Top 10 Songs of 2008

My Favorite Tracks of the Year:

~ in alphabetical order, by artist ~

1. Cold Shoulder - Adele
2. Viva la Vida - Coldplay
3. Somebody's Baby - Jon Foreman
4. Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead
5. Will You Marry Me - Lenny Kravitz
6. Wake Up - Leeland
7. The Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne
8. Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg
9. Kaliforn-Eye-A - P.O.D.
10. Riu Riu Chiu - Sixpence None the Richer

Somewhere Over the Rhine

If you've been following my spinning pattern over the last couple of weeks, you've noticed that I've been shamelessly gorging myself on large amounts of delicious Over the Rhine listening time. I've been preparing my palate for OtR's 20th Anniversary Celebration this weekend in Cincinnati! Won't you join me as I surrender to the sizzling sonics of the divine Over the Rhine? Bon appetit!

Spinning This Week:

Over the Rhine : Eve
City on a Hill (Various) : It's Christmas Time
Over the Rhine : Snow Angels
Esperanza Spaulding : Esperanza
Amos Lee : Last Days at the Lodge
Adele : 19
Over the Rhine : The Trumpet Child

Spinning This Week:

Coldplay : Prospekt's March EP
Over the Rhine : Films for Radio
Moby : Go: The Very Best of Moby
Over the Rhine : Drunkard's Prayer
Amy Grant : Home for Christmas
Russ Taff : A Christmas Song
Jars of Clay : Drummer Boy

Spinning This Week:

Coldplay : Prospekt's March EP
Over the Rhine : The Darkest Night of the Year
Over the Rhine : Till We Have Faces
Over the Rhine : Patience
Over the Rhine : Good Dog Bad Dog
Over the Rhine : Amateur Shortwave Radio
Various : Noel
Sufjan Stevens : Songs for Christmas

4 Covers + 6 Stores = 100 Singers

Last month, Rolling Stone released special issue "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time," a collector's edition featuring four covers. I first held (but didn't buy) a copy at The Great Escape -- resulting in a nonpurchase that I've come to regret. The used media store had two copies with the Aretha Franklin cover in stock. Not yet ready to commit to a cover, I figured I'd pick one up in the near future after contemplating which cover I wanted most. I determined to buy a copy of the Aretha cover, in honor of the lone lady in the mix -- the No. 1 pick (of the 100). In my subsequent visits to five other stores, I never saw another Aretha cover -- just Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Elvis Presley. In desperation, I returned to Great Escape a few days later, only to find that both Aretha copies were gone. The Queen out of grasp, I settled for The King and called it a day.