Happy and Good

Merry Christmas , Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you.

Thanks for reading and listening along. It's been a year I won't ever forget.

Coming this Monday

Sign up at Heroes Vs Villians' Mixfriends to get access to the mix. You will receive an email with a link to the download when the mix is released.

Have a smooth weekend.

*********Update**********

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007

This was released today. Thanks to anyone who signed up and downloaded it. I'm really in love with all of these songs.

Let the Giving Begin

For the past 2 years I've put together Christmas-themed mixes as my little gift to my readers. I'm very proud of those mixes and had been collecting songs throughout the year to make another one this year. However, the plate that is my life is filled, overloaded, heavy. There simply is not going to be enough time this year for me to properly put a Christmas mix together. But, but, but! My mixes from the last 2 years are still available. So if you missed one, or want to relive my version of what perfect Christmas time hang out music is, here you go:

A Hallelujah Chorus: Mike Downey's Holiday Tendency, 2005

I Believe In Everything: Mike Downey's Holiday Tendency, 2006

Like I mentioned, I had been collecting songs this year for a new Christmas mix. When I'd come across something interesting I'd download it and keep it in a distant corner of my hard drive until December. Here's a digital version of a New Order Christmas flexi I came across. It's weird and interesting. It's what a Christmas decorating session with a robotic maid hanging the lights while the humans get drunk on spiked eggnog might sound like:


Ode to Joy - New Order
Rocking Carol - New Order

Some background info on this release from a very good New Order Discography site I found.

7": UK 1982 (Factory FAC 51b) [flexi] *
3:33 Rocking Carol
3:55 Ode to Joy

* Limited edition of 4400 given away at the Hacienda Christmas Eve 1982.

- Also available as a test pressing.
Nowhere on the flexi does it say that it is New Order performing the songs, but it has been confirmed later that it actually is New Order. The tracks were recorded the year before for a local TV special.
The flexi was given away in a brown bag stamped with "FAC51 HACIENDA". The bag also contained a party hat, a whistle, a coiled streamer, and a yellow and navy blue piece candy (shaped like a rock).

Looking into the very near future, other free stuff coming at you will be The Unreleases vol. 6 (the Final? podcast of rarities from my archives) and a mixtape put together by me for Heroes Vs. Villains / Mixfriends.

Looking into the distant future, this Spring my 2nd full length will drop. It's called Hold Horses. Secret tip: if you sign up for the above mixtape you'll get a teaser track from my upcoming album. I won't release any other songs from the album until probably Feb 2008. So, go get signed up!

Happy Holidays folks.

Thorildsplan

I stepped off of the subway at my usual stop, Thorildsplan. Off of the platform and down the ramp I sidestepped some dog shit. Two mustached men in leather coats waited on the opposite side of the sliding glass doors. When the doors opened they walked in and I walked out. I turned right. I couldn't make out the graffiti on the metal pull-down shield that covered the closed convenience store but from what I can remember it was written in pink spray paint. Who buys pink spray paint? Where can I get some?

Walking down the tunnel I heard a couple talking and walking behind me. Their voices were happy and they laughed while they talked about tomorrow's plan. A solid plan it was. Out of the tunnel and up the stairs. To my right was a newly dug ditch for sewer or water pipes. The ditch was a construction zone surrounded by chain-link fence and stripped tape running through the fence. I thought about how somebody dug that ditch as a job. When I was a kid I was told that if you didn't get a proper education you'd end up digging a ditch. This ditch looked very professional and I was sure not to step too close to it.

Up a quick set of stairs that are dug into the side of a small hill and onto a paved walking path that runs beside a school. The school is a university, possibly. It's where students learn how to become teachers. I have walked by this school or university for about a year now and have never seen anyone go in or come out. For a while though, when I was working nights, I would come home sort of late and walk by the school where I'd hear loud music. I believe the school had a sort of nightclub once a week or something. I couldn't have gone in for a beer even if I wanted to though because I was not a student and surely didn't have the proper ID. Tonight, when I walked by, I looked into that window where the student nightclub was before but all I saw was a refrigerator that said "Falcon" on it. Falcon is a Swedish beer. So that must be the bar area of the teachers school (or university).

Past the school and onto the main drag of my neighborhood. This main drag has, among other things, the grocery store I frequent, a pharmacy and a place where mail that is too big to slide through the door comes. You can also place bets on horses here, if you wanted. You could also buy a snack. Once, when I was sending a box to The States the guy with the beard behind the counter made a crack about George Bush. I don't remember what he said. I do remember it wasn't funny even though I wanted it to be funny. I like topical humor.

Further down the street I passed a restaurant that mainly serves pizza. I have eaten there 2 times (to go) and the pizza isn't all that good. But what I do like about the place is that the guy that makes the pizzas looks just like Super Mario. He looks like a real deal pizza maker. He and the other men that work there sit outside of the restaurant when the weather is nice and smoke cigs and drink Falcon beer.

Almost home. You can cut off of the sidewalk and take a trail that leads up a hill into my part of the neighborhood. It has been steadily drizzling here for the past week or so and the hill has become a muddy mess. I keep telling myself that I won't walk up the hill because it's a slip and slide mess but it really is the quickest way home. I walked up the hill again tonight and my shoes got muddy. The shoes I was wearing are the shoes I wear to work every day. I call them my "good guy shoes." That is the perfect name for them.

When I got to my building I punched in the door code wrong the first time. I have at least 10 4-digit codes I'm currently using on a frequent basis. The first half of the code was correct but the last half were part of the new door code I just got for my new apartment that I'll be moving into in 2 weeks.

Into the building's front door, up the stairs a half flight and into my apartment. I took off my shoes.

I wrote this because, like I said, I'll be moving in 2 weeks. I spent a few hours tonight at the new apartment painting over a blue wall with white paint. This will continue most nights for the coming weeks. But what I wanted to say is that I wanted to write something down about this neighborhood I live in now. I really do like it. I will always have good memories of it. I went through a lot here. My mind always wandered when I would walk home alone from Thorildsplan.

Preparations

Hey gang. It's been a busy busy week. So busy that I hardly had time to think about the dot com. Imagine that. Anywho, I did find time to gather up some songs for a new mix I'm putting together for a completely swell blog called Heroes vs. Villains. See, the Heroes vs. Villains posse has a secret club, it's called Mixfriends. To be a member you just follow the link and subscribe. In turn you will receive a secret link to download occasional mixtapes put together by good people. The mix I'm currently working on should be available sometime in December. So go get yourself subscribed and wait for the goodness. The mix is close to my heart. Many good friends of mine are slated to appear on it. Peers and peer pressure. Domestic flights: Music for Midway Airports. Keep it local. Pretend I'm in your room and our heads are pressed together. We're sharing the headphones.