Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 6/21: Megafaun, “The Longest Day”
Happy summer solstice, a celestial event that, judging from archaeological evidence, seems to have meant more to neolithic peoples than it does to us. Then again, 6,000 people turned out in the mist at Stonehenge this morning to mark the event, which might have been an impressive crowd by prehistoric standards. Megafaun is an indie-folk […]
Song of the Day 6/19: The Young Rascals, “Groovin'”
To follow the news is, by definition, to doomscroll. Well, to quote a famous sailor man, that’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more, at least for one day. The weather is perfect for groovin’ on a Sunday afternoon, and so is this No. 1 song from the innocent days of late […]
Song of the Day 6/18: The Fixx, “One Thing Leads to Another”
Bands from the ’60s and early ’70s that can still tour draw big crowds. Bands from the ’80s and ’90s, not so much. Consider The Fixx. They’re still releasing albums and touring more than 40 years after their early days in London, performing the same synth-pop with politically oriented lyrics that made this song, from […]
Song of the Day 6/15: Black Sabbath, “Guilty as Hell”
As Jason330 noted, we all knew what’s being shown by the Jan. 6 committee. And that includes everybody who tried to pull it off. Still, there seems to be some grudging acknowledgement from the punditry that the exercise is doing some good, just days after the consensus was that it was doing no good. So […]
Song of the Day 6/13: Inner Circle, “Bad Boys”
This should be the theme music for the Jan. 6 Congressional hearings when they resume tonight. Hey, it worked for “Cops,” which has resumed production for Fox Nation after Paramount dropped it in the wake of the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis. Inner Circle, the Jamaican band that first recorded the song in 1987, was […]
Song of the Day 6/12: The Flaming Lips, “Waitin’ for a Superman”
Metropolis, the fictional city where Superman fights for truth, justice and a better tomorrow, has always presented DC Comics with a problem in truthiness — where exactly is it? A lot of people, the News Journal reminded its remaining readers this week, place it in Delaware, right across Delaware Bay from Gotham City (I’d link […]
Song of the Day 6/10: Randy Newman, “Guilty”
This is the song I’d like to hear played when Donald Trump is hanged for treason. The song closed side 1 of Randy Newman’s controversial 1974 album “Good Old Boys” and was released as the LP’s first single. It didn’t chart. Newman wasn’t the first to record the tune. Bonnie Raitt, backed by most of […]
Song of the Day 6/9: The Weavers, “The Hammer Song”
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson will wield the hammer of justice — a gavel, actually — when the House select committee he chairs on the Jan. 6 insurrection presents its findings tonight at 8 p.m. in that old-school format, the prime-time television broadcast. I’m not sure how that will play in our post-TV era. Pete Seeger […]
Song of the Day 6/8: Seals and Crofts, “We May Never Pass This Way (Again)”
Jim Seals, who died Monday at age 80, wasn’t just half of the ’70s soft rock duo Seals and Crofts. He and his musical partner were also among the best-known adherents of the Baháʼí faith, which does indeed hold that we won’t be reincarnated, but we will experience some kind of life after death. The […]
Kick Off Your Weekend With The Legendary Ingramettes
Soulful Gospel powerhouses: This Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the Arden Shady Grove, right below the Gild Hall. While most of the music will be sacred Gospel, secular beer and wine will be offered. Oh, and the Ingramettes will work wonders with Bill Withers’ ‘Grandma’s Hands’. We’ve also got a Gospel Choir from the local […]
Song of the Day 6/6: Sheryl Crow, “Can’t Cry Anymore”
Polling conducted after the Uvalde Massacre asked respondents if they feel that mass shootings are “unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society” or “something we can prevent and stop if we really tried.” To nobody’s surprise, 44% of Republicans said we just have to accept mass slaughter or we’re not […]
Song of the Day 6/5: Wilco, “Cruel Country”
The genre now known as Americana was once known as alt-country, and Jeff Tweedy’s band, Uncle Tupelo, helped set the template by injecting pop-punk energy into country rock. That band split after four albums, and Tweedy formed Wilco in 1995. His music since then has ranged over broader territory, but with his new album “Cruel […]
Song of the Day 6/3: Bobby Gentry, “Ode to Billy Joe”
On this date in fictional history, Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge, triggering one of pop music’s greatest mysteries: What did the narrator and Billie Joe throw off the bridge? The question gripped America in the summer of 1967, when Gentry’s debut record knocked the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” out of […]
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