McD's MixcD

The theme of this AEthermix is "My Rock 'n' Roll Friends." The three artists featured on this album are friends of my family and also pretty famous nationwide. This is sort of a project in music appreciation for me: a year ago, I'd spent more time talking to each of them than listening to their music. I got into Taj's music earlier in the year, and decided to learn more about Graham and Todd when the AEthermix idea was put forth by our fearless leader.
Lo! And behold that I can indeed make a very good mix CD from the music of my famous friends. I lumped together my favorite music from several CDs and cut it to a listenable 46 minutes of music.

Taj Mahal I met Ahmen Mahal in the 4^th at Island School, and we were best friends throughout elementary school. All the parents let me know how great a musician Taj was, but I didn't pay much mind to his celebrity status.
	1	Queen Bee	My dad tells the story about a school camping trip for which he and Taj were supervisors. 'Taj wanted to play Queen Bee^* for you, and you all stayed in your cabin listening to some stupid rap song!' In fact, we were listening to the next big thing in music- The Bass That 8 Miami. Anyway, the girls weren't at the campfire, so what does he expect?

	2	Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes	One of the world's great love songs. It is simple, elegant and confident. Next to Queen Bee, this is Taj's biggest hook for bringing in music lovers who aren't blues enthusiasts (yet).

	3	What Am I Living For	"Nobody else- nobody else will do!" Another simple and elegant love song

	4	We're Gonna Make It	This could be a theme song for two graduate students starting a life together.

	5	Don't Tell Me	It's not hard to imagine that Taj can take on a very seductive persona when he wants to. This song is a good example of that. I like how he calls his character a "repo-man" for a dissatisfied woman.

Graham Nash Graham Nash has a house on Hanalei bay and his kids went to my elementary school briefly. I've been to a few parties at his house, and I run into his wife on the beach sometimes when I'm back home. My apologies: Unlike the rest of the CD, Graham's music was burned from mp3s or AAC, so ripping them to mp3 will result in some audio ugliness.
	6	Teach your children	This was the one Graham Nash song which I could name off the top of my head before I started this mix cd. I remember it because he played this song at a concert in which my mom also performed. She was the winner of a local amateur song contest, and performing her song as an opener for Graham was part of the prize. I must have been five or six at the time.

	7	Chicago (The Truth)	Does the intro to this song remind you of something? Maybe it's just me, but it was an imaginary association with Nate Dogg which helped secure this song a place on my AEthermix.

	8	Dirty Little Secret	This is from Graham's latest solo album. "Greenwood, Oklahoma June of '21" refers to the Tulsa race riots, and he's probably making connections to the racial tensions which followed the 9/11 attacks.

Todd Rundgren Todd moved in across the street from my parents after I went off to college. He made his latest album liars in his home studio, and also used my mom's studio for various projects. When you're a rock star as big as Todd, you can make some very unusual friends. New Year's at Todd's was unlike any party I've been to.
	9	Drunken Blue Rooster	This seemed like a great transition song until I decided to shorten it to bring the mix cd in under 45 minutes (the length of an LP). It sounded good with crossfade, but my master copy took crossfade out. In the end, I let the CD length go over and used the whole song. I'd like to see a cartoon music video for Drunken Blue Rooster.

	10	Time Heals	I know Todd to be a bit of a computer nerd, but I was impressed when I read in his biography that this song was "the first music video to combine computer graphics and live action." Todd fans also claim that this video became the second song to be played on MtV. This contradicts the claim; perhaps Todd was supposed to be first, but VJ confusion led to this ordering instead.

	11	I saw the light	I'm probably not doing Todd's music justice, only playing his pop music songs, but I didn't want to include overly "challenging" songs in one mix CD out of 20. Todd's biography calls this song a Carol King pastiche. You might have heard this song in the soundtrack to Kingpin.

	12	Stood Up	Okay, here's a medium level experimental song from Todd which nonetheless has a catchy hook.

	13	Bang The Drum All Day	Now there's a throw-away pop song if I've ever heard one! Love it. You may have heard this one already.