The September 2020 Playlist: I Happen to Like New York
As I sit here writing this, alone, in the middle of one of the scariest periods in our lifetime, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
The June/July 2020 Spotify Playlist
I had the June playlist ready to publish on the first of the month and completely forgot about it. But, alas, here it is, with a lot of extra to make up for it. Enjoy.
The January 2019 Spotify Playlist
It’s a new year, but it’s the same approach to the music selections: an eclectic mix of the esoteric and the accessible.
The October 2018 Spotify Playlist
To make up for the fact that I haven’t posted a playlist in months, I packed this one with more songs than usual. Along with a few of my favorites from Aretha, I included songs by artists introduced to me by my friend Steve Lippman, who passed away in August.
The August 2017 Spotify Playlist: Atomic Blonde
A glorious nostalgia overload for any Generation Xer.
The March 2017 Playlist: ’80s R&B
Between 1980 and 1990, I aged from ten to twenty years old. The ’80s were the years I was most keenly tuned into radio and MTV, which was all we had back then. (I didn’t get into the alternative scene until I got to college.)
Much of what I loved in my teens was the R&B dance/pop music coming out then. I was a closet disco queen, which was unusual for a white boy in a very white suburb. And much of the music I was attracted to came from black artists, with some of the music appearing on Top-40 charts while some of it was slightly more esoteric, only to be heard on Cleveland’s “black” station WZAK, which was my favorite at the time. And I was a freak for the stuff coming out of Minneapolis from Prince’s little purple/paisley universe.
Dearly Beloved… Prince is on Spotify
The music of one of the greatest recording artists of all time and one of my personal favorites is finally on Spotify.
The February 2017 Playlist
My apologies for the late arrival of this month’s playlist, but it’s here at long last. While it’s the usual genre/decade mess, there are some choice love-themed Valentine’s Day selections, like Dorothy Ashby’s gorgeous 1968 arrangement of “Come Live With Me” from Valley of the Dolls, the beautiful “Simple Song #3” from Paolo Sorrentino’s exquisite film Youth, and “Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun” by Mink Stole. Enjoy.
November 2016 Playlist
The November 2016 Spotify playlist is up! While the last few playlists have had themes to them (“Rocktober” and “The Get Down”), this one is back to the original formula, which is no formula. It’s a happy three and a half hour mix of genres and eras, including tracks from Burt Bacharach, Drake, Bette Midler, Massive Attack, Tom Jones, Michael Kiwanuka, Radiohead, Dusty Springfield and many more. Enjoy!!