Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 4/3: R.E.M., “Man on the Moon”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona In a post-Andy Kaufman world, it was perfectly natural for R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe to question the moon landing in “Man on the Moon.” The song is (sort of) about Kaufman, whose comedy was all about confusion between reality and fiction. You could see how that worked in the 1999 movie […]
Song of the Day 4/2: Killing Joke, “Pandemonium”
I’ll be traveling today, so I’ll be spared whatever freakout ensues from whatever bilious bullshit Trump spews. I am, however, assuming pandemonium as the baseline outcome. Killing Joke’s 40-year career has been better appreciated in Great Britain, where all but one of their 14 LPs reached the charts, than in America, where only one eked […]
Song of the Day 4/1: The Rolling Stones, “Fool to Cry”
Stock markets have been wobbly in anticipation of tomorrow’s Trump dumbfuckery. Crying or not, there are enough fools running American industry to cover not just today but every day of the year. “Fool to Cry” was the only single the Stones released from their 1976 “Black and Blue” album, which they made after Mick Taylor […]
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: March 2025
While I always appreciate Nathan Arizona’s feedback, I’d like to hear from the rest of you. I know many of you listen each month, so whaddaya like? Or can’t stand? Ow-w-w-w!! Were I still booking shows at the Gild Hall, I’d be booking this guy: It may not be Favourite, but then, what is?: The […]
Song of the Day 3/31: Bruce Cockburn, “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”
Haven’t we all thought this in the past few months? Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn was a folkie who had written just a few political songs before he joined a 1983 trip, sponsored by the international relief organization Oxfam, to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico. He wrote of the experience, The refugees were the survivors of […]
Song of the Day 3/30: The Damned, “Smash It Up”
I don’t know whether to dedicate this one to Elon Musk or the protesters who are taking out their fury on his Tesla dealerships. It’s the signature song by the Damned, the most melodic and musically accomplished of the first wave of British punk bands. It was listed as “Smash It Up (Part II)” on […]
Song of the Day 3/29: Cheap Trick, “Surrender”
Major law firms are knuckling under to Trump, but Delaware lawmakers one-upped them: They surrendered to Elon Musk himself. Unfortunately, they fucked up by not following Cheap Trick songwriter Rick Neilson’s advice – when they surrendered they gave themselves away. “Surrender,” the first single from Cheap Trick’s 1978 LP “Heaven Tonight,” was the band’s first […]
Song of the Day 3/28: Dave Edmunds, “I Hear You Knocking”
As much as I hate everything involved in the Trump maladministration, this is just sad. In a lame attempt to distract from its national security ineptitude, they tried to send Usha Vance to Greenland, apparently on the theory that a non-white person might get a better reception. They reportedly went on a door-to-door quest to […]
Song of the Day 3/27: Townes Van Zandt, “Pancho and Lefty”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Townes Van Zandt’s life and career were too erratic to earn him much credit for his fantastic songs, except from other singers of folkish country tunes and a cult following that’s been going strong since his death in 1997. But one of his songs, the 1972 outlaw ballad “Pancho and […]
Song of the Day 3/26: Leonard Cohen, “The Partisan”
The American resistance to the Trump/Musk fascist takeover has yet to get organized, but the torching of Tesla dealerships shows the will to sabotage already exists. What we don’t yet have is an anthem to rally around. Don’t despair yet. These things take time. The French Resistance began soon after the Nazi takeover of the […]
Song of the Day 3/25: Dan Wilson, “A Song Can Be About Anything”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona About a week ago the‘’90s band Semisonic denounced Trump for using its Grammy-nominated song “Closing Time” in an anti-immigrant video that spread a message opposite to the one in the song. Besides the righteous political statement, it was a reminder that “Closing Time” was a great song by one of […]
Song of the Day 3/24: Jefferson Airplane, “It’s No Secret”
The second Trump administration is incompetents all the way down. The latest example: National Security Adviser Michael Waltz added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat on Signal. Goldberg initially thought it might be part of a foreign disinformation campaign, but soon realized it was the real thing, revealing details of the U.S. attack […]
Song of the Day 3/23: Bob Dylan, “Everything Is Broken”
Yet another song from a generation ago that fits the current moment all too well. From the 1989 album “Oh Mercy,” viewed at the time as a comeback for Dylan from a decade of subpar efforts, including his trio of Christian albums and the overproduced “Infidels.” The LP was recorded in New Orleans with producer […]
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