The Original, And Best, Disco Diva
I wanted to write something about the passing of Donna Summer. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized her music never really qualified as “mine.” Sure, I heard her songs a million times growing up, but her peak – 1976-79 – came before I was reposnible for the music that I listened to. I heard tons…
R.I.P. MCA
We spent most of Friday preparing for a couple social engagements, so I wasn’t able to write anything immediately after learning about the passing of Adam “MCA” Yauch. Here are some semi-related thoughts. Since I didn’t know MCA, I can’t really write about him as an individual. Rather, I must write about him as one of the Beastie Boys. It’s…
Don Cornelius
One of the greatest of the many gifts my parents gave me was my appreciation for music. Part of my musical education was our weekly, family viewing of Soul Train. For a white kid growing up in a small, Kansas college town, the show opened my eyes to not only a different kind of music than was commonly played in…
Who Is Wussy?
<p>In case you’ve been wondering who this <a href=”http://www.wussy.org/”>Wussy</a> band is that has topped my listening stats each of the last two weeks, here’s a mini-review of their latest album, <em>Strawberry</em>.</p> <p>I’ve been a fan of Wussy for several years. The Cincinnati band was long a staple of <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOXY.com”>WOXY</a>’s playlists back when the station was A) still in Cincy…
The Cloud
In recent weeks both Amazon and Google have launched cloud music services. Persistent rumors have it that Apple will follow suit sometime soon. Throw in a wide-range of independent streaming services and we may be on the verge of the next digital music revolution: the age of cloud storage, high speed broadband access, and the ability to stream our music…
B-Boy Revival
I once made the grandiose assertion that the Beastie Boys saved my life. The context was, in our preparations to see the B-Boys live in 1998, several of us were sharing our favorite Beasties memories. My claim that they saved my life stemmed from the year my family spent in San Leandro, CA. Our arrival in the Bay Area over…
Old Songs Made New
This week Pearl Jam reissued their second and third albums, Vs. and Vitalogy. I’ve listened to both online, and neither is as interesting or exciting as last year’s reissue of Ten, their debut album. Ten was recorded and produced in a manner that did not fit with how the band’s sound evolved. While remixing and rereleasing it was probably self-indulgent,…
F That
We are a filthy nation. Three songs currently in the Billboard Top 10 feature the most vile of vile words. That’s right, the F dash dash dash word! Cee Lo’s song is a big hit in this house. Dad prefers the original version, not because it’s dirty but because it’s a hell of a soul song. Mom enjoys the original,…
Post Holiday Gift Ideas
I imagine some of you have gift cards for the iTunes Music Store, Amazon, or other entertainment/book stores burning holes in your pockets. Since I’ve burned through a lot of music and books over the past year, here are some recommendations for some ways to spend that virtual cash one some real gifts to yourself. Albums Really you can just…
Best Music Of 2010, Part 3
As the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger! Here we are. The end of another year. I’ve listened to a lot of music over the past 11 1/2 months. iTunes tells me I’ve added over 700 songs over that period. I would guess that I’ve sampled well over twice that number, often giving songs a listen or two and…