Riding with lady luck

Last week a couple of things happened that inspired this post. First off, Grooveshark was fatally speared as the sea of lawsuits by the BIG recording companies finally brought them down. And down they went, not to mention their parental scolding inspired apology statement on their former website. You could almost feel the tears - Please Please don't put us in jail! Kind of makes me think this will truly be the last (company-based) mp3 pirate of the free Internet. Almost makes you want to reminisce over the wild west days of Napster and Limewire. Anyway in 2011, Grooveshark was a free and subscription music service on the Internet and it got me actively back into listening to music from the 60's and 70's. I tried free Internet radio and playing with streaming services like Spotify,but nobody beat Grooveshark for having rare older songs and also the ability to customize free streaming playlists for both my computers and smartphone. But as it sometimes goes with free apps, here today and gone tomorrow. Hey, but I'll be on the search and will report back once I find a (probably fee-based) music service with customized playlists to share. In the meantime, I'll happily embed here with the deep pockets of Google's YouTube to share 40+ year old songs with you.

That brings me to my musical selection as business took me to Bakersfield this past week. From San Diego, one takes the I 5 north through LA, over the Grapevine, to Highway 99 and into Bakersfield. The whole trip was freeway, cars and trucks and it made me instantly think of the Tom Waits song, Ol' '55, covered by the Eagles on their 1974 record, On the Border. Well I was driving with my true lady luck, Mary Kit, as we must have passed a thousand trucks in the blazing heat . It's not like we were roughing it like in the old days, going over the Grapevine in a car with no AC, it's 95 degrees with the windows rolled down, and you're praying the radiator doesn't blow. Kind of decedent of me to admit having a Honda CRV with the AC on and the heated leather lumbar seats on to keep my old back loose on the trip, just talking with my lady.

Well here's the great song,  Ol' '55. I'll say bye-bye to the audio link in Grooveshark as this is now shared to you courtesy of YouTube.

This song goes out to the boomer's as they know the experience of being inside a 1955 car on the roadways. No need to buckle up.

#WeLoveYouJoni (Updated)

Last week, I like many people had to stop for a moment when hearing the news that Joni Mitchell was found unconscious in her home and taken to the hospital. Joni means so much to so many people and is one of a small group of artist's that transcend her time of popularity in the 1970's. Her lyrics and music speak to young and old and we all carry her songs with us, all the time. Her friends have created a hashtag, #WeLoveYouJoni and if you can, give her a message using the hashtag through your Facebook or Twitter account. Here is the site where of all these messages can be viewed by her and you too.

This week, I have put together a variety of Joni Mitchell songs into an (updated YouTube) playlist, enjoy and (continue to) send some positive waves in your thoughts her way.

Grooveshark and a Fitting First Post (Updated)

Update - If you haven't heard, Grooveshark is dead . I'm now updating my first blogs using YouTube music videos as my new go to replacement.

So, here is my first song, Monday Monday by the Mama's and Papa's. Original blog below.


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Hello all, I'm Doug McIntosh and this is my new music blog. I plan to post something every Monday about music I like, so here goes!

Being born in 1955 and raised on rock n' roll I have come to appreciate a variety of music over the years. A couple of years ago a friend told me about Grooveshark and in my opinion it has become the best free music streaming service on the Internet. Grooveshark does one big important thing services like Spotify just haven't matched, it allows you to load an entire catalog of songs/albums from an artist into a playlist you create! Using Grooveshark, I have now created 52 playlists with almost the complete catalogs of many of my favorite groups and individual artists. I have all this at the touch of my computer or with me always on my smartphone.

Once I started using Grooveshark, I just stopped loading and using my iPod altogether. You will be amazed at all the FREE and legal music you can collect and stream on your computer and phone, anyway it works for me and I hope you enjoy this little music Monday tip!

It would be most fitting to start off my first post with links to Grooveshark featuring the Mama's and the Papa's 1966 album,  If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears and the hit single, Monday Monday that is the inspiration for this blog and the era of my musical roots. Happy Monday everyone!

Grooveshark direct link - Monday Monday

Grooveshark embed audio player