Mel's Weekly Top 20 - Novermber 28, 2010

Due to a death in my family, postings to this site will not be very timely.

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 28, 2010

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Rhythm Of Love	Plain White T's	1
2	A Year Without Rain	Selena Gomez & The Scene	2
3	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	3
4	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers	5
5	Just The Way You Are	Bruno Mars	4
6	Grenade	Bruno Mars	7
7	Like A G6	Far East Movement	8
8	Stuck	Caro Emerald	6
9	Hands	The Ting Tings	9
10	Our Kind Of Love	Lady Antebellum	11
11	We No Speak Americano (Original)	Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup	19
12	Back To December	Taylor Swift	20
13	Fade Like a Shadow	KT Tunstall	13
14	Mine	Taylor Swift	15
15	Crossfire	Brandon Flowers	16
16	We Are Police	ERECT	17
17	Hey You	Heart	10
18	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	12
19	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	14
20	Live It Up	Group 1 Crew	--

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Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 21, 2010

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Rhythm Of Love	Plain White T's	1
2	A Year Without Rain	Selena Gomez & The Scene	4
3	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	3
4	Just The Way You Are	Bruno Mars	2
5	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers	7
6	Stuck	Caro Emerald	8
7	Grenade	Bruno Mars	10
8	Like A G6	Far East Movement	19
9	Hands	The Ting Tings	15
10	Hey You	Heart	11
11	Our Kind Of Love	Lady Antebellum	12
12	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	5
13	Fade Like a Shadow	KT Tunstall	14
14	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	6
15	Mine	Taylor Swift	9
16	Crossfire	Brandon Flowers	18
17	We Are Police	ERECT	20
18	I Don't Wanna Dance	Hey Monday	13
19	We No Speak Americano (Original)	Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup	--
20	Back To December	Taylor Swift	--

Thai Girls Dancing

While at Kapiolani Park late yesterday afternoon, I was lucky enough to catch this group of young dancers at a Thai cultural celebration that was wrapping up for the day. It is interesting that this "traditional" music has a somewhat modern dance beat. Enjoy the video and the music.

Mel's Weekly Top 20: November 14

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of November 14, 2010

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Rhythm Of Love (2nd Week @ #1!)	Plain White T's	1
2	Just The Way You Are	Bruno Mars	2
3	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	3
4	A Year Without Rain (video)	Selena Gomez & The Scene	4
5	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	6
6	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	5
7	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers	8
8	Stuck	Caro Emerald	10
9	Mine	Taylor Swift	7
10	Grenade	Bruno Mars	13
11	Hey You	Heart	12
12	Our Kind Of Love	Lady Antebellum	14
13	I Don't Wanna Dance	Hey Monday	9
14	Fade Like a Shadow	KT Tunstall	16
15	Hands	The Ting Tings	19
16	Brand New Day	Lindsey Ray	11
17	MoneyGrabber	Fitz and the Tantrums	17
18	Crossfire	Brandon Flowers	20
19	Like A G6	Far East Movement	--
20	We Are Police	ERECT	--

CHART NOTES:

Plain White T's hold on to the #1 spot with their single, "Rhythm of Love". It's the 2nd week at the top for the popular song. The Top 4 stays the same with Plain White T's leading the way followed by Bruno Mars @ #2 with "Just The Way You Are", Rihanna @ #3 with "Only Girl (In the World)" and Selena Gomez & the Scene holding at #4 with "A World Without Rain". Gomez' video is in this week's showcase at the top.

The two debut songs this week are "Like a G6" by Far East Movement at #19 and ERECT's "We Are Police" at #20.

Most of the other songs make small incremental climbs up the chart. Several have fallen including "I Don't Wanna Dance" by Hey Monday down from #9 to #13 and "Brand New Day" by Lindsey Day, down from #11 to #16.

Apple adds The Beatles to iTunes

This is like - wow - finally happened. It's a good move for both Apple, Inc. and The Beatles. A new generation may sample and actually buy more Beatles albums and tracks over the coming years.

All of The Beatles albums are at iTunes. That plus several new re-releases and a compilation of Apple tracks from artists such as Badfinger, Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, the Hot Chocolate Band and Chris Hodge to name a few. It's all good and it is great to see nearly the entire Apple Records catalog on iTunes.

Additional Links

• Beatles join iTunes, while Brooks and AC/DC hold out
• Apple: The Beatles

Rhythm of Love is #1 for Plain White T's

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of November 7, 2010.

This Week	Song Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Rhythm Of Love	Plain White T's	2
2	Just The Way You Are	Bruno Mars	1
3	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	4
4	A Year Without Rain	Selena Gomez & The Scene	5
5	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	3
6	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	7
7	Mine	Taylor Swift	6
8	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers	9
9	I Don't Wanna Dance	Hey Monday	11
10	Stuck	Caro Emerald	13
11	Brand New Day	Lindsey Ray	12
12	Hey You	Heart	14
13	Grenade	Bruno Mars	16
14	Our Kind Of Love	Lady Antebellum	15
15	Stuck Like Glue	Sugarland	8
16	Fade Like a Shadow	KT Tunstall	18
17	MoneyGrabber	Fitz and the Tantrums	17
18	Good To Be Me (Feat. Kid Rock)	Uncle Kracker	10
19	Hands	The Ting Tings	--
20	Crossfire	Brandon Flowers	--

CHART NOTES

Plain White T's top the chart with a new #1 song. "Rhythm of Love" a casual, summertime sounding pop piece reaches the top after several weeks on the chart. They replace Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" which falls from #1 to #2 this week after a 3 week reign at the top. Plain White T's topped the WT20 back in 2007 with a number 1 hit called "Hey There Delilah." Good to see them on top again.

Elsewhere on the Weekly Top 20: Hey Monday moves into the top 10 with their alt rocker "I Don't Wanna Dance" up 2 from #11 to #9. Caro Emerald moves from #13 to #10 with "Stuck", the latest in a series of swing style big band jazz numbers. Emerald is very popular in parts of Europe.

Two songs make their debut on the 20. They include "Hands" by The Ting Tings at #19 and "Crossfire" by Brandon Flowers at #20. Flowers is the lead singer for the group The Killers, who've enjoyed chart success here in the past.

I Caught Dengue Fever

I've become a fan of Dengue Fever. They are another indie band that has been around for years. I was recebtly made aware of them a few months ago, although I may have listened to a song or two some years back too. Thanks to my friend Daniel, he turned me on to their music and today I own 3 of their albums and enjoy nearly all of their songs.

The thing that make Dengue Fever quite unique is the fact that this high powered indie rock outfit pays homage 1960s style Cambodian Psychedelic Rock, complete with female Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol singing most of the songs in her native Khmer language. The other members of the band are all from California - Zac Holtzman also on vocals and guitar, his brother Ethan Holtzman "farfisa" organ/keyboards, Senon Williams on bass, David Ralicke on saxophone/brass and drummer Paul Smith.

According to their Facebook biography, Dengue Fever was started by brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman in 2001 "when they discovered they shared a love for the Cambodian pop music of the 60s. After adding sax man David Ralicke, drummer Paul Smith and bassist Senon Williams, they went looking for a Cambodian singer. Enter Chhom Nimol, who performed regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia . Her powerful singing, marked by a luminous vibrato that adds exotic ornamentations to her vocal lines, and hypnotic stage moves based on traditional dances, complimented the band's driving Cambodian/American sound."

I was lucky enough to catch them at a free concert held in Honolulu on the night before Halloween (see photo slide show above). Like most bands in the alternative rock genre, Dengue Fever sounded way better live than they do on their records. They have a lot of energy with Chhom the mesmerizing center-point of their show. Any guy could fall in love with her! She's great on vocals and to me has a gracious way of connecting with her audience, not to mention that she can also ROCK.

I hardly make it many live concerts, but for 2010, Dengue Fever probably tops the list of favorite live performances that I have seen.

Find out about Dengue Fever by watching the video and listening to the audio tracks below.



Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card (live in studio)



Dengue Fever - Seeing Hands (music video)



Dengue Fever - A Go Go (live at UC Davis)

Chhom Nimol - Dontrey Besdoang (live, 9-2009)

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - October 31, 2010

Mel's Weekly Top 20

Week of October 31, 2010

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Just The Way You Are (3rd Week @ #1!)	Bruno Mars	1
2	Rhythm Of Love	Plain White T's	2
3	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	3
4	Only Girl (In The World)	Rihanna	5
5	A Year Without Rain	Selena Gomez & The Scene	8
6	Mine	Taylor Swift	6
7	Please Don't Go	Mike Posner	7
8	Stuck Like Glue	Sugarland	4
9	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers	10
10	Good To Be Me (Feat. Kid Rock)	Uncle Kracker	9
11	I Don't Wanna Dance	Hey Monday	12
12	Brand New Day (with Tim Myers)	Lindsey Ray	13
13	Stuck	Caro Emerald	17
14	Hey You	Heart	16
15	Our Kind Of Love	Lady Antebellum	18
16	Grenade	Bruno Mars	19
17	MoneyGrabber	Fitz and the Tantrums	11
18	Fade Like a Shadow	KT Tunstall	20
19	Misery	Maroon 5	15
20	Dynamite	Taio Cruz	14

CHART NOTES

There are no new songs that made a debut on the chart this week. Instead we just had some upward and downward movement of all of the songs that were on last week's chart.

The Top 3 positions remain the same with Bruno Mars holding on to #1 for a 3rd week with "Just the Way You Are". Plain White T's hold at #2 with "Rhythm of Love" while Katy Perry holds at #3 with her former #1 hit "Teenage Dream". Rihanna moves up one from #5 to #4 with "Only Girl (in the World)". Selena Gomez & the Scene move up 3 points from #8 to #5 with "A Year Without Rain".

The Doobie Brothers move up one from #10 to #9 with their latest reunion single, "Nobody".
Caro Emerald makes the biggest move up the chart going from #17 to #13 with her latest single, "Stuck".