Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day: 1/20: Alice Cooper, “Welcome to My Nightmare”
It’s gonna be bad, but remember, each and every one of these people, from Trump on down, is a consummate fuck-up. So while it will be fucked up, it will be fucked up for them, too, because they don’t know what they’re doing and will just be winging it. Will their inevitable fuck-ups cost them […]
Song of the Day 1/19: The Beatles, “The End”
If this is indeed the end of the American Republic – I tend to doubt it, but I’m safely overseas – then I think it should bow out with the words of Paul McCartney. The amount of love Trump and his testosterone-poisoned minions will take will indeed equal the amount they make. That number, whether […]
Song of the Day 1/17: Arthur Conley, “Funky Street”
One-hit wonders get more attention, but there are lots of two-hit wonders out there, too. Arthur Conley, for example. Conley was singing for minor labels from the late ’50s to the mid-’60s when Otis Redding heard him and signed him to his fledgling label. Together they reworked a Sam Cooke tune into “Sweet Soul Music,” […]
Song of the Day 1/16: Kesha, “Tik Tok”
The deadline for whatever happens to TikTok is fast approaching. I don’t use social media, so it won’t affect me directly no matter what happens, but lots of people are worked up about it so it’s all over the news. This might be why when I searched for Kesha, one of the auto-prompt questions that […]
Song of the Day 1/14: The Kossoy Sisters, “I’ll Fly Away”
Flying away from it all is a pretty common wish these days, and apparently it always has been. Slaves working the fields and prisoners behind bars traditionally invoke that desire, often extolling the path to freedom that leads through the pearly gates. So flying up to heaven was a common trope by the time prolific […]
Song of the Day 1/13: Ian and Sylvia, “Four Strong Winds”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona As the guy who signed and managed Bob Dylan, smart, aggressive, tyrannical Albert Grossman has a big part in the new Dylan movie, “A Complete Unknown.” He was a driving force behind the whole 1960s folk movement. Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary, one of the most important acts of […]
Song of the Day 1/12: The Move, “Fire Brigade”
Those wily Mexicans have launched a new front in their invasion of El Norte: They’ve sent firefighters to help battle the Los Angeles blazes. I don’t know how much it will help in containing the devastation, but it certainly sticks a thumb in the eye of the xenophobic asshole politicians catering to the xenophobic asshole […]
Song of the Day 1/10: Peter, Paul and Mary, “Puff, the Magic Dragon”
Peter Yarrow, who died earlier this week at age 86, fought a decades-long battle against an insidious rumor: that “Puff, the Magic Dragon” was about marijuana. In his defense, Yarrow pointed out that he wrote the song while an undergraduate at Cornell in 1959, a time and place where marijuana was still rare. The story […]
Song of the Day 1/9: Ohio Players, “Fire”
You know the California fires are bad – Hollywood is cancelling movie premieres and awards shows. In a way, the victims are lucky this happened now and not next month, when Lex Luthor with a bad rug will take over the White House. “Fire” defined the Ohio Players, the finest funk band ever to come […]
Song of the Day 1/8: Guns N’ Roses, “You’re Crazy”
Axl Rose wrote it about an overenthusiastic female fan, but when a senile dolt elected president by a nation of dolts talks about going to war over Greenland, the only response is this song’s refrain: “You’re fuckin’ crazy.” The profanity wasn’t originally part of the song – Rose ad-libbed it one night in concert when […]
Song of the Day 1/7: Soundgarden, “Fell On Black Days”
The approach of the Trump circus caravan has most right-thinking people experiencing a sense of dread, a mood Chris Cornell knew well. He once told Melody Maker, “Fell on Black Days” was like this ongoing fear I’ve had for years … It’s a feeling that everyone gets. You’re happy with your life, everything’s going well, […]
Song of the Day 1/6: Matt Pond PA, “Snow Day”
Snow days ain’t what they used to be. Global warming has made snow scarce, and even when schools close a lot of kids don’t go education-free, because remote learning didn’t disappear with the pandemic. Kids don’t know the difference, of course. They’re just happy to have a day mostly off with snow to play in. […]
Song of the Day 1/5: Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro, “Girl From the North Country”
“A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Bylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet released Dec. 25, has gotten mostly good reviews, and even the critics who dismissed it praised Chalamet’s performance. As well they should – he agreed to make the film with director James Mangold five years ago, and spent the time between acting jobs learning to […]
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