Music time, and I literally have no idea what I want to start the Random Ten with this week.  Not a clue.  So I guess we’ll start with this really, really great song I rediscovered this week by the Crash Test Dummies, who my mom used to make fun of mercilessly, which, you know, not cool, yo.  ”God Shuffled His Feet” is a seriously amazing song and people should recognize.  And then, okay fine, it’s Christmas, fine fine fine.  My favorite Christmas song is “Little Drummer Boy,” hands down, and my two favorite versions come from Josh Groban and from Tori Amos.  Two very, very different takes on the song.  So there you have it, Crash Test Dummies, some Christmas, hit shuffle, listen to songs, find out where we are ten songs later, goodbye.  Ready set go!  More videos after the jump.

N.B. I know our readers are of a lot of faiths or none at all, but if you have a problem with me posting Christmas songs, just know that you’re either supporting Christmas, or you’re part of the War on Christmas!  No, I am kidding.  Goodness, I’m an atheist.  But feel free to post songs that mean something to you this time of the year in the comments and stuff!

I also love Tori’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Totally makes me cry, but you know. So here’s that, too. Then the shuffle.

1. Nine Inch Nails – “Something I Can Never Have”
2. Aimee Mann – “She Really Wants You”
3. Annuals – “Hot Night Hounds”
4. Leonard Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles – 8. Nachspiel (Postlude)
5. The Cinematic Orchestra ft. Fontella Bass – “Breathe”
6. Jill Sobule – “Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart”
7. Joan Osborne – “Dracula Moon”
8. RENT, Original Broadway Cast – “Halloween”
9. Lucinda Williams – “Blue”
10. Katie Herzig – “Shovel”

Yay, Katie Herzig again! Seriously, she’s one of my favorite discoveries of the past year. Also remember, just because I don’t post all the videos doesn’t mean the links above aren’t awesome. I’m talking about the Annuals song, and the Nine Inch Nails song [that one's Christmassy], and the Lucinda Williams song.

(Read More)

Short week!  The big news, of course, once again, is that we at Truth Wins Out are, again, heartily applauding the Southern Poverty Law Center for their wise decision to include the Family Research Council and the American Family Association among their newly updated list of American anti-gay hate groups.  Those organizations, as well as all the others on the list, have earned every bit of it.  If you’re interested in other things that happened this week that you might have missed, you know, scroll down and read stuff.

Cutting out of here for the holiday, so here is your Late Friday Random Ten, on Wednesday. This week we’re starting with one of my all time favorite songs, Patty Griffin’s “Nobody’s Crying.” It just seems right for some reason. Dunno. If you don’t know it, it’s truly a special song. And then after that, Tony Award-winning actress/singer Sutton Foster [Thoroughly Modern Millie, and quite a few other things] recorded her own version, and I love it too, for completely different reasons. Sutton’s is one of those voices which could be accurately described as “perfect,” and it’s a voice I’ve been familiar with for many, many years. So Patty, Sutton, then we hit shuffle on the iTunes machine and see where we are ten songs later, then we leave, then we eat turkey, The End. See you all next week unless I happen to pop in for some reason or another!  More videos after le jump…

Sutton Foster – “Nobody’s Cryin’”

1. Depeche Mode – “But Not Tonight”
2. Sean Bones ft. Norah Jones – “Turn Them”
3. Blitzen Trapper – “Heaven and Earth”
4. Low – “Violent Past”
5. Annuals – “Always Do”
6. Tori Amos – “Little Earthquakes”
7. Billy Corgan & Mike Garson – “Reflect (Gray)/Of Sine Waves”
8. Jill Sobule – “Living Color”
9. David Byrne & Fatboy Slim feat. Sharon Jones – “Dancing Together”
10. Ben Folds – “Belinda” [lyrics by author Nick Hornby]

N.B. Look for Sutton Foster in February when the revival of Anything Goes opens on Broadway.  She will, of course, be playing Reno Sweeney.

(Read More)

The song I’m starting the shuffle with is “Sore” by Annuals, simply because it’s truly one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in months.  The only tangential relationship it has with anything that’s gone on this week is that I moved this week, and I am Still Sore.  So, here, introduce yourself to an amazing band while I try to get rid of this pain in my aching, elderly back. If you listen to the words and watch the video and tear up a little bit, then you are normal.

More songs/videos after the jump.

1. Thom Yorke – “Atoms for Peace”
2. The Drifters – “Save the Last Dance for Me”
3. Fever Ray – “Now’s the Only Time I Know”
4. Band of Horses – “Blue Beard”
5. The Sundays – “Here’s Where The Story Ends”
6. Jamie Lidell – “Compass”
7. Sarah McLachlan – “Time”
8. New Kids on the Block – “Hangin’ Tough” (Shut up.)
9. Wilson Phillips – “Reason to Believe” (Continue to shut up.)
10. Tori Amos – “Flying Dutchman”

A less honest blogger would have pretended #’s 8 and 9 weren’t there and skipped them, but no, that is not how I am.

Seriously though, one of my favorite things to do, when the weather is nice and I have somebody in the car with me (when I am cruising with my bros in my Trans Am), is to crank “Hangin’ Tough” as high as it will go at stoplights. If the people in the car next to you laugh and start dancing and singing along, you know that they have a sense of humor about life, and that they are fun people. If they start exchanging condescending looks with each other and saying, “Oh muh guh, Jennifer,” then they are obviously unworthy.

Okay, videos:

(Read More)