San Diego Serenade: Before There Was National High Five Day, You Only Had God

high five hands

The grandest National High Five Day tradition of them all: The Soundtrack mix CD. Finding the perfect set of songs to deliver your high fives to complete strangers to is a difficult task. Songs must sound good played in perfect weather, and turned up loud, but must also stand the test of time and not be the kind of thing you are embarassed about in a years time. Hence, you will find no Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" on this years mix. This years mix was also unique because we put out the call for original works from artists or bands, songs they truly felt exemplified the themes on NH5D. Responses ranged greatly in quality. In fact, the entire time that I've had this blog, I've refrained from really exhibiting a large part of my personality, the hyper critical, dismissive side that really truly hates a lot of the music that is out there. Keeping this part of me in check while listening to some of the songs that opportunistic musicians sent in, (always with the assurance that this song would be "perfect" for NH5D) was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

And yet, i pushed through it, and came up with a damn good mix. Only six artists here that you've probably never heard of, but I'd like to thank all of them for submitting their fine songs to our cause. I hope you enjoy the mix as well, and that it plays loudly as you exchange high fives on Thursday, April 20th.

Rhapsody has done us the service of setting up this years National High Five Day soundtrack as a playlist that you can listen to for free. We're talking entire songs, with no software to install, it was very nice of them. Of course they don't have the original songs that we got sent, so you can download all of those songs below, and click here to listen to the Rhapsody playlist of the rest of the bands.

Thanks again to the six bands that sent in original works: The Bo Dukes, Wynn Walent, Pablo, Jay Mankind, David Shultz and Yeah Someday

Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People
The Bo Dukes - All My Fives Are High
Flaming Lips - Turn It On
Wynn Walent - Paramedic
The Replacements - Bastards Of Young
Lou Reed - Andy's Chest
Pablo - Loser Crew
Jamie Lidell - Multiply
Jay Mankind - East Village Strollin'
Bruce Springsteen - Badlands
Bob Dylan - Tell Me, Momma
David Shultz - Tones
John Lennon - Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
Paul Westerberg - Mr. Rabbit
Yeah Someday - Give Me Five
Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
Bright Eyes - Road To Joy
Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
Elvis Presley - If I Can Dream
The Hold Steady - How a Resurrection Really Feels

In other exciting news:

-The Official National High Five Day concert (San Diego edition) is still taking place at 9:30 at Blind Melon's in PB! The bands we have lined up are The Bo Dukes (see above) and Shaka Buku. We'll be hanging out at my place right nearby beforehand, so if you're in the area, drop me a line beforehand and we can maybe chill beforehand and play this soundtrack really loud.

-Have you noticed the banners on the side of the page for Permanent Tanooki? It's my webcomic, resuming a comic that I wrote and my friend Cason Moore drew for three years in college. New comics every Monday and Thursday, check it out!

-We had a winner in the 4/20 giveaway, it was the guy who wrote about Little Feat. I hope to do more contests again soon.

-Read more about some of the artists on the mix that I've written about before: David Shultz, The Bo Dukes, The Hold Steady, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips