We all have our favorite artists and songs and albums. Even those of us who listen to a lot of different styles and have thousands of CDs in our collections undoubtedly have a few we keep coming back to more than others. While I have never really had this discussion with anyone, I imagine that there are all kinds of
Read moreAnd so we arrive at the last day of 30-Day Song Challenge, the Sequel, which followed hot on the heels of the original Challenge – so 60 songs in slightly more than a couple of months (actually, given my cheating, it was quite a bit more than 60 songs, wasn’t it?) I wanted to end The Sequel with a nod
Read moreI really enjoyed the original 30-Day Song Challenge and my hat’s off to whoever created it. But it seemed a little obvious to me in places, so when I set out to create the sequel I wanted to tackle some ideas that we may not think about as often as we might. Today, one of the big ones. We here
Read moreI seem to discover lots of news bands that I like every year, and since this particular day of the challenge doesn’t ask me to pick my favorite – just a band I like – let’s keep it simple and pick one without overthinking it. Because if I start thinking about this one I’ll be here all night. Two-Door Cinema
Read moreIt seems that America now officially believes in torture as a primary tool of investigation. And back in 2008, I did a little story on how, believe it or not, we are using music as an implement of torture. So I suppose today’s challenge has a dark side, huh? Mercifully for those suspected terrorists in captivity, DJ EIT (Enhanced Interrogation
Read moreWe’re going in a slightly different direction today. I mean, for a variety of artistic and intellectual reasons I’d love to have dinner with the greatest bands ever – The Fabs, The Stones, The Who, Zep, Floyd, U2, REM, Van Morrison, and a bunch of others. Then there’s this class of really cool, past and present indie artists from then
Read moreWhen it comes to exercise I’ve always been a team sports guy. Hoops, baseball, soccer – if there’s a ball to hit, throw, kick, dribble or shoot I could go all freakin’ day in just about any conditions you can imagine. But running for the sake of running? Hate it. Weights? I do it because I need to, but I
Read moreSo much of popular music is about sex and nothing else, and we have seen more sexcess than we probably know how to process. Perhaps so much that we occasionally grow numb to it. I can think of dozens of really sexy women in music, but since it seems like sexy is a prerequisite to even get in the door,
Read moreI’ve noted a couple of times as I have worked through the original 30-Day Song Challenge and The Sequel how powerfully I associate music with family and my childhood. If you’d grown up where I did, you’d perhaps understand why the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? was more than just a really good comedy. The soundtrack was loaded with
Read moreThe guy can’t sing (phrasing, anyone?) He can’t write songs. And while I’ve heard guitarists defend him, I’ve personally never seen or heard him play anything that strikes me as being more than sort of marginally competent. I would ask you to explain to me what the big deal is, but I’m afraid you’d try. So here’s a song by
Read moreHere’s one I’ve been waiting on. Few things reveal more about a society than its music. Plato explained that when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state change with them. Argue chicken and egg on this if you like, but Jimmy Swaggart bitched about it and Pop Will Eat Itself sampled his rant in the intro to
Read moreI’ve always felt strongly attuned to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous short story, “Ethan Brand.” The title character forsakes his life to search the world for the unpardonable sin. He finds it. It ends badly for him. The nature of the sin? He remembered with what tenderness, with what love and sympathy for mankind, and what pity for human guilt and woe,
Read moreWhen we’re kids we like the damnedest things, don’t we? There was a moment, I guess during the summer of 1972, when my two favorite songs were the Jackson 5’s “Rockin’ Robin”…
Read moreSo many places I haven’t been, so many places I want to go, so many songs about places. But I guess the place I haven’t been that I want to see the most is Scotland. My favorite Scottish artist is Fish. And as he sings here, when he was still with Marillion, he was born “with a heart of Lothian.”
Read moreAnd I’m back from several days of packing and moving, just in time to find this emotional and spiritual landmine waiting for me. [sigh] When you’re a kid in America, nothing is as tangibly magical as Christmas. The excitement, the presents, the lights, the sheer spectacle of the entire world gone shimmery. And nothing is more special than family, the
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lullaby pit 