Posts by Alby

It's International Workers' Day, something Americans don't observe – socialism has never appealed to a nation full of millionaires-in-waiting. Well, too bad, capitalist scum. It's unlikely the workers of the…

This song, released in February, hasn't made El Somnambulo's list of faves (I'm not sure it qualifies yet by his rules), but it caught my ear the other day when…

For me, the biggest surprise among this year's inductees to the Rock Hall of Fame was Chubby Checker, who popularized the twist and several other novelty dances, and whose hit-making…

At this point I'm not even going to bother slagging the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's decisions about who does and doesn't get in. By now everybody knows that…

This first track on the first album by the Velvet Underground couldn't be more misleading – with its full production it sounds nothing like the rest of that seminal LP.…

A reminder of how far Republican politics has sunk was highlighted earlier this week in New York when Sarah Palin – 'memba her? – lost her libel case against the…

New Jersey's largest wildfire in 20 years has consumed more than 13,000 acres in Ocean County, not far from Bruce Springsteen's old stomping grounds. That's not the kind of fire…

MAGAts like to project a tough, scary image, but their frequent fuck-ups undercut the bluster. For instance, Homeland Security chief Kristie Noem, known as ICE Barbie for posing in combat…

This seems like an appropriate song for Earth Day in the age of Trump. Nearly every affliction Loudon Wainwright listed back in 1986 is still a problem today. He knows…

Pope Francis has rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible, apparently after a surprisingly active Easter considering he was at death's door last month. Also, it seems that…

It wasn't until 1997 that Paul McCartney revealed that this song wasn't written about someone but rather something. "It's actually an ode to pot," he acknowledged, "like someone else might…

Welcome to the resistance...what? Who? David Brooks? Seriously? Milquetoast center-right New York Times columnist David Brooks is calling for widespread resistance to the Trump regime? You better believe it, baby.…

The notion that the devil has all the best tunes didn't start with rock and roll. It goes all the way back to the 18th century, when Anglican cleric George…