Arts and Entertainment

Mavis Staples can make any song sound like gospel music. This John Fogerty song was an under-appreciated deep track from CCR's 1969 "Green River" LP until Mavis recorded it for…

Eddie Money, the classic-rock hitmaker from the '70s and '80s, died yesterday in Los Angeles, age 70. Born Edward Mahoney in Brooklyn, he ditched a would-be career as a New…

Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent who was controversially outed by the Bush administration in 2003, left Washington for New Mexico a few years back and is now running for…

Nobody's heard much from Michael Avenatti lately, but I thought of him again when I was listening to FOW's "Out-of-State Plates," its collection of B-sides from 2005. In fact, the…

Green Day made its name with a pop-punk combination, starting with "Dookie" in 1994, but this simple ballad is probably Billie Joe Armstrong's most lasting contribution to popular music. He…

The Human Beinz from Youngstown, Ohio, were a late-'60s one-hit wonder thanks to this rocked-up rendition of an all-but-forgotten Isley Brothers track. Originally the Premiers, the band changed its name…

I'm treading in El Somnambulo territory here, as the LP by the country supergroup The Highwomen -- formed as a sort of "answer group" to the '80s supergroup the Highwaymen…

Gospel-soul fusion? Anything was possible back in 1970, when Pacific Gas & Electric formed in Los Angeles. The band's most notable member was guitarist Glenn Schwartz, the original guitarist for…

The Fireballs, originally Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (named for the Jerry Lee Lewis song), are most famous for their 1963 No. 1 hit "Sugar Shack," a tune that in…

Everyone knows they're white -- it's right there in the band name -- but I ran into a millennial the other day who didn't know they were Scottish. This video,…

Yeah, Dorian is just a flimsy excuse to play one of my favorite Neil Young songs. It was written in 1975, recorded for "American Stars and Bars" for release in…

Gene Wilder died last weekthree years ago last week, which sent me to YouTube for his greatest film clips, which led to "Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr., which led…

It's been just about a year since I first featured this Philly band in Song of the Day, and they just released a new album, "A Distant Call," that tops…