Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 8/31: Clifford Curry, “She Shot a Hole in My Soul”
Let’s squeeze in a last bit of Carolina beach music before the summer’s over. This 1967 tune was the closest regional star Clifford Curry, once known as the King of Beach Music, ever got to a national hit — it reached No. 45 in the R&B chart. It was covered by John Fred & His […]
Song of the Day 8/30: Joey DeFrancesco Trio, “Never Can Say Goodbye”
Delco native Joey DeFrancesco, widely recognized as the top jazz organist of his generation, died last week. He was only 51, but released nearly 40 albums of his own and played on dozens more as a sideman for everyone from Miles Davis to Van Morrison. He recorded his first LP when he was just 16, […]
Symphony Steve’s First Show Of The Arden Concert Gild Season!
I’m really psyched to announce that Chris Pierce and Special Guest Sug Daniels will grace the Gild Hall stage on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022 at 8 pm. Chris Pierce writes some of the most powerful songs I’ve heard in a long time. Check him out: Which doesn’t mean that he can’t turn out a kick-ass […]
Song of the Day 8/29: The McCoys, “Hang On Sloopy”
You surely know this cover version of the song, credited to the McCoys. You probably haven’t heard the original by the Vibrations, titled “My Girl Sloopy,” though it reached No. 26 in 1964. As the Atlantic Records label should tell you, they were a black band, and in their interpretation the song has a clear […]
Song of the Day 8/27: Stanley Beckford and the Starlights, “Soldering”
A footnote to “Sara Smile” by Hall and Oates, the song I wrote about a few days ago: Its B-side was another tune from the duo’s Silver Album, a reggae-flavored cover called “Soldering.” After Eric Clapton had a hit covering “I Shot the Sheriff” in 1974, rock musicians started to pay more attention to Jamaican […]
Song of the Day 8/26: Isaac Hayes, “Theme From Shaft”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona If you have anything bad to say about Isaac Hayes’ “Shaft,” there can be only one response: Shut yo mouth. We’re talking ’bout Shaft. John Shaft. And we’re talking about “Shaft,” the exhilarating orchestral funk song, and “Shaft,” the 1971 “blaxploitation” movie. These movies turned previously ignored black actors into […]
Song of the Day 8/25: Billy Joe Royal, “Cherry Hill Park”
This one’s for Gary Busey, who ran into some trouble over there in Cherry Hill, N.J., a couple of weeks ago at a horror film convention. Billy Joe Royal of Valdosta, Ga., is usually described as a “country soul” singer. This wasn’t his biggest hit — that would be his debut single, “Down in the […]
Song of the Day 8/24: The Gap Band, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”
I’ve been trying to work up some concern that the Moscow car-bombing of Darya Dugina, daughter of “Putin’s Rasputin” Alexander Dugin, will lead to something worse than what’s already happening in Ukraine. Sorry, just can’t see it. Conventional wisdom claims that Putin will react by cracking down harder. Uh, no. You might as well take […]
Song of the Day 8/23: Daryl Hall and John Oates, “Sara Smile”
The term blue-eyed soul, despite having been coined by influential Philadelphia DJ Georgie Woods, has become problematic for many people. Among them: A guy whose roots in both white and black music got him tagged as one of the genre’s prime purveyors. “I fucking hate it. It’s a racist term,” Daryl Hall told VH1 in […]
Song of the Day 8/22: The Righteous Brothers, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”
People might not realize it today, but radio was once nearly as segregated as schools and swimming pools were. White stations played white musicians for white audiences, black stations did the opposite, and little music crossed over between them. That’s why Pat Boone could sell millions of records making sanitized covers of R&B hits by […]
Song of the Day 8/21: Spanky and Our Gang, “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”
Elaine McFarlane had a helluva voice and a nickname based on her last name’s similarity to child star George McFarland, better known as Spanky, of the old “Our Gang” one-reelers from the 1930s. She fronted a mid-’60s sunshine-pop band that drew a lot of comparisons to the Mamas and the Papas, not just because of […]
Song of the Day 8/19: Randy Rainbow, “Yesterday”
As he admits in this video, Randy Rainbow is running out of show tunes, so he set this one to the Beatles classic.
Song of the Day 8/18: Patty Griffin, “Be Careful”
From a political standpoint, the end of Roe v. Wade has been a boon for Democrats. From a practical standpoint it’s causing, and will continue to cause, misery, injury and death to women. The saddest part of it is that Republicans, in their ignorance, never realized what their contemptible idea of morality would produce. We’ll […]
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