Mixtape Thursday August 20th

WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.

9 a.m. Brian Ross

Pure favorites. If I was recording a "My Favorite Song" mix tape for somebody, I'd probably have 100 songs, but these would be the first 3.

* "Senses Working Overtime," by XTC
* "Misunderstood," by Wilco
* "Radio Free Europe," by R.E.M.

1 p.m. David Fenner

These songs make me feel good.

* "Lovers Speak," by Joan Armatrading
* "Honey And The Moon," by Joseph Arthur
* "First Day Of My Life," by Bright Eyes

* "Pacing The Cage," by Bruce Cockburn
* "Suzanne," by Leonard Cohen

5 p.m. Lisa Fink

When I was in undergrad in St. Louis, I would drive home to Milwaukee, WI every couple of months. During the 6 hour drive, at that point when I felt that I couldn't stay awake any longer, I would put on these songs and belt at the top of my lungs (often aided by mass consumption of Diet Coke). These songs still keep me awake and singing in Baltimore!

* "Doo Wop (That Thing)," by Lauryn Hill
* "Oh! Darling," by The Beatles
* "Criminal," by Fiona Apple
* "Midnight Train to Georgia," by Gladys Knight

4 Phish Shows in 4 Days

Closing out the last 4 shows of their scheduled summer tour, Phish played to a crowd of 25,ooo people this past sunday night at The Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. This was the last show of the bands final 4 show stretch to close out the summer. They began the final 4 last Thursday Night at Darien Lake, followed by the Comcast Center in Hartford Connecticut, then down to Maryland for a show at Merriweather, and finally closed out the Summer Tour 09 with a show in Saratoga Springs. The band pulled out gems like Harpua and Icculus and covered tracks like Katy Perry's "I kissed a Girl". From the first notes on thursday night to the final notes of "Highway to Hell" on Sunday, this band was rockin. There are tons of cool videos on the web... I found a guy who has videos of tons of songs from these shows, all great quality. Check them Out Here!!!

You can download all sets from this summer's tour Here!!!

This is one no one expected them to play: Harpua>I Kissed a girl>HYHU>Harpua

Heavenly Hot August Jam

Wow! I almost hate to tell you about the Hot August Blues after party at Hightops Backstage Grille last night- you'll be kicking yourself that you missed it!

I can't tell you how happy I am that Old Man Brown opened the festival and served as the house band for the late night shindig. I've been watching Adam and the boys play their jam-based blues and funk to a growing following at bars around Baltimore for a few years now, and they never fail to deliver. But, last night may have been their most shining moment.

After a laying down a sweet, horn-kissed groove for a few songs, they got the great Tom Principato to trade leads. A few more friends did a little round-robin instrument swapping and as the rivets started to unfasten, a couple of guitar legends waltzed in and completely blew the roof off!

Imagine this: Jason Isbell and Derek Trucks trading leads on The Meter's "Cissy Strut." ARE YOU KIDDING? Man, (Baltimore Unsigned producer) Nick Jackson and I were inches away from rock and roll greatness and a jam that couldn't be scripted any better. It was in a word: blissful.

Jason told me afterwards that he had never met Derek, but always wanted to.....and was stoked at the chance. The two hung out at Hot August which then led to this impromptu guitar get together. And they both looked like two giddy boys who pulled off the greatest prank in school history.

Trucks, Isbel and Old Man Brown laying it down: as that beer commercial used to say, the one with satisfied dudes sitting around the fire eating their catch, "It doesn't get any better than this."