2nd Annual People’s Choice Tournament: Round of 128 (Day 6 of 16)

Posted on September 3, 2012 by g-mo

To pay for gas between shows, they also solve mysteries

If you were waiting for a day to hear some deep cuts from true legends in this tourney across entirely different genres, your day has come- 3 Hall of Fame inductees and 1 Hall of Fame nominee are featured in Van Halen, Solomon Burke, Johnny Cash, and Rakim. On top of that, the other four competitors are nothing to shrug at. Super great looking set- in the same vein of Nos’s “Backstreets” lament last week, I’m a little bummed that one of my nominations has to tee off against the Man in Black, but we’ll see how things play out. Anyways, playlist is here, and votes are due by Wednesday, September 5th at 8:00 PM. And if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to vote for the Day 5 match-ups below due on Tuesday at 8 PM.

Poundcake (Van Halen) vs. When I B On Tha Mic (Rakim)

Stay Away (Josh Hoge) vs. Cry To Me (Solomon Burke)

All My Money Is Gone (Deep Dark Woods) vs. B-Boy (Crown City Rockers)

The Temptation Of Adam (Josh Ritter) vs. Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash)

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2nd Annual Peoples Choice Tournament: Round of 128 (Day 5 of 16)

Posted on September 2, 2012 by g-mo

These guys wanna Make It Better for you this round.

Hope everybody’s Labor Day weekend is going well! Here’s hoping this eclectic octet of songs in our next day of the Round of 128 keeps things going- grab some of your friends from the porch and pop the speaker cord from the iPod dock on the cooler and into the computer. This set is bound to start some debate in a good way. Playlist is here and your votes are due no later than Tuesday, September 4th at 8:00 PM.

* Playlist now updated with studio version of “Bloom”, sorry about that. If you already voted and want to do an amended score please do.

Sequestered In Memphis (The Hold Steady) vs. Scarlet Begonias (cover) (Sublime)

Memories (David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi) vs. Til Kingdom Come (Coldplay)

Pulling On A Line (Great Lake Swimmers) vs. Getaway (Dr. John)

Make It Better (The Knocks) vs. Bloom (Radiohead)

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People’s Choice: Week 1 Recap

Posted on September 1, 2012 by g-mo

It’s early, but The Lumineers don’t mind having the 3rd highest average score so far

Happy weekend! What an amazing turnout we had the first week of voting for the 2nd Annual PCT. Thanks to all for voting, and a special thanks to our guest posters Lindsay and Natalie for helping out Janos. I had an unexpectedly rough health week, and those two helped out in a big way- go 05s! Fortunately I am back on my feet and will be manning the helm for the coming week while Nos liveblogs from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Let’s review what happened this week from a few angles.

0) The Tournament Bracket: Updated. Check out the path to glory for the winners.

1) Participation: Phenomenal! 100% participation awards go to AdamS, Alexis, Amanda, AnnaZ (from Ghana!), CJRoomba, Colin, Daddy-O, DemAdam, Eileen, G, Greg, Jacob, Janos, Joe, MarkB (from London! Or Tokyo. I never know where this guy is), MattB, and Natalie. That’s a great core group to start contention for the Marathon Voter award.

2) Leaders: The top 5 survivors from the first quadrant are as follows, in order of average score: Continue reading →

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2nd Annual PCT: Day 2 Results Post (CORRECTIONS 9/1/12)

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Lindsay

[Update from G-mo: The original version of these results only accounted for half the scores. UPDATED final scores are below.]

Hello again, everyone!  I am so glad we are doing another People’s Choice Tournament!  You guys have some of the best (and worst) taste in music on the internet, and I got some of my favorite new tunes from this tournament last fall.  I can’t wait to hear all of the great stuff this year!

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And without further ado, here are the results from the second night! Continue reading →

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2nd Annual Peoples Choice Tournament: Round of 128 (Day 4 of 16) Results

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Janos Marton

A Harvey-Mercury battle a few rounds from now is a strong possibility.

People seemed to dig these match-ups- full scores below.

Killer Queen (Queen) def. Crime in the City (Neil Young), 197.6-134.9.  This one was not close, as people wearied of Young’s opus.   Queen looks like it’s ready for another deep tournament run.

Never Go Back (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals)  def. Today I’m Gonna Try and Change the World (Johnny Reid), 152-110.  Feelings were more mixed about Potter, but she had more than enough ammo to power past Reid.

All These Things I’ve Done (Killers) def. The House That Heaven Built (Japandroids), 161.9-156.5.  In this energetic match-up the Killers built an enormous lead, at one point up by more than 16.  But the Japandroids rallied back furiously, cutting the lead to 1.6 at one point, before the Killers toughed it out for the win.

The Last Living Rose (PJ Harvey) def. No One Loves Me and Neither Do I (Them Crooked Vultures), 158.2-131.8.  This one started off close, but PJ ran the tables on Friday and cruised to victory.

Thank you to Neil Young, the Japandroids, Johnny Reid and Them Crooked Vultures for a  fun round, but we’ll see you later.

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Daily Nos: Battlestar Galactica’s Ending Revisited

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Janos Marton

In any early Daily Nos I expressed disappointment with Daybreak, the ending to the 4-season series, Battlestar Galactica.  This led howls of protests from several fans of the show.   What I present before you is an unfiltered email chain between several boosters and critics of the show’s ending.  My hope is that they offer more food for thought than some of the scattershot message boards floating around the internet.  For future visiters of this post, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.  I’ll admit that through the course of the dialogue I’ve come to accept that the ending, which I’m still not impressed with, doesn’t undo the mostly positive experience of watching the show.   Before you duck below the thread…obviously massive SPOILER ALERT.

Continue reading →

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Daily Nos: Willard Romney’s Angry America

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Janos Marton

The robot king has spoken.   The curtains came down on the Republican Convention, and the damage to America was limited.  For three days delegates foamed at the mouth, lunging lustily for every half-truth about the Obama administration the speakers would spew at them.   The whole event turned into an orgy of hatred and anger, which doesn’t play well on TV.  Savvy operators like Senator Marco Rubio (we’ll hear from him again) tried to smile and power through an uplifting message, but if anyone leads Americans into a dark and scary place with ease, it’s the man Rubio introduced, Mitt Romney.

The maudlin opening stanzas were standard “I love my family fare.”  Some of the sap, like “there’s no legislation for the love of a father holding his child in his arms” were painful, but it was apparently all necessary for the Mitt Romney humanization project.   When a Republican operative is crowing afterwards that the image of “the Mitt-bot” has taken a hit, you know the standard for likeability has been set so low it’s no wonder Rick Santorum beat him in so many primaries. Continue reading →

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2nd Annual Peoples Choice Music Tournament: Round of 128 (Day 3) Results

Posted on August 31, 2012 by nataliebabij

ImageWell, the first week of the 2nd annual PCT is coming to a close, and the tournament has been off to a great start. We’ve had a variety of songs in the running and excellent voter turnout. It’s been fun listening to new music and reading everyone’s commentary so far. We had a couple close competitions in Day 3, and the big winner was Stubborn Love from the Lumineers, averaging a 7.03 score. Could it be a contender for the Final Four?  Time will tell. Here are the scores:

Bali Eyes (Porno for Pyros): 134.2 vs. Backstreets (Bruce Springsteen): 136.1
(The Boss just barely squeezed past Perry Farrell’s tale of a mushroom trip, sorry Janos.)

Continue reading →

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Daily Nos: Country Roads and the Quest for 50

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Janos Marton

I’ll see the lights go down on Morgantown.

As some of you know, it’s long been a goal of mine to party in all 50 states.  The New York lawyer lifestyle has slowed my pursuit a bit, but this Saturday I’ll be cruising into Morgantown, West Virginia to add state #42 (plus D.C) to the list.   For those keeping track of home, that leaves Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii, Alaska and Delaware.

Continue reading →

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2nd Annual Peoples Choice Tournament: Round of 128 (Day 4 of 16)

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Janos Marton

Last year Queen went all the way with “Somebody to Love (live in Montreal)”. Can they repeat with “Killer Queen”?

It may only be Wednesday, but we’re coasting into the weekend here at livingthedream.org.   Once you knock out these match-ups you can melt safely into the arms of your own music playlists until next week.

Now that we’re four days into the tournament, we’ve introduced at least one song that will be in the Final Four. Which one are you rooting for?

Listen here (except for Them Crooked Vultures) and vote by 8pm, Friday.  Voting for Day 3 remains open for another 24 hours.

Killer Queen (Queen) vs. Crime in the City (Neil Young)

Never Go Back (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals) vs. Today I’m Gonna Try and Change the World (Johnny Reid)

The House That Heaven Built (Japandroids) vs. All These Things I’ve Done (Killers)

No One Loves Me and Neither Do I (Them Crooked Vultures) vs. The Last Living Rose (PJ Harvey)

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