What's up this Weekend?

Remember to vote for your Top 10 Desert Island Songs before heading out to one of these events going on around town.

Weekend on the Radio Recap

Every Thursday morning at 6:20 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. Sam Gallant of the Creative Alliance shares with you all the cool happenings around town on Weekend on the Radio. In case you missed a detail about a specific event, here's the list for this week.

Thursday, 1/27:

• Literary Death Match, Creative Alliance 8 p.m.

Friday, 1/28

• Mondawmin Song and Story Hour, Mondawmin Mall 4-5 p.m.
• Sowebo Members Show, Sowebo Gallery 6 p.m.
• Self Portrait as Rock Star opening reception, Current Gallery 7 p.m.

Saturday, 1/29

• Polar Bear Plunge, Sandy Point State Park 8 a.m.
• Baltimore Oriole Fanfest, Baltimore Convention Center 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  
• Airplane!, AMC Owings Mills 12:30 p.m.
• Baltimore School of Rock, Recher Theatre 1 p.m. (Also on Sunday)
• Egg Babies Orchestra, The Ottobar 9 p.m.

Sunday, 1/30

• Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Baltimore Clayworks 2 to 4 p.m.
  

WTMD to Countdown Your 500 Desert Island Songs

Desert Island Songs are the ones you can't live without.  They may not be the best or most important songs--but they are deeply personal choices.  They keep you sane in insane times!  Vote your 10 Desert Island Songs and this February, we'll tally up the votes and come up with a list any WTMD listener should have if their plane crash lands on a remote island with a hatch and a smokey black cloud monster.

CD of the Week: Amos Lee's Desert Soul

Out of the Desert Southwest city that produced such turbulent and tragic headlines recently, comes some beautiful, soothing, soul-searching sounds from Amos Lee.

Joey Burns of Calexico produced WTMD's CD of the week, Lee's fantastic Mission Bell.

A chance meeting led to Lee packing his bags for Tucson to join Burns and John Convertino (whose drum rolls stand out on the TMD favorite, "Windows are Rolled Down") at Calexico's Wavelab Studios (where Neko Case recorded some of Middle Cylcone)

The Philly-native simply strummed, minimalist songs breathe with wide-eyed added dimension thanks to Burn's expansive brushstrokes of mandolins, pedal steel, organs, horns and other earthy instruments.

Lucinda Williams, Sam Beam of Iron and Wine and Greg Leisz lend their talents, as does the great Willie Nelson, whose comforting, nasal croon graces the closing song, "El Camino (Reprise)."

A fine album for a desert highway, or maybe even a desert island, listen all week long for tracks from Mission Bell.