OK, now it gets interesting! Welcome to Round Two of Montauk Madness. The 32 artists who survived Round One now advance to face each other in a battle to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
Both Billy Joel and Frank Sinatra cleared Round One without breaking a sweat. Joel received 95% of the vote in a matchup against Michael Penn, while Sinatra picked up 86% against my beloved Tift Merritt.
How will they fare against each other? Continue reading
I’m interrupting my normally scheduled Random Weekend selection to offer up a quick appreciation of the HBO show The Leftovers, which ended its three-season run a week ago.
The show, based on a book by Tom Perrotta (one of my favorite authors), was developed for television by Damon Lindelof, of Lost fame. It takes place in a world where an unexplained “Departure” has seen 2% of the world’s population disappear without explanation. Think of the Biblical Rapture, but affecting people of all faiths (and no faith).
I was shocked to see that today’s Random iTunes Selection has never been featured on this blog. ‘Mad About You’ is not only my favorite Sting song but one of my favorite songs by anybody.
Hearing this makes me feel just fine about (spoiler alert!) Sting’s runaway win over Sinead O’Connor in the first round of Montauk Madness.
I deliberately left the Eagles out of Montauk Madness, but now I feel a little guilty about it.
I’ve always considered myself an Eagles hater, based mostly on my dislike of their signature album, Hotel California. But last September I took a dive into their whole catalog and realized I’m actually quite fond of their earlier, more country-folk songs.
Narrowing the first round of Montauk Madness down to 64 artists was a difficult task, particularly when it came to the final dozen or so contestants. To make room for a sentimental favorite like Toad the Wet Sprocket, I have to leave out The Wallflowers, The Who, Walk the Moon, Wilo and The White Stripes. And those are just the W’s.
I made a lot of hard decisions like that, which I could argue either way. If I started over, I might have a whole different lineup of acts filling out the 50-64 slots.
Meet Me In Montauk 