When 5th season American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry sang a brooding cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” in 2006, Idol fans went universally ape shit, calling the arrangement “wildly innovative” and raving about how refreshingly far removed it was from the up-tempo original. What most didn’t realize was that Daughtry’s performance was not …
Month: December 2010
. One of my favorite videos… not because of it’s excellent image quality (quite obviously NOT) but because it combines my favorite singer, Robert Plant, with one of my favorite bands backing him up, Pearl Jam, in my favorite city and hometown, Chicago, in an iconic club, House of Blues, for a very worthy cause, …
This 1958 Stan Freberg audio file satirizes the overcommercialism of Christmas. It begins with Mr. Scrooge calling a meeting of important “advertising people” to find new ways to tie products to Christmas. One advertiser talks of depicting a more rugged Santa smoking a preferred brand of cigarette. In the ad, Santa has “both sleeves rolled …
. Even when you’ve spent time as a professional rock critic, there are inevitably gaps in your musicology knowledge. And one of the aspects of music I’ve always loved is how musicians pay homage to mentors, inspirations, peers, and lesser-known talents by covering or, better still, collaborating with them, helping them reach a wider audience. …
. Many of the songs in Tom Lehrer’s small, dark canon of work still seem relevant today, though nearly all of them were written in the 1950s and 60s. Lehrer often wrote about subjects that were in the news of the day. For example, his song “Smut” (which may be heard in the video below) …
. At 21, she had a few years on me; nonetheless, I was sure that Maria McKee and I could somehow work it out. Oh, how I was in love with this girl during my last gasps of high school in 1985-1986. Coming along after X and the Blasters but years before the terms “Americana” …
. Even considering what a sucker I am for a love song, I do not think I’m overstating the sublimity of the lyric masterpiece She by Elvis Costello. Like many folks, the first time I heard the song was in the soundtrack for Notting Hill. Had Costello written it for the film, he surely would …
Nathaniel Hawthorne once observed that “easy reading is damned hard writing.” The same holds true in music, where great mastery is often found in the simplest performances. Booker T and the MGs, one of the greatest backing bands of all time, played with such a profoundly deep groove that little elaboration was needed. It’s fitting …
. I don’t know if you were aware of the major underground movement at my college, North Park University in Chicago, among the gals when this song came out. Many girls of a certain era know this song word for word and know how to wield that curling iron or hair brush as a mic…great …
. Chavela Vargas is something of a legend in Mexico City where I live. She’s still making records at 91. Muse to both the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (and reputedly also her lover), her endurance, depth of passion, outsized personality, and gorgeously fierce voice make here one-of-a-kind. She was …
. Yet another attempt at a bounce back week: [Ed. Note – Updated Wednesday, Ron went 7-9 this week.] Thursday Night: No – PHILADELPHIA 8 Houston The Texans probably have enough offense to keep this one close. Sunday: Yes – MINNESOTA 6 Buffalo The Bills keep on playing close games, but they have to be …
. Scot-king songwriter, dark-hearted minstrel, troubled and temper-torn troubadour, bitter balladeer extraordinaire, roiling ace back alley jig picker Richard Thompson. I love this king of all the sad bastards with the golden hands, his records ooze delight and despair in the most organic and ornery of ways. Plays like the devil and knows all his …