Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 1/28: P.D.Q. Bach, “Missa Hilarious, S. N₂O”
I admit I don’t listen to as much classical music as I once did, and I think it might be because I heard so much of it as the score for cartoons. Or maybe it was early exposure to PDQ Bach, who made the solemn reverence surrounding the classical canon seem rather ridiculous. PDQ Bach, […]
Song of the Day 1/26: Tina Fabrique, “Reading Rainbow” theme
Voters scrubbed Meatball Ron DeSantis from the presidential race, but the residents of Florida have to put up with him for three more years. I’m sure he’s fuming inside his tiny shoes, and since I’m not a nice guy when it comes to dealing with assholes, I think people should push his buttons at every […]
Song of the Day 1/25: Melanie, “Look What They’ve Done to My Song Ma”
Melanie Safka, a coffeehouse folk singer thrust into stardom with her set at the original Woodstock Festival, has died at age 76. Her popular success lasted just a few years, from 1970 to 1974, but she started singing in her teens and remained active until her death. Safka was singing in small New York clubs […]
Song of the Day 1/24: The Smiths, “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want”
I’ve never understood why Donald Trump is so aggrieved. He’s no billionaire except by his own accounting, but he objectively lacks for nothing. So why does he playt this Smiths song at his rallies? He doesn’t already have what he wants? Do these lyrics really describe him? See, the life I’ve had Can make a […]
Song of the Day 1/23: Elle King, “Ex’s and Oh’s”
Singer Elle King, the daughter of former SNL comedian Rob Schneider, had a career-wrecking moment at the Grand Ole Opry last Friday during a birthday tribute for Dolly Parton. She took the stage, in her own words, “hammered,” couldn’t remember most of the words to a Parton song and slurred the ones she did recall, […]
Song of the Day 1/22: Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”
Ron DeSantis said he’d never back down, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t back away, so that’s just what he’s done. He left the presidential race with a quote he attributed to Winston Churchill. In the best MAGA tradition, it’s fake. Tom Petty wrote this in response to an arsonist burning down his house while […]
Song of the Day 1/20: The Shangri-Las, “Leader of the Pack”
Mary Weiss, lead singer for the ’60s girl group the Shangri-Las, died recently at age 75. The group had a strong chart run in 1964 and ’65, including this No. 1 hit from 1964. Unlike most girl groups, the Shangri-Las – two sets of sisters from a sketchy neighborhood in Queens – had a tough-girl […]
Song of the Day 1/19: The Honeycombs, “Have I the Right?”
Donald Trump apparently has never been a music fan. He’s never seen going to concerts, and we don’t hear about his Spotify playlists – a far cry from the days when we got regular reports of what was on Obama’s iPod. It’s Trump’s loss. If he had listened to more music back in the ’60s […]
Song of the Day 1/18: The Bee Gees, “Words”
Every MAGA accusation is a confession – why do you think they keep talking about mental health when we bring up gun violence? – which is why Fux News et al like to harp on Joe Biden’s mental acuity. It deflects from Donald’s. Trump has long gotten a pass because he’s been a logorrheic rambler […]
Song of the Day 1/17: Phish, “Farmhouse”
The venerable jam band Phish is coming to the Woodlands, the Dover Downs-adjacent campground that hosted the Firefly festival for a decade, for a four-day festival in August. Travel package tickets for the Mondegreen Festival go on sale tomorrow, weekend and camping passes Friday. Summer music festivals are pretty common now, and Phish was a […]
Song of the Day 1/16: Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Waiting in Vain”
H/t to Anon, who noted that we will wait in vain for any of the Republicans who are opposing Donald Trump to point out that he wants to be a dictator, I think because they’re afraid he’ll sic his slack-jawed minions on them. I can’t say I blame them. Bob Marley released the tune on […]
Song of the Day 1/15: Elvis Presley, “If I Can Dream”
Many songs have been written in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., all of them heartfelt, many of them touching. But no other calls forth King’s message with the passion and intensity Elvis Presley poured into “If I Can Dream,” the finale of what’s now known as his ’68 Comeback Special. Those who saw Baz […]
Song of the Day 1/14: John Lennon, “Instant Karma!”
Remember Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News blowhard? You probably haven’t thought about him in a long time – Fox News 86’d him back in 2017 over his long history of sexual harassment lawsuits, and he’s struggled to find an audience ever since. He’s still out there, though, and the other day he floated back into […]
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