San Francisco Smug

Having recently had a conversation with one of my fellow bloggers in which we discussed the production of "smug", it has come to my attention that on occasion San Francisco does occasionally run the risk of disappearing "completely up its own asshole". Our cabs are green, our busses are green, and I work at a PR agency that runs green campaigns for oil, finance, liquor and car companies. Bummer.

When it comes to music, however, shit gets real. San Franciscans love music: festivals, open mic nights, concerts, you name it. So imagine my (self)satisfaction when I realized I could buy music...wait for it....to benefit a cause. Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS.

The two disc compilation album features exclusive recordings by an impressive number of musical favorites:

"THIS DISC"
"Knotty Pine" - Dirty Projectors and David Byrne (mp3)
"'Cello Song" (Nick Drake) - The Books featuring José González
"Train Song" Feist and Ben Gibbard
"Brackett, WI" - Bon Iver
"Deep Blue Sea" - Grizzly Bear
"So Far Around the Bend" - The National
"Tightrope" - Yeasayer
"Feeling Good" (Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse) - My Brightest Diamond
"Dark Was the Night" (Blind Willie Johnson) - Kronos Quartet
"I Was Young When I Left Home" (Bob Dylan) - Anthony with Bryce Dessner
"Big Red Machine" - Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner
"Sleepless" - The Decemberists
"Die" - Iron & Wine
"Service Bell" - Grizzly Bear and Feist
"You Are the Blood" (Castanets) - Sufjan Stevens

"THAT DISC"
"Well-Alright" - Spoon
"Lenin" - Arcade Fire
"Mimizan" - Beirut
"El Caporal" - My Morning Jacket
"Inspiration Information" (Shuggie Otis) - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
"With a Girl Like You" (The Troggs) - Dave Sitek
"Blood Pt 2" (Castanets) - Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
"Hey, Snow White" (Destroyer) - The New Pornographers
"Gentle Hour" (Snapper) - Yo La Tengo
"Another Saturday" - Stuart Murdoch
"Happiness" - Riceboy Sleeps
"Amazing Grace" - Cat Power with Dirty Delta Blues
"The Giant of Illinois" (The Handsome Family) - Andrew Bird
"Lua" (Bright Eyes) - Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch
"When the Road Runs Out" - Blonde Redhead with Devastations
"Love Vs. Porn" - Kevin Drew

My Suggestion:

Buy the entire album. It will cost you 15 bucks on iTunes (everyone knows thats not real money) and if you're really miserly, you can even write it off. I would suggest paying particular attention to the following:




Now go forth and smug it up, San Francisco style.