Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Solitary, Alone, Lonely, Lonesome
Neil Diamond, Solitary Man. His first song, his best song. The only one of his I really like. Johnny Cash does it better. There is nothing better than the sound of an acoustic guitar, well-made, well-played, steel-stringed, with fresh strings. This one goes out to Dave Bagwill, Oregon luthier. Calexico, Alone Again Or. Original (1967) by Love, an…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Seven from the ‘Seventies
I'm a 'sixties guy but I can relate to some of the 'seventies stuff. When the 'seventies rolled around I began tuning out popular music and began giving myself an education in classical music, the original 'long-haired' music. Classical, however, with its dynamic variations, is no good for the road, leastways not in the Jeeps…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Performers Who Ditched Their Italian Surnames
But before getting on to the greaseball crooners, a bit of R & R history. The 5th of July, 2025, is the 71st anniversary of the recording of Elvis Presley's That's Alright, Mama, his first commercial record. It was written and first recorded by Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup in 1946. Some say that Presley's recording is the…
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A Marital Memory from the ‘Nineties
I had dropped her off at Sky Harbor on a Thursday. She was headed to a conference. I said, "You'll miss Seinfeld." She said, "I'll miss you!" (Seinfeld episodes, the original series, were aired on Thursday nights.) As our 42nd anniversary approaches, I recall the incident with deep love and gratitude. She has probably forgotten…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Brian Wilson and Phil Spector
Luis Sanchez: The drift of influence between Brian Wilson and Phil Spector was fraught with one-sided expectation and imbalance of respect. It played out to mortifying effect when Brian offered one of his own songs, “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister,” for the wall of sound treatment, pitching it as an arrangement for Darlene Love in…
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Saturday Night at the Obituaries: 2025 So Far
Contributors to the great Boomer soundtrack are dying on all sides. Here are just some from 2025 so far. Brian Wilson, June 11th. Sloop John B. Sly Stone, June 9th. Everyday People Rick Derringer, May 26th. Memphis Nino Tempo, April 12th. Deep Purple Lenny Welch, April 8th. Since I Fell for You Johnny Tillotson, April…
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Schiller contra Schmitt
Freude, Schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuer-trunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Joy! A spark of fire from heaven, Daughter from Elysium, Drunk with fire we dare to enter, Holy One, inside your shrine. Your magic power…
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Bob Dylan Turns 84
Can one get tired of Dylan? That would be like getting tired of America. It would be like getting to the point where no passage in Kerouac brings a tingle to the spine or a tear to the eye, to the point where the earthly road ends and forever young must give way to knocking on heaven's door.…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Help
Canned Heat, Help Me. "Help me consolate my weary mind." I love that 'consolate.' Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson at his best. I saw him and the boys at the Kaleidoscope in Hollywood in 1968. Wilson was a tortured soul and ended up a member of the 27 Club. He quit the sublunary sphere on 3 September 1970. Aficionados of…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Cowboys of the Open Road
Advanced AI and robotics may push us humans to the margin, and render many of us obsolete. I am alluding to the great Twilight Zone episode, The Obsolete Man. What happens to truckers when trucks drive themselves? For many of these guys and gals, driving trucks is not a mere job but a way of…
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Holy Saturday Night at the Oldies
First off, six definite de-couplings of rock and roll from sex and drugs. Norman Greenbaum, Spirit in the Sky Johnny Cash, Personal Jesus. This is one powerful song. Clapton and Winwood, Presence of the Lord. Billy Preston, My Sweet Lord George Harrison, Hear Me Lord George Harrison, All Things Must Pass. Harrison was the Beatle with depth. Lennon the radical, McCartney the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Gambler He Broke Even
Kenny Rogers died in 2020 at the age of 81. A few days after he died, on my way back from a traipse in the local hills, I encountered a couple the female half of which suffers from Parkinson's. Being the over-clever fellow that I am, I asked her what condition her condition was in,…
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The Message of Visible Tattoos
Top o' the Stack. Me? I sport no tattoos and never will. My dress is functional and tailored to the needs of the occasion. No one could accuse me of being a Sharp-Dressed Man
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: An Appeal to Obstructionist Democrats
I know, it's tough. You Dems got your collective (jack)ass handed to you on a platter. But you are not learning the lessons. You think you had a problem with 'messaging,' and you did: you didn't have a message and you didn't have a messenger. Mindless opposition to Trump got you nowhere. The race and…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Quantifiers
Quantifiers are words that indicate logical quantity. 'All,' 'Some,' and 'No' are examples. Here are some songs featuring them from my memory with no reliance on A. I. Chuck Berry, No Particular Place to Go. Bob Dylan, Only a Hobo Rod Stewart, Only a Hobo. But is 'only' functioning as a quantifier in this title? …