Alby's Latest Posts
Bipartisanship Is a Mug’s Game
The seeds of our current obstructionist Republican Party were sown during the Clinton administration, when Bill Clinton signed a Republican “welfare reform” bill and, in the Republican view, stole all the credit for it. The lesson Republicans learned motivates them to this day: If a good thing happens with Democrats in charge, Democrats win, no […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, May 27, 2021
Whenever someone has suggested that the Covid-19 virus might have escaped from a Chinese lab, authorities have been quick to bat it down (see what I did there?) That’s probably been good geopolitics, but not good detective work. It turns out that the U.S. intel staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology got sick with […]
Song of the Day 5/26: Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
I wanted to follow up yesterday’s examination of “We Built This City” with another tune that turns up high on most lists of Worst Songs Ever, so I offer this wildly popular No. 1 hit from 1988, the first and still the only a cappella song to top the charts. Nobody has ever been able […]
Song of the Day 5/25: Starship, “We Built This City”
There is a widely held misconception about this song. It is not the “worst song” of all time. It’s the most hated song of all time. It might sound like a semantic difference, but it’s not. The worst songs aren’t catchy ditties that go to No. 1 and are named “worst ever” 20 years after […]
Song of the Day 5/24: Pink Floyd w/ Stephane Grappelli, “Wish You Were Here”
I’m not much of a Pink Floyd fan — I probably haven’t listened to “Dark Side of the Moon” all the way through in 40 years — but you don’t have to be to know this song, a staple of classic-rock radio since its 1975 release. But, not being much of a fan, I wasn’t […]
Song of the Day 5/23: Frank Zappa, “Montana”
As if the story of the Hockessin woman who dognapped her neighbor’s 6-month-old Pyredoodle and dumped it on a New Jersey roadside wasn’t weird enough, the victim said this incident prompted her and her family to move to Montana. Frank Zappa had the exact same idea nearly 50 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smZA9Jv3qH0 The backing vocals were […]
DL Open Thread Sunday, May 23, 2021
Quote of the Day: Maybe it’s just because of lingering cartoon stereotypes about German efficiency, but I always assumed Nazis would be, like, unusually competent, y’know? Having lived through the last five years, I understand now, of course they’re gonna be the mouth-breathingest fuckups on the planet, that’s why they need all the lying and […]
Song of the Day 5/21: Pink Floyd, “Have a Cigar”
This one’s for El Somnambulo, who’s a bit miffed that guys who smoke expensive cigars will pay a lower tax rate than people who smoke El Ropos. Contra Sigmund Freud, sometimes a cigar is not a cigar. For Roger Waters, it represented the greed of the music industry, which isn’t surprising, as almost everything represented […]
DL Open Thread Friday, May 21, 2021
This is a short news roundup today for a simple reason: Damn near every story on the internet tells me I should be very, very afraid of damn near everything. In the media, the Democrats have already lost the 2022 midterms, because — you’ve read this thin gruel cooked up from flop sweat and bovine […]
Song of the Day 5/20: Carole King, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”
There’s no question Carole King belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — she’s been there, along with her first husband and lyricist, Gerry Goffin, since 1990. By one standard, she’s the preeminent female songwriter of the second half of the 20th century — she wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that reached the […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, May 20, 2021
New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait says most people, liberals included, are failing to appreciate how much legal jeopardy the Last Guy is in now that the New York AG’s office is looking at criminal charges over Trump Org tax dodging. Chait warns that prosecutors need to prepare the country for the unprecedented move of indicting […]
Song of the Day 5/19: Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
For some reason, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame couldn’t simply place Gil Scott-Heron among the pantheon. He’s in this year, but as an “early influencer.” If they’re talking about his influence on rap, well, that’s undeniable, but that shortchanges an artist whose body of work towers above some of the acts already in. […]
Song of the Day 5/18: The Go-Go’s, “Our Lips Are Sealed”
I like the Go-Go’s, really I do. Their peppy power pop fit nicely with the New Wave movement of the early ’80s and MTV made sure you noticed how easy they were on the eyes. I saw them play at the UD Fieldhouse — the old one north of Main Street that had acoustics like […]
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