Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 11/9: Ten Years After, “You Can’t Win Them All”
Nationally, Democrats did better than expected, if not as well as hoped. “You Can’t Win Them All” was included on the 1972 album “Rock and Roll Music to the World,” Ten Years After’s seventh LP and last one to chart in the UK as blues-rock faded in popularity.
Song of the Day 11/8: The 4 Seasons, “Let’s Hang On!”
Yes, the party in power typically loses seats in midterm elections, but history can guide us only so far — in the World Series, teams that won game 3 to take a 2-1 lead had captured the championship more than 60% of the time. That didn’t help the Phillies. Nobody knows how this election will […]
Song of the Day 11/7: Wilson Phillips, “Hold On”
Don’t make yourself miserable. Try to remember that these midterms are going to be a shitshow by Republican design, and that making liberals suffer is part of the point. They are miserable people and they don’t actually love company, they just want everyone else to be as miserable as they are because they’re, y’know, assholes. […]
Song of the Day 11/6: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, “Don’t Give Up”
I don’t need to be in America to know that Democrats are demoralized about the midterms — our site traffic took a dive after the primaries, a sure sign of progressive malaise. This song is for them. Peter Gabriel released this duet on his “So” album in 1986. At that point Margaret Thatcher, who infamously […]
Song of the Day 11/5: The Five Stairsteps, “O-o-h Child”
Before the Jacksons stole their title, the Five Stairsteps were known as the First Family of Soul. The five children of Chicago police detective Clarence Burke Sr. went from winning a talent contest in 1965 to a contract with Curtis Mayfield’s record company and a five-year run of nine Top 10 hits on the R&B […]
Song of the Day 11/3: Dr. Feelgood, “Roxette”
Without Dr. Feelgood, punk rock never happens. The Ramones played fast, but they weren’t threatening. Neither were the dozens of British bands in the back-to-basics pub rock scene, where country rock and R&B provided good-time music for drinkers. Dr. Feelgood was something beyond that. Hailing from Canvey, a dingy English seaside town, snarling front man […]
One Last Desperate, Hail-Mary, Throwing-Myself-On-The-Mercy-Of-The-Court, Attempt To…
…get you to come to our great Chris Pierce/Sug Daniels concert this Saturday night at the Gild Hall at 8 pm. I’ve got incentives! But first, an explanation as why it’s come to this. The Phillies. That’s right. The Arden Concert Gild has overcome cancellations, Covid, artist no-shows, snowstorms, power outages, torrential rains, even ungodly […]
Song of the Day 11/2: Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, “Sylvia’s Mother”
Shel Silverstein was a true triple threat. Though most remembered today for his children’s books, he was also a Playboy cartoonist and a songwriter. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was a North Jersey bar band hired to perform Silverstein’s music for a 1971 Dustin Hoffman movie about a pop songwriter, “Who Is Harry Kellerman […]
Song of the Day 11/1: Louis Armstrong, “When the Saints Go Marching In”
France has an odd relationship with religion. Those cathedrals and basilicas the tourists visit are owned not by the Catholic church but by the state, which nationalized all church property during the revolution and has never given it back. Yet the country’s holiday schedule still revolves around the main holy days of obligation observed by […]
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: October 2022
Surprisingly strong set o’ tunes this month, especially considering that I don’t include any new songs that are on albums that won’t be released until 2023: Could the lead-off song possibly be Nathan Arizona’s Fave Of The Month? A distinct possibility. Wow. This gives me chills. Andrew Bird, Phoebe Bridgers, and Emily Dickinson: Ashley McBryde’s […]
Song of the Day 10/31: Santana and Peter Green, “Black Magic Woman”
A song in honor of our modern celebration of the Celtic pagan harvest festival Samhain. Peter Green, the founder and original guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, wrote it about his girlfriend. Carlos Santana and his eponymous band made it a classic rock staple. On only one occasion did they play it together. By coincidence, or perhaps […]
Song of the Day 10/30: Rick Wakeman, “Morning Has Broken”
It’s rare for a hymn to become a hit on the pop charts, but that’s what happened with Cat Stevens’ “Morning Has Broken,” which owes much of its popularity to Rick Wakeman’s piano arrangement. Wakeman has performed it in concert for years, but without any vocals. Because there are no lyrics, Wakeman technically isn’t playing […]
Song of the Day 10/29: Frank Sinatra, “High Hopes”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona “High Hopes” is best known around here as a tune associated with two great singers — Frank Sinatra and Harry Kalas. OK, one great singer. Harry’s voice was much better for announcing Phillies games than for singing. But it’s the late Harry Kalas who’s most identified with “High Hopes” in […]
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