Good morning, music lovers! Once again we are on the cusp of the weekend here in The Mermaid Lounge, and it’s a long weekend to boot! We start off with a great multi-artist playlist. It gets better from there.

Here’s your long-weekend lineup!

9:00 a.m. Great Beginnings: Various Artists.

It’s not an EP, but it’s oh, so close. We start off with songs that have great opening riffs from The Beatles, Elton John, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Electric Light Orchestra, Edgar Winter, The Doobie Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Guess Who, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt, George Harrison and more!

3:00 p.m. Linda Ronstadt Live at Rai Halle, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 21, 1976

We give you the undisputed Queen of Rock live from Rai Halle in Amsterdam early in her illustrious career.

7:00 p.m. Van Morrison Live at The Grand Opera House, Belfast, Ireland, March 11-12, 1983

We close it out with Van “The Man” Morrison live from Belfast.

It’s a great day today here in The Lounge, partly because I have a day off from retail hell, a rare event for a Friday. And I get to listen to all this great music as I hang out here getting ready for the musical week. You should tune in too. It won’t cost you a penny, and there’s no commercial advertising…just music 24/7. No lie.