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Nile Songs: My Middle East & North Africa Playlist, Had I Accompanied President Obama to Egypt
President Obama gave a speech at Cairo University yesterday in which he reached out to Muslims, decried extremism and the murder of innocents, and outlined his administration's policies regarding a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Regardless of your views on the successes or shortcomings of the president's hotly debated speech, I'd bet us diehard music fans can all agree that there are some pretty amazingly cool songs inspired the Arab and Muslim cultures of the Middle East and North Africa.Had I been able to accompany the president on this historic trip, here are a few songs I would've loaded into... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayClassic Paste: The Best of Issues 16-18 (June - November 2005)
(JUST A FEW MORE REASONS TO HELP SAVE PASTE)Next week, I'll celebrate my 6th anniversary at this magazine. When I started as Paste's second-ever intern on June 1, 2003, we were still a tiny operation. Only five of us were in the office full-time: publisher Nick Purdy, editor Josh Jackson, assistant editor Jason Killingsworth, myself (who would go on to become associate editor) and my intern cohort, Steven Bevilaqua. Other important folks—like senior/film editor and future Paste president Tim Porter, design director José Reyes, and future associate publisher Joe Kirk—were working part-time, since Paste couldn't yet support a full staff. Back then, we were in our old... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayOh crap, this song's about...!: Confessions of musical oblivion
[Above: Jellyfish, those sneaky bastards.]A recent conversation with Paste web editor Austin about power pop in general and Jellyfish in particular led me to make a perhaps ill-advised admission: After years of listening to Spilt Milk, it was only recently that I paid any real attention to the lyrics of "He's My Best Friend." Oy. I don't know how many total hours of my life have been spent singing along to that album (mostly alone in the car, thankfully) and I don't know why it took me so long to, um, ahem, grasp the true meaning of the song, but... read more
Found in: Blogs, Ctrl-VCurrent Events: "Joe the Plumber" Megamix
Last Wednesday night, a blue-collar hero went down in history. Toledo, Ohio’s own Joe Wurzelbacher—aka “Joe the Plumber”—was invoked no less than 26 times, making him more central to the third presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama than anything else, including taxes, education, the war, terrorism, the environment and energy independence.Seeing as how a playlist about plumbers would’ve been pretty short, today’s Current Events megamix will focus simply on great songs about guys named Joe. Here’s to you, plumber man!... read more
Found in: Blogs, Ctrl-VBuddy Miller and John Prine take top Americana prizes
(pictured above: Buddy Miller) At the Americana Music Association's 4th annual awards ceremony on Sep. 9, Buddy Miller and John Prine earned two of the top prizes. Miller took Album of the Year for Universal United House of Prayer, and Prine won the Artist of the Year award. Other winners included Marty Stuart and Guy Clark, amongst several others. For more information, including photos, visit www.americanamusic.org.... read more
Found in: Music, NewsJohn Prine
It’s not exactly Paradise. In fact, it’s Nashville—if not Hell, then at least Purgatory—where an aspiring songwriter lurks deep within the heart of every waiter... read more
Found in: Music, Features
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Heather Greene - Moon Hangs Fire
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Earth…
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
