My Six Degrees of the GMMP: The Great Love Sandwich

Many of you probably remember the joy that was Splotchy's Green Monkey Music Project, and the sorrow of its demise. Well, folks, add this to your Obama high. The GMMP is back!! (You non-high McCain supporters can think of this as a little pick-me-up toke.)

If you are a stranger to the GMMP, basically it's an interactive "mix tape" project for the blogging community. Lucky participants get to throw their song selections into different mixes, the themes of which are determined by "Green Monkey Masters." (Players are named Masters after participating in three mixes.) Splotchy used to do all the heavy lifting of compiling the tunes, but he's recently gotten a lot of help from that other music maven, Beth.

Speaking of Beth, she finally got to use her status as a Green Monkey Master to helm this latest mix, called Six Degrees of Music. Much like the Kevin Bacon game, the idea here was to pick six different songs that could be connected in any number of ways (e.g., band members, cover tunes, etc).

I immediately wondered if it would be possible to connect my #1 man, John Travolta, to my #2 man, Eddie Vedder. As you might imagine, it didn't take me too long to make the links in that chain.

Click here to download the mix (or just the pieces you want). But first, let me clue you in on the ingredients that went into my Great Love Sandwich, and how they all fit together.

"Sandy," John Travolta - I'm not sure that I really need to explain this, but...I think I might have mentioned once or twice that Grease is my favorite movie and Travolta is my favorite person in the world. Well, this song is my favorite from the Grease soundtrack. Simple.


"Domino," Squeeze - I always get a thrill hearing another great love of mine, Glenn Tilbrook, singing the line, "Surprised to find my two left feet in John Travolta's shoes." No matter that the line was written by Chris Difford.


"From a Whisper to a Scream," Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Elvis produced and provided background vocals for Squeeze's '81 classic, East Side Story, and this song from his own '81 album, Trust, features a guest vocal by my darling Mr. Tilbrook. (You all know I met him, RIGHT???)


"The Comedians," Roy Orbison - This is an Elvis Costello song from his 1984 album, Goodbye Cruel World. Roy covered it for Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, a live special that aired on HBO in 1988. I remember watching this on HBO back then, and on PBS dozens of times over the last 20 years. Backed by "friends" like Costello, Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Waits, Roy put on an amazing show. His version of "The Comedians" actually prompted me to look up the Costello original, which, actually, isn't nearly as good.


"Thunder Road," Bruce Springsteen - Again, I probably don't really need to explain this, but..."Roy Orbison singing for the lonely, hey that's me and I want you only."

"One Step Up," Eddie Vedder - This is a cover of the Springsteen tune, recorded for a demo way back in 1988, pre-Pearl Jam. It's a pretty faithful version, although I miss the female backing vocal, and the drum machine at the end borders on cheesy. But what the hell, it's pretty damn polished for a demo!

So there it is - the path that leads from Travolta to Vedder. That was easy, wasn't it? Now if only it were as easy to connect myself to them.