I don't think the Pentagon was really trying to develop a gay bomb. I think it was just a marketing ploy to sell more Erasure and Madonna records. Or maybe you have a diffferent theory? Tonight's lnmc contest is to find the 5 gayest songs ever recorded. Here's one that strikes me as... pretty gay:

Send your list of 5 really gay songs to downwithtyranny@aol.com and win a musical package that transcends sexuality (although... admitedly, if you have any gay friends on your Xmas list...) The prize: a COLOR ME BARBRA dvd (including fabulous bonus poster!) and a rare-- never sold-- promo CD for OUTFEST, the 19th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival which has 15 songs by a wide range of artists from Nick Cave, Stevie Nicks, Book of Love and Enya to Ennio Morricone, Depeche Mode and New Order.Congratulations to James for winning the Pearlman/Sony Rock On contest. Thanks for being part of the LNMC Community!

A couple days ago a buddy played me It Ain't Over 'til It's Over by Lenny Kravitz, who we were thinking of inviting to be part of the LNMC anniversary party. Lenny's song is really good but I mentioned that I thought he must have been listening to Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson when he was growing up. (It is definitely not the Hendrix side of Lenny.)

Anyway, I had to play some Smokey who, when I was growing up was the creative genius behind the Motown hit machine, not just as lead singer of the Miracles but also as a songwriter and producer for the Temptations, Four Tops, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. And his songs have never stopped being covered, in every genre, like this awesome ska version of Tears of a Clown by The Beat. Of course, here's the all-time classic:

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I don't know, for the life of me, what made me think of this song on this Independence Day.

Maybe you do; and if you do (if you're the kind of mind-reader I know lots of LNMC participants are), you can win a 2-CD set, The Essential George Jones, a career spanning retospective, 1956-1999, all the big hits frpm this all-American singer-songwriter.

Now this song by The Specials (Special AKA) was a big hit too, but only outside of the U.S. The 2 Tone thing never really took off on this side of the pond. This Coventry-based septet got going in 1977 and I saw them when I went on a U.K. tour with The Clash for whom they opened. I thought they were powerful and infectious and couldn't get enough of them. Although they had had at least one #1 in the U.K. before "Free Nelson Mandela," this was the one that brought them the most international acclaim. But what does it have to do with July, 2007? And don't forget to throw in something about Martin Luther King's "Free at last!"

Send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com

And Congratulations to C&Ler Marc of LA for his winning entry for the last contest!

I met the Grammy winning flutist---Rhonda Larson with great anticipation in August 2003 at The National Flute Convention in Las Vegas. Larson's got an incredible sound and an awesome technique, but she has this spiritual quality in her music that really drew me to her playing. Rhonda played for years with the Paul Winter Consort and then left to take her own path. Nestor Torres introduced me to her during the convention, but I was a fan long before I met her---and she's as sweet as her sound. She gave me permission to post some of her music on the LNMC to my delight. Check out her website for sheet music and other cool stuff.

Download | play "Movin' On," is a solo flute piece that I've spent many hours working on. (Mac users--click on the download button and the music will play.)

"Larson journeyed to South Africa as a musical ambassador for the United States to perform for the Parliament of the World’s Religions, sharing the stage with such luminaries as Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

Her two solo records are "Free as a Bird and "Distant Mirrors."

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Chances are if you've seen a recent picture of me, you've seen a Building A Better Spaceship hoodie. I have several. I don't wear them when the temperature gets above 90-- unless I'm worried about being forced into an air-conditioned enclosure. Aside from really nice hoodies, this South Bay-based L.A. band also makes some really good music. I've been listening to their demos and seeing them play live shows for a couple years.

And today I realized that they'd probably have something shareable via YouTube. They do-- "This Time:"

And tonight's contest will take some sleuthing, and looking in the right place. I have to admit, it's a hard one. But I've come up with a great prize: a boxset called LEGENDS OF COUNTRY-- CLASSIC HITS OF THE '50's, '60's & '70's. (There are songs by Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, and lots more... 57 songs including 49 #1 hits.)

So just tell me the relationship between Building A Better Space Ship and the Bush compound in Crawford. In the explanation I'm looking for two words-- a 3 letter word and a four letter word. Good luck-- and send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com

A few nights ago, we gave away a Sire boxset and all you had to do was name your 3 favorite Rough Trade songs. I thought LNMC members might be interested in knowing which artists came up the most frequently in the approximately 250 entries: Arcade Fire, The Smiths, Libertines, The Strokes, Cocteau Twins, Soft Cell, Delta 5, The Decemberists, Belle & Sebastian, Stiff Little Fingers, Sufjan Stevens, Gang of 4, Kleenex, James Blood Ulmer, Pere Ubu, Cabaret Voltaire, Young Marble Giants, The Fall, Scritti Politti, Antony & the Johnsons, Swell Maps, Sebadoh, and Ian Dury. All good stuff.

The winner was Eric with Galaxie 500, Delta 5 and Jarvis. Congratulations, Eric.

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Kurt is an LNMC contest winner from Vancouver (WA) who just turned me on to a great new band from the U.K., The Brakes. And although they caused some stir with a song bashing a discredited American political figure and for their anti-war "Porcupine or Pineapple," it's really their music that is making them the hottest commodity in the U.K. music scene.

Here's the Rough Trade video for the U.K. hit "All Night Disco Party."

CONTEST: This isn't the first time Rough Trade has found an underground band and helped make them international stars. Send us a list of your 3 favorite Rough Trade-released hit songs (by 3 different artists). The coolest list gets its creator a cool Sire Records box set (3 CDs plus a DVD), JUST SAY SIRE: THE SIRE RECORDS STORY. Send your list to downwithtyranny@aol.com.

(Nicole: Nonny's last guest post for the LNMC was so popular, I asked her to contribute another)

I have a confession to make: I like drums. I mean, I really like drums. There is something deeply primordial about the pounding rhythm of a drum, which just possibly may be the oldest musical instrument in the world since Homo erectus first did a solo riff with a couple antelope femurs on a rock, a la Stanley Kubric's version of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It may be the only musical instrument to be native to every single country and civilization on earth, and found everywhere from the poshest symphony orchestra to Rastafarian bongos on the beach. I love drums.

But there is one sort of drumming I don't like - the constant beat of the war drums coming from the White House. So tonight's challenge is to post links to any joyous, rhythmic drum or percussion work, from every country around the world, anything that gets your buttocks twitching in your seat, foot stomping, thigh slapping, heart thumping, get up on your feet and embarrass the neighbourhood kids by shaking your bootie, and shouting for joy. Drown out the drums of war.

And to get you started, here are two very different, very jubilant pieces that I hope you like as much as I do. The first is a performance by the amazing Top Secret Swiss Drum Corp at the 2006 Edinburgh tattoo:

And the second is by an artist who is a particular favourite of mine, Australian Tommy Emmanuel, whose virtuosity with just a single guitar is quite simply mindbogglingly awesome:

When I was at Reprise Nick Cave was a cherished and credible artist who didn't make the company a great deal of money but who helped define the label and attract other credible artists, some of whom did make the company a great deal of money. Soon after I retired, they dropped Nick. I was really excited this morning when someone at Mute in the U.K. sent me an advance copy of his new album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig. The first thing I thought of was sharing it with the LNMC. I listened all day and it blows me away. I might as well start with the first track, which is also the title track. Do you have a favorite post-Birthday Party Nick Cave song?

One of the things for which I am most grateful about being able to contribute here at C&L is the number of really wonderful, progressive bloggers I have come to know. One of those people is SteveAudio, who suggested this LNMC.

Sorrow, from their album The Process of Belief

Read what Steve had to say about working with Brett Gurewitz in the studio...

(guest blogged by Howie Klein. He's been really doing a dynamite job on the LNMC.)

Today Talla 2XLC is one of the biggest international djs in the world. When I first met him in a small town near Frankfurt he was running an independent industrial music label, playing music at a dance club under a runway at the Frankfurt Airport-- I once spent a New Years Eve there-- and playing in a hard core electro band called BiGod 20 these guys! Listen to the first single we released by the band and then enter the Crooks & Liars Tuesday Night Industrial Contest. Just tell us what your favorite 5 industrial songs of all times are (and why). The best list wins a 4-DVD set of PUNKY BREWSTER (SEASON THREE)-- 22 episodes. Send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com/