Chef Duff Knows Cakes and Music!

We love Duff. He's baked us birthday cakes, he jams out, he's even got the hottest show on television! Ace of Cakes is so dang cool! We'd also like to give big props to Mary Alice, who if watch the show, is the woman behind the Baker and often a phone volunteer during our membership drives.

Be sure to tune into Ace of Cakes on The Food Network! And look for the WTMD bumper sticker on the fridge!

Oh...And check out the cakes he's made for WTMD's First and Second Birthday Parties!

Personally picked by the Duff and Charm City Cakes Gang...here are the 10 Greatest Cake Songs!

1. Baker Baker - Tori Amos
2. Cut the Cake - Average White Band
3. Cake - the B-52's
4. If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake - Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
5. I want cake - Los Straightjackets
6. Carrot Cake and Wine - Stereophonics
7. The Baker Man - Beach Boys
8. I will survive - Cake
9. Birthday Cake - Cibo Matto
10. Chocolate Cake - Crowded House

The Midnight Special Lives!!!

I'm normally not one to order those multi part DVD or CD sets you see on infomercials, but I was seduced by the Midnight Special and all the great performances. I used to love making myself stay up till 12:30 to watch some great music. Who knew I would one day want the whole set (hmmm..I think I have a new analogy for the value of a WTMD membership for the Fund Drive!!)

Here's my list of the 10 Greatest All Time performances from the Midnight Special

1. John Denver and Cass Elliott--Leaving on a Jet Plane
2. Donna Summer -- Last Dance
3. Ray Charles -- Georgia On My Mind
4. Doobie Brothers -- Listen to the Music
5. War -- The Cisco Kid
6. Sanford and Townsend -- Smoke From a Distant Fire
7. Chic -- Le Freak
8. Golden Earring -- Radar Love
9. Gordon Lightfoot -- Sundown
10. Red Bone -- Come and Get Your Love

Be sure to vote by 5 pm today, Friday!

Guitar Worlds Top 10 Guitar Solo's

Browsing the internet this morning I stumbled upon Guitar Worlds 100 Greatest Guitar solos of all time, here is their top 10

1. Stairway To Heaven - Jimmy Page
2. Eruption - Edward Van Halen
3. Freebird - Collins/Rossington
4. Comfortably Numb - David Gilmour
5. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
6. November Rain - Slash
7. One - Kirk Hammet/Metallica
8. Hotel California - Don Felder/Joe Walsh
9. Crazy Train - Randy Rhoads
10. Crossroads - Eric Clapton

Check out the full list here!

The Presidential Top 10

Not George Bush! But our very own President of Towson University! President Robert Caret is an amazing supporter of Rock and Roll, WTMD and, of course, Towson University. In fact, he was among the first to vote in our poll and, given that he's met Bruce Springsteen, we think everyone should see his Top 10!

1. Born in the USA - Springsteen
2. Light My Fire - The Doors
3. Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
4. Can't Get No Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
5. Hey Jude - The Beatles
6. Johnny B Good - Chuck Berry
7. Let's Spend the Night Together - The Rolling Stones
8. Proud Mary - CCR
9. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
10. Blowin in Wind - Bob Dylan

Not a bad list! About 10% of WTMD's members are Towson Alums and we're all glad great music and great radio play a big part of the University's mission.

Be sure to vote for the 897 Greatest Songs of All Time--You only have till Friday at 5pm!

Phantom News

The Shins keep getting themselves hooked up with the most interesting people!


First Zach Braff and his first movie soundtrack and now ABC News!?!? Somebody at the network must have a cool kid whose into music.
Click on the picture to check out this post about The Shins video for 'Phantom Limb'.

What the Hell Are They Talking About?

Aside from Jimi Henrix's PURPLE HAZE ("'scuze me while I kiss (this guy?) the sky"), there's a ton of songs whose lyrics are a bit hard to discern...and still more tunes where you're left wondering: just what the hell where they talking about? I still can't wrap my arms around Manfred Man's BLINDED BY THE LIGHT ("wrapped up like a," what...exactly?). Here are my top 5 "What The Hell Are They Talking About?" songs.

1. The Kingsmen- Louie Louie (click on the song for one person's fun interpretation of the ultimate "What the Hell?" song).
2. REM- Wendell Gee (take your pick of the intoxicatingly mumbly early Michael Stipe litter, but this one always befuddled me).
3. Manfred Mann- Blinded By the Light
4. Elton John- Solar Prestige' a Gammon (such delicious non-sensical excess on CARIBOU- this song is, perhaps, BernieTaupin's most bizarre lyrical moment).
5. Cocteau Twins- Caroyln's Fingers (would fit in well with the gibberish of the fake Cirque de Soleil language.

Don't forget to vote for the greatest songs of all time. You have till 5 pm Friday.

Concert Report: Camera Obscura/The Essex Green

Had the good fortune to catch Merge Records acts Camera Obscura and The Essex Green last night at the 9:30 Club. All in all a very chill evening—this was a crowd that came to listen, not dance—in a surprisingly packed room for a Monday night. By now most of you all know CO's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken," which they of course delivered. "Let's Get Out of This Country," the most recent album's title track, was even better, and their live version of "Suspended From Class" reminded me why I so enjoyed 2003's Underacheivers Please Try Harder.

I was really there, though, for the twee openers, The Essex Green, who I've had an ear out for since their Kindercore days. Though they're not a platter WTMD regularly spins, you've probably still caught them on a few of our shows, especially New Music Tuesdays, Altered Fridays, and World Café. Out of Brooklyn, TEG were an Elephant Six band that only now is getting the attention they deserve (it's not easy sharing the spotlight with Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Dressy Bessy, Elf Power, Of Montreal, Olivia Tremor Control, and of course, the incomparable Neutral Milk Hotel). Though they broke my heart by not playing the duet "Penny & Jack," I'm hoping the jangly "This Isn't Farmlife" and other tracks from The Cannibal Sea won them some new fans last night.

I found myself sitting next to TEG's Sasha and Chris during CO's set. I asked, perhaps overeagerly, when the next record was dropping; they laughed and said, "We have to start it first. Maybe 2008?" So you (tentatively) heard it here first.

(Remember that a lot of 9:30 Club shows get recorded live for NPR. Go to our All Things Music page and click on the NPR link for shows from Death Cab, Ray LaMontagne, Regina Spektor, and more.)

There is more to the OC than rich kids as the TV Drama comes to an end

Well this post is probably surprising to most because I'm a young single guy who actually watches and enjoys The O.C. despite being hassled by the roommates for doing so. However, there is more to this show than just some rich Orange County kids. I don't know if you caught this but two weeks ago, The Shins "Wincing the Night Away" was the O.C. featured album.

Forget about the plotlines and 25 year olds playing 17 year olds, forget about the kids surfing before and after school, think about the music you might of heard while watching the show.

In the short lived life of The O.C. they have unleashed a horde of artists climbing the charts, Death Cab For Cutie, Alexi Murdoch, Goldspot, Zero 7, Modest Mouse, Secret Machines, La Rocca, Keane, The Pogues, and many more!

In my opinion the kids of Orange County have a good taste in music, for those of you who don't watch the show it seems that Seth, the comic book kid, identifies most with the music. Sometimes the artists are live at the local club, but most of the time the music is describing the tone of the show. To me I think it's awesome hearing bands that I thought only a few people knew being played on The O.C. because that turns the wide range of viewers onto discovered and most importantly emergings artists.

Now I ask you, does hearing an emergining artist on a popular TV show makes you consider them a "sell out" or a "pop" artist? Or is it just another way for them to get heard.

So the next time you are watching a TV show think about the music played throughout the show, who knows maybe you'll discover a new artist or music style that you enjoy.

Catchya on the flipside!

Send me your thoughts!