Good Pilots

I've been doing some heavy listening to Blind Pilot recently. And while the more I listen the more I like (really like); it now has come to the point that the more I read about these guys the more I love. This Portland, Oregon duo not only make moving and artfully crafted tunes they also seem to be as sincere as the songs they crank out. Now it seems that for this to finally filter down this way they're encountering a much larger career break than before, but the band's intriguing and humble origins really seem to strike a chord. In their early days touring from Portland to other venues they biked up and down the west coast between shows, making no impact other than that with their songs. Some may say it's gimmicky, but I'd like to believe that it's just a creative answer to a question for struggling artists.

So thumbs up to thoughtful artists: Blind Pilot.

Here's a track I'm wild about, hope you are too.

The Story I Heard - Blind Pilo...

Nice View

Let's all be this happy this week.

via found

Kindred Spirits

Oh, by the way... it's National Random Acts of Kindness Week.

A nice publicized week to remind us of what we should be doing all of the time.

Here are some folks who are really getting into it: at Undercover Kindness, they really know how to spread it around. They're taking really small, really simple ideas and treating their nice gestures as covert operations. Seems like a good habit to be getting into. Check out some of the artists they are linked up to to help you pass all of your random acts on.

And they remind you to:

VIA Undercover Kindness Grocery lists.

Thanks for the tip e!

OutPourings

A Chain of Events: This

Produced this:

Freak snow storms in our city help to prove that not all texts from last night are in fact disgusting. It's good to know that even when the weather turns bad your friends won't.

This morning again I hosted The Q E D Report. It's great to hear that the show made a small difference in someone's day. In fact, several people said their commutes were improved. Glad I could help. Here's what everyone wanted to know what they were hearing.

-Four Tet- Circling

-Warpaint- Elephants (Phone Call 1 &2 Received)

-Beach House- 10 Mile Stereo

-Jónsi- Go Do

-Joe Pug- Bury Me Far (From My Uniform) (Phone Call 3)

-Broken Bells- Citizen

-Coma Cinema- Flower Pills

-The Radio Dept.- Heaven's on Fire

-Au Revoir Simone- Take Me As I Am

-Au Revoir Simone (TANLINES Remix)- Shadows

-Toro Y Moi- Talamak

-Boca Chica- Lake Erie (Phone call 4)

-Magnetic Fields- The Dada Polka

-Joanna Newsome- Good Intentions Paving Company

-Alec Ounsworth- Me and You Watson

-She & Him- In the Sun

-Yeasayer- Madder Red

-Dr. Dog- Shadow People (Phone call 5)

-Hot Chip- Thieves in the Night (Phone call 6)

-Taken by Trees- Anna

-Devendra Banhart- Angelika

-Elvis Perkins- 123 Goodbye

-Charlotte Gainsbourg- Me and Jane Doe (Emails received)

-Slow Club- It Doesn't Have to be Beautiful

-You Say Party We Say Die- Glory

-Bear Hands- What a Drag

-Fela Kuti- Zombie

Needless to say I was a little overwhelmed, but it was all worth it because I even received this gem:

Thanks. No, you are the best.

Lasting Effect

I found a bag of Bear Naked Granola that I've had in my cupboard for, well too long to really be proud of. However, when checking to see if the grains inside were still good (they were) I found something even better. To keep these oats fresh (for weirdos like me who don't finish them in anything resembling a timely manner) they use a multilayer plastic film that is unfortunately unrecyclable.

And they know it, so they try to fix it.

Bear Naked is a really cool company in the first place, making delicious snacks, but they also initiated their own Sustainable Packaging Project: you finish a bag and you send it back to them. You can "Upcycle" your bags for products like umbrellas, shower curtains and tote bags.

VIA Bear Naked's Home Page

Thumbs Way Up to Bear Naked for keeping more bags out of landfills and even promoting community action with groups like TerraCycle. But it all hinges on the user, I'll be a part of this, you should to.

Community Service

I got so many phone calls this morning, people wanting to know what was buzzing from me to them. Here it all is nice and written down. Every Monday night I meticulously plan this playlist all out. And then the next morning only to pick where I think are perfect gaps to add on once I see what the studio has to offer. WUSC certainly is a community radio station, I've always felt that it is there for the betterment of Columbia. Some how, we still seem to be making a dent. I'm proud to volunteer my time and be part of it all.

You catch me on The Q E D Report, Tuesday's from 8-10am, just trying to show this city my love.

- Best Coast- The Sun Was High (So Was I)
- LAKE- Acorn
- Warpaint- Billie Holiday
- Owen Pallett- Red Sun No. 5
- Rural Alberta Advantage- Four Night Rider *This one for MEG*

- Real Estate- Snow Days
- Real Estate- Younger than Yesterday
- Thao With the Get Down Stay Down- Easy
- Beach House- Silver Soul
- El Perro del Mar (ft. Robyn)- Change of Heart (Rakamonie Remix)
- Vega- No Reasons

- The Laughing- Killer
- Surfer Blood- Swim (to reach the end)

- White Denim- I start to Run
- Califone- Funeral Singers

- Laura Marling- Ghosts *for a friend*
- Devendra Banhart- Maria Lionza

- Belle and Sebastian- Boy with the Arab Strap
- Los Campesions!- Romance is Boring

- Avi Buffalo- What's In It For *for a new friend*

- Luke Top- Friends
- Yeasayer- Love Me Girl
- Girls- Ghost Mouth

- David Bazan- Bless this Mess
- Syster Crayon- Souls of Gold

Every song in the end is meant for someone.