Alby's Latest Posts
DL Open Thread Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
Today’s media freak-out is over the Committee of GileadU.S. Supreme Court upholding a Texas abortion ban by a 5-4 vote. The real test will be when it’s put into practice, because the state won’t enforce it — it’s relying on private citizens to file lawsuits against providers and patients, and SCOTUS acknowledged it’s constitutionally questionable. […]
Song of the Day 9/1: Tom T. Hall, “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine”
Songwriter and country singer Tom T. Hall died last month, and the world lost a wise old soul when he did. Hall wrote more than 20 No. 1 hits on the country charts, and sang several himself, but he’s mainly known through his only No. 1 on the Hot 100, the 1968 crossover smash “Harper […]
Song of the Day 8/31: Little Feat, “Dixie Chicken”
Now that the Dixie Chicks have dropped the “dixie” from their name, I got to wondering. They named themselves after the Little Feat song, not the Confederacy, so if the word dixie is tainted, should we call the song “Chicken” going forward? Maybe we should, since a restaurant sign inspired the lyrics. Lowell George wrote […]
Song of the Day 8/30: Haim, “Strong Enough”
Everybody has their favorite bands, and these sisters are one of mine. The radio studio is a perfect setting for this stripped-back version of one of Sheryl Crow’s earliest hits, and it shows off the ladies’ musical dexterity — Este, normally their kick-ass bassist, plays the drum while Danielle shows off both her guitar chops […]
Song of the Day 8/29: The Clovers, “Love Potion No. 9”
If it smells like turpentine and looks like India ink, Trumpers would probably take it before they’ll take that commie socialist vaccine. Though it’s been covered by scores of groups, the best version remains the first. The Clovers debuted this Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller classic in 1959, when they took it to No. 23 […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, August 29, 2021
We can now definitively state that Joe Biden was wrong when he predicted that the Republican fever would break once Trump was out of office. A nation in which Republican governors push experimental antibody treatments but shun vaccines and masks and the public responds by consuming large-animal dewormer, causing an enormous spike in poison control […]
Song of the Day 8/27: They Might Be Giants, “I Can’t Remember the Dream”
There aren’t all that many ’90s bands still making new music, and fewer still sound like they did back then. The Johns, Flansburgh and Linnell, have a new album — actually some sort of album/book project — coming out soon, and this is one of the tracks. It’s pop tunecraft that would fit right into […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, August 26, 2021
RWNJ martyr Ashli Babbitt is the answer to the question, “How many of these kosplay kkkomandos have to die before the rest stand down?” and finally someone in the mainstream media has put a fine point on it: Her death was a turning point in the Jan. 6 Putsch. Babbitt crossed a line that had […]
Song of the Day 8/25: Charlie Watts Quintet, “What’s New”
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died yesterday at age 80, was the unlikeliest rock star ever. He was the opposite of every rock cliche, which is more amazing when you consider that his bandmates were the ones who set the template for every form of excess that became associated with the music. Watts was […]
Song of the Day 8/23: The Everly Brothers, “Cathy’s Clown”
The Everly Brothers were the greatest duo in rock ‘n’ roll history (Hall & Oates had more Top 40 singles than the Everlys’ 26, but c’mon). They helped establish some foundational elements of rock ‘n’ roll, among them close harmonies, a country twang — and brother acts who don’t get along. Don Everly, who died […]
Song of the Day 8/22: Crabmeat Thompson, “Small Wonder”
Readers of the News Journal might not know this, but Delaware folksinger and raconteur Jerry “Crabmeat” Thompson died in June. I first heard this from friends who saw it on social media, but the only obituary I could find ran a month later in the Middletown Transcript. Back in the days when I worked the […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, August 22, 2021
The hypocrisy of the media’s war cheerleading sure is coming a-cropper, with every pom-pom-waving “military analyst” shitting on Biden as their always-questionable usefulness comes to an end. No, you’re not imagining it — talking-head shows weren’t interested in booking anyone who agreed with Biden. If this doesn’t convince people to turn off the infotainment TV, […]
Song of the Day 8/21: Grace Vonderkuhn, “Rock and Roll Gary”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Newarkâs Grace Vonderkuhn rips headlong through her garage/psych/power-punk songs, but her burgeoning career hit a speed bump during the Covid shutdown. Her band, a trio known just as Grace Vonderkuhn, earned good reviews for its its debut album in 2018 and turned heads on the national club tour that followed. […]
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