The "Happy 175th Birthday Chicago!" Mix

Wow, it sneaks up on you, doesn't it old girl? One minute you're a makeshift metropolis just making its way in the world, the next you're the fourth most powerful city in the world, blowing out the candles on your 175th birthday cake. Yup, Father Time can be a tricky bastard, you've got to stay on your toes.


I just want you to know that I didn't forget your birthday, I was just busy and I couldn't find uh... internet stamps. The point is, it's the thought that counts and I put a lot into your present. You're a complex city, not easy to pigeonhole and I tried to reflect that here. Sure, there's some outright love songs from Lupe, Frank and others, but there's more than that. I've got radio hits from Power 92 and deconstructionist jams for the XRT crowd. You're getting love from all sides North, West and, of course SOUTH. We've got orchestral folk pop and punk rock polka, country-rock and standards. Most of your major music movements from Chicago blues (and some wankers from London ripping it off), 80's indie & hip-hop. I'll admit that I'm still not strong on my house or industrial music but there's time for that in the next 175 years. I even threw in some instrumentals to say what words couldn't.


Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I think you're special. You're a world-class city without all the pretension that normally implies. Your cuisine is amazing because you don't call it "cuisine", your (metro area) beers are the best in the world and only getting better and you're also pretty good when it comes to art, architecture, music, and parking space retention. In short, the world is a better place because you're here. So Happy Birthday (Belated) 175th Birthday Chicago and remember, you're only as old as you act!

Windy City Christmas Holiday - The On Warmer Music 2011 Christmas Mix

I'm an only child. Indeed, the only offspring on one whole side of my family. Needless to say, this meant that Christmas was a holiday that was kind to me while growing up. But even looking beyond the consumptive orgy that went with it, Christmas was a favorite time of mine. The ritualistic nature of the holiday, the anticipation, the changing seasons, all of these things held my imagination as a child, creating warm associations that still tug mercilessly at me every December.

My family had a few old Christmas tapes that my father had made years before I was born for winter drives from Chicago to New Jersey with my mother to visit his family. They were mixtures of hymns, secular standards and a few (relatively) newer holiday pop songs. The juxtaposition of old and new along with the pacing and selection that is a feature of any good mix lent the tapes a timeless quality. Those tapes were Christmas to me as a child.