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‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes Of 2024: #’s 50-41
OK, kids, here we go. Real happy with the songs I unearthed this year. I notice that the selection is perhaps a bit more roots-oriented than usual. Although it’s technically my list, I solicit input from my wife, my daughters, my son-in-law and, this year, our very own Nathan Arizona. Oh, did I mention that […]
Song of the Day 12/25: The Band, “Christmas Must Be Tonight”
H/t El Somnambulo, who suggested this for the Christmas playlist back in March. This Christmas song by Robbie Robertson went overlooked for years. Written and rejected for the Band’s 1975’s “Northern Lights – Southern Cross” album, it didn’t see release until 1977 on their final, contract-fulfilling LP “Islands,” a grab-bag of covers and tracks cut […]
DL Open Thread: Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Been a tough month for those born on December 25. Rickey Henderson. Justin Trudeau. December boys got it bad: Hey, it’s December 25. Howzabout a double shot?: This is what we in the Open Thread biz refer to as ‘vamping’. Ho-kay, let’s see if I can dig up some, you know, real stuff… Yikes, America’s […]
Song of the Day 12/24: McCoy Tyner, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
If you like holiday music played by jazzmen, you’ve probably heard this on Columbia’s 1981 Christmas sampler, “God Rest Ye Merry, Jazzmen,” because there aren’t all that many jazz Christmas collections out there. That album also includes Dexter Gordon’s extended “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and Wynton Marsalis’ deconstruction of “We Three Kings of […]
DL Open Thread: Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Just because we don’t get nearly as many readers the next two days as normal, that’s no excuse for me to just mail in the Open Thread. If you’re gonna read, I’m gonna try. Let’s start with ‘salacious’: Well She Was Just Seventeen, You Know What I Mean: Citing text messages, travel receipts, online payments […]
Song of the Day 12/23: The Carpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling”
As Nathan Arizona noted the other day, Karen Carpenter could make even a happy holiday song sound a little sad, so a song about missing her beau on Christmas Eve is right in her sweet spot. This song topped Billboard’s Christmas singles chart for three years in the early ’70s, and it was re-released this […]
DL Open Thread: Monday, December 23, 2024
Biden Commutes Sentences Of Death Row Inmates: President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, sparing the lives of 37 men just a month before Donald J. Trump will return to the Oval Office with a promise to restart federal executions. Those affected by Mr. Biden’s action, all […]
DL’s MVP’s (Most Valuable To The Progressive Cause) Of 2024
I must first explain the omission of both Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay from this year’s list. Yes, I’m thrilled that both have moved on to higher office. Yes, their legislative work deserves recognition on this list. The only reason I’ve left them off is, through no fault of their own, the State Senate […]
Song of the Day 12/22: Andy Williams, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
This song, which debuted in 1963, turns up among Billboard’s top 10 holiday songs every year, and I’d argue it owes its popularity to a TV commercial that wasn’t about Christmas at all. At one point in the 1970s Andy Williams was known as “Mr. Christmas,” for good reason. He hosted a holiday version of […]
DL Open Thread: Sunday, December 22, 2024
Don’t forget, kids–DL’s 2024 MVP’s drops tomorrow! Also my way of saying that I’m not all that confident that I’ll find much to write about today. But you never know. Let’s see what I can dig up… Lara Trump Not Heading To The Senate. Gotta love this explanation: “After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, […]
Song of the Day 12/21: Kay Starr, “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With the Bag”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona It shouldn’t be hard to identify “the man with the bag” everybody’s waiting for this time of year. The bag has presents in it. It arrives by way of reindeer. There’s a song to remind us. If you’re not hearing Kay Starr’s1950 hit recording of “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man […]
DL Open Thread: Saturday, December 21, 2024
Totally Unnecessary Shutdown Averted. Trump doesn’t get his shutdown while Biden is President.: Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would […]
Song of the Day 12/20: Kelly Clarkson, “You for Christmas”
When I heard this on the car radio the other day I honestly thought it was some overlooked song from a ’60s soul Christmas album. With better speakers I could hear that Phil Spector-style production was too clean to be that old, and its spot-on emulation of that girl-group sound showed the gifted mimicry of […]
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