We did it, Joe.
We substack’d for a whole year, we made a playlist for every month and we survived 2023 almost unscathed.
Or did we?
Going into December, I was wondering how to treat this, the last playlist of 2023, and also, what I imagined would be my final substack of 2023. Should it be a normal monthly mix? Would it be a greatest hits of 2023 playlist? Could it be Christmas/Holiday themed?1
And then a few things happened, chief among them being substack refusing to kick Nazi’s off its platform and actually encouraging them to exist here. Much like Twitter/X, substack’s overseers do not see a problem hosting and propagating and making money off of Nazi’s. So, much like Twitter/X, I don’t feel like I should be using substack anymore.2
What that means for this blog going forward, I’m not sure. I still want to make playlists, and I really almost got to a point last year where this blog was starting to become what I wanted it to be, ie, the long-form posts like this one. I had others like it drafted, unfinished, because life x time = drafts.
In any event, here we are, the music I was listening to this last, long December.
It’s a double-album, if you will; at one point I deleted half the songs from it, then threw them back on after I completely imploded the mix in the last week of December. And it became a stronger, better playlist for it. It’s long, but it’s thematically tight. It’s almost built for a New Years Eve party (and was played at one) but it’s also a culmination of the year.
And what a year it was. And even though the title is '“Don’t Look Back,” that’s what we’re going to do now, and that’s what the playlist does as well. We look all the way back.
“Prom Theme,” Fountains of Wayne - “It’s a perfect night to sing our prom theme,” Fountains of Wayne sing, on what may be one of their finest songs. I came to FoW late, but their music really got me through some rough spots in Pandemic. I was driving around Palms, Culver and Marina Del Rey in late 2023, taking surface streets and routes I hadn’t been on in years, and was reflecting about the times in my life I had spent in that area. This song came on and somehow… a song not just about Prom, but about young romance and the irrational yet magical expectations of it… it fit with that memory time-traveling. This song was never going to kick off this playlist, until it did; and it kicks off more than a playlist, it kicks off a journey through time and space and memory, a universe of prom nights and prom themes.
“If You Leave,” Nada Surf - I read Alan Sepinwall’s fantastic oral history of The OC, “Welcome To The OC,” last month, and though I didn’t rewatch the show when reading it, I did dive back into some of the music of the series. The OC was halfway into its second season when I moved to California, and I spent the first year out here watching and rewatching its first two seasons while lamenting its third. This Nada Surf cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s 1986 hit jumped out while relistening, and never really left my mind all month.
“Never Surrender,” Corey Hart - Turns out, this song is both one of Janet Van Dyne’s favorite songs as well as Peter Quill’s mom, at least according to the great “What If…” season two episode “What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” The Wasp always had the best tastes. “So if you're lost and on your own, you can never surrender…”
“The Future Is Our Way Out,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby - “Now the end is here,” is how BCMB opens this track, and this was originally the song that was going to kick off this playlist. Still on a high from seeing them in fall 2023.
There is a place
Where I want to be
But I don't know where it is
I don't know where it is
Oh, there is a place
Where I will be happy
Oh, there must be“Nights On Broadway,” The Bee Gees - On a cold and rainy December night, I braved my way across the city to catch a screening of ALL THAT JAZZ3 at the newly reopened Vidiots. There were several highlights of that night4, chief among them being that the film was introduced by the one and only Pamela Aldon. But the pre-show playlist was generated by KCRW’s own Dan Wilcox, and this banger of a song was on it.
“She’s a Woman,” Betty Davis - And then as I was driving home that night, Travis Holcombe played this on his KCRW Freaks Only set, and that combo has been in my head ever since.
“Gamblin’ Man,” Eddie Money - I saw a lot of movies in 20235, and a lot of songs from those ended up on these playlists. This track was in The Iron Claw, easily one of the bleakest and most depressing movies of 20236. There was an original song in the film that was unreleased as this playlist came together, but that’s okay because Eddie Money is always welcome on any playlist.
“Honky Tonk Women (Live),” Ike & Tina Turner - Another track heard after I saw a film, this time Ike & Tina’s blistering live cover of The Stones classic, as heard at Good Time at Davey Waynes the night after I saw Maestro7 at the Egyptian.
“Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other (Live) ” Orville Peck - Written by Willie Nelson (!) but performed by Orville Peck, captured at Willie’s birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023. Orville also performed this at his Rodeo last November on night one of his three night set, his covers set, which was my first time seeing him sing it. It’s a fun, sassy song, one you can imagine dancing to across an old barn floor.
“Flying Over Water,” Jason Isbell - I have gaps in my musical database, artists I know I should or will like but just haven’t sparked to yet. Jason Isbell & The 400 Units is one of the major ones. But circumstances last month led me to remedy that, and while driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles one Saturday morning I asked a friend, who had long pushed that Jason Isbell8 was superior to Sturgill Simpson, to play me Jason so I could see what I was missing. This track stood out.
Take my hand, baby, we're over land
I know flying over water makes you cry
Been in the sky so long
Seems like the long way home
But I can't for the life of me say why
Did we leave our love behind?“Don’t Worry (feat. Ink),” Leon Bridges - “Sip it down like moonshine, hold you in the moonlight. No one sees me like you, babe.”
“Once You Know (Then You’ll Know),” Thee Sacred Souls - Throwback, sweet soul is always welcome.
“You Showed Me,” Vinyl Williams - A track originally made famous by The Turtles9 in the 60’s, this cover is by Vinyl Williams, who I caught at the tail end of 2023 at the Echoplex opening for Pearl & The Oysters. By seeing Vinyl Williams there, I have now seen three of John Williams grandkids10 play the Echo/Echoplex.
“Baby Come Back - Reggae Mix ,” Mato & Ethel Lindsey - I am not a fan of reggae but the reggae remix of this cover has a slight edge over the non-reggae version, so, here it is.
“Pacific Avenue,” - Pearl & The Oysters - The final band I saw in 202311, P&TO had been on my radar for a bit and I finally saw them with friends in the belly of the Echoplex, a venue I hadn’t been to since 2019.
“Sailing,” Benny Sings - A completely reworked cover of Christopher Cross’s magnum opus.
“God Only Knows,” Anamanaguchi - One of three tracks on this playlist as heard in SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF, probably one of the best series I watched in 202312. You can call this a chip tune version of the Beach Boys classic, but it’s also just a great version13.
“The Other Side - Maps Remix,” Public Service Broadcasting - I became aware of Public Service Broadcasting a few years ago, and a few of their tracks I listen to constantly. They take actual NASA recordings and turn them into songs, and they’re pretty incredible. This remix I caught on, where else, KCRW, over the holidays. It also (unofficially) kicks off Side B of this extended playlist.
“I Will Remember You,” Metric - Another Scott Pilgrim Takes Off track, this one by original The Clash At Demonhead stand ins Metric, and it’s ALSO a pretty inspired cover of Sarah McLachlan’s saddest pet infomercial song.
“42,” Diplo & Maren Morris - I think this is a NYE song? Maren Morris has had a year, for sure, but her voice (both in music and in the music industry) continues to be one of the best voices working.
“The World Couldn’t See Us,” Nabihah Iqbal - There’s something cinematic about this track, almost as if you can picture hearing it over a trailer or montage or action sequence.
“If You Could Read My Mind,” Ultra Naté, Amber & Jocelyn Enriquez - Last of the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off tracks, this one is a cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s 70’s torch song. Lightfoot died in May of last year14, but this 90’s dance cover not only immediately became a song I added to my daily cycling mix, but it’s one that flips the tone of the original while keeping the heartache.
If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstore sells
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take“Venus Hour (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix),” Automatic - “send me to the stars with a radio blast” yes please.
“Back In Love,” LEISURE - One of the first tracks added to this months playlist, this song is one to wind down to for sure.
“The Power of Love,” Frankie Goes To Hollywood - I had the pleasure of attending a screening of ALL OF US STRANGERS in Santa Monica at the end of November, and this song features heavily in that movie. A haunting song for a haunting film, one I keep thinking about more and more as time passes.
“Caught In A Blue,” Stephen Sanchez - “Is this the cost for love that's true? Forever lost looking for you,” Stephen Sanchez croons, and this is another of those songs where you can get lost in the soundscape of it.
“You’re Losing Me (From the Vault),” Taylor Swift - “How long could we be a sad song?” Originally released only on CD at one of her Era shows, this is one of those Taylor songs that flips halfway through. It’s also one of those Taylor songs I heard and thought “Oh, no, that’s too specifically relatable, can’t ever listen to that one!” and then it kept simmering in the background, until like the song, I flipped, and it became a much easier song to listen to.
“Any Worse (Squeak’s Song),” H.E.R. - The Color Purple was the last movie I saw in 2023, and what a beautiful film to end the year on. A fantastically talented and stacked cast, gorgeous scenery and locations and set dec, telling stories that aren’t the easiest or happiest to tell. H.E.R.’s voice and guitar work15 in this track are heartbreaking.
oh, you can break me down
Leave me on the ground
Love me 'til it hurts, you wouldn't be the first
You just get used to it, you just let it burn“Nothing Compares 2 U (Live),” P!nk & Brandi Carlile - We end with two Prince covers by three women. The first is a duet between P!ink and Brandi, and what I wouldn’t give to have seen this live. It’s enough to hear the crowds reaction when Brandi comes in. They first performed this cover hours after Sinead O’Connor died this past summer. It’s haunting, as this song can be, but both women harmonize and fill their voices, and the spaces between them and the lyrics, perfectly.
“Purple Rain,” Dolly Parton - I knew this one would end this volume of playlists the moment I saw it on the album. It’s not quite as sweeping as Dolly’s cover of ‘The Story’ but it doesn’t have to be. It’s Dolly Parton covering Prince. It’s beautiful and without embellishment, a more traditional cover, sure, but there’s a hint of Dolly’s gospel in it, something Prince himself would appreciate.
And that’s it. That’s a wrap on 2023 Mixtapes/Playlists. Again, I’m not sure where this blog goes from here, or what the next phase of this looks like. It would be nice if substack would simply punch the Nazi’s off the blimp (“No ticket!”) but it seems like I just need to find another venue for these musical interludes.
In any event, thanks for reading, listening, subscribing, sharing, snarking, and just showing up. I do this for me, but I also do this for you. But mostly for me. :)
Until next time; I’ll see you in the pit, on the dance floor, or the cheap seats. It’ll be a great show no matter where you are, I promise.
It would not be holiday themed in any way.
I stopped using my Twitter/X a few months ago, and have grown increasingly frustrated with the friends who continue to use it. Some of them know this and know I understand why they use it, and some have made the move to bluesky or threads (the less said about the cesspool that threads has become, the better.) Twitter/X is run by a piece of shit human being who spews antisemitic rhetoric and encourages nazi propaganda, among other awful things, and for anyone to just continue to use it like nothings wrong (because earthquake twitter is fun? because film twitter is great?) really bothers me, but, to each their own.
A musical meditation on life and death, family and career, sex and relationships, fame and consequences, it was definitely a movie to see in the cold, dead of winter during the holidays. It’s showtime, folks.
shared a moment with Wednesday on a Tuesday iykyk
In 2023, I saw 120 movies in theaters, 100 at AMC (thanks, A-list!) and 20 at places like the aforementioned Vidiots or New Beverly.
Based on true events and a real family, the story was actually so sad and tragic they cut some of it for the film because it would have been too much.
What a picture. This is the singular best picture I saw in 2023, even if it will (and maybe should) lose to Barbie.
Both Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson appear in Killers of The Flower Moon. Sturgill, who also showed up in 2023’s The Creator, is magnetic and charming as Henry Grammer. Jason blew me away as Bill Smith, in that I spent much of the movie wondering who he was and how I knew him.
I love The Turtles: “Happy Together” may be one of the best pop songs ever recorded.
The Belle Brigade being the other two, who had a residency at the Echo waaaaaay back in 2014.
I went to 38 shows/concerts in 2023! I saw a ton of bands I’d never seen before, which was a goal I had for last year, and I saw them in venues I hadn’t been to before either, another goal.
Another of those “I could write a whole substack about this,” Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was fucking phenomenal. What a feat, what an achievement, what a way of making the original source material, sorry and characters even richer and greater by imploding it and revisiting it in a dramatically different way. The fact it’s also animation in the style of the comic, with the voice talents of the movie, and the music of the game… it’s a distillation of the three forms of Scott Pilgrim rolled into one. And then, again, turned upside down and inside out.
Again, this is what I wish the Super Mario Movie had done with its music and soundtrack.
I was in Joshua Tree when Gordon Lightfoot died, and remember listening to his version of this, as well as “Sundown,” and there’s something about dusk in the desert that lends itself to music like this. (Heartache music? Aha.)
H.E.R. was Belle in the “Beauty & The Beast: A 30th Anniversary Celebration,” and she immediately became my favorite Belle. She has a scene at the end where she descends the golden staircase playing a stained glass rose guitar, in the dress, and I died.