...and the beat goes on...
Banner Graphic editor, husband, dad, storyteller, mutton chop enthusiast, purveyor of miscellany.
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FRIDAY JAM: A rovin’ a rovin’ a rovin’ I’ll go
Posted Friday, December 1, 2023, at 6:27 PM1Sometimes “a perfect voice” is the furthest thing from the perfect voice. Listen to Bob Dylan’s latter-day classic “Make You Feel My Love.” Garth Brooks, Adele and Billy Joel have all covered it, and the vocals are technically far more proficient than Dylan’s... -
SATURDAY JAM: You feel the turning of the world, so soft and slow
Posted Saturday, November 11, 2023, at 9:49 AMAn era will come to an end in my personal life this afternoon. Now this isn’t some kind of life-altering change, more of an annual tradition that I would like to have kept going for several more years... -
SUNDAY JAM: Hello, Darkness, my old friend
Posted Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 8:11 AMWell, that extra hour of sleep was nice, wasn't it? (Stretches and smiles contentedly.) Just remember, you'll be paying the price for it for several months as it gets dark at ungodly times in the "evening." (Screams into the abyss.)... -
FRIDAY JAM: Plowin’ straight ahead, come what may
Posted Friday, October 27, 2023, at 5:18 PM1Before we get into this, a confession: I thought I had already written this blog. Not a Jimmy Buffett tribute blog, as I knew I had failed to do that in the nearly two months since his death, but a blog reflecting on the particular song I’ll examine later... -
WEDNESDAY JAM: Some folks say there ain't no bears in Arkansas
Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 6:42 PM1If you keep up with the news on this site, you know why this song's been in my head for the last day or so. Not really much to say about this one, except that it features some absolutely dynamite musicianship and that Lyle Lovett, as a general rule, is awesome... -
FRIDAY JAM: I took a drive today...
Posted Friday, October 20, 2023, at 2:03 PMI’m going to talk to you today about gateway drugs. Well ... not “drugs drugs.” I’m in no mood to be that serious. But as I trace the personal history of my music tastes, I see a little kid who was introduced to some great ’80s music (and probably some terrible ’80s music) because my brother, 10 years older, watched a lot of MTV when I was way too young to be watching MTV... -
SATURDAY JAM: Canadian coldfront movin’ in
Posted Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 11:35 AM1I just posted a blog Wednesday after months without one. And isn’t it just like me that on that very day news broke of the death of two artists I revere. I suddenly felt the need to post three blogs in one day... -
WEDNESDAY JAM: I was wrestling with an angel, you were working on a sonnet
Posted Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at 8:18 AM2I wouldn’t say I was ever especially close to Mike Meyer, but I certainly respected his approach to coaching and teaching. It was always clear he demanded that these young people give their best and wouldn’t accept less. May we all have someone like that in our lives. It makes us better every day... -
SATURDAY JAM: When you're sitting back in your rose pink Cadillac...
Posted Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 12:25 AMThe Kentucky Derby always puts me in the mood for the Rolling Stones. If you know, you know. It's all about one line in the second verse of the ninth of 10 songs on the 1971 classic "Sticky Fingers." A rather dark song, "Dead Flowers" is told from the perspective of a down-and-out junky (Is there any other kind?) addressing a well-to-do subject. It's an unrequited love situation... -
MONDAY JAM: With no place to go
Posted Monday, May 1, 2023, at 11:23 PM1While reading a book about the Wu-Tang Clan Monday evening, I was pondering what old-school hip-hop rabbit hole I’d be descending later – perhaps Eric B. & Rakim or maybe Big Daddy Kane – when I jumped on Twitter to learn that Gordon Lightfoot had died... -
Friday Jam: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-lay
Posted Friday, March 17, 2023, at 1:45 PM2First the caveat I always give this time of year: I am not Irish. But Irish culture, Irish history — and especially Irish music and beverages — intrigue me. And so, on this day of all days, I am Irish rather than the mix of English, Dutch and whatever else flows through my arteries... -
Friday Jam: Thanks for the tunes, Jeff
Posted Friday, January 13, 2023, at 5:30 PM1How do you try to encompass the music career of a guitarist like Jeff Beck? The music legend died Tuesday at age 78, and ever since I heard of it, I’ve been listening, trying to figure out what really typifies Beck as a musician... -
THANKSGIVING JAM: Take a Load Off
Posted Thursday, November 24, 2022, at 5:12 PMIn honor of Thanksgiving and of actually being able to “take a load off” today, here’s one of the best songs from the very best Thanksgiving movie. Enjoy your holiday, and before the day is out, do yourself a favor and watch “The Last Waltz.”... -
WEDNESDAY JAM: I'm about to lose my worried mind
Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at 11:21 AM2What happens when you’ve listen to a song dozens of times — if not hundreds? You start to notice things you didn’t hear the first 10 or 11 times you heard it. This is definitely the case for Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” a song that’s been bouncing around in my head since I first heard it as a teenager — about 25 years after it was first released... -
FRIDAY JAM: Tell me a bedtime story
Posted Friday, August 5, 2022, at 8:08 PMI love jazz, but I rarely write about it. I feel like such an amateur when it comes to the genre. And when there aren't lyrics (I rarely listen to vocal jazz) it's harder to find something to talk about. At least for a guy for whom words are my primary vocation... -
Tuesday Jam: You better stop. Look around. Here it comes.
Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at 1:31 PM1There's something about milestones that, for as remarkable as they are, are a bit depressing. As the years add up, we all start to realize our own mortality. And so the fact that The Rolling Stones officially performed under that name 60 years ago today is bittersweet. ... -
Tuesday Jam: Doo doo doo, Doo do-do doo
Posted Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at 8:12 AMWe all have songs that are frozen in time for us. They take us back to a particular time and place in our lives. Perhaps you always remember that you were a kid in junior high school when Petula Clark was going "Downtown." Or maybe Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony were doing "The Hustle" when you turned 21. Or did Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" define the summer before your senior year?... -
THURSDAY JAM: Happy 75th to the remarkable James Osterberg Jr.
Posted Thursday, April 21, 2022, at 11:13 PM1Iggy Pop turns 75 today, and I'm shocked about that fact. No, I'm not shocked that James Newell Osterberg Jr. was born 75 years ago today in Muskegon, Mich. That part adds up. I mean, the first Stooges record was released 53 years ago in 1969, and doing the math, 22 years old seems like the perfect age to have written a song called "I Wanna Be Your Dog."... -
FRIDAY JAM: Would you cry if I told you that I lied?
Posted Friday, April 8, 2022, at 12:00 AMAs my vinyl collection continues to grow, it happens in a variety of ways. Occasionally it involves a pristine, vintage copy of some classic record. Other times it's a brand new release -- perhaps even pressed in something fancier than simple black vinyl. (Seriously, my orange and black version of Spoon's latest record is awesome.) Other times it's a repressing of some classic album, but repressed on (gasp!) "180-gram audiophile quality vinyl."... -
FRIDAY JAM: If anything could ever be this good again
Posted Friday, March 25, 2022, at 11:42 PMWas scrolling twitter Friday night when I can across the shocking news that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away unexpectedly at age 50. What awful news. Excellent drummer, super fun guy. I can't claim to be a huge Foo Fighters fan, but I appreciate what they've meant to rock music for the last 25 or so years. They're among the last of dying breed. Hawkins' talent and attitude have been a huge part of that...
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