With the awesomeness of those mixtapes lost in time, my brother provided his own slice of musical gifting in the form of mix cd when I was home for the Super Bowl.  Teary-eyed and not wanting to have to say good-bye and head back to ‘real life’, I graciously accepted the disc he handed me as I was leaving.  He’d previewed bits of it for us as we’d driven around throughout the weekend, but it wasn’t until I was in my office the next the day that I truly got to experience his collection of Winter songs. That was three weeks ago, and I’ve yet to stop listening to his mix since.  It’s now a playlist of each of my iPods (yeah, yeah I have more than one and less than six) and before I share any of the rest of the music I’ve been listening to this past year, you need to hear this modern day mixtape.  With sixteen different artists there’s no expectation that you’ve heard them all, but trust me, the rest of their stuff is as good as the songs in this post.  So if you’re itching for something new and don’t know what to buy, let this be my suggestion list.

P.S. – Thanks, Zac.  You truly are the best musical (and every thing else) brother ever!

Wilco – Jesus, Etc: Go buy Yankee Foxtrot Hotel and then every other album of theirs’ you can find.  Trust me.

Whiskeytown – Sit and Listen To The Rain: My Ryan Adams love knows no bounds especially when it comes to the old Whiskeytown stuff. “Sit around, dream away the place I’m from.  Used to feel so much, now I just feel numb” Yeah, that good.

TV On The Radio – Wolf Like Me: More likely than not you first heard this song advertising the 2010 Winter Olympics and not from TVOTR’s 2006 Return to Cookie Mountain.  That doesn’t mean you should pick up the latter.

Sun Kil Moon – Carry Me Ohio: I’m pretty sure Zac gave me his beloved disc so that I’d finally listen to this song he’d recommended weeks before.  But somehow in the hubbub of life, I’d lost his recommendation and grown tired of googling to figure out that weirdly named some from that weirdly named band.  And of course, pride would not allow me to ask again.  Luckily, he acted with pity on me and provided this gem and highlight of the album.  My students may have grown tired of it after three weeks of constant play, but you should hear that stuff they force me to listed to.  ::shudders::

Sufjan Stevens – Chicago: Just a few years ago and countless other albums later, Sufjan promised to write an album for each state in the union.  So far we’ve seen just Illinois and Michigan.  Both are phenomenal, so when you get around to listening to Michigan make sure to check out “For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti”.

The Shins – New Slang: Garden State.  Need I say anything more.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Magnolia Mountain: If I had to describe the perfect way to get to know Mr. David Ryan Adams, you’d have to start in 2005 with 29,  Jacksonville, and Magnolia Mountain’s Cold Roses.

My Morning Jacket – I’m Amazed: After many of my musical buddies had listed Z as one of the best albums of 2005, I knew I had to hear it.  However, these Southern didn’t memorable to me until seeing them on Austin City Limits.  It’s worth a watch if you catch it on reruns.

MGMT – Kids: Ok, I might just get myself in trouble… but the first time I heard this song was in a episode of Gossip Girl.   It’s just as good as the intermission of this winter mix as it was on my guilty TV pleasure.  Don’t judge.

Iron and Wine – Boy With A Coin: What a great band name for a single man.  Another Garden State alum who you recognize and love his songs before you realize they belong to him.

Fleet Foxes -  Mykonos: CSNY in 2008.  If you don’t get it or hear it, watch this youtube video and wait til just after the 3:10 mark. Brilliance.

Doves – Kingdom of Rust: This cd was my first taste of Doves’ music; it won’t be my last.

Death Cab For Cutie – Summer Skin: Ok, so Summer Skin may not be the most appropriate ‘winter’ song, but I’m game to listen to Ben Gibbard sing no matter what the weather outside is like. Plus, it gives me hope that warmth will be here soon, and our constant companion of snow will give way to a mountain of green.

Bon Iver – Blood Bank: What could be wintery than a band whose name translates to ‘good winter’. If you ignore all of my other pleas in this post, please go buy Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago and the Blood Bank EP and wait for the snow to start falling, a long drive, or that moment where haunting melodies are just the thing your soul longs for… Bon Iver is meant for these times.

Band of Horses – The Funeral: If you recognize this song, it’s probably been a part of an episode of your favorite television show.  Now if only I could remember where I heard it.

The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You: I can’t decide how I feel about this final band.  Part of me loves their unique creativity, and for a second in every one of their songs I feel like I’m being punked. Yet, this quirky ending feels fitting somehow.  I think.

How sad is it Britney will make millions this year… and this women won’t.

One of these students in particular might be a long-lost cousin of mine and our similar musical and entertainment choices can be a bit frightening at times.  But more than anything I enjoy giving her a hard time and watching her dramatic reactions to being fake fired or making fun of her whatever shenanigan we can dream up at 5:10 on a Thursday afternoon.  Well recently she mentioned that she needed to get off work early for a volunteer project she was heading up.  Knowing that she’d have to get the approval of her supervisor, I sent her to him to ask for this favor.  Before she had the chance to plead her case and without her knowing, I asked him to deny her request and play along with me.

Confidently, she pleaded her case and seemed stunned when he told her ‘no’.  (Guess I shouldn’t have told her it would be no big deal.)  I came back into the room as she was leaving with her head down completely floored that her boss was being so unresonable.  I put my arm around her and told her I’d plead her case for her.  Again I enlisted the support of her supervisor and our boss, as I called her back into the full-time staff office and told her with a lil work I’d been able to broker a deal that would allow her to get the time off she needed.  All she had to do was dance for at least 60 seconds to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Now the guys had no clue that she had learned the whole dance last semester and didn’t think she’d go along with my plan.  But after convincing her it was the only way she could get the time off, we opened up the youtube video of Thriller and watched as she worked through her shame and embarrassment to give us a brilliant performance that riveled Jennifer Garner’s in 13 Going On 30.  By the end of her minute of glory, I couldn’t stop laughing and she quickly realized she had been played.  Being the great sport she is she laughed it off and headed back to finish her shift.  Now I just gotta keep my eyes open to her retaliation.

All I can say is thank you, Judy. Thank you so very much for getting this song buried deep into my brain so that all day at work I can’t stop making up my own verses. One day I will buy your children obnoxious, noisy toys to repay your generosity.