Alby's Latest Posts
DL Open Thread Saturday, June 21, 2025
Is it war yet? More to the point, is it our war yet? Pundits are sucking their thumbs extra-hard trying to figure out if and when Trump will join the Israel-Iran missile-exchange program, but most fail to consider the question, “What would an unimaginative reality-show host do?” They’d do exactly what Trump is doing – […]
Song of the Day 6/20: Kool and the Gang, “Summer Madness”
For roughly 90% of the human population, this will be the longest day of 2025, marking the start of astronomical summer. The atmosphere above Delaware will drive home the point next week, when temperatures are expected to tickle 100° with humidity to make it feel worse. When it’s that hot, you want something that will […]
Song of the Day 6/19: Kim Weston, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
I was shocked to learn this morning that Juneteenth is still being celebrated. With everything that doesn’t code as white and male under attack, I assumed Trump had done away with it, too. But no, despite insisting we rename Veterans Day, he hasn’t said a word about Juneteenth and couldn’t executive-order it away even if […]
Song of the Day 6/18: Vince Vance and the Valiants, “Bomb Iran”
I’m old enough to remember when John McCain caused a stir on the campaign trail in 2007 when someone asked about his stance on Iran and he jokingly sang “bomb, bomb, bomb” to the tune of “Barbara Ann”. Skip ahead 18 years and that joke is about to become official policy. The gag was an […]
Song of the Day 6/17: Paul Simon, “My Professional Opinion”
Add Paul Simon to the long list of musicians whose opening farewell did not mean goodbye. Now 83, Simon is on a 20-city tour of small venues performing two-set concerts, with multiple shows in each city to ease the strain of touring. The second set features his old songs, both hits and deep cuts. The […]
Song of the Day 6/16: Harry Richman, “I Love a Parade”
You know who doesn’t love a parade? Donald Trump. After going to all the trouble and expense of making it the centerpiece of a big, beautiful birthday celebration, he sulked through the whole thing. You can hardly blame him – it was a dull, low-energy affair that looked like it bored even the participants. For […]
Song of the Day 6/14: Elton John, “The King Must Die”
Political assassination has a long history in human affairs. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyric in 1969, the year after the MLK and RFK murders (John always wrote to Taupin’s lyrics, often paring them down from the original). The political climate obviously put to mind Shakespeare’s “MacBeth” and “Julius Caesar.” It was the closing track on […]
Song of the Day 6/13: Brian Wilson, “Caroline, No”
Brian Wilson’s musical genius was not matched by a way with words – he almost always co-wrote with a lyricist. For “Pet Sounds” he wanted to move beyond the teen-oriented tunes he composed with Mike Love, so he chose a new writing partner, a 26-year-old ad-jingle writer named Tony Asher. Stories of how they met […]
Song of the Day 6/12: Brian Wilson, “Melt Away”
I won’t rhapsodize about Brian Wilson’s talent – he always maintained it wasn’t genius, it was hard work – because the entire music world has already done that. Even his cousin, collaborator and frequent nemesis Mike Love, chimed in, with a tribute more eloquent than any of his lyrics. He called Brian’s oeuvre “a hundred […]
Song of the Day 6/11: Sly and the Family Stone, “Family Affair”
Sly Stone, who died Monday at 82, didn’t invent funk music – that honor goes to James Brown – but he’s the first one who took it beyond the dance floor. Starting with “Dance to the Music” in 1967, Sly and the Family Stone released a string of hit singles that changed the course of […]
Song of the Day 6/10: Tom Lehrer, “Send the Marines”
Of course Donald Trump sent the marines to Los Angeles. What’s left of his mind was formed by the same John Wayne films Tom Lehrer cited when he wrote this back in 1965, after LBJ used them to intervene in the Dominican civil war. Of course, that was when we only used them in foreign […]
Song of the Day 6/9: Garland Jeffreys, “Wild in the Streets”
Thanks to the Trump administration’s desire to declare marshal martial law and its constant need to change the subject from its latest fuck-up, the excitable homunculi in charge are treating localized vandalism in Los Angeles as if it were the Watts Riots. We should have learned from protests in Portland a few years back that […]
Song of the Day 6/7: Rilo Kiley, “Breakin’ Up”
The media is intent on milking this Trump-Musk feud for all it’s worth – schadenfreude might bring in as many clicks as rage does, or at least they hope so. Trump helpfully called reporters, even ones he doesn’t like, to dunk on Elon. Which they dutifully reported. Rilo Kiley released this song on their 2007 […]
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