30 September 2025 - The Lonely Island ft. Michael Bolton - Jack Sparrow

Well, we're up to Connecticut on our list.   

And, yes, I know.  The Lonely Island are from California, largely.   But we're not here to talk about them today.

We're talking about Michael Bolton, and, while I find most of his music to be dreck, this collaboration he did with The Lonely Island is absolutely fantastic.

He did not, however, write the sexy hook.   In fact, it took the group some doing - and eliminating most of the profanities (the Scarface reference near the end couldn't be sanitized). But what came out was a classic weirdly big hit song.  

And by the way, a lot of it was recorded using Skype.   No word on whether or not he was in Westport when he recorded it, but that's where he lives to this day. 

Of course, Michael Bolton isn't known for his club bangers.   He's known for piano-driven ballads, and yeah, he does a solo version of the song.

It kinda works.  

But it almost works better live, with all of them together. Yeah, it's the first part of an Emmy medley, but still.  It's incredible.  How did Michael Bolton make such a quick change?

29 September 2025 - Pixies - U-Mass

OK, maybe I should have done this song instead.  

But I always say, give the people what they want.  

And also, this song is in a live version with the original lineup, and not the studio version.  

Bonus: the performance is FROM Massachusetts. 

By the way, this song is one they still perform, like they did at this performance in Boston this year. 

29 September 2025 - Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

Maine was hard.

Massachusetts?  Probably the easiest choice of the whole list.  You see, I grew up in a town called Enfield, CT.... which is right on the Massachusetts border.  I grew up going to concerts in Northampton and Springfield.... throughout the Pioneer Valley.

And in the valley full of pioneer, a band formed in the 1980s called the Pixies. And I heard them and enjoyed their music.  This was the first song of theirs I heard - it was fuzzy and noisy and weird and deep. 

I have been lucky enough to see the Pixies live.  I saw them in 1991 in Springfield, MA, in a pretty large music hall.

This performance was from the same tour, and it's pretty much exactly as I remember it sounding. 

Even though Kim Deal left to be a full-time Breeder, the Pixies are still around and still touring, and of course they still perform this song.

And it still sounds just as dark and noisy and weird and great as it always has. 

26 September 2025 - Patty Griffin - Little Fire

Maine was one of the hardest states for me to do.  Not a lot of nationally famous musicians have come from Maine.  

Patty Griffin is the anomaly - hailing from Old Town, ME - who has made a name for herself as an excellent folk and gospel singer.   This song is from her 2010 Grammy Award-winning album Downtown Church, and it was literally recorded in a downtown Nashville church.  Written by Griffin, it is an absolutely beautiful song, and no, you don't have to be a believer to believe this song is excellent.

Despite not being the most popular artist, Griffin is held in high regard and is seen as influential.  Here she is on Austin City Limits performing this song with the legendary Emmylou Harris. 

25 September 2025 - Phantogram - Funeral Pyre

New York is a big-ass state.

So yeah.  Here's a second band from New York NOT from New York City.  

Saratoga Springs, in fact. OK, fine, Greenwich, which is closer to Glens Falls - but trust me, they're all close together.

I have had the opportunity to see Phantogram live, and they were spectacular.  That was on their tour supporting their third album, Three, which this song opens.  That album catered to rock radio a lot more than their other work has, so it has a slightly harder edge, which works.  

All these years later, they still perform this song live, as they did last month in Rochester. They still sound amazing performing it. 

25 September 2025 - Joywave - Destruction

Anyone who thought I wouldn't be using Joywave for the New York entry hasn't been paying attention.  At all. 

Joywave are from Rochester, NY, the city I lived in for a quarter century.  I don't live their anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't love Joywave.  

And there was no fucking way I was featuring a band from New York City.  Fuck that.  Just, no.  

This song, from the band's debut album How Do You Feel Now?, is one that they often use to end their shows...... and they frequently play it twice in a row.  It, and not "Dangerous", is absolutely their signature song.   The song is scary and in-your-face - by design.  That's how it's supposed to sound. 

It received a lot of modern rock radio airplay, and is just a great song. 

I mention they frequently play this song twice in a row during their sets.

In this particular set, they played it SEVEN times. In the band's words:

On June 21st, 2018 at 6:30 PM Joywave took the stage at PNC Bank Arts Center (now known as The Joywave Center For Performing Arts) in Holmdel, NJ. Dozens of fans were packed into the 17,500 capacity shed, eagerly awaiting the evening’s headline performers. As the band walked out on stage to roars of silence, one devilishly clever audience member suggested the band perform “Free Bird” that evening. But with roughly 17,400 seats reverberating his request throughout the Greater Holmdel area, it was a bit difficult to hear. The following video is an uninterrupted feed of 6:30 PM -7:00 PM ET on that fateful day. A simpler time. The power. The musicianship. The Destruction of Holmdel, NJ. Enjoy.

Yeah.  I listened to all of them.  They're all solid.  The crowd, however, was a little pissed. 

24 September 2025 - Beirut - Elephant Gun

Yes, I on purpose used a really obscure way to put these in order, mostly because I wanted to reliably mix in the territories and not put them all in date of admission or acquisition, because that's a boring list.  

Which is why New Mexico is 3rd, and that brings us Beirut. Despite their Santa Fe roots and Middle Eastern name (yes, they are named after the Lebanese city), their sound is a lot more Balkan than Dessert Southwest.  And by "their" sound, I mean his - it is largely the brainchild of Zach Condon, although he clearly has a lot of support in his efforts. The world music feel is one that has been met with pretty widespread critical acclaim....

.... and this sound is a bit leaning on the side of cacophony, and yet, still seems melodic.  Please, enjoy this American music. 

Now, listen to the live version of this song. I believe that Condon's voice comes through a lot stronger, and the cacophony feeling is much reduced.  

All in all, this is a great song with a lot of horns.