Podcast #2: Finals Recap and Peoples’ Choice

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Janos Marton

Tune in to listen to hear me and Guillermo break down Saturday night’s Music Tournament finals, including Guillermo’s wild listening party at Red Derby bar in D.C: Podcast #2.   During the podcast we also go over the ground rules for the Peoples’ Choice Tournament, which will be kicking off in June, as well as other upcoming Living the Dream events, like May 14’s Marathon Day.

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Music Tournament Championship Results

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Janos Marton

The King defeats the Queen!

Stand By Me (Ben E. King) def. Under Pressure (Queen w. David Bowie), 656-631.

Folks, this will be a short post, because it’s Saturday night, after all.

First, 81 voters!  Obviously a record, led by Guillermo’s valiant Red Derby crew, which cast 48 votes at the D. C listening party.  Thank you to New York and Kampala party participants as well.

Amazing times.  Guillermo and I will be doing a podcast on all this tomorrow, as well as announcing the People’s Choice Tournament this summer.

But man, what a great ride. Congratulations, Mr. King.  I’m gonna try calling him on Monday.  Under Pressure just couldn’t measure up to the simple beauty of Stand By Me tonight.

Stand By Me, which won its first 8 match-ups without many 10s, dropped a record-breaking 11 tonight, not even counting the DC votes.  Tonight, the night, belongs to lovers.

And so Queen is the 278th artist eliminated in this fine tournament.

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Music Tournament Championship

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Janos Marton

Welcome to the most exciting 24 hours in music.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for.

King vs. Queen

Classic pre-Beatles Americana vs. coke-fueled, post-disco 80s

Two songs have that have defeated eight songs from a variety of genres over five months.

Under Pressure (Queen w/ David Bowie) vs. Stand By Me (Ben E. King)

Listen here, and as always, vote by commenting below or emailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com by 11pm TOMORROW  NIGHT.

I know we had  mentioned that at one point that there would be no live commenting on the finals, but we changed our minds.  Proceed as always, but realize that a huge chunk of votes will come in from the listening parties between 8pm and 10pm tomorrow.   By the end of the last listening party, we will be ready to crown a winner.

During me and Guillermo’s podcast we went over what a tough match we anticipate this to be.  Last round, Under Pressure racked up a record 363 points from 44 voters.  But Stand By Me got 355, a mere difference of .2 per voter.

A huge thank you to all of you, the voters.  Music is awesome.  It is simultaneously personal and universal.  By participating in a music tournament, you have all seen your favorite songs fall, sometimes to seemingly unworthy adversaries.  Such is democracy.  Both of the songs before us tonight, however, have played like champs from the beginning. We’ll all be celebrating regardless of the outcome 24 hours from now.

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Living The Dream Podcast #2

Posted on April 29, 2011 by g-mo

Podcast2 is here. Take a listen as Janos and Guillermo discuss the Final Four Results, the roads that Under Pressure and Stand By Me have taken, and give details about the Finals parties as well as how the Final votes are going down. Word.

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Living The Dream Music Tournament: Final Four Results

Posted on April 28, 2011 by g-mo


Continue reading →

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Living The Dream Music Tournament: Semi-Finals

Posted on April 26, 2011 by g-mo

Votes due Thursday, April 28th at 8:00 PM EST: Just looking at the way that title came off my fingers gives me anticipatory shivers. LTDMT: Semi-Finals. No division, no Day 1, no need for modifier or anything beyond what it is. And it truly is what it is- 550 songs have become 4 songs. One of our match-ups features two championship contenders released in 1961 and 1963- two years apart, and a mere five tracks apart on Disc 1 of the LTDMT 128 Box Set. Our other, a pairing of Mercury…and a mirror. A magic mirror. That also has the Bowie in it. You know, it’s interesting- Janos has been pointing out race and gender trends these last few rounds, but in the end, we have: A white guy from Tennessee. A black guy from North Carolina and later Harlem. A bisexual former Zoroastrian who grew up in a combination of Zanzibar and Bombay. And the most androgynous individual in the history of rock and roll. I’d say we’re pretty equitable, all things considered (sorry Dusty.) Continue reading →

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Ken Jennings Music Trivia

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Janos Marton

A little while ago I posted a tough music trivia question courtesy of Ken Jennings’ weekly trivia.   The question and now, the answer, are posted below, from Ken’s blog.   Jacob correctly pinned it down, suggesting, “no rhyming verses.”  In fact, there are no rhymes at all, in any of these songs. Good job, Jacob! Continue reading →

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Living The Dream Music Tournament Podcast #1

Posted on April 26, 2011 by g-mo

This whole thing is really a forced experiment in how quickly Nos and I learn how to use technology (for example, we only figured out how to make blogs have a “continue reading” link about 3 weeks ago.) But exciting news- the first ever Living The Dream Music Tournament Podcast is now available! Listen as we discuss the surprising results from the Elite Eight and look forward to our predictions on the Final Four!

Living The Dream Podcast 4/25/11

PS- I forgot I mentioned in the podcast I’d tell my Dusty Springfield story. Continue reading →

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Quarter-Finals Results: Right Side of the Bracket

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Janos Marton

“They say the music’s all a blur…You can’t understand a word…But honey if you did, you’ll really blow your lid…Baby, that is rock and roll!”

-The Coasters

That song, “Rock and Roll”, is actually pretty un-rocking by any post-1965 standard, which brings us to the issue of what exactly type of tune this tournament is seeking to crown. Many of the most “rocking” songs have long passed by the wayside, but we cast our net perhaps too narrowly to claim that the tournament is determining “the best song of all time.” Continue reading →

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Quarter-Finals Results: Left Side of the Bracket

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Janos Marton

Coming into the quarter-finals, we’d already eliminated 272 artists since the Round of 512 began in early December.  The one artist that simply would not go down is Queen, who send two of their songs to a dramatic all-Queen Final Four match-up. Continue reading →

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