Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 2/21: Brian Setzer, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”
Man, old rockers are dropping like flies. I don’t mean they’re all dying. Some are just hitting the rock and roll disabled list. Just the other day rockabilly revivalist Brian Setzer of Stray Cats fame announced on social media that an autoimmune disease has left him unable to play guitar. “There is no pain,” he […]
Song of the Day 2/20: David Johansen, “Heart of Gold”
David Johansen is not a guy who gives up. When the New York Dolls broke up he went solo. When that didn’t pan out he became Buster Poindexter. As Buster, a nightclub entertainer turned up to 11, he had a big hit that would drive you crazy if you heard it too much, and Johansen […]
Song of the Day 2/19: Johnny Rodriguez, “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”
As usual, the cruelty is the point. The White House released a video of captive immigrants shackled for air transport; naturally no details about who they were or where they were headed, just that they departed from Seattle. To amuse themselves the MAGAts labeled it “ASMR,” which IDs them as the sort of deep thinkers […]
Song of the Day 2/18: Chumbawamba, “The Day the Nazi Died”
I’m not on social media but my wife is, and this Chumbawamba song has popped up on her scroll several times lately. Listening to the lyrics I understand why. The world is riddled with maggots The maggots are getting fat They’re making a tasty meal of all The bosses and bureaucrats When Chumbawamba wrote this […]
Anybody Been To Clearwater?
My brother and I are heading down to catch the Phillies in Spring Training for a week beginning this Saturday. First time for both of us. Does anybody have any dining/drinking/touristy recommendations for us for those rare times when we’re not at the games? I also know that Clearwater is close to some other Florida […]
Song of the Day 2/17: Sheryl Crow, “A Change Will Do You Good”
Sheryl Crow made the news the other day for doing something that’s become increasingly difficult recently: She sold her used Tesla. We know this because she posted about it on social media, along with the news that she’ll donate the proceeds to NPR, “which is under threat by President Musk.” She didn’t say what she’ll […]
Song of the Day 2/15: The Wallflowers, “Sleepwalker”
Since I featured Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” yesterday I felt I had to follow it up with Jakob Dylan’s oblique answer song, which drew a bit of attention when it was released as the lead single from the Wallflowers’ “Breach” LP in 2000. Bob Dylan’s son stepped out of his father’s shadow with the band’s multi-platinum […]
Song of the Day 2/14: Sam Cooke, “Cupid”
By all accounts, Sam Cooke didn’t need Cupid’s help. Girls rushed to the front pews to get a glimpse of him when he sang with the Soul Stirrers, a phenomenon new to gospel, and once he went secular his reputation as a ladies’ man became as legendary as his expressive tenor voice. So, no surprise, […]
Song of the Day 2/13: War, “Slippin’ Into Darkness”
Theme song for the United States of America. The band that became War started out in Long Beach, Calif., in the early ’60s. They were a tight unit by 1970, when songrwriter/producer Jerry Goldstein saw them backing a local R&B singer. He hooked them up with British singer Eric Burdon, fresh off the breakup of […]
Song of the Day 2/12: Johnny Horton, “Young Abe Lincoln”
If you’re old enough, you might remember Feb. 12 as a holiday, Lincoln’s Birthday. At least it was in Delaware – it never was a federal holiday, though most Northern states observed it, despite it falling just 10 days before what was a federal holiday, Washington’s Birthday. All that was swept away when Nixon declared […]
Song of the Day 2/11: Blue Öyster Cult, “Career of Evil”
Pretty much everyone in the Trump administration could accurately title his memoirs “Career of Evil,” so I hope Patti Smith sues anyone who dares to. The godmother of punk wrote the lyrics to several tunes for the Long Island-based Blue Öyster Cult, including this cut from the 1974 album “Secret Treaties,” before she formed her […]
Song of the Day 2/10: The Smashing Pumpkins, “Pennies”
The collapse of the Kansas City Chiefs might be the latest evidence that everything Trump touches turns to shit. His chosen gladiator, Pat Mahomes, landed flat on his ass six times, and you can tell Mein Furball was pissed off, because he quickly changed the subject by issuing one of his impetuous edicts. Immediately and […]
Song of the Day 2/9: Robin Trower, “Day of the Eagle”
The Eagles won their first Super Bowl by beating the best team in the league, and they’ll have to do the same thing tonight if they’re going to win their second. Guitarist Robin Trower joined Procol Harum in 1967, a couple of months after the band scored a smash hit with “A Whiter Shade of […]
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