I am a rock and roll lifer and always listen to music when driving. Before manufacturers realized the importance, I’d upgrade sound systems in new cars first thing. Like the day I drove them out of the dealership. I’ve had any number of moments like the one I’m considering this day. When I hear a […]
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So, yeah, the heat is hot, humiture is on the rise. It’s time for my favorite summer album on the box, thirty five minutes of respite from the heat and wackomundoness about in the world. And you know a hit of solid New Orleans vibe. Allen Toussaint’s Southern Nights is one of my very favorite […]
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On occasion the worth of a yarn is in the telling. Not whether there’s a lesson or a moral, if any. It’s can be the journey more than the destination, if any. Or so I convince myself with today’s adventure. Not sure exactly where we might arrive — though I’ve a glimmer — but do […]
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The story’s been told before. But it’s my favorite about Ray Charles and me. The time I didn’t hear him when I intended to. At JazzFest. As I’ve written many times over, one of the cool daily rituals during Fest has been the krewe gathering in the evening for some sumptuous meal, pulling out our […]
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When I mentioned recently to a fellow rock & roll addict that I’d spent my early morning during breakfast revisiting the great 1987 documentary, “Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll,” he wondered how that came about? A long and winding road for certain. Serpentine. As my thought processes tend to be these days. Briefly. […]
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I shall end up with a reveal of my favorite cameo in a rock & roll song, promise. But it shall take some meandering to get there. For context, and certainly appropriate for today’s date, let me start here, with what for me is an indelible if just imagined image. The morning after the plane […]
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No, I was never at Woodstock. Though, given my open obsession/ addiction to rock & roll, many people have asked, so sure in their minds that I had to have been there. I was at Atlanta Pop II in ’70, the ill fated (and ill named) Celebration of Life the following summer, plus a great […]
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The lede shall not be buried. The sequel to “This is Spinal Tap” is not as good as the original. It happens. There’s only one “Godfather 2.” Only one “Astral Weeks.” Only one “Guernica.” That settled, next question: Should there have been a sequel? After all, the original is a masterwork. It essentially invented the […]
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Screen door slams/ Mary’s dress sways/ Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays It is the opening line of the opening tune of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 masterwork of an album, “Born To Run.” A collection of eight short stories no less relevant and seminal than Salinger’s “Nine Stories,” or Joyce’s […]
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Triple entendre, that. The title, that is. First, simply literally. As I was taking care of errands, motoring about the other afternoon, it was a poetic spring day. Sunny. Short sleeve warm. Not too humid. And, oh my, that sky. Azure to infinity. Lazy billowy Cumulus. Layered. Textured. The sort of visual, like the Pacific […]
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In the nature of rock & roll acknowledgment, it is a mistake, an egregious omission of the highest order. A travesty. For those like me obsessed with such matters, it is difficult to swallow. Thus, I hardly give a glance to the annual induction announcement from the institution that ostensibly is the chronicler of excellence […]
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One song. Two moments. One that actually happened and was pretty special. The other a dream denied. The song: Ghost Riders in the Sky. It’s just one of those tunes that’s lingered around, maleable, adaptable, written by Stan Jones in the late 1940s. It’s been dubbed the Greatest Western Song Ever. But that is far […]
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Back when, you know, in the day, there would be more than occasional Saturdays that arrived without evening plans. So, they began at the record store. Karma. ear x-Tacy. Looking for somebody to flirt with. Knowing some similar music obsessives would be there to chat up, maybe with knowledge of where that night’s action was. […]
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I’m ever fascinated by how music is used in film. How it is an integral part of the most immersive of art forms. And there are two specific instances where movies allowed me to rediscover what are easily two of my favorite Doo Wop songs ever. Both original artists and both are one hit wonders. […]
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I am a desperado. One who has for all the bounty I’ve enjoyed in life been somewhat desperate of soul. An outlaw of sorts once upon a time. Just as a descriptor, it is a sonorous word, with which I’ve been fascinated. It’s use in two totally different tunes is something I’ve been meaning to […]
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