Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 7/20: Bo Burnham, “Bezos (I & II)”
I really wanted someone to headline the Bezos in Space story “Giant Dick Travels to Space in Giant Dick,” but for some reason he actually has fanboys. I think comedian Bo Burnham is mocking Bezos, but I can’t be sure; he posted a tweet congratulating Bezos this morning, and I couldn’t tell if that was […]
Song of the Day 7/19: Bill Withers, “Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?”
I hadn’t heard this one in ages until Meshell Ndegeocello’s cover, which I’d never heard at all, popped up WXPN the other day. The funk comes from musicians who had been the core of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, particularly bassist Melvin Dunlap and guitarist Benorce Blackmon. The LP also launched the long studio […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, July 18, 2021
We laugh and shake our heads at conservatives who believe American cities are being burned down by Antifa and BLM protesters, but we’re guilty of the same thing when it comes to media reports about the popularity of American fascism. Two stories illustrate this. First, a couple of has-beens, Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly, have […]
Song of the Day 7/16: General Johnson and Joey Ramone, “Rockaway Beach”
Carolina beach music was invented for this time of year but, despite the title, “Rockaway Beach” is not beach music. At least, it wasn’t before General Johnson enlisted Joey Ramone to join him in a beach-music reworking of the punk classic for a mid-’90s compilation album. General Johnson is known to most music fans as […]
Song of the Day 7/15: Old 97s, “Bird in a Cage”
In the ’90s the Old 97s were one of the top acts in what was then known as alt-country (now Americana). Saleswise their career peaked in 2001 with their third and final major-label release, “Satellite Rides,” a disc full of Rhett Miller’s catchiest country-rock. This tune was one of my favorites, and apparently it’s one […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, July 15, 2021
Nobody wants to hear it, but the pandemic is not over. Global cases rose last week for the first time in 10 weeks. We’re shaping up to have a truly nasty outbreak in the fall in Dumbfuckistan. Democrats — why can’t they do the right thing? Latest example: SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, who’s under […]
Song of the Day 7/14: Huey Lewis and the News, “I Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”
Did you ever hear a song you liked by a band you never heard before, only to find that most of their music sounds nothing like the first song you heard? That was my experience with this tune, a minor hit for Huey Lewis and the News from their second LP (and first successful one) […]
Song of the Day 7/13: Archie Bell and the Drells, “Tighten Up”
Actor Charlie Robinson, best known for his role on “Night Court,” died Sunday, and many of his obituaries say he began his show-biz career as a singer with Archie Bell and the Drells, best known for their No. 1 hit from 1968. The song started as an instrumental vamp by the Drells’ backing group, the […]
Song of the Day 7/12: Elvis Costello, “Sneaky Feelings”
When Catbite covered this song from Elvis Costello’s debut album at the Arden Shady Grove Music Fest, El Somnambulo cited it as evidence of the Philly ska band’s good taste, and I certainly won’t disagree. “My Aim Is True” has lost some luster in recent years, but when it was released in 1977 it didn’t […]
Song of the Day 7/11: Deep Purple, “Space Truckin’ “
I have to say, I’m totally in favor of launching billionaires into space. I’m less on board with letting them come back. Ritchie Blackmore claims the riff was inspired by the “Batman” theme song. It closed the band’s 1972 “Machine Head” LP and, at an extended 20 minutes or so, the main portion of their […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, July 11, 2021
Before 2020, you’d have to look hard to find a bigger critic of Joe Biden than me. Listing all his flaws would take more time than you have, so I won’t, and you know them all anyway. But the one thing I never doubted he possessed was a keener-than-average sense of empathy — when my […]
Song of the Day 7/9: Garfunkel and Oates, “Both Sides Can Laugh”
Garfunkel and Oates, the stage personae of Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, carved out an odd niche for themselves. They work as comic actors — both had recurring roles on “The Big Bang Theory” — but their musical act is mostly too racy for TV (their three released LPs are titled, in the best Spinal […]
Crowdsourcing Request: Whither the Wingnuts of Yesteryear?
Until last month’s news about the legal difficulties of onetime Delaware GOP nuisance Mike Protack, I had no idea he had decamped to San Diego, which got me to wondering — whatever happened to some of the deluded fools who did so much to make the Delaware GOP a laughingstock throughout this century? A few […]
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