Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 4/20: Peter Tosh, “Legalize It”
Peter Tosh once told an interviewer that ganja would someday be as legal as cigarettes. That’s still years off, but as this handy map shows, in only six U.S. states, all of them deep red, does weed remain entirely illegal. Weigh that against 16 states (17 if you count D.C.) containing 43% of the population […]
Song of the Day 4/19: Pixies, “Here Comes Your Man”
Why did rock music sputter out after the 1990s? I don’t know the answer, but the anti-commercial pose that became de rigueur with punk and extended into the era of college radio and alternative bands couldn’t have helped. Consider this song by the Pixies, the closest thing they ever had to a hit in the […]
Song of the Day 4/16: Toronto, “Your Daddy Don’t Know”
Protectionism has a bad name among economists, but as with most things, in some circumstances it’s absolutely the right thing for a country to do if it wants to grow a particular industry. For Canada in the early days of rock music, the danger was the domination of its music industry and airwaves by the […]
Song of the Day 4/15: Ludovico Einaudi, “Due Tramonti (Two Sunsets)”
Oscar season is upon us — the ceremony takes place April 25 — and it will be a major shock if “Nomadland” isn’t named best picture. Everything about the film stands out amid Hollywood’s mass-produced dreck, including its soundtrack, mostly taken from Italian pianist-composer Ludovico Einaudi’s seven-album collection “Seven Days Walking.” Director Chloé Zhao, who […]
Song of the Day 4/13: Less Than Jake, “The State of Florida”
As pop-punk band Less Than Jake noted in this 2008 song, Florida is sinking into the sea. I would note that the process isn’t going fast enough. Unlike, say, Neil Young writing about Southern men, LTJ’s critique came from inside — the band’s album “GNV FLA,” released in 2008, is named for their hometown, Gainesville. […]
Song of the Day 4/12: Sinéad O’Connor, “Black Boys on Mopeds”
The continuing plague of police brutality against Black men has kept this song relevant more than 30 years after its release. Colin Roach was a 21-year-old Black man living in the London borough of Hackney in 1983, when police tried to pull him over, apparently thinking the moped he was driving was stolen. Hackney, a […]
El Somnambulo Reviews Wrestlemania 37: Night 2
The hot rumor making the rounds is that Becky Lynch will return tonight, likely in a truck, following her being away for almost a year away as she became a mom. Looks like there’s a ready-made feud with Bayley awaiting her. Tonight’s ‘celebrity’ is Logan Paul. Yet another media creation who is ‘famous for being […]
El Somnambulo Reviews Wrestlemania 37-Night One
An utterly insipid pre-game panel featuring one Kayla Braxton as the host; Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, dressed like a maitre d’ at a red gravy joint; Booker T: JBL, and somebody named Peter Rosenberg. It’s been raining in Tampa, but it appears that it will stop in time for the kickoff of the show. Drew […]
Song of the Day 4/10: Billy Joel, “Captain Jack”
A song for the Delaware Republican Party, which, like the protagonist of this song, has been reduced to just jacking off. In a way, Philadelphia — in particular this live 1972 performance of what became one of his signature tunes — is responsible for Billy Joel’s subsequent career. WMMR-FM staged an hour-long performance at Sigma […]
Song of the Day 4/8: The 1910 Fruitgum Company, “Indian Giver”
Baseball is back, which seems to be a mixed blessing in Georgia, where the GOP’s existential panic over its suckitude cost Atlanta the annual all-star game. I suppose Braves fans would call MLB Indian givers. Seriously, though, with fans back in the stands and sports leagues starting to root out Native American nicknames, some are […]
Song of the Day 4/7: Winger, “Seventeen”
H/t Foster McKenzie for this one, which I had never heard. He’s right, this should be Matt Gaetz’ rally music, not just for the apt lyrics but for its general cheeziness. Grunge might not be everyone’s favorite rock genre, but this is a good reminder of the played-out formula it replaced. This was one of […]
Song of the Day 4/6: They Might Be Giants, “Minimum Wage”
In keeping with today’s theme. Though they more recently gained attention for kids’ records like “Here Come the ABCs,” 30 years ago They Might Be Giants — basically the duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell — were at the peak of their popularity as a post-new wave alternative band. Their 1990 LP “Flood,” overflowing […]
Song of the Day 4/5: Temple of the Dog, “Hunger Strike”
Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption Putin opponent who has been jailed for being an anti-corruption Putin opponent, is in the sixth day of a hunger strike he undertook to protest his treatment in prison. He’s already sick with a fever and cough, and given the Putin government’s general treatment of its opponents, I’d say the prognosis […]
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