Thursday Brings Songs About Water, Live Eva Cassidy, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Thursday, January 16, 2025

Good morning, music lovers. We head toward the weekend once again with a great, eclectic lineup of music that starts with songs about water!

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Water, Water Everywhere: Various Artists

We start out with songs about water from Paul McCartney, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Otis Redding, The Doobie Brothers, Bob Dylan, Valerie Carter, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Al Green, Loggins & Messina, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Spirit, The Grass Roots, Carole King, Van Morrison, Tom Rush and more!

4:00 p.m. Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley, Georgetown, Washington, D.C., January 2-3, 1996

This afternoon we’ve got the late, great Eva Cassidy, who left us far too soon at the age of 36, live from a great venue called Blues Alley.

8:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

We close with an iconic country band that has graced the music scene for more than half a century.

We’re on the way to the weekend and music can make the journey so much more pleasant. We’re free. We’re on 24/7 without commercial interruption. And the button is below.

On Friday It’s Paul Revere & The Raiders, Our ‘All Fired Up’ Playlist and Van Morrison Live in NY, January 10, 2025

Good morning, music lovers and welcome to Friday. We’re on the cusp of the weekend and we have some great music for you today starting off with something new!

Here’s your musical lineup:

Yeah, baby a great little band and a hit machine. Formed in 1958, the had amazing chart success in the sixties and seventies, charting 12 Top 30 hits between 1966 and 1969. This is long overdue.

2:00 p.m. All Fired Up: Various Artists

Open Stream with a theme this afternoon with Basia, Electric Light Orchestra, The Rolling Stones, Steve Winwood, The Doors, Hank Williams, Three Dog Night, Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, Ann Peebles, Patti Smith, Jimmy Cliff, Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, The Move, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more. It’s almost an EP, but not quite.

8:00 p.m. Van Morrison Live at The Bottom Line, New York, NY, November 1, 1978

We close it out with a great performance by Van “The Man” Morrison at The Bottom Line. I’m not particularly fond of the man. He can be annoyingly self-absorbed, but he is a brilliant artist. We make some allowances.

One more day and you will be on your official weekend. Mine doesn’t start until Sunday but, hey, that’s the retail life isn’t it? I refuse to work Sunday retail, so Sunday and Monday are my weekend days. Get on it, folks. The button is below.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Gang! Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Here is your Merry Christmas music:

8:00 a.m. The Beatles 1962-1970: Chronologically Speaking

We start out with every single Beatles song ever made in chronological order. If you’re a Beatle fan like I am, this is your day.

6:00 p.m. Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

After The Beatles, we have Open Stream with a Theme for several hours with songs about the night time, a multi-artist list that includes Warren Zevon, the J. Geils Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater Revival and more!

Then it’s back to our regular stream programming uninterrupted by commercial advertising. The button is below.

On Monday We Return To Summer, Then It’s Yusuf/Cat Stevens Live in Virginia and Jesse Winchester, December 9, 2024

As winter settles in here (at least in New England) we take a trip back to summer with our multi-artist playlist, then we have some live Yusuf/Cat Stevens and a Jesse Winchester ‘Spotlight’ feature.

Here’s your Monday, Monday lineup:

10:00 a.m. Summertime: Various Artists

As the temperatures drop, we return to a warmer season with Paul McCartney, Electric Light Orchestra, Eddie Cochran, Donovan, The Wallflowers, Van Morrison, Shawn Colvin, John Prine, k.d. lang, The Stone Poneys, Bob Dylan, Nanci Griffith, The Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield and more!

4:00 p.m. Yusuf/Cat Stevens Live at William & Mary Hall, Williamsburg, VA, February 22, 1976

We’ve got The Cat live from William & Mary College in Virginia this afternoon, recorded while on his Majikat (Earth Tour 1976).

8:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Jesse Winchester

I’ve seen Jesse Winchester live several times, the first being when he opened for Emmylou Harris at Boston’s famous Music Hall, which is now known as the MGM Music Hall at Fenway. Capitalism takes the charm out of everything.

There’s plenty of wide Open Stream on Mondays in between our regular programming. We’re here 24/7 and we’re totally free all the time. No bait and switch. See for yourselves. The Button is below.

Friday It’s Our ‘Banned From the Airwaves’ Playlist, Live Steely Dan & a Wilson Pickett ‘Spotlight’ on November 22, 2024

We’ve made it to Friday! Today we’re kicking it off with a bunch of songs that have one thing in common: They were all initially banned from the airwaves for one reason or another. Then, it’s live Steely Dan and a Wicked Wilson Pickett spotlight!

Here’s your freaky Friday lineup:

10:00 a.m. Banned From the Airwaves: Various Artists

Songs like Kodachrome (talking about the crap you learn in high school), Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds and You Don’t Know How It Feels (references to drugs), Imagine and God Only Knows (references to God), Arnold Layne and Lola (references to transgender people), Brown Eyed Girl and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (references to sex) and more were all banned from the airwaves, although not permanently. We’ve got a great playlist here coming up first this morning.

3:00 p.m. Steely Dan Live at The Woodlands, Houston, TX, September 3, 1993

We’ve got a great midafternoon live performance by The Dan today, without doubt a Mermaid Lounge favorite and one of the shining lights of the seventies.

8:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Wilson Pickett NEW!

Here’s another one ticked off my ‘To Do’ list. This one has also been a long time coming. Wicked Wilson Pickett was one of the stalwarts of the soul music movement, charting 50 hits on the R & B charts, many of which crossed over to Billboard’s Hot 100. Today he gets his ‘Spotlight’ feature.

There’s no EP today, so there’s plenty of big, wide Open Stream before, in between and after our programmed hours. We’re totally free 24/7 and we don’t track you or try to sell you crap. We’re not grifters like today’s GOP. We’re anti-capitalist music lovers. The button is below.

Today We Have Songs About the Night, Live Gregg Allman Band and a Janis Joplin ‘Spotlight’ on Thursday, November 21, 2024

Here’s your Thursday lineup:

9:00 a.m. Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

We open the morning programming with songs about the night from Warren Zevon, The J. Geils Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Them, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, Electric Prunes, Phoebe Snow, Joe Walsh, The Eagles, The Doors, John Cougar Mellencamp, Poco, Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Steve Winwood, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Sam Cooke and more!

4:00 p.m. The Gregg Allman Band Live at Wolfgang’s, San Francisco, CA, May 14, 1987

Gregg Allman and his “other” band drop by for a live performance this afternoon.

8:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Janis Joplin

We close out the day’s programming with Janis. Nothing more needs to be said here.

We’re winding down the work week, slowly but surely, it seems. But the weekend is coming! We’re here to help get you through with some of the best music on the planet. The button is below.

Sunday Delivers ‘The Female Species’ EP, CSNY at Wembley and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, November 3, 2024

Good morning, music lovers and welcome to Sunday. We’ve got a great lineup of music programming for you today interspersed within our big, wide Open Stream.

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. The Female Species: Various Artists

We start out with songs about women from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads, Jackson Browne, John Mayall, Hot Tuna, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Eagles, Electric Light Orchestra, Fleetwood Mac, Percy Sledge, America, Roy Orbison, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Beach Boys, The Temptations, Linda Ronstadt and more!

4:00 p.m. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Live at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, UK, November 14, 1974

The world’s second best supergroup takes to the stage at Wembley, vintage 1874.

8:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

We close out the day with a Spotlight featuring the great Smokey Robinson and his Miracles, undoubtedly one of the most popular of the Motown bands and one that was instrumental in putting Motown on the musical map.

It’s Sunday. Even the big guy took the day off. It’s a day of rest. Kick back. Tune us in. We’re streaming the best music on the planet 24/7 at no charge and without commercial interruption. The button is below.

On Thursday It’s ‘Here Comes The Night,’ Dan Fogelberg, and Joni Mitchell & James Taylor Live in London, October 24, 2024

Good morning, musicologists, and welcome to The Mermaid Lounge! Today we start out the day with songs about the night. Then it’s a Dan Fogelberg Spotlight, and Joni Mitchell & James Taylor live at the Paris Theater.

Here’s Thursday’s musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

We start the morning with songs about the night from Warren Zevon, The J. Geils Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Them, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, Electric Prunes, Phoebe Snow, Joe Walsh, The Eagles, The Doors, John Cougar Mellencamp, Poco, Emmylou Harris, The Animals, Neil Diamond, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, Steve Winwood, The Traveling Wilburys, Sam Cooke, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt and more!

4:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Dan Fogelberg

Dan Fogelberg was one of those guys who kind of fell through the cracks, and I have absolutely no idea why. A great singer and songwriter who can boast one of the absolute best albums ever made at any time with Souvenirs.

8:00 p.m. Joni Mitchell & James Taylor Live at The Paris Club, London, UK, October 29, 1970

Yes, of course they were ‘a thing’ at the time, but it’s a great concert nevertheless.

One more early morning shift and I’m a closer for a couple of days. But don’t you worry. The Music Mermaid shifts into control to make sure we get this done. The button is below.

Monday We’ve Got a Couple of Live Performances From Van Morrison and The Doors Sandwiched Around a Townes Van Zandt Spotlight, October 14, 2024

Good morning, music lovers and welcome back to the work week. We’ve got some great music on tap for today mixed in with the great big wide Open Stream! And by the way, Happy Indigenous People’s Day because Christopher Columbus was a real piece of shit.

Here’s your Monday musical lineup:

10:00 a.m. Van Morrison Live at The Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, December 18, 1993

I will admit that I find Van Morrison a bit caustic as a human being, but the man is a legend and his shows are a virtual spiritual experience.

4:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Townes Van Zandt

Townes Van Zandt is the only songwriter that I’ve ever heard anyone come close to putting on a pedastal next to Bob Dylan. Some of the songs he has written, such as Pancho & Lefty, are considered masterpieces of American songwriting, and with good reason.

8:00 p.m. The Doors Live at The Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, June 6, 1970

We close out the programming with the Lizard King and his band.

Don’t know what it’s like there, but it’s pretty rainy and gloomy here in the Boston area today. Good day to hunker down with some good music as my vacation comes to a close and I return to hardware hell tomorrow. By the way, the button is below.

The Weekend Starts With Our ‘In Your Dreams’ EP, J.J. Cale & Leon Russell, and More Tom Petty, Saturday, October 5, 2024

Good morning, weekenders! Today we continue celebrating the life and music of Tom Petty later this evening. Before that we’ve got J.J. Cale and Leon Russell ‘in session’ and songs about dreaming.

Here’s your Saturday lineup:

9:00 a.m. In Your Dreams: Various Artists

We wake up to songs about dreaming with The Everly Brothers, The Moody Blues, Van Morrison, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Monkees, The Mamas & The Papas, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffett, Widespread Panic, Jackson Browne, Mudcrutch, Aretha Franklin, Patsy Cline, Harry Chapin, Roy Orbison, Townes Van Zandt, Dusty Springfield, Tom Rush and more!

4:00 p.m. J. J. Cale & Leon Russell Live at Paradise Studios, Los Angeles, CA, Recorded June of 1979

You know that lost dates annoy me, but it is a fact of life. So here we are with two masters ‘in session’ together on a 21-song set at Leon Russell’s Paradise Studios.

8:00 p.m. Mudcrutch Live at The Fonda Theater, Hollywood, CA, June 26, 2016

This very same tour passed through Boston’s House of Blues and I missed it. I regret it to this day, I might add, because the very best live version of Hungry No More just happens to have been recorded here on that tour. Nevertheless, we continue on with our celebration of Tom’s life and music today with Mudcrutch, his “other” band.

We’re here for yet another day as I prepare myself mentally for nine glorious days free of retail hell. Yes, it’s true. My first actual real vacation in five years. But I digress. We’re here. We’re free. And we don’t accept commercial advertising. What could possibly be better? Oh, yeah, we play some of the best music on the planet.