Day 131: The Beatles Get Lei’ed

originally published May 10, 2012 Every so often I come across a website that reminds me, “This is why the Internet exists.” Having undertaken a ridiculous labor of love myself (this one), I feel a kinship with David Barratt. His site states that “if every citizen spent a little bit of time playing the ukulele, […]

Day 123: The Super Bowl Shuffle – When Football Goes Musical

originally published May 2, 2012 In that dark cosmic closet that holds all the universe’s most famously bad ideas, there is a tiny spot on a high shelf for the 45RPM record known as the Super Bowl Shuffle. If you’re already craving a taste, here’s a link for your pleasure: If you watched that entire […]

Day 119: He Fought The Law, But Who Won?

originally published April 28, 2012 My fingers spent a good five minutes dangling above my keyboard before beginning this article. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure there’s enough story here to make a story. This isn’t the tale of a music legend, or an American folk hero. It’s just about a guy who started […]

Day 105: Jazz Doesn’t Always Look Pretty

originally published April 14, 2012 Having slipped off my raincoat and eased into my velvet-lined smoking jacket, I was clearly in the right mood for writing about jazz today. Luckily Ms. Wiki’s random needle gently lowered into the smooth grooves of a jazz album, almost as though she’d anticipated my wardrobe selection. I chanced upon […]

Day 88: The Sound Of Drek – We Built This City

originally published March 28, 2012 Every so often, I feel like punishing myself. Maybe I’ve had it too easy. I’ve written 87 articles now, totaling over 95,000 words. But have I really pushed myself? As an artist, have I really suffered? Today’s topic is “We Built This City” by Starship. Today I suffer, because this […]

Day 83: The Rise And Fall And Rise Of The Moog

originally published March 23, 2012 Today, in a roundabout way, we will be discussing the man who invented the 1980s. The 80s were the decade of synthesizers. The handful of pop songs which allowed clanging guitars to step out front were eclipsed by a deluge of synthesized modernity, providing an identifiable date-stamp on the sound […]

Day 82: Karma Meets Simon Dee

originally published March 22, 2012 “My name would then be Handsome Jack And I’d sell boats of opium Whiskey that came from Twickenham Authentic queers and phony virgins.” These are the lyrics to a minor hit from 1966 by Scott Walker, written by Jacques Brel. They don’t seem like much, but ultimately they played a […]

Day 71: The Unmade Film – The Connie Francis Story

originally published March 11, 2012 So where the hell is the Connie Francis biopic? I’m going to skew this toward my younger readers (meaning under 50 – most of my audience is shockingly geriatric) who might not know who Connie Francis is. According to Joel Whitburn (the only true music chart historian you’ll ever need) […]

Day 63: So You’ve Decided To Become A Hip-Hop Fan – A Helpful Brochure

originally published March 3, 2012 Congratulations! You have just taken the first step on a long and exciting road to street credibility (or “street cred”, as the kids say). Let me “rap” at you for a minute about what you can expect. Hip hop is not like it was in the olden times (the 1980s). […]

Day 60: Speed Niggs & The Weirdness Of German Rock Music

originally published February 29, 2012 Who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humor? Today I’ll be checking out the German indie rock scene, or at least as much of it as I can fit into a kilograph. My interest was immediately piqued by the card I pulled from the Wiki-deck today: Speed Niggs. […]