Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 9/26: The Replacements, “Bastards of Young”
The Replacements’ status as the greatest missed opportunity in rock history has gotten a major boost with the release of a newly remixed edition of their fourth LP, their major-label debut “Tim.” Given the rapturous reviews “Tim: Let It Bleed Edition” is getting you might think the album was brand new, and most reviewers say […]
Song of the Day 9/25: The Association, “Everything That Touches You”
No group suffered a sharper drop in popularity when rock music turned from psychedelic pop to blues-based hard rock than the Association. Terry Kirkman, one of the group’s founders and composer of its biggest hit, died Saturday at age 83. Retroactively lumped under the label of sunshine pop, the Association had its roots in the […]
Song of the Day 9/23: The Band, “Ophelia”
It’s rare that the Atlantic has 15 named storms in a hurricane season, so the odds were slim that we’d get a storm named Ophelia dumping all this rain on Delaware over the weekend. Robbie Robertson wrote it, Levon Helm sings it, but this track is a shining moment for Garth Hudson, the sole surviving […]
Song of the Day 9/22: Tower of Power, “Don’t Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream)”
Kevin McCarthy’s inability to control the Cuckoo Caucus has pundits speculating that he’s not long for his gavel, because the cuckoos are all for 86ing him. I don’t expect they’d take Tower of Power’s advice, because they don’t take anyone’s advice. Advice is for cucks. But I would remind them that the only difference between […]
Song of the Day 9/21: Stevie Wonder, “He’s Misstra Know-It-All”
Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, embroiled himself in controversy this week – not for the first time – when he botched a New York Times interview for his just-published book of interviews, “The Masters.” When David Marchese pointed out that the seven “masters” he […]
Song of the Day 9/20: Jim Croce, “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)”
Nobody called it the Day the Music Died, but 50 years ago today Philadelphia-born singer-songwriter Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash in Natchitoches, La., cutting short his career just as it was peaking. He was 30 years old. Croce started out in the mid-’60s, performing with his wife as a folk duo, but […]
Song of the Day 9/19: Maren Morris, “Get the Hell Out of Here”
Country music’s instincts have always been reactionary. Back in 1969, when people were realizing Richard Nixon’s promise to end the war in Viet Nam was bullshit, Merle Haggard wrote “Okie From Muskogee” because he thought the protesters were wrong. “America was at its peak, and what the hell did these kids have to complain about?” […]
Song of the Day 9/18: Joe South, “Games People Play”
It’s hard to tell nowadays, but pop psychology wasn’t always with us. The book that brought it to the masses was published in 1964 by psychiatrist Eric Berne, who noticed that a lot of the interpersonal problems his patients described fit certain patterns. From that, he developed what he called transactional analysis. Berne trained as […]
Song of the Day 9/17: Jewel Akens, “The Birds and the Bees”
A little heavy petting music for Lauren Boebert, along with a suggestion that next time she get a room. Jewel Akens sang with a number of doo-wop groups in the ’50s and early ’60s, but he had his only Top 40 hit with his 1964 release “The Birds and the Bees,” which reached No. 3 […]
Song of the Day 9/15: Arthur Conley, “Sweet Soul Music”
If you can listen to this song without getting excited, you might want to find a nurse to check you for a pulse. Arthur Conley’s was one of the most enigmatic stories in soul music. He was only 21 in 1967 and had released one single when he was discovered by Otis Redding, who signed […]
Song of the Day 9/14: Leslie Kritzer, “Creepy Old Guy”
Lauren Boebert, demonstrating the classiness we’ve all become familiar with, was booted from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver the other night after managing a hat trick of obnoxious behavior – vaping, taking video and singing along with the show. Several patrons complained. According to the Denver Post, “I’ve never seen anyone act […]
Song of the Day 9/13: Old and in the Way, “Wild Horses”
Joe Biden – you might have heard about this – is old. He’s been old for quite some time now, having been born in 1942, but the media has just noticed this, probably because Republicans won’t shut up about it while they prepare to challenge him with some fat tub of goo who wasn’t born […]
Song of the Day 9/12: R. Dean Taylor, “Indiana Wants Me”
So much for a good guy with a gun. Escaped killer Danelo Cavalcante broke into a house in rural Chester County and stole a .22-caliber rifle despite the homeowner firing seven shots at him. Unexplained: How Cavalcante got his hands on the weapon. I can understand wanting access to a handgun for self-protection, but a […]
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