Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 10/11: Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”
The Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense” is getting as much critical acclaim in its recent rerelease as it did when it opened in theaters back in 1984, maybe because the band’s sense of apocalyptic absurdity fits our present reality so well. Enjoy it while you can. As this New Yorker piece makes clear, […]
Song of the Day 10/10: U2, “Pride (In the Name of Love)”
Did Hamas deliberately single out the Tribe of Nova trance music festival, where they massacred at least 260 people and took an unknown number hostage? It wouldn’t be the first time terrorists have struck a music audience – the attack on an Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris’ Bataclan killed 90 people and wounded […]
Song of the Day 10/7: Fred Neil, “Dolphins”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Fred Neil wrote a sad, beautiful and enduring song called “The Dolphins” as a Greenwich Village folk singer in the mid-1960s. “I’ve been searching for the dolphins in the sea,” he sang plaintively. He doesn’t find them. Neil, who suffered from stage fright, soon dropped out of the music business […]
Song of the Day 10/6: The Sex Pistols, “Pretty Vacant”
They would never admit it, even to themselves, but the Freedom Caucus apparently is in favor of anarchy in the U.S. House, which makes the Sex Pistols the perfect soundtrack for their exercise in nihilism. According to original bassist Glen Matlock, who wrote the song, “‘Pretty Vacant’ is a primal scream kind of thing: We […]
Song of the Day 10/5: The Kinks, “Situation Vacant”
With a tip o’ the sombrero to El Som. Yoohoo, anybody home? House Republicans are demonstrating that maybe men do too think about the Roman Empire too much, and no that good comes of it. One online reviewer called this tune “a classic Ray Davies character piece in which ambition leads to misery.” That sounds […]
Song of the Day 10/4: Buffalo Springfield, “On the Way Home”
Buffalo Springfield had broken up by the time their third and final album, “Last Time Around,” was released in 1968. The LP was assembled from previously recorded material to fulfill the band’s contract commitment. Neil Young’s “On the Way Home” was one of the earliest, recorded in late 1967, after the return of Young, who […]
Song of the Day 10/3: The Ramones, “Why Is It Always This Way?”
Elon Musk’s fascist leanings are obvious at this point, and Russian state TV put a fine point on it yesterday by bragging that “Elon Musk really is our agent.” That got me thinking about “Rocket to Russia,” the Ramones’ third album. Unfortunately for the band that essentially invented punk rock, it came out just as […]
Song of the Day 10/2: The Traveling Wilburys, “Not Alone Any More”
Rock has had a lot of so-called supergroups, but I think the superest of them all is an easy choice. The Traveling Wilburys featured Beatle George Harrison, Nobel Prizewinner Bob Dylan and Hall of Famers Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, all of whom were in awe of their fifth member, Roy Orbison. Orbison’s career started […]
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: September 2023
Fewer songs this month. Sky-high quality, though, one of my favorite batches of the year. A Pops Staples original. Dedicated to Jason: MY kind of band. Surrealist noir is MY kind of music: Italian disco vibe. Video’s a hoot as well. Made me laugh: Perhaps the best American roots artist you’ve never heard of. I […]
Song of the Day 9/30: “Flipper” Theme
Former Republican poll watcher Scott Hall pled guilty to five criminal counts and must testify against co-defendants, notably former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, his contact in the plot. He’s the first of 19 defendants in the case to flip. I’m guessing he won’t be the last. For those too young to remember it, “Flipper” was […]
Song of the Day 9/29: Fitz and the Tantrums, “MoneyGrabber”
Bethany Hall-Long’s intended coronation as Delaware’s next governor has hit a major snag. Seems like her rivals’ campaign signs might not be the only thing her sleazeball husband/campaign treasurer has gotten his hands on, as the campaign is undergoing an outside audit. Meanwhile, she has demonstrated why she’s not to be trusted in Woodburn by […]
Song of the Day 9/28: Alana Springsteen, “twenty something”
Bruce Springsteen has cancelled all his remaining 2023 concert dates as he combats peptic ulcer disease, demonstrating that the Democratic Party isn’t the only institution plagued by decrepitude. The rockers of the ’60s and ’70s who didn’t have the career-boosting foresight to die at 27 are at an age where they’re more likely to expire […]
Song of the Day 9/27: Roger Whittaker, “The Last Farewell”
Unless you’re a boomer, and maybe even if you are, you probably don’t recognize the name of Roger Whittaker, who died a couple of weeks ago at age 87. He was a sort-of-folk singer who grew up in Kenya when it was still a British colony and became popular in Europe in the pre-Beatles ’60s. […]
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