THE SHOW GOES ON.

The Autumn season certainly slows down post-Halloween but don’t forget that November has plenty to offer. Greyer skies, rotting pumpkins, misty mornings and muted, orangey-brown leaves are part of its charm. To experience deep autumn is a fun change of pace if you embrace it instead of diving immediately into everyone’s favorite holly-jolly holiday. I’m a firm believer that November isn’t just some meaningless gap between Halloween and Christmas.

Cider still flows plentiful. I’m in the backyard wearing my pilgrim hat and sharpening my axe. Princess TNUC is inside churning butter while wearing something revealing. Obviously we cherish Thanksgiving, so much that TNUC created the Mystery Meat mixtape series — hours of songs, commercials, movie dialogue, soundtrack gems and holiday warmth crafted to provide that signature aroma of food, friends, family and laughs.

It’s hard to describe and categorize the style of music that fits on these mixtapes. With the ever popular Christmas music and especially Halloween, those themes are obvious and its much easier given the endless amount of music to choose from. It gets tricky with Thanksgiving because, well, there just ain’t songs about Thanksgiving. However, this is where it gets interesting.

Long before the Mystery Meat mixtapes, every November after the dust settled from Halloween, I always gravitated towards listening to certain artists that I subconsciously didn’t find myself listening to during other times of the year. There’s something wholesome and hearty with certain songs from Bob Seger, Journey, Steve Winwood, Billy Idol, The Pointer Sisters and Bruce Hornsby & The Range. Something cozy but also powerful, anthemic and a dose of nostalgia of what my dad was listening to when I was a kid. Splash a little saxophone and piano over guitars, thick basslines and thicker-women background vocals and we have landed at the formula. But what is it about this music and this time of year?

It’s hard to put a finger on why this music works like a charm but not everything has to be explained or figured out. Songs like Bruce Hornsby’s “The Show Goes On” is a crown jewel of the Mystery Meat magic. To my ears, this song is built for the open road. Packing the family into the ’92 Ford Taurus and taking that front-wheeled drive sleigh across the state line to Grandma’s house.

Want to really hear a precise moment that best defines these mixtapes? Watch that video performance and wait for 1:01 seconds to hit. PURE. CHILLS. I can literally smell the sweet potato pie coming out of the oven as we listen.

Uncle T’s advice as always is to never, ever skip out on November. There is so much to devour amidst the golden dawn of Autumn. As Bruce Hornsby proclaims, “The Show Goes on”.