All The City Lights

#DecemberDuets
#MusicChallenge

Day 5 - "Baby Grand"
Billy Joel 🎤🤝🎤 Ray Charles
1986

Just two legends singing a love song to their pianos.

It’s really good! This song was the clear highlight of the album for me, but there were a few other hidden gems, too.

Companion Piece, by Rob I. Miller 11 track album

And hey it just happens to be Bandcamp Friday! vacantstarerecords.bandcamp.com/album/compan...

#Top31DavidBowie
#MusicChallenge

27. “Time” (1973)

If I had to choose my favorite Bowie varietal, I think I’d go with Early ‘70s Glam Cabaret Bowie.

*in celebrating

Jeez!

#5DaysOfPowerPop
#MusicChallenge

Day 5 - “In Circles,” Rob I. Miller (2023)

Miller also plays in and writes songs for in Oakland band Blues Lawyer.

Thanks for joining me imvelebrating some #EastBayMusic. We’ve got a bunch of little bands making a variety of music in a variety of styles over here.

#2025FavSingles
#MusicChallenge

26. "Bloom Baby Bloom," Wolf Alice

This little rock ‘n’ roll tune takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns along the way—starting with the fact that everyone in my family including me thought it was called “Boom Baby Boom” for the first month or so.

Quote from “The American Crisis” by Thomas Paine: “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead.”

#readandplay (549)
#MusicChallenge
#MusicSky

“No rules. The only limit is our imagination.”

Read 📚 & Play🎶

America’s plan to protect pedestrians failed. A young woman’s death reveals why. U.S. officials adopted Europe's Vision Zero initiative, but many cities have seen an increase in pedestrian fatalities despite efforts to improve road safety.

"Nationally, annual #pedestrian #deaths surged 70 percent from 2010 to 2023, as authorities have continued to prioritize the flow of motor #vehicle #traffic."

Our auto-centric culture and policies are literally killing us.
@thewaroncars.bsky.social @pbotinfo.bsky.social #cars

wapo.st/49WM4BI

E.P., by The Goods 4 track album

Find the EP this is from via Dandy Boy Records on Bandcamp: dandyboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/e-p

#5DaysOfPowerPop
#MusicChallenge

Day 4 - "I'm Not the Only One," The Goods (2023)

The Oakland band has a search-engine problem in that Google & YouTube are convinced you're looking for the Sam Smith song of the same name, but this is some snappy power-pop, not treacly blue-eyed soul. #EastBayMusic

I just cannot imagine getting this worked up about an environmental impact report about a gondola. 🤷‍♂️

#Top31DavidBowie
#MusicChallenge

28. "The Secret Life of Arabia" (1977)

SHHHHHH! Secret secret!

#DecemberDuets
#MusicChallenge

Day 4 - "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"
Stevie Nicks 🎤🤝🎤 Tom Petty
1981

Side note: Nicks was talking to Petty's wife who said, in her Florida drawl, "We met at the age of 17," and Nicks thought she said "Edge of Seventeen" and, well, that's where that title came from

YouTube video by Nicholas Britell - Topic NIAMOS! (Chandrilian Club Mix) (From "Andor (Season 2)")

Here's a version you can listen to embedded here without having to pop over to YouTube. youtu.be/WxLBOwdTKjI?...

Also: What a performance by Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma. Not easy to communicate that many layers of emotion with no dialogue.

#2025FavSingles
#MusicChallenge

27. "NIAMOS! (Chandrilian Club Mix)," Nicholas Britell

Britell understood the assignment for ANDOR Season 2: Write an EDM banger that hints at a creeping despair under a sheen of euphoria that a mom at an alien wedding might conceivably dance to if she drank enough.

#DecemberDuets
#MusicChallenge

Day 3 - "Under Pressure"
David Bowie 🎤🤝🎤 Freddie Mercury
1981

One need look no further than “Dancin’ in the Streets” for proof that simply teaming Bowie with another rock legend isn’t guaranteed gold, but they absolutely achieved iconic status with this one.

#2025FavSingles
#MusicChallenge

28. “Catch These Fists,” Wet Leg

I promise not every song is going to be an expression of female frustration, exasperation, and/or pugnaciousness, though this won’t be the last, either. Might show up at No. 1 even.

#Top31DavidBowie
#MusicChallenge

29. "Moonage Daydream" (1972)

Shoutout to Spiders from Mars' Mick Ronson for that opening chord and guitar tone throughout and freaky-deaky solo AND string arrangement.

The Bye Bye Blackbirds

Find 'em on Bandcamp: thebyebyeblackbirds.bandcamp.com

#5DaysOfPowerPop
#MusicChallenge

Day 3 - "Favorite Stars," The Bye Bye Blackbirds (2022)

Oakland band making British Invasion-style guitar-pop for 20 years now. They have a fairly extensive Wikipedia entry, probably the work of a band member or superfan, but OK—they're established. #EastBayMusic

Mmmmmm … chip jobs ….

This is such an interesting response! A far more radical song than it appears on the surface. 👍

Quote from Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon's memoir GIRL IN A BAND: “Still, I’ve always believed—still do—that the radical is far more interesting when it looks benign and ordinary on the outside.”

#readandplay (546)
#MusicChallenge
#MusicSky

“No rules. The only limit is our imagination.”

Read 📚 & Play🎶

KILLER POP MIDNGHT, by the zigzag hearts 4 track album

Just one EP to date. Find it on Bandcamp: zigzaghearts.bandcamp.com/album/killer...

#5DaysOfPowerPop
#MusicChallenge

Day 2 - "Cold Heart," The Zig Zag Hearts

This Oakland band is the brainchild of longtime Green Day associate Greg Schneider, who serves as a tour photographer & videographer and has played in a covers side-project with Billie Joe Armstrong. #EastBayMusic

#Top31DavidBowie
#MusicChallenge

30. "Absolute Beginners" (1986)

This is the most-recently-added song in my Bowie mix. It was never a huge hit here in the U.S., and I don't recall hearing it as a kid the way I do recall, for example, the singles from LET'S DANCE.

It is more about the groove and the bravura vocal performance to me, to be honest!

What do the editors of this magazine think their job is?

"Too many kids are getting extra time on tests!" should immediately be followed by "how many kids are getting extra time on tests?" If you don't know, either find out or write about something you do know.