Alby's Latest Posts
DL Open Thread Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Delaware holds school board elections today. The News Journal ran a useful voters’ guide, but I don’t know if it’s behind the paywall. Meanwhile, RISE Delaware, the group fighting Gov. Carney’s proposed downgrade to state retirees’ health care, has scheduled a rally at Legislative Hall from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The never-ending legal problems of […]
DL Open Thread Monday, May 8, 2023
The Texas gunman who killed eight people before being gunned down himself was a 33-year-old neo-Nazi-curious ex-security guard who lived with his parents. His name was Mauricio Garcia, which makes think we’re doing a lousy job teaching schoolchildren the Holocaust if this many non-Aryans self-identify with the Nazis. Seriously. Every time I see a photo […]
Song of the Day 5/6: Go West, “The King of Wishful Thinking”
You have to feel a bit sorry for Charles III. Not only does he have to start a new job at age 74, he has to listen to an endless debate about whether the job should continue to exist. My guess is yes: the royal family reportedly generates the equivalent of nearly $2 billion annually […]
Song of the Day 5/5: Rage Against the Machine, “Guerrilla Radio”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its list of honorees for 2023 the other day and, as usual, the headliners don’t scream rock and roll. Nobody begrudges Willie Nelson any honor that comes his way, but he just turned 90 and he’s been a country music legend longer than most modern hitmakers have […]
Song of the Day 5/3: Kiss, “Love Gun”
Apparently every American citizen is now required to voice a position on transgendered youth. Paul Stanley, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of glam rockers Kiss, went public the other day with his take — he thinks it’s a “sad and dangerous fad” — which brought him praise from conservatives and charges of laughable hypocrisy from […]
Song of the Day 5/2: Gordon Lightfoot, “If You Could Read My Mind”
Flags in Canada should be at half-staff today — singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, considered the nation’s troubadour, died yesterday at age 84. Lightfoot, who came out of the same Toronto folk scene that nurtured Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, first reached the Canadian charts in 1962. But he was little known in the US […]
Song of the Day 4/30: The Heavy Heavy, “Go Down River”
I caught half of this song on the radio the other day and thought it was some rediscovered ’60s nugget. Turns out the Heavy Heavy is a Brighton, UK, band led by Will Turner and Georgie Fuller. Their shared vocals and psychedelic jangle give them a Delaney and Bonnie vibe, especially on this tune, the […]
Song of the Day 4/28: Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona There aren’t all that many chords and chord progressions in music. If a songwriter uses some that already exist, is that plagiarism? Can he or she even avoid it? What if the rhythm is similar too? Is it plagiarism if a song is strongly “reminiscent” of another one? Is it […]
Song of the Day 4/27: Yoon Suk-yeol, “American Pie”
Joe Biden hosted a state dinner at the White House and, I guess because guest of honor Yoon Suk-yeol is president of South Korea, he turned into karaoke night. After being told “American Pie” was Yoon’s favorite song when he was in school, Biden said, “Well, we want to hear you sing it.” Yoon obliged. […]
Song of the Day 4/26: Harry Belafonte, “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”
A 96-year lifetime of EGOT fame and anti-racist activism and what is Harry Belafonte best remembered for today? A calypso-flavored Jamaican work song he recorded nearly 70 years ago, because a snippet of it has survived into popular culture as a stadium chant. Belafonte trained as an actor but broke into stardom as a singer […]
Song of the Day 4/25: Bobby Sherman, “Easy Come, Easy Go”
Tucker Carlson has joined Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly on the list of Fox News blowhards who angered and concerned liberals only to lose their soapbox when Ol’ Rupe pulled it out from under them. Any bets on who does better in the divorce? Bobby Sherman was a teen idol for about a year and […]
Song of the Day 4/24: Old & In the Way, “Old and In the Way”
This one’s for Dianne Feinstein who, almost everyone agrees, is both old and in the way. Feinstein was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when those hippies Jerry Garcia and David Grisman put together their bluegrass supergroup in 1973 and named the project after this Grisman tune. They were not yet 30. Grisman is […]
Song of the Day 4/21: Katrina and the Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”
For no better reason than the nice weather, a slice of sunshine pop that’s become a standard since its release in 1985, when it reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. It’s been used in countless ads and soundtracks ever since. Technically, Katrina and the Waves weren’t a one-hit wonder — they had two other […]
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