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Neil Diamond

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Sitting down to write this feels surreal. It’s a sad exercise in contrast, and it’s one that I don’t undertake lightly.

Not two hours after I published my last post — a quick few hundred words about how thankful I am to the people who cheer on Monument 10K runners — a pair of bombs were detonated in the crowds lining the last mile of the Boston Marathon, killing at least three people and injuring more than a hundred. I went from the euphoria of telling the Internet about something that brings out the best in my city to watching the very worst of humanity in action, working to strip another city of the euphoria I’d just been enjoying. It was an awful and strange sequence of events.

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Happy Easter!

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mayonegg

Whatever your egg-shaped Easter treat of choice may be — I’m a Cadbury Creme Egg devotee, myself — I hope you’re taking full advantage of the chocolatey bounty afforded us by the combination of a man-sized bunny rabbit and the fact that a large portion of the world’s population believes that a super-compassionate zombie walked the Earth a couple thousand years ago. Alright!

Johnny Cash — “Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog” (live) [Spotify/iTunes]

The xx

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Coexist

One of synth player Christopher DeNitto’s remarks from the Dead Fame interview I posted on Tuesday was bouncing around my brain later that night during The xx’s concert at The National. When talking about his group’s writing process, DeNitto evoked the saying that “A song is never finished.” Tuesday’s show demonstrated that The xx are a group that understands how true that adage really is.

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John K. Samson

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John K. Samson

It’s been an eventful past few days, eh? Martin Luther King, Jr. Day came and went… President Obama took the oath of office, kicking off his second term… the Ravens and 49ers won their respective conference championship games, thereby setting up the first-ever brother-vs-brother Super Bowl coaching matchup… lots to digest.

Amid all that excitement, it would have been easy to miss a development that’s just as momentous in certain circles — hockey is back! There were, like, actual games this weekend! The NHL’s 4-month labor dispute is finally over, meaning the players have gotten back to doing what they do best: skating around with sticks, flinging a stubby, rubber cylinder back and forth while collecting icing penalties, which are far and away the most delicious infractions in all of sports.

“Wait a minute. You’re not a hockey fan. Why do you care that it’s back?”

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Beyoncé

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Happy Inauguration/Martin Luther King, Jr./Beyoncé Raising the Bar for Future National Anthem Performances Day!

If anyone needs me, I’ll be listening to the performance above and “Countdown” on repeat.

UPDATE: I’m not convinced she was synchin‘. Gonna let this play out a bit before rescinding my excitement, though I will say that the fact that so many people (apparently) care if she did or didn’t bears out how fantastic her rendition was.

Beyoncé — “Countdown” [Spotify/iTunes]

Happy Thanksgiving!

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To all you parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme slingin’ epicureans, hard at work on some delicious stuffing — don’t forget, Alton Brown says to cook it OUTSIDE THE BIRD to avoid having to choose between dry meat and salmonella — I present to you Sérgio Mendes’ scrumptious version of “Scarborough Fair.”

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sérgio Mendes and the Brazil ’66 — “Scarborough Fair” [Spotify/iTunes]

Nina Simone

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To Love Somebody

Just a quick post-election post…

I found out about To Love Somebody while I was adding the epigraph to my recent post about David Vandervelde — “To everything there is a season.” I’m embarrassed to say I couldn’t remember who sang the iconic version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” and while I was using Spotify to find out, I stumbled across Nina Simon’s version. A few clicks later, I was excitedly bouncing from track to track on To Love Somebody, trying out all these fascinating, moody covers of late 60’s hits, many of which I wouldn’t immediately associate with Simone’s vocal style.

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Why are you reading this? GO VOTE!

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I could not be happier November 6 is here. THANK. GOD. I have been looking forward to/freaking out about this date for so long that I thought it might never get here. Here’s a quick sampling of the reasons I’m happy it’s November 6:

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