Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 11/4: Huffamoose, “Wait”
WXPN’s David Dye is so impatient for the election to be over he devoted an entire show yesterday to songs about waiting. I had completely forgotten about this one, which reached No. 34 on the Modern Rock chart in 1998. Huffamoose, formed by a quartet of Temple University students in the early ’90s, looked like […]
DL Open Thread Monday, Nov. 4, 2024
See what happens when you don’t pay the paperboy? There’s not much point in linking to news stories this late in the day. Use the space to make your predictions, air your concerns, mock Republicans… the floor’s yours. For those who haven’t seen it, Lewis Black had some advice for those all-important undecided voters.
Different Strokes for Different Folks
Two Monica Beard mailers landed in my mailbox yesterday. At first glance they seemed like duplicates, because both showed her against a pink background on the front, with a list of polling places on the back. But they weren’t the same. The one addressed to the Democrat showed thumbnail headshots of all the Democratic candidates […]
Song of the Day 11/1: The Temptations, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)”
Another song that sadly hasn’t lost any relevance over the past 54 years. In early 1970 Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong took a hard look at the wreckage of the ’60s and proclaimed it an unholy mess that was flashing by while the band played on. When Motown’s Wrecking Crew recorded it they kept playing […]
Song of the Day 10/31: Camille Saint-Saëns, “La Danse Macabre”
Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most famous and prolific composers of his day, and his serious works are part of the classical canon, but he’s best known to the general public for this short tone poem. He composed the theme in 1872 as a piano piece to accompany a poem called “Égalité, Fraternité” by […]
Song of the Day 10/30: Garbage, “The Men Who Rule the World”
Joe Biden is getting grief for calling MAGAts “garbage,” which I maintain was just him being polite. Garbage got its name when a friend used the term to describe the music they were playing, an amalgam of every genre extent when it was formed in the early ’70s. They’ve remained popular whenever they’ve reformed over […]
DL Open Thread Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024
A federal judge delivered a blow to Delaware’s plan to expand its port along the Delaware River, ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to follow proper procedures in granting permits for the project. The story appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer; the News Journal still hasn’t reported it. Why does Elon Musk want Trump […]
Song of the Day 10/29: Fleetwood Mac, “Gypsy”
Stevie Nicks is everywhere the past few weeks, appearing on Saturday Night Live, releasing a new song about women’s rights and, most recently, appearing on a CBS Sunday show to talk about the abortion she underwent at the height of the band’s fame. In 1979, around the time of “Rumours,” she was impregnated by Don […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024
If Jeff Bezos was looking for a way to destroy the Washington Post, mission accomplished. Within three days of his decision to quash the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, more than 200,000 people have cancelled their subscriptions, about 8% of the customer base. His lame op ed defending his decision isn’t helping, either. […]
Song of the Day 10/28: The Grateful Dead, “Box of Rain”
Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead bassist who died last week at age 84, had never played the bass when Jerry Garcia asked him to join the band. But he had studied trumpet, violin, modern classical composition and free jazz, and brought an improvisational spirit to the Dead that made them the model for all the […]
DL Open Thread Monday, Oct. 28, 2024
The disgrace of governments giving taxpayer money to private, for-profit businesses is, sadly, widespread, simply the way business is conducted in our greedy society. Poor-Excuse-For-A-Democrat John Carney brought Delaware to a new low by shielding our giveaways from public scrutiny, but the drip-dick Republican leading the Senate race in Montana has dropped it even further […]
Song of the Day 10/25: Jay & the Techniques, “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie”
Peach season is long gone, but fall is prime time for apples and pumpkin pie. Though it wasn’t the only chart appearance for Allentown, Pa.’s, Jay Proctor and the Techniques, this No. 6 single from 1967 was their biggest hit; one food-themed follow-up, “Strawberry Shortcake,” stalled at No. 39. The backup singers were Nick Ashford […]
Song of the Day 10/24: Blind Melon, “No Rain”
Move over, Dry January. Philadelphia and the surrounding region are experiencing a dry October – there has been no measurable rainfall this month, and there isn’t expected to be any through Election Day. Blind Melon was a one-hit wonder in large part because their lead singer, Shannon Hoon, died of a drug overdose in 1995. […]
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