Need Music for a Road Trip?

"You let me change lanes, when I was driving in my car..."

Michael Duva, Getty Images

 

My wife Anna and I were packing last night for a small road trip we're taking this weekend. She got busy loading up all the essentials, like clothes, food, first aid kit, etc.

I decided it was my job to get together another big essential for the trip -- the music. As I rifled through my collection, I realized that Saturday is Valentine's Day so I asked Anna what she wanted to hear. Turns out she's not so into hardcore rap or techno when she's in the car. She prefers something a little more relaxing to put her in a good mood and take her mind off the traffic.

So now I'm making her a mixtape for the road trip with some songs that not only calm you down, but also might restore your faith in humanity...both on and off the road.

Here are the first five songs on my new anti-road-rage mix.

1) Whoever You Are
Geggy Tah

2) Instant Karma
John Lennon

3) Kind and Generous
Natalie Merchant

4) Float On
Modest Mouse

5) I Can See Clearly Now
Johnny Nash

Happy Valentine's Day. Hope it's a good one.

12:41 PM ET | 02-13-2009 | permalink

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What Music Would Rob Listen to on Hanukkah?

Tonight my wife and I lit candles for the third night of Hanukkah, something we have always enjoyed doing, even more so now that we are sharing the experience with our new daughter. We've eaten our fill of gourmet latkes (thanks to a great recipe from cookbook author Joan Nathan). And even though our baby is still a little too young to play, we even took out the dreidls and let her watch us spin them around. The one tradition I haven't been as eager to pass on is listening to cheesy Hanukkah music. If you're wondering what this sounds like, this parody says it all:

Luckily, there have been a whole slew of Jewish bands making contemporary music that's much easier to listen to. Groups like The LeeVees and Good For the Jews are helping to reshape what Hanukkah sounds like. I interviewed Jacob Harris the founder of the Jewish music label JDub Records about this last year; he had some interesting things to say about the evolution of Hanukkah music.

This year I'm inspired to look beyond the confines of music made just for Hanukkah. Today on Tell Me More I talked to Cheryl Corley about the great secular music out there made by Jews. Some of my favorites are Herb Alpert, Guster and Sammy Davis Jr.

I also mentioned that Jews can even take pride in some popular Christmas tunes because a fair number of them were written by members of the Tribe; this includes "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin. Here's a more extensive list of Christmas songs written by Jews, in case you're interested.

Happy Holidays!

8:14 PM ET | 12-23-2008 | permalink

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Gavin Rossdale: Rocker Daddy

Today I'm interviewing Gavin Rossdale, formerly of the band Bush, known for their guitar-heavy hits like Machinehead. These days, Rossdale has gone solo, and perhaps a little less gritty, with his new album Wanderlust that includes a pretty cool rock ballad called "Love Remains the Same."

But while comebacks always make for good interviews, what I'm going to be speaking to him about is music that's appropriate for kids. Rossdale and his also famous wife Gwen Stefani (of the band No Doubt) recently gave birth to their second son, Zuma. Their first son, Kingston, is two years older than Zuma. I'll be asking Rossdale what kind of music a "cool" dad plays for their kids? I'm wondering if they play their kids any of their own music. Surely the No Doubt song "Hey Baby" is on their kids' playlist.

According to People Magazine, one thing Rossdale hasn't done yet is follow in the footsteps of other musicians who have written songs for their kids. Rockers who have done this include Paul Simon with his song Father and Daughter, Stevie Wonder with his song Isn't She Lovely?, and Paul McCartney with his song 222, which is dedicated to his four-year-old daughter, Beatrice Milly.

4:00 PM ET | 11-10-2008 | permalink

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Can I Still Like Michael Jackson?

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Okay, so I was thinking more about my mix tape list of falsetto singers and how I declined to include Michael Jackson. While it's great to celebrate the former king of pop (who just turned 50 BTW), I ultimately didn't include him because, as a new dad, I find the way he invited children over to sleep in bed with him to be creepy, at best -- criminal, at worst.

But does that mean "Billy Jean" is still not a great song or that you should deny that it's an even cooler video? What about his work when he was even younger, like "Human Nature?" Surely he wasn't doing anything weird back then (that we know of). I mean, I can still enjoy The Jackson 5, right? When listening to that great song "ABC" that's so catchy, should I feel guilty about what he did later as an adult? He was just a kid when he sang that, so I think that should probably still be kosher.

What about that Gary Glitter song "Rock and Roll Part 2"? It's a known fact that he's a convicted paedophile, but sometimes that one side of my brain that's very aware of that forgets to tell the other side that gets the song stuck in my head. I find myself tapping along to catchy tunes such as these -- but should I separate the song from what the singer does in their personal life?

When thinking about this topic, the band Milli Vanilli comes to mind as well.

Now I clearly remember a time back in elementary school when a sizable contingent of my class saw Milli Vanilli in concert and said they had an amazing time. But when it came out that they were frauds, it wasn't just Rob and Fab who became big losers, but their song ""Blame it on the Rain" took a hit as well. Hey, I slowed danced to that song! Nowadays, you almost never hear it on the radio, which is a shame.

This really goes to a larger idea of whether it's possible to like a piece of art, but have issues with the artist.

Continue reading "Can I Still Like Michael Jackson?" »

9:46 PM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink

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