and the 8 Ball says...

- Open iTunes
- Turn shuffle on
- Press play
- The first 5 songs are:

1.) The Violent Femmes - More Money Tonight (mp3) - Why Do Birds Sing? - I can remember the days when alternative music really was alternative and that to claim YOU listened to alternative you had to listen to these guys. The Femmes burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut that everyone had on a cassette tape in their car (usually recorded off of a friend's copy and passed on like the tape from the original Mission Impossible TV show).

2.) The Ventures - Hawaii 5-0 (mp3) - Hawaii 5-0 [Original Recording Remastered] - Speaking of old TV shows, Hawaii 5-0 was a classic! I can remember the guy surfing during the opening credits and the old-school cruisers they drove on the show. Although I didn't realize it until I poked around right now, this show was on for an amazing 12 years! And how could we talk about Hawaii 5-0 without ending with "Book'em Danno!"

3.) Dropkick Murphys - Nut Rocker (mp3) - Tessie EP - For those of you outside New England, Tessie was THE Boston Red Sox song a few years ago when it seemed the Babe Ruth / Buckner curse was fading. This song is a short instrumental piece that makes you want jump around like you should if you were at a Murphys' show.

4.) The Lemonheads - It's All True (mp3) - Car Button Cloth - Good Ol' Evan Dando was another alternative staple for quite a while, although after covering Mrs. Robinson on It's A Shame About Ray the Lemonheads never quite lived up to the hype. I tried going to Evan's site, but it says it's under construction, but who knows how long that has been up.

5.) Arab Strap - That's Where We Left Our Love (mp3) Buy Arab Strap - This song is more like a poem over some background music. People seem to have definite opinions about Arab Strap. Either they like Aidan Moffat's voice or they don't...there's very little gray area there. You either go for the brogue or you don't.

(to download, right click and then "save as")