Recent Articles
Song of the Day 11/12: Graham Parker & the Rumour, “Don’t Ask Me Questions”
There ain’t no answers in me. This was one of Graham Parker’s signature tunes when he burst onto the British music scene in the brief period in 1976 between the decline of pub rock and the rise of punk with his debut album, “Howlin’ Wind.” Most of the songs combined the horn-enhanced R&B of Van […]
Song of the Day 11/11: Squeeze, “Gone to the Dogs”
The idiom is so old its origins are uncertain, but for centuries now going to the dogs has meant going downhill, if not to outright ruin. Now it’s America’s turn. This song appeared on Squeeze’s “Play” album, but it was written as the possible theme song for a British sitcom set in the world of […]
DL Open Thread Monday, Nov. 11, 2024
You can find lots of analysis anywhere you look about how and why Democrats lost the election, but you’re going to have to find it without any help from me, because I frankly don’t give a shit. I’ve never been interested in playing armchair campaign manager, and given the stark choices in this election, I’m […]
Meet The New Gestapo, Same As The Old Gestapo
On Return Day, House members and staff wore ‘495’ stickers, celebrating the end of the short, but far-too-long, reign of Val Longhurst as Speaker. 495 days. Such humorous stickers are a staple of Return Day. Undaunted, the House Democratic Caucus elected the remnants of the Mean Girls’ Club to lead them. Further into the abyss. […]
Song of the Day 10/10: FEX, “Subways of Your Mind”
Back in March, Song of the Day featured a tune dubbed the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet. Known only from a tape made from a radio broadcast back in 1984, both its title and the band who recorded it were lost, even to internet sleuths, who spent 17 years looking for the answers. Last […]
DL Open Thread: Sunday, November 10, 2024
I kinda buried this story a couple of days ago, but it deserves better. As do the people that Purzycki and the cops are trying to roust out of Buccini/Pollinville: Last month, Wilmington officials and the ACLU of Delaware settled a lawsuit over the city’s policing of homeless people – an agreement that barred local […]
DL Open Thread: Saturday, November 9, 2024
Yesterday I set out to find an alternative to fill the void in the post-MSNBC phase of my life. I’d always been intrigued with the notion of Scandinavian noir. Perhaps because I’d never immersed myself in it. So, I decided to binge-watch a Scandinavian noir TV show. After consulting those ‘Best Of Scandinavian Noir’ lists, […]
Song of the Day 11/8: Quincy Jones, “Soul Bossa Nova”
Quincy Jones scored almost three dozen films, including “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Italian Job” and “The Color Purple.” The first of them came years after he wrote this number, but Mike Meyers turned it into a movie theme anyway. Austin Powers wasn’t even a gleam in a satirist’s eye in 1962 – […]
DL Open Thread: Friday, November 8, 2024
What ProPublica Will Cover In A Second Trump Presidency. At least we can look forward to great journalism from one place that hasn’t been utterly compromised: Sixteen years ago, we started ProPublica to do hard-hitting, rigorous journalism that exposes wrongdoing and injustice. In that time, our investigative reporters have covered three presidential administrations, from the […]
Song of the Day 11/7: Lesley Gore, “It’s My Party”
The late, great Quincy Jones was arguably overqualified to produce this No. 1 hit for 16-year-old Lesley Gore in 1963. He had already led his own 18-piece jazz band on European tours and worked as a composer, arranger and band leader for people like Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. When he turned his attention to […]
DL Open Thread: Thursday, November 7, 2024
I think Bernie Sanders got it right: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” the Vermont independent said in a statement Wednesday. “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black […]
Song of the Day 11/6: Frédéric Chopin, “Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor, Third Movement (Marche funèbre)”
Something that fits the mood of the day, because the middle section contains hope as well as grief. Chopin composed the funeral march two years before the rest of his sonata, which critics sniffed at but the public embraced. Its opening section has been played at millions of funerals, including Chopin’s own in 1849.
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