Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 10/18: The Avett Brothers, “Early in the Morning”
HBO is running a “West Wing” reunion show with an interesting twist — the cast assembles for a stage reading of a highly-regarded episode that originally aired in February 2002. The actors slipped into their old roles easily, but IMO the most interesting part was the way director Thomas Schlamme adapted the TV script for […]
Song of the Day 10/16: Poco, “A Good Feelin’ to Know”
Buffalo Springfield had three guitarists who were also singers and songwriters. Stephen Stills and Neil Young found greater fame after the group disbanded, but Richie Furay, who had the best voice of the three, never managed to break through to success or fame. He and Jim Messina, Buffalo Springfield’s replacement bassist and frequent producer, hooked […]
Song of the Day 10/15: Alison Krauss, “When You Say Nothing at All”
Here’s the perfect song for Amy Coney Barrett, who spent hours this week saying nothing at all. Alison Krauss recorded it for a 1994 tribute album to Keith Whitley, who had a No. 1 country hit with it in 1988, the year before he died. Krauss’ version was released as a single only after radio […]
Song of the Day 10/14: Curtis Mayfield, “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go”
When Curtis Mayfield left his group for a solo career in 1970, most people were expecting his solo LP “Curtis” to feature the sort of melodic, uplifting soul music that the Impressions had made their trademark. It did — “Move On Up,” one of Mayfield’s greatest songs, kicked off the LP’s second side and served […]
Song of the Day 10/13: Richard Thompson, “Persuasion”
Despite a 50-plus-year career filled with more high points than the landscape of Nepal, Richard Thompson remains what John Peel called him early in his career, “the best-kept secret in the world of music.” He’s equally adept on both acoustic and electric guitar, and his melodic compositions, whether pure folk or folk-rock, tap into emotions […]
Song of the Day 10/12: Walter Becker, “Book of Liars”
This is one of the “11 Tracks of Whack” that constituted the first solo album from Walter Becker, half of Steely Dan, in 1994. It’s a good example of why Dan fans thought he should have sung once in a while on the band’s LPs. When Steely Dan regrouped in the ’90s, “Book of Liars” […]
Song of the Day 10/10: Public Enemy, “State of the Union (STFU)”
After what seemed like a split between Chuck D and Flavor Flav this spring, Public Enemy released a new album in June, “What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?” It might lack the power the group harnessed in its heyday, but it contains just as much anti-establishment fire. The chorus of this one […]
Song of the Day 10/9: Johnny Nash, “Hold Me Tight”
All the obituaries for Johnny Nash, who died Tuesday at 80, cited his biggest hit, “I Can See Clearly Now,” which topped the charts in 1972 and, thanks to TV commercials, has never left the public consciousness. It was the first reggae-influenced song to reach No. 1, but it wasn’t Nash’s first foray into Jamaican […]
Song of the Day 10/8: Roy Eldridge and Anita Love, “Ain’t No Flies on Me”
Everybody sing along! Uh, not you, Mike. Jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge is considered the bridge between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie — his rapid runs helped give birth to be-bop, but he didn’t like the style. He also grew tired of the racism he encountered as the only black musician in otherwise white bands, so […]
Song of the Day 10/7: Van Halen, “Right Now”
There are lots of songs that show Eddie Van Halen’s electric guitar wizardry, but focusing on his flash shortchanges his musicianship. Van Halen — who, it should be noted, was an immigrant with a half-Polynesian mother, making him a person of color — studied piano as a child, took up drums as an adolescent, then […]
Song of the Day 10/6: Lake Street Dive, “Making Do”
Don’t look now, but while we’re worried about COVID-19 and the future of democracy in the U.S., a more insidious threat to humanity just keeps rolling along. Climate change, the issue on which Republicans first took their science denial out for a spin, remains the greatest long-range problem our political culture refuses to deal with. […]
Song of the Day 10/5: Cab Calloway, “St. James Infirmary Blues”
Donald Trump is making lots of noises about leaving the hospital, doctors’ recommendations be damned. Once upon a time they put people like that in what was known as a “lock hospital” — one where patients were put in restraints. Originally used for lepers, by the mid-18th century the term referred to facilities that treated […]
Song of the Day 10/4: Warren Zevon, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Odds are that Trump will recover from his bought of COVID, simply because most people who catch it, even those in high-risk categories, survive. But he is both old and obese, and reportedly got really scared when his temperature spiked (no surprise; high fever can cause delirium, so who knows what happens to someone who’s […]
Recent Comments