Arts and Entertainment

Song of the Day 6/29: David Bromberg, “Sharon”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 29, 2023 3 Comments

I just read in the News Journal about the final concert by Wilmington’s adoptive son, David Bromberg. He said the show he played at New York’s Beacon Theater June 10 with his band will be his last as a touring musician. Bromberg, who sold his violin repair shop a couple of years ago, is now […]

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Song of the Day 6/28: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, “The Mexican Shuffle”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 28, 2023 1 Comment

I’m so old I remember when Mexicans weren’t reviled — in fact, they were considered fun and exotic. Case in point: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Though best-known now for founding of A&M Records with Jerry Moss, Boomers will remember Alpert as a trumpeter whose Latin-sounding instrumentals were everywhere in the early to mid-60s. […]

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Song of the Day 6/27: Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Gimme Back My Bullets”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 27, 2023 0 Comments

This one is for Cabela’s, though it doesn’t sound as if they’re all that concerned about all that missing inventory, does it? The title track to Lyrnyrd Skyrnyrd’s 1976 LP, its fourth but first without Al Kooper producing. It failed to chart as a single, but the album went gold in the wake of the […]

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Song of the Day 6/26: Elton John, “Rocket Man” live at Glastonbury 2023

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 26, 2023 1 Comment

Sir Elton John closed this year’s Glastonbury music festival with what he billed as his final UK concert. He went out with a bang. “Rocket Man” was his final song, and if his voice has declined since his hit-making heyday, his piano work was as energetic as ever. He extends the ending so long it […]

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Song of the Day 6/25: Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, “Too Late to Turn Back Now”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, International by on June 25, 2023 0 Comments

So let me get this straight: The revolt of the Wagner mercenaries got halfway to Moscow and then turned back. I’m no warlord, but I don’t think that’s the way you’re supposed to do it. The Cornelius Brothers and their sister Rose (eventually joined by their other sister, Billie Jo) were a family singing act […]

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Song of the Day 6/24: The O’Jays, “Backstabbers”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, International by on June 24, 2023 2 Comments

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary forces is marching 25,000 soldiers on Moscow, and Vladimir Putin has responded in classic fascist fashion, describing it not just as treason but that old propaganda standby, a stab in the back. The O’Jays, formed in 1958, had their first Top 40 hit when “Backstabbers” reached No. 3 in […]

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Song of the Day 6/23: Randy Rainbow, “Donald in the John With Boxes”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 23, 2023 1 Comment

Randy Rainbow just dropped his latest, a ditty about Trump’s reading habits and storage facilities set to the tune of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” I suppose any Rainbow criticism of Trump has to be seen in context, though. Like other political humorists before him — Will Rogers, Pat Paulsen, Marianne Williamson — Rainbow […]

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Song of the Day 6/22: Stray Cats, “Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me)”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, National by on June 22, 2023 3 Comments

Republicans always seem to stick together, if only because they’re the minority party in the U.S. so they’re doomed if they don’t. Give them a scrap of power, though, and they’ll fight over it like seagulls over a french fry. Case in point: The House of Representatives’ two reigning divas, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren […]

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Song of the Day 6/21: Fountains of Wayne, “Sink to the Bottom”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 21, 2023 0 Comments

I’ve detected a distinct lack of sympathy for the well-heeled victims of the OceanGate disaster (pro tip: never use the word “gate” in your name), so what the fuck, I can be as flip about it as the next guy. “Sink to the Bottom” was included on Fountains of Wayne’s eponymous debut LP in 1996. […]

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Song of the Day 6/20: A.L. Phipps and the Phipps Family, “The Great Titanic”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, International by on June 20, 2023 8 Comments

Five people have been lost descending to the wreck of the Titanic in a small submersible craft. A frantic search for them is underway, but unless the story gets a miracle ending, it seems the “unsinkable” ship is still claiming lives. The mythic element of the sinking of the Titanic seems to have dissipated in […]

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Song of the Day 6/19: The Rascals, “People Got to Be Free”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 19, 2023 3 Comments

How does an old white guy celebrate Juneteenth? I’m going with blue-eyed soul from some of its early practitioners, the Rascals. The sentiment sounds hokey today — they don’t play this one much even on oldies radio — but it was widespread in 1968, when this song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the […]

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Song of the Day 6/17: Mungo Jerry, “In the Summertime”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on June 17, 2023 0 Comments

Some people insist summer starts with the equinox on June 21. Bollocks. June, July and August constitute “the summer,” and the people prove it every year by swarming the country’s beaches from Memorial Day to Labor Day. They take Mungo Jerry’s advice — they have a drink, have a drive and go out and see […]

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Song of the Day 6/16: Pat Benatar, “Hell Is for Children”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, National by on June 16, 2023 4 Comments

We all realize that Republicans live in a heavily insulated bubble, but I don’t think we can grasp how weird it is in there. Every once in a while, though, one of them says something that shows they live in a very different world. Today’s example comes from Ted Cruz, who told some wingjob talk […]

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