Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 8/31: Little Feat, “Dixie Chicken”
Now that the Dixie Chicks have dropped the “dixie” from their name, I got to wondering. They named themselves after the Little Feat song, not the Confederacy, so if the word dixie is tainted, should we call the song “Chicken” going forward? Maybe we should, since a restaurant sign inspired the lyrics. Lowell George wrote […]
Song of the Day 8/30: Haim, “Strong Enough”
Everybody has their favorite bands, and these sisters are one of mine. The radio studio is a perfect setting for this stripped-back version of one of Sheryl Crow’s earliest hits, and it shows off the ladies’ musical dexterity — Este, normally their kick-ass bassist, plays the drum while Danielle shows off both her guitar chops […]
Song of the Day 8/29: The Clovers, “Love Potion No. 9”
If it smells like turpentine and looks like India ink, Trumpers would probably take it before they’ll take that commie socialist vaccine. Though it’s been covered by scores of groups, the best version remains the first. The Clovers debuted this Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller classic in 1959, when they took it to No. 23 […]
Song of the Day 8/27: They Might Be Giants, “I Can’t Remember the Dream”
There aren’t all that many ’90s bands still making new music, and fewer still sound like they did back then. The Johns, Flansburgh and Linnell, have a new album — actually some sort of album/book project — coming out soon, and this is one of the tracks. It’s pop tunecraft that would fit right into […]
Song of the Day 8/25: Charlie Watts Quintet, “What’s New”
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died yesterday at age 80, was the unlikeliest rock star ever. He was the opposite of every rock cliche, which is more amazing when you consider that his bandmates were the ones who set the template for every form of excess that became associated with the music. Watts was […]
The Arden Concert Gild & El Somnambulo Present…
…the following great concerts. My musical dance card is officially full–at least through February. I’m really psyched about these shows that I’m bringing to the Gild Hall this year: An Evening With Sierra Hull. Friday, October 22. I’m co-producing this one with our Gildmaster Ron Ozer. She was a true child prodigy (not Ron), making […]
Song of the Day 8/23: The Everly Brothers, “Cathy’s Clown”
The Everly Brothers were the greatest duo in rock ‘n’ roll history (Hall & Oates had more Top 40 singles than the Everlys’ 26, but c’mon). They helped establish some foundational elements of rock ‘n’ roll, among them close harmonies, a country twang — and brother acts who don’t get along. Don Everly, who died […]
Song of the Day 8/22: Crabmeat Thompson, “Small Wonder”
Readers of the News Journal might not know this, but Delaware folksinger and raconteur Jerry “Crabmeat” Thompson died in June. I first heard this from friends who saw it on social media, but the only obituary I could find ran a month later in the Middletown Transcript. Back in the days when I worked the […]
Song of the Day 8/19: Bo Burnham, “Welcome to the Internet”
Bo Burnham is usually classified as a comedian, but he’s just as easily categorized as a musician, one in the tradition of Tom Lehrer with a tad of Kurt Weill thrown in. (Song of the Day featured his songs about Jeff Bezos last month.) Listen to how accurately he skewers what we’ve done to ourselves […]
Song of the Day 8/18: Elvis Costello, “Blame It on Cain”
From Elvis’ first album, with Clover backing him. John McFee’s jazzy guitar and Costello’s delivery of his cryptic lyrics dominate the track. Nobody’s ever come up with a satisfying explanation of the song’s meaning, and I can’t find any record of Costello ever having said, but it’s pretty clear somebody is passing the buck. The […]
Song of the Day 8/17: The Felice Brothers, “Jazz on the Autobahn”
WXPN has had this tune in heavy rotation since it dropped two months ago, but I didn’t hear it until this weekend. The Felice Brothers, who began with a trio of upstate brothers who moved to Brooklyn to busk in the subways, made their national mark with their first album in 2008. Their sound got […]
Song of the Day 8/16: Bob Dylan, “Masters of War”
Who lost the war in Afghanistan? Certainly not the defense industry, which got the lion’s share of the trillion dollars the country wasted waging it. Big win for them. The Cuban Missile Crisis, which seemed to awaken Americans to the fact that they could be incinerated at a moment’s notice, was still fresh when Dylan […]
Song of the Day 8/14: Nanci Griffith, “Tecumseh Valley”
Nanci Griffith was an accomplished singer and songwriter who broke through after moving from her native Austin to Nashville in 1985, but her greatest acclaim came with her Grammy-winning 1993 album “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” covering other singer-songwriters who, like her, worked musical territory between folk and country that produced a literate hybrid we now […]
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