*Elegant, seductive and cool...Bryan Ferry*

I love when a song wiggles its way into my ear and tells my brain "hey that's pretty cool" like it did a few weeks ago when WXRT (still Chicago's BEST radio station for new music) played a song called "This Is It." At first, it sounded like Bryan Ferry might have released a new single. Then I found out it was a group called Lo Moon.

Similarly, I was blindsided by a song called "Dream Lover" by the Vaccines -- a band we saw a few years back at Lolla at the suggestion of a coworker. I can't say since that show I'd given this band much thought until last night as I was going to bed. I turned on Palladia (now called MTV Live, but I still refer to it as Palladia because the name gives the channel street-cred, where MTV hasn't properly portrayed the "M" in it's name since the mid-90's). The show "Later...with Jools Holland" was on and admittedly it's always a treat. Holland, a former member of the band Squeeze, and a hugely talented musician, has been hosting "Later..." since 1992. There've been many times when Jools helped me uncover songs I probably never would've heard on terrestrial radio, or even some of my favorite streaming stations (I'm looking at you RadioParadise, love of my life). This episode just happened to catch my fancy and I had to know...what is this song!

This happens pretty regularly.

And immediately, I add these gems to my iTunes playlist of Favorites_All.

I call it Favorites_All because that's the dumping ground. It's where the complete albums, randoms and Shazam-adds fall to. It's the most played of all my playlists. It's my go to for music. It's where my song of songs co-exist. And, it's a pretty safe bet that a good number of these tunes will end up in a themed playlist, such as Good Stuff, or Easy Now, or lately, it's been Sunny D.

Sunny D is the summer playlist I'm putting together for our well-deserved, totally-f***ing-earned, family pilgrimage to the Gulf side of Florida in 42 days (not that I have an app tracker or anything like that...I totally do). After a handful of years dealing with my dad's health issues (open heart surgery and a knee replacement), we NEED this trip. And the songs making their way into this playlist are a culmination of the types of songs you play when life throw you a bag of sh** and you need some soul-defining, motivational, tunes to capture the moments.

*7th Heaven...the best cover band with original material*

Here's some key tunes on the playlist so far:

Beautiful Life - 7th Heaven

Toes & Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band

Everything's Gonna Be Alright - David Lee Murphy & Kenny Chesney

Earned it - The Weeknd

Silver Lining - Mt. Joy

All Summer Long - Kid Rock (go ahead roll your eyes, I love this song)

Good Life - One Republic

Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles

There's Nothing Holding Me Back - Shawn Mendes

Can't Stop This Feeling - Justin Timberlake

Sun Is Shining - Bob Marley

Summer Soul - Jorge Blanco (just discovered it Friday night!)

Summer Time - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves

Crazy Life - Toad The Wet Sprocket

Day Drinking - Little Big Town

Live Like You Were Dying - Tim McGraw

Okay, that last one...sappy as it can be, gets me every f***ing time. If that isn't a theme for living life to its fullest, I don't know what is.

Music, as always, defines my soul.

It's why I continue to exist on this messed up planet. Without it, life wouldn't be worth shit.

No censoring that time. That's how serious it is for me.

Take it all...just leave me the music.

<3