You may or may not have noticed our esteemed editor talked some major trash earlier this week.

I never thought I'd see the day when the trash takes US out. If you live or have driven through Pottstown these past few weeks, you've no doubt noticed these monstrous, fierce looking blue beasts--errrr, municipal trashcans that make recycling sooooo easy, all you gotta do is toss it all into one can without any of that pesky sorting and separating. Captain Planet would be proud. Of course, as you can see in our editorial cartoonist's color toon in the paper earlier this week, it's not that easy. The cans have taken over! And we all have the most heinous blues this town has ever, ever seen (nevermind the current economic meltdown, we're being eaten alive by mouth-watering trashcans!).

So here at the Scene & Heard laboratory, we're willing to help the only way we know how. We know it isn't much. But here's some music to help you cope with these awful, nasty blues.

MP3: Eric Clapton - Groaning The Blues
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MP3: Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
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MP3: Muddy Waters - No Escape From The Blues
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MP3: John Mayer - Every Day I Have The Blues
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MP3: Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - Devil With A Blue Dress On
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MP3: Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
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Mp3: Carbon Silicon - Really The Blues
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Ack!! Writing that last 'review' of The Dark Knight took a lot out of me. But I beg you to argue a film that dense doesn't deserve such a meaty manifesto! And may God bless those who actually read through the whole thing without breaking a sweat, or needing a potty break. But before I move on, can I please just post this image again? One more time? Please?!

There, NOW, I'm fully recovered.

..... and TOTALLY NOT DONE WITH THE DARK KNIGHT!

That's right. I'm back with more Dark Knight, but it's a mix for ya this time, themed after the movie... Well, sorta. I know the buzz is wearing off by now, but this mix features lots of little golden nuggets, so don't miss out on some greats for being so judgemental! This mix hardly riffs on the same 'serious' note as the movie did. Seriously! You HAVE to be a little off your bolts to put Coldplay's "God Put A Smile On My Face" in a mix about a movie like The Dark Knight, but just think about it for a moment... electing to put that song into this mix, kinda puts me in the 'genius' category on wikipedia. Let me know what ya think.

C'mon, MIX ME!

1. Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning Is The End is The Beginning
2. Flaming Lips - Batman theme
3. Wolfmother - Joker & The Thief
4. Coldplay - God Put A Smile On My Face (live bootleg, Houston, TX, 1/28/2003)
5. Johnny Cash - Man In Black
6. Sex Pistols - Problems
7. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard - Why So Serious (score from The Dark Knight)
8. Thom Yorke - Black Swan
9. Elliott Smith - Black Bird (Beatles cover, live bootleg from The Steamboat, 5/3/2003)
10. Joseph Arthur - You Are The Dark (Live from The Living Room, NYC)

And if you're remotely curious why that Sex Pistols song ended up in there, allow me to remind you of the lyrics, and bare in mind Ledger's Joker.

Now I think I finally have The Dark Knight out of my system, so, if you got sick of that little era of mine, there are new and wonderful things ahead! Really!

Between a busy workload, snowstorms, and shaving pounds of hair off my face, Top 5 Tuesday was bumped to Top 5 (and a bonus) Wednesday.

So here you are, Scene and Heard's "Covered" In Love Mix. (you can't make a Valentines mix without putting some cheese in the title)

While Valentines Day is basically a stupid thing (do you really need an excuse to buy your lady flowers and tell her you love her if you do actually love her?), 'love' is the thing written about in songs and stories more than anything else. (Zombies comes in at at a close second). Love makes the creative world go round. But I didn't want to give you the typical love cheese of songs. So since love is a shapeless something without a definitive definition, I wanted to share my five favorite COVERS of love songs, re-interpreted to be better than the original conceptions. I love these songs and I'm going to buy them flowers tomorrow.

5. Otis Redding - Cupid
Okay, there isn't much difference between Sam Cooke and my boy Otis. But when you put this cut on, you don't even need a bottle of merlot and candlelight to get where you're it's inevitably taking you and your lover.
buy!

4. Gael Garcia Bernal - If You Rescue Me (Chanson des Chats)
From the beautiful flick, Science of Sleep, this adorable ditty is a total reinterpretation of The Velvet Underground's "After Hours." Spin this for that babe you're crushing on, and you can thank me afterwards.
buy!

3. Noel Gallagher - This Guy's In Love With You
You wouldn't expect a hard-boozing, big mouthed, alternative rock maestro of the 90's to pull off a beautiful acoustic performance of a Burt Bacharach tune. But if their's anything the Oasis songwriter is full of besides himself--it's wonderful surprises like this one.
buy!

2. Elliott Smith - Thirteen
This Big Star song is widely considered the cutest young love song of the 90s. (Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" provides tough competition.) Elliott Smith took the greatest song he never wrote and made it one of the greatest songs he covered and made even better.
buy!

1. Ryan Adams - Wonderwall
When this Oasis tune flooded the airwaves in the 90s, it made everyone want to be in love. Ryan Adams took it on his fantastic "Love Is Hell" record, broke it down to it's barest bones and brassed it into his own fragile display of longing.
buy!

BONUS: I give you the greatest love song ever written.
VAN HALEN - HOT FOR TEACHER

*if you dig these tunes, please support the artists and buy their stuff.

And while we're talking about love and mixtapes, this book is the best thing I ever read.