Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 5/24: Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas, “The Creator Has a Master Plan”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona If there really is a creator, and he really does have a master plan, look around these days and you might think this is surely not it. But the 1969 plan by jazz sax player Pharoah Sanders and vocalist Leon Thomas to write a spiritual-jazz song called “The Creator Has […]
Song of the Day 5/22: Meat Loaf, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”
For more than 10 years Republicans have done anything for Trump, but sign off on a crooked deal to give him a $1.7 billion slush fund? They won’t do that, at least not yet – though rather than give the White House a flat no, they skedaddled into recess. I don’t harbor much hope their […]
Song of the Day 5/21: Billy Joel, “My Life”
Bioflicks about musicians often do big box office, regardless of whether the subject approves of the project. Approval guarantees music rights, but it also guarantees a positive portrayal that omits any unpleasantness. That’s guaranteed to trigger the sort of backlash that led critics to call the recent Michael Jackson biopic “ghoulish” and “a whitewash” for […]
Song of the Day 5/20: Prince Buster, “Too Hot”
If you don’t like 90-degree highs before Memorial Day, just wait until tonight, when a storm front will move through and leave us with highs in the low 60s throughout the weekend. Just another 30-degree swing in 24 hours. Climate change, or Jewish space lasers? Opinions vary. Cecil Campbell, better known as Prince Buster, influenced […]
Song of the Day 5/19: Frankie Laine, “Do Not Forsake Me (Oh My Darlin’)”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The Western Writers America put together a list of the top 100 Western songs according to the Western Writers of America. In first place was “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” best known from the version by popular 1950s singer Frankie Laine. His passionate style was perfect for songs with western […]
Song of the Day 5/18: The O’Jays, “Give the People What They Want”
That New York Times Magazine list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters will live in infamy for overlooking some revered artists in favor of younger people whose music, to be charitable, has not yet stood the test of time. YouTuber Rick Beato’s comment, lamenting Randy Newman’s exclusion, exemplified this attitude: “He’s no Young Thug, […]
Song of the Day 5/17: Lucinda Williams, “The World’s Gone Wrong”
The New York Times Magazine’s list of 30 greatest living American songwriters did what ragebait is supposed to: “drive engagement” by pissing people off. Much of the ire centered on deserving artists who were left off the list. Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway – that was inevitable, because there are a lot […]
Song of the Day 5/15: Diana Ross & the Supremes, “Reflections”
Trump thinks he’s good at everything, but even in the one area where you’d expect him to have some expertise, construction, he’s a fuck-up. His buildings typically use glitzy facades to front for shoddy construction – the Plaza hotel he built in Atlantic City, for example, was condemned and razed in 2014 because pieces of […]
Song of the Day 5/14: Jimmy Webb and Willie Nelson, “If You See Me Getting Smaller”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The New York Times has published a list of who it considers the 30 greatest living American songwriters. Many of the names make sense – Bob Dylan, Carole King, Paul Simon, Dolly Parton and so on. But there was a lot of furor about who was left off. If you […]
Song of the Day 5/13: The Faces, “Ooh La La”
Some rock stars wear their opposition to Donald Trump on their sleeves. Rod Stewart is not one of them. Yet Sir Rod has made clear his opinion of his erstwhile Florida neighbor. Back in January, when Trump’s blustering ignorance led him to say NATO troops had “stayed a little back, little off the front lines” […]
Song of the Day 5/12: R.E.M., “Daysleeper”
Weird contradiction about Trump: He loves being on camera, but he often wants you to not believe what you see. Yesterday people saw him catch 40 winks in an Oval Office meeting, hardly the first time notorious night bird Trump has nodded off in a meeting when other people are talking. Yet when shown a […]
Song of the Day 5/11: Electric Light Orchestra, “Telephone Line”
I don’t know how widespread this trend is, but for months now I’ve been seeing articles about a so-called flip-phone (or sometimes dumb phone) revolution – people giving up their smart phones in an effort to break their cell-phone addiction. It certainly doesn’t seem widespread yet. People staring at their tiny screens regardless of where […]
Song of the Day 5/10: Earth, Wind & Fire, “Mom”
The paean to his mother that Maurice White wrote tugs a little harder on the heartstrings when you realize that she didn’t raise him. He was a boy when his mother remarried and moved to Chicago, leaving him with his grandmother in South Memphis, where Booker T. Jones was a high school friend. Maurice saw […]
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