Sorry it's so late, Tina, but it will go out on Monday with four Buffista mixes, and my four Wedding mixes as well.

Somehow, I will find it my heart to forgive you, Hec. I am so excited for so many new mixes (and I was coveting your wedding mixes - so thanks mucho for throwing them in as well.)

Devendra Banhart seems to be from your neck of the woods (SF). It's good. A mix of standard old folkie with some songs going for the sweeping western epic thing and others 40s jazz-y. One is in Spanish. Some let's-hope-it-grows-on-me vocal eclecticisms are my only complaint. AMG describes him as "quirky and low-fi" which I would agree with. But it' s not funny quirky so much as "art student" quirky. But mostly smart art student quirky. Not annoying pretentious art student quirky.

re-reads last paragraph

This is why I've never given serious thought to writing music reviews.

I haven't heard him, but he looks like stoner quirky to me. He's a dreamy hippy boy.

Yeah, late is bad, but 8 discs of free music makes up for some tardiness.

Here's the Harmony Cathedral mix.

OMG. This is going to make me weep. What a gorgeous mix. I can't wait.

OMG. This is going to make me weep. What a gorgeous mix. I can't wait.

It's very pretty. I spent the most time on the Bossa mix and on harmony cathedral. On the Bossa stuff it was mostly an effort to choose things that weren't Joao Gilberto. He's just the coolest. But I did find some great versions to make it work.

Harmony Cathedral actually has a through-line in that about 75% of the songs there tell the story (in order) of my getting together with JZ. Some of them are just on there for the sake of the pretty, and I did work a little seasonal subset in as well (which charted the year of our relationship prior to engagement). Like that.

Some amusing notes on the dance mixes which I slapped together quickly.

We were supposed to choreograph our first dance, but wound up just winging it to Louis Jordan's "Knock Me a Kiss." Fortunately, we dance to that song around the kitchen fairly often so it wasn't much of a stretch.

A spontaneous conga line erupted during "Rock the Casbah."

That's a big band swing version of "White Wedding."

Every parent there hit the dance floor for "Hawaiian Roller Coaster" from Lilo and Stitch.

The older folks were tricked out onto the dance floor when "It's Oh So Quiet" started and looked throroughly betrayed when Bjork was yelping all over the place.

I danced with msbelle to "Temptation" - which is a kick ass contemporary western swing song.

JZ's RenFaire friends all went apeshit for "What Would Brian Boitano Do."

Everybody hit the dance floor for "Linus and Lucy."

Ple danced a lot!

I skipped ahead to Nick Cave to lure Jilli to the dance floor, and I was then myself horrified and betrayed because my new sister in law had dragged my Dad and his wife and a bunch of other old folks out onto the dance floor. I really didn't want to see my Dad dancing to "Red Right Hand." (Jilli was fabulous, of course, so I focused on watching her.)

I really didn't want to see my Dad dancing to "Red Right Hand."

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Something about this strikes me as...justice? Something?

Here's the music that played at dinner, mostly Bossa Nova with a middle section of latin jazz. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars

Serves me right for not going to the wedding. Grumble grumble.

Hey, I have a birthday coming up. How perfect would this CD be? Very much so, as a matter of fact.

Thanks for the info, guys.

FYI, CBS Sunday Morning just had this KILLER essay on Ray Charles... you west coasters might yet catch it.

Are there any other Los Lobos fans around? I want to flesh out my collection of their stuff.

I have Kiko, By the Light of the Moon, and The Neighborhood. What else should I own?

any other Los Lobos fans around?

"Will the wolf survive" has some great pop songs on it.

I've tried to get into Devandra's music, but failed. It's too meandering for my taste. However, I am going to see him play next weekend in Cambridge, so maybe I'll change my mind.