Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 3/24: Cypress Hill w/the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, “Insane in the Brain”
Life, as we know, imitates “The Simpsons,” which is why we got a Trump presidency. Even minor gags from long-ago episodes have come to pass: The U.S. won the Olympic gold medal in curling, the guy in Siegfried and Roy was attacked by one of his white tigers, Michelangelo’s David became the subject of censorship […]
Song of the Day 3/23: Пикник, “Королевство кривых” [Piknik, “Kingdom of Crooks”]
Once again, terrorists have attacked a live music event, this time a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow. Gunmen associated with the Islamic State opened fire before the start of a performance by Piknik, one of Russia’s longest-running rock bands; the death toll stood at 133 as this was written. Piknik, aka Picnic, recorded […]
Song of the Day 3/22: Barrett Strong, “Money (That’s What I Want)”
Donald Trump is getting INCREASINGLY FRANTIC! as the clock winds down toward his deadline for posting bond as he appeals his fraud conviction. Before you read any story about it, you should cue up this song as the soundtrack. Barrett Strong had his only hit as a performer with “Money,” written by Berry Gordy. It […]
Song of the Day 3/21: Alex Melton, “MMMBop”
Alex Melton is a South Carolina-based multi-instrumentalist who’s made a name for himself on YouTube by making genre-twisting covers – country songs done as pop-punk and vice versa are his specialties – and doing it all as a one-man band, playing all the instruments and mixing it together by computer. He’s been doing this for […]
Song of the Day 3/20: The Tragically Hip, “Bobcaygeon”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Americans might have been puzzled by a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story about what Flyers’ hockey players want to hear on the song playlists that blast out on road trips or before and after games. Why did the name Tragically Hip come up so often? Who are they? Why is one […]
DL Open Thread Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Trump’s lawyers whined that nobody will accept his real estate as collateral for the half-a-billion-dollar bond he has to post by Monday. Letitia James said Trump’s assets could be seized if he can’t pay, but it seems more likely that the state would go after his bank accounts than his real estate holdings. Remember Paul […]
Song of the Day 3/18: Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”
For all the similarities between the music markets in the U.S. and Britain, some acts just never cross over. For every David Bowie, embraced as a taste-setter in America, there’s a Steve Harley – someone who scored lots of hits in the UK but never made a dent on this side of the pond. If […]
Song of the Day 3/17: Thin Lizzy, “Whiskey in the Jar”
Popular Irish songs might sound ancient, but many aren’t very old. “The Fields of Atheny,” for example, is about the potato famine, but it was written in the 1970s. “Ragland Road,” the poem, dates to 1946, but it was set to music in 1971. Every war and rebellion in Irish history, and there are a […]
Song of the Day 3/16: The Ink Spots, “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)”
A theme song for the gubernatorial race. No editorial comment intended. The Ink Spots, among the country’s most popular vocal groups in the 1930s and ’40s, had tremendous influence on the generation of musicians who started doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll. They formed in the early ’30s, but soared in popularity after high tenor Bill […]
Song of the Day 3/15: The Ides of March, “Vehicle”
An old anecdote tells of the student who went to see “Hamlet” and complained, “It’s just a bunch of cliches strung together.” Indeed, absent the Bard, would anyone refer to today as the Ides of March? This much is certain: Without him, this 1970 hit would be by the Shon-Dels. That was the name a […]
Song of the Day 3/14: Kate Bush, “Pi”
Pi Day, so called because in American notation it looks like the first three digits of the mathematical constant (in Europe today is 14/3), is a bona fide holiday, designated by Congress in 2009 in hope of spurring interest in math and science (don’t tell MAGAts, they’ll try to get it repealed). It didn’t exactly […]
Song of the Day 3/13: David Allan Coe, “Take This Job and Shove It”
Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado is among the 23 Republican House members who announced they would not seek reelection this year, but yesterday he went them one better: He’s not even going to stick around until the end of the month. He’s leaving at the end of next week. Buck entered office as a Tea […]
Song of the Day 3/12: Raspberries, “Go All the Way”
Eric Carmen, the frontman of seminal early ’70s power pop band the Raspberries, died over the weekend at age 74. He gained greater fame in the ’80s after he left for a solo career, and in recent years some infamy for outspoken right-wing political stances, but his concept of a band that combined Beatles melodies, […]
Recent Comments