The LiveTalksLA / Neil Gaiman playlist

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The LiveTalksLA / Neil Gaiman playlist

So, I like making music mixes for my boyfriend’s Live Talks LA pre-show. I get to probe deeper into the lives of the famous people he hosts. (Often people with whom I’m not at all familiar, since I don’t dwell much in the world of famous people, preferring instead the regular Joe.)

Researching what might work for blockbuster writer Neil Gaiman’s show last night was particularly fun. Hard-core fans will understand the deeper meanings of most of these choices (and those really hard-core people can research the choices they don’t understand.) It’s fun to mix tempos and such; how often will you hear Amanda Palmer’s ukulele alongside Yo-Yo Ma and Lou Reed?

I was happy to hear Mr. Gaiman noticed during soundcheck that we were playing his pal Tori Amos. Maybe he got my aural puns and brilliant research into his musical tastes, too. On the flip side, I was sad that I didn’t put more music on this list, given that we all sat around for the signing for 5 long hours.

At one point, he cried out for us to change the music. Makes sense. The only other stuff we had on the Live Talks iPod was gorgeous vocal music by the Benedictines of Mary nuns. After a few go-rounds of that ethereal stuff, it proved to be too soporific, and someone wrangled a higher-energy iPod with some Bruce on it to boost the room. I’m too wasted from yesterday’s proceedings to remember what else there was on that, but I did promise to share the initial list:

Carbon/Tori Amos

The Bed Song/Amanda Palmer

Aunt Eggma Blowtorch

Got my Mojo Working/Muddy Waters

Beauty Queen/Tori Amos

Polly/Amanda Palmer

Suite for Cello No 1 in G/Yo-Yo Ma

Idioteque/Amanda Palmer

Berlin/Lou Reed

Strange Little Girl/Tori Amos

You know I love you/Bruno Coulsis (soundtrack of Coraline)

Tear in your Hand/Tori Amos