Personal Playlist: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

When can L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa snag any time to hear music? "I listen primarily when I work out," Villaraigosa says. "Or I'll have music on when people are over."

 The mayor's iPod is stocked with an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary R&B, hip-hop, Latin pop, rock -- and even a touch of country.

Scrolling through his iPod and pulling off favorites, in no particular order, he name-checked 2Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up," Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father," Celia Cruz's "La Llave" and Alicia Keys' "A Woman's Worth."

He also flagged Bill Withers' '70s soul classic "Lean on Me," Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" -- "Just a beautiful song," Villaraigosa said -- Cuban dance band Buena Vista Social Club's "Chan Chan," Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez's "Qué Voy a Hacer con Mi Amor" and Mary J. Blige's "Never Too Much."

"I didn't even list classical," he said. "I listen to a lot of world music; I listen to all kinds of stuff. I had a little downtime last night to do this. Then after I picked these songs, I thought of all the artists who are probably going to be upset that I didn't include them. But it's really just a snapshot of my eclectic musical taste."

 -- Randy Lewis

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Comments

[l. c. smith]

So, the Mayor think "Strange Fruit" is a beautiful song. It is a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high school teacher condemning the 1930 lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana. He later set the poem to music. The lyrics should be obvious--even to the Mayor.