The Original Curse: Did the Chicago Cubs Inspire the Black Sox Scandal by throwing the 1918 World Series against Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox?

“I moved to Chicago for Major League Baseball, I might leave for the same reason.” – Jethro Burns I skimmed The Original Curse: Did the Cubs Inspire the Black Sox by throwing the 1918 World Series against Babe Ruth’s Red Sox? by Sean Deveney in the library and it’s fabulous, a well told sports story …

PJ Harvey – Wang Dang Doodle

This is BernardStreetCred’s take on PJ Harvey‘s version of “Wang Dang Doodle“: “I like PJ, and I love almost all covers on principle — but here’s an instance where the singer and song don’t quite match up, despite what seems like a clever fit (her cover of Highway 61 Revisited that’s floating around out there …

Covert Affairs From USA

This in from LA-DSH: I watched and enjoyed the pilot of this new show COVERT AFFAIRS on USA last night. I’ve met one of the writers, Chris Ord, a fellow Westsider here in LA. I’m sure they’re repeating it throughout the week, but it’s also STREAMable on their site. It’s quite entertaining and well-done, if …

Jethro Burns, Tony Moore, Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Reed – BernardStreetCred Returns

“I moved to Chicago for Major League Baseball, I might leave for the same reason.” – Jethro Burns A recent communiqué from BernardStreetCred: If you spy a copy of the rather expensive magazine Fretboard Journal, there’s a lovely, long article about Jethro Burns in it. Good stories from Sam Bush and Don Stiernberg, among others. …

“Rhinestone Cowboy” – David Hasselhoff – “What the whole hep world would be doing Saturday nights if the Nazis had won the war”

Hunter S. Thompson said it best. This “is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday nights if the Nazis had won the war.” He was demeaning Las Vegas‘s Circus Circus, but his pejoration sticks like skunk spray even more aptly to this surreal, Hasselhoff in black leathers, vid schmear. “Danke schoen” indeed. Hasselhoff …

Greil Marcus discusses new book, “When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening To Van Morrison”

The passage below is from an interview with Greil Marcus posted on Blogcritics.org concerning “When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison“: “It is at the heart of Morrison’s presence as a singer,” Marcus asserts, “that when he lights on certain sounds, certain small moments inside a song…can then suggest whole territories, completed …

“I Never Heard a Man Speak Like This Man Before!” Song, Horror and Tragedy in Jonestown, and a Convincing Simulation of Hell

A/V script for presentation at the 7th annual Experience Music Project Popular Music Conference; Saturday, 12th April 2008, 4:00 to 5:45pm. By Tom Kipp [A/V deployed by Dan Mohr] [Slide 1: title] Just a few words of caution before I begin—much of the material you will see and hear during this presentation is disturbing, some …

The Suburbs “Cows”

From Jeffy: “These guys I did see live back then/thereabouts – The Suburbs, and i just realized that their song “Cows” must have been stewing in my head for years before i wrote a Pathetic Wannabees tune called “Bovine”!” Jeffy has found something here, an eighties video which is truly of it’s time, but still …

Music is Your Special Friend: Annual posting of “Summer’s Almost Gone” by the Doors (and Juan & Guido)

It’s time for the annual posting of “Summer’s Almost Gone,” East Portland Blog‘s guilty pleasure Doors song. And this year there are two bonuses. First, for your consideration, is Juan and Guido’s guileless jungle cover. It’s not perfect by any means, but quite comfortable overall, and almost lifelike in several important spots. And here’s the …