Long time, no mix…  Well, at least not publicly.  I’ve made several for friends of mine; I simply haven’t gotten around to sharing them, as of yet.  Slowly, I’ll assemble them here anew, for your listening pleasure.

This first mix is dedicated to one trapped in the rat race of cars packed onto the freeway, one who would much rather escape along the 101 and hide in Santa Barbara, drinking wine in a small bar… or perhaps run away to Malibu…  Even though I stand under East Coast skies, I do feel as if she and I look to the same inky cloak in the wee hours, counting the stars and healing scars, both of us wiser for the wear — and both of us in love with California.

For you, L. ❤

High Fidelity 20: Counting Stars in California Cars

1.  The Vancouver National Anthem – Matthew Good ft Pete Yorn
“We all live downtown/Pay in blood, no parking/Sleep on the ground/Step over ourselves…”

2.  Trippin’ – Edwin
“Falling down, burning up/Shootin’ through the sky/Watch the meteor fly/Gather round, gather round/Watch me as I hit the ground…”

3.  Ahead By A Century – The Tragically Hip
“First thing, we’d climb a tree/And maybe then we’d talk/Or sit silently, and listen to our thoughts/Illusions of someday cast in a golden light/No dress rehearsal – this is our life…”

4.  Baby One More Time – Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa
“I must confess my loneliness is killing me now/Don’t you know I still believe?”

5.  Drug Dealer (A Love Song) – Sunshine State
“I asked you to come dance with me/You said I’d love to but you see/Even though you’re looking fine/I’m working, I don’t have the time/But you’re not working the bar/You’re not bouncing or parking cars/So tell me what exactly do you do?”

6.  In the Snow – Shirley Manson
“No one wants to feel unlovable/But everybody has a place you cannot touch…So in love with the problem we’ll be solving all our lives…”

7. Hollywood – Curious
“Feels so good in Hollywood/So why am I running on empty?”

8.  Basement Apt. – Sarah Harmer
“I can smell the bleach that they use in the hall/But it can’t clean the dirt off of me/It’s seeping under the door/In across the floor/It’s starting to hurt everytime I breathe/Everytime I try to leave…”

9.  Jericho – Tara Maclean
“Oh, funny how I spent this time on the ground/Oh, it’s a lie/Everything you felt until now…”

10.  Pretty Life – Jakalope
“You can close your eyes, but do you taste my breath?/Hear my voice drowning you, feel my skin on your back…”

11.  Under The Hill – Dayna Manning
“I heard you were feeling under the weather/Well, as long as you’re alive, you’ll live forever…”

12.  Madeleine – Fallacy Flow
“I look for an answer, but get no reply… Madeleine, wish she could love herself again…”

13. Jar of Hearts – Christina Perri
“Who do you think you are, running ’round leaving scars? Collecting your jar of hearts and tearing love apart…”

14.  Weir – Killing Heidi
“Will you make it in the end/Through all the twists and bends/Will you fulfill all your dreams?/Not as easy as it seems…”

15.  Hiroshima Sweet Eyes – Povi
“With the wings of my heart/This closeness sacrifices everything…”

16.  Counting Stars – Sugarcult
“Hey, I’ll take this day by day by day/Under the covers I’m okay…”

17.  Eve – Chantal Kreviazuk
“Run the way you did before the nightmares/Run just like before the overkill/Run the way you did, it’s over darling…”

18.  Walking Wounded – The Tea Party
“If your memories do stray/Then they betray all that’s past…”

19.  Story of Us – Sarah Fimm
“I’ll bury it inside my capsule/And open it in fifty years/Maybe then there will be some answers there…”

20.  Painkillers – Lauren Pritchard
“I finally did the math of what I’d done/And my heart breaks for you, but I got broken too/And I still wanna be someone…”