Monday Morning Music

Monday Morning Music: Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

922853_10153794330701303_7844604813520770486_nAfter Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band finished their second performance on SNL this past Saturday I was fairly disappointed.

Don’t get me wronged – The Boss and the band put on a couple of great performances of songs from their new box set celebrating the 35th anniversary of “The River” (a great Christmas present for the Bruce Springsteen fan and blog writer in your life).

On any other night I would have been elated to hear performances of “Meet Me In The City” and “The Ties That Bind” live on Saturday night.

The only problem was this was the Christmas show. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: The Next Storm

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

I’ve always enjoyed the rain. While others get depressed by storm clouds in the sky I tend to find them soothing.

In fact, I think it’s kind of funny when people freak out about a little precipitation. I know some people who won’t leave the house or drive their car if they see a rain drop.

And to be fair these people are probably more sane and just living more safely than I am, so I can’t really fault them.

It’s just that I don’t think hiding from bad weather is any way to live your life. So if you’re staring into storm clouds this week, maybe you could use a little Monday Morning Music to motivate you to step outside: 

Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: All Your Favorite Bands

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

It’s Monday.

Your mind is consumed with all things you have to do for all the things you have due.

After a weekend full of forgetting all your cares, the alarm on your phone reawakens all your troubles.

If only there was a simple solution. If only there was a way to stop worrying about all your problems. If only there was a way to take your mind off of yourself.

Maybe you could use a little Monday Morning Music.

dawes-albumOver the past few years Dawes has been churning out raw and honest music that hearkens back to the glory days of Jackson Browne and other west coast songwriters. While many of their songs tell long and intricate stories, the title track to their latest album tells a simple one. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Tightrope

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Weekends are a wonderful time for dreamers.

For two days you get to live the life you fantasize about. Free from the deadlines and restrictions of the office you have 48 hours to work on your passion project. Whether it’s writing your book or setting up your self-run business or making crafts to sell on Etsy, the weekend is where dreamers have a chance to see life as they imagine it could be.

Then comes Monday. Mondays are like a tightrope. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Joel The Lump Of Coal

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

Mondays can feel like a big lump of coal in your stocking.

You spend the weekend full of the holiday spirit – picking out a tree, wrapping presents, enjoying a glass of egg nog and the yearly viewing of Emmet Otter.

Then that alarm hits Monday morning, waking you up from that wonderful Christmas dream and bringing you back into the reality of the workweek.

Ugh. For all the joy and merriment of the Christmas season, we still have lumps of coal to deal with in our lives.

Maybe you could use some Monday Morning Music to get you back in the spirit.

What if there was something more to these lumps in our stockings? What if the things we think are meant to upset  us have a deeper meaning buried inside? Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Kansas City

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above)

One of the most buzzed about musical projects of the year is The New Basement Tapes. It’s a collaboration between Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons), Rhiannon Giddens (of The Carolina Chocolate Drops), Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes) and Elvis Costello (of Elvis Costello).

That all-star lineup in and of itself is awesome enough. But that’s not even the coolest part.

What makes The New Basement Tapes special is these artist have come together to record a set of newly discovered lyrics written by none other than Bob Dylan. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Jesus Is Just Alright

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above)

“Do do do do, do do do do,

Do do do do, do do oh yeah”

If you’ve ever listened to classic rock radio, you recognize the riff from The Doobie Brothers classic “Jesus Is Just Alright”.

I’ve always thought the song was pleasant enough but never really understood it. Like so much of what’s on the radio it was one of those songs where you just kind of hum along but don’t try to dig too deep into the lyrics.

“Is the song about how these guys are cool with Jesus? Or are they saying Jesus is just ‘o.k’ and they’re not too interested in what he has to say?” These are the questions I had about the song. 

After I heard the tune on the radio the other day I decided to finally do a little research. I think what I found might surprise you. And I think it might be an important reminder as you begin your work week this Monday. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Rise Again

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

Mondays can be a like punch in the face.

You spend all weekend having fun, sleeping in, enjoying your family.

Then the alarm hits. 4:30 AM. You struggle to get yourself up. Barely make it through your bagel and coffee before you walk in the door.

You open the door to the office and BOOM. Monday comes at you swinging and knocks you to the floor.

When Monday knocks you down you don’t always want to get back up. Sometimes it feels like you can’t get back up.

You need an anthem. You need to know you can Rise Again. You need some Monday Morning Music.

Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Tennessee

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

It’s hard to think about rest on a Monday.

Let me rephrase that:

It’s hard put rest into practice on a Monday.

Resting sounds good in theory. When God commands us to take a sabbath, we love the idea of it.

But the work comes calling.

I am terribly guilty of not putting sabbath principles into practice.

Instead of taking a full day to rest, I spend the weekend working and worrying about all manner of little things that need to get done. I think if I rest I won’t have the time to get everything done.

You may do the same thing.

Even worse, you may not have even had a day off this weekend. You may have worked double shifts. Or you may have been up all night taking care of a couple of screaming babies.

If you missed your chance at rest this weekend, maybe you could use some Monday Morning Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkK5eHkY46o Continue reading →