“You’ve got to go on and off with a bang. From the audience’s point of view, though, the ending is more important than the beginning. You’ve got to know where the hell you’re going. If you mess up the ending, it’s over. You’ve just signed your death warrant.”
– Les Paul, in Guitar Player Magazine, August [...]
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
About the Ending
Posted in Literature, Music on October 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I Walked with a Zombie
Posted in Art, Film, Music on August 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
When an NPR segment of Bill Littlefield’s “Only a Game” closed with the song “I Walked with a Zombie,” a 1981 chestnut by Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators, I had to grab it at iTunes. My curiosity then led me to Wikipedia and the 1943 film of the same name, which I added [...]
On the Voyage of Self-Discovery
Posted in Love, Music on July 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“To tell you the truth, it’s my sixth marriage. And I’m starting to think it’s me.”
– Gregg Allman in “The Lost Brother” by Mark Binelli, Rolling Stone, July 2009
Incense, 1967
Posted in Art, Incense, Music, Photography on April 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The cover for the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s first album, Incense and Peppermints, brought together some interesting artists. Ed Caraeff took the photograph; his other work included four Rolling Stone covers (including those with David Crosby, Leon Russell and Jimi Hendrix at Monterey) and many more album covers from 1967 to 1982. The cover design was [...]
“Follow the Gleam”
Posted in Music on February 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In 1920, Sallie Hume Douglas, a widowed, 53-year-old teacher from Honolulu, and Helen Hill, a student from Bryn Mawr College (Class of ’21), met at the Silver Bay Association on Lake George, in New York. The occasion was a YWCA conference; one of the many activities that summer was a song competition.
Sallie Hume Douglas was [...]
Doyle & Debbie
Posted in Music on January 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Since my discovery this morning of Doyle & Debbie, my life has brightened immeasurably. Get thee to their website, view the videos, experience joy unalloyed.
Kate Rusby’s Birthday
Posted in Music on December 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The first moment I heard Kate Rusby’s voice I was lifted into a better place, and I have followed her music ever since. She is a constant joy, one who does not so much sing her songs as inhabit them and bring the words to life. A short while ago, I learned that we share [...]
George “Hound Dog” Lorenz
Posted in Music on October 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In the earliest days of Rock & Roll music, even before it was called Rock & Roll, I was blessed with a brother who was five years older than myself. Growing up in a suburb of Buffalo, we shared a small room, with a radio on the table between our beds. At bedtime, I wanted [...]
That Would Be Tomorrow
Posted in Literature, Music on August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“George S. Kaufman was probably closer to capturing the truth of the matter when he said that he would have preferred it if Irving Berlin’s song ‘Always’ had been instead titled ‘Thursday,’ so that its clincher line would go, ‘I’ll be loving you, Thursday.’”
– Joseph Epstein, “I Like a Gershwin Tune” in The Norton Book [...]
Listen
Posted in Music on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I cannot remember the last time I heard something as right, as perfectly soulful as John Cadley’s The Closer I Get. It’s available on iTunes or Amazon.com as an mp3 download, or you can get it on CD at cdbaby.com.
