, The Orb’s Alex Paterson, Carpenters’ Richard Carpenter, Jessie Ware, Barry McGuire, The Bad Plus’s Reid Anderson, Ginuwine, The Dead Milkmen’s Joe Genaro, Marv Johnson, and Chris DeBurgh.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter

Follow me on Instagram

It’s Moby’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

by with One Comment playlists

On September 11 I was living in New York City, two miles from where the Twin Towers stood. I remember voting that morning, as it was Primary Election Day. I remember walking to work. I remember my boss coming in to my office to tell me the towers are falling and I should go home. I remember how crowded yet quiet the sidewalks were. I remember spending the rest of the day sitting on my bed crying. I remember thinking about dinner. I don’t know how to cook. I usually ordered in or went out. I regained some composure around 8 PM. I opened my apartment door to find the hallway full of smoke. A neighbor down the hall saw me and yelled “The building’s on fire. The fire department is here.” I went back inside. The only food I kept in my apartment was a can of soup for emergency colds. That night for dinner I had a can of soup.

I remember a lot more details about that day and the days that followed. I still cry when I think about them.

On September 12 I had dinner with my friend Jesse. As the police would not allow anyone below 14th Street who didn’t live in that area, as Jesse did, he came to my place on 16th Street. We figured we’d see if any restaurants in Chelsea were open.

Not only were almost all restaurants along Eighth Avenue open, they were packed. Music was playing. People were laughing. That may sound strange to people not there, but amidst all the horrendousness, amidst the postings of missing people that started to cover all available wall space, amidst the stench that worked its way uptown and permeated our neighborhood, people were celebrating life and friendship.

I’ll never forget what my city was like on September 11. I’ll never forget that night of September 12 either. Life is fleeting. Take advantage of being alive. Celebrate.

Every Friday Tunes du Jour celebrates life with a dance playlist. We kick off this week’s party with Moby, who turns 50 years old today.


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

Ringo + Björk

It’s Björk’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

“I think everyone’s bisexual to some degree or another; it’s just a question of whether or not you choose to recognize it and embrace it. Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream. You’d be daft not to try both when there are so many different flavors.”
– Björk, Diva Magazine, October 2004

I love cake, but I prefer ice cream. I’m not into vanilla – it’s too…vanilla. I’ll eat it if there are no other options, but I prefer chocolate. I could eat a big dish of chocolate ice cream every night and never tire of it.

However, my favorite flavor is chocolate chip mint. Everything is better with a hint of mint. Chocolate and mint together? If one has that at home there is no reason to ever leave the house.

Dulce de leche is next on my list. Mmm mmm. That sweet caramel makes my tongue so damn happy! Throw a little hot fudge and whipped cream on top and it’s the perfect late night snack to enjoy before dozing off to sleep.

While I prefer ice cream, I enjoy going to a good bakery to check out the cakes. As with ice cream, I love the chocolate cakes. (“Chocolate Cake,” by the way, is the title of an underrated song by Crowded House.)

I like many cakes, but I don’t care for fruity ones. I’m not referring to fruitcake. I have no idea what a fruitcake is; it’s something I’ve heard used as a punchline on Christmas specials, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered one in real life. I’m referring to cakes that have jelly in them, or strawberries or anything else that may be construed as healthy. It’s a friggin’ cake! Don’t be getting your healthy fruits mixed up in my cake. A banana is welcome, but that’s it. Chocolate and banana is a combination I love. Add a hint of mint and I’m all set.

Ringo + Björk
Today Björk turns 49 years old. Celebrate with some cake and ice cream. Our weekly dance party kicks off with her first post-Sugarcubes single, “Human Behaviour.”

Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!

doggies + Gwen 2014-07-18 11.34

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Gwen Stefani, the lead singer and lyricist of the band No Doubt, wanted to do a dance-oriented solo album, but when the band finished its Rock Steady tour in November 2002, all she wanted to do was sleep. “I wanted to take a break and was really burned out, but the record company were ready to go.” Her label, Interscope, wanted her to work on her solo album with singer-songwriter Linda Perry, who was available for only five days.

Without the time to recharge, Stefani’s anxieties about doing the record rose to the surface and she spent a lot of time crying in bed. She’d been with the guys in No Doubt for seventeen years at that point; could she do a record without them?

On their second day in the studio together, Perry presented Stefani with the music of a song she stayed up the previous night to write. Stefani was to come up with lyrics, and she took the speed with which Perry came up with the song as a dare, as if to ask her “What are you waiting for?”

That was the inspiration Stefani needed. She wrote the lyrics to “What You Waiting For?,” addressing her fears about doing the record, her lack of inspiration, and the pressure the felt her label was putting on her. The song opens with Stefani referencing her bandmates and their years together – “What an amazing time / What a family/ How did the years go by?/ Now it’s only me.” Then the repeated background vocals of “tick tock” suggest the clock is ticking and she needs to get to work on this solo venture. Her nervous side sings “I’m worried if I go it alone,” to which her confident persona responds “You never know, it could be great” and “Take a chance, you might grow.”

“What You Waiting For?” was the first single released from Stefani’s first solo venture, Love, Angel, Music, Baby. The album sold seven million copies worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Hit singles from the album were “Hollaback Girl,” “Rich Girl,” “Cool” and “Luxurious.”

Of the experience making the record, Stefani said “I think it’s very important to put yourself in a situation that’s uncomfortable to be able to grow.”

Is there something you wish to do but have not yet started to tackle? What you waiting for?
doggies + Gwen 2014-07-18 11.34

Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. We kick off this week’s party with Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?”

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Our weekly dance party kicks off with the Beatmasters’ remix of Moby’s “Everytime You Touch Me,” a track that appears in its original form on Moby’s third studio album, Everything Is Wrong. Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A-; The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it 4 stars.

Get your groove on. I’ll be back Sunday with part one of my top tracks of 2013 list.