I did something similar to this last Winter . The difference then was that we had some ice and snow around but I was just thankful that conditions were nowhere near that shown in the pictures. This time around, I'm happy to report that here in the Central Midwest we're having the mildest Winter I can remember ever experiencing, and I'm holding my breath that it continues. But I am again including some European snow and ice pictures, just to remind us of what we're missing. [...]
Musical recollections from my early childhood mostly revolve around the scratchy 78s that were often played at our house, but my memory is notoriously porous so I can't always remember specific records. Or to be more accurate, I can't remember them until I stumble across a song and am instantly transported back, which is what happened when I recently rediscovered "Twilight Time" by the Three Suns. Although the trio would in later years go through various personnel changes, the original Three Suns came together in the late 1930s. Brothers Al and Morty Nevins (who played - [...]
Love Me Now, When I'm Gone, Love Me None By Taylor K. Long For an emotional R&B singing moniker, Christopher Breaux aka Frank Ocean couldn't have done much better. Writers often use water metaphors – an ocean, in particular – to represent feelings, emotions, and hidden...
OK Go : Official | Facebook | Twitter WTF OK Go?! What the f)(ck?! I'll stand by my one and only real experience when meeting these dudes and I'll have to say that they're some of the nicest musicians I've ever met in the industry, but by the gods, they're f)(ckin' oddballs. Apparently they're really theater geeks at heart, which explains a lot[nothing against theater geeks. i was one. if i was never in that musical i would of never went to prom w/ my High School dream girl]. Before I [...]
When I was a kid I'd sometimes get a little puzzled while watching a movie that was supposed to be about someone famous, because often I'd never heard of them. Of course, I was spectacularly clueless in those days (still am, for that matter) but the reason for the confusion was usually just a generational thing. A good example would be a Doris Day film titled Love Me Or Leave Me , the story of prohibition-era musical star Ruth Etting, who was probably very well-remembered by the adult members of the movie audience - if not for her music, [...]
Mother Nature must be really in a pleasant mood as today is nearly 50°. The sun is beautiful with a backdrop of the bluest sky and nary a cloud in sight. The fact I have to go to the dentist today is mitigated by how wonderful a ride it will be. That, I never expected. Walking to school every day only bothered me in the rain. I didn't mind the cold; my mother was a bundler. In pleasant weather the sidewalk was shaded by leaves from the giant trees which bordered it. We walked over railroad tracks, the [...]
Although there have always been performers who defied the odds and became overnight successes, most have had to spend years working their way up the ladder of fame. Still, not many have had the perseverance of Freddie Hart, who didn't really hit it big until he was in his mid-forties and "Easy Loving" topped the 1971 country charts. Born as one of fifteen kids in an Alabama sharecropper's family, young Frederick Segrest grew up during the Great Depression, surrounded by poverty but also immersed in the musi c of rural America. He picked up his first guitar when [...]
Even if you think about the sheer number of silly songs that have shown up in pop music through the years, you still have to classify 19602s "Alley Oop" as one of the most unusual. The idea came from producer/musicians Gary Paxton and Kim Foley, a couple of experienced pros who'd formed a studio band they called the Hollywood Argyles. The platter (which was rumored to have been made while most of the guys were drunk) rocketed to the top of charts so quickly that they then had to scramble to form a real group. The [...]
Am I the only fan of this song who assumed the first line was "Vagina is greater..."? In my mind, I had assumed this was some pro-Matriarchy right on Feminist treatise. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
Am I the only fan of this song who assumed the first line was "Vagina is greater..."? In my mind, I had assumed this was some pro-Matriarchy right on Feminist treatise. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
Regular readers will recall that I've been a Kindler since late 2010 and also just received a Kindle Fire tablet as a Christmas gift. Mrs. BigGeez has a Kindle of her own too, so we're a three-Kindle household. In light of all that it would be a natural subject to write about, but I've resisted the temptation because this is supposed to be a nostalgia-themed music blog. However, I also write about what's currently attracting my interest, and I am certainly spending a lot of time with my new tablet. I'm also discovering that there's one aspect of it that [...]
A vintage photo of Toro y Moi. Miss you 2k9. TORO Y MOI has announced he'll be releasing July 2009, a 5-disc compilation of long-lost bedroom-recorded gems from 2009, marking a new milestone for the... Support indie media! Read the rest at thephoenix.com . . .
I've written several times about musicians who lost long stretches of their prime performing years to their struggles with drugs and fought their way back, but there were some who didn't do so well. A good example might be Harold 'Tina' Brooks, a supremely talented hard-bop tenor saxophonist who ran into trouble at the height of his career and spent the last decade of his life unsuccessfully trying to find his way back. While growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, young Harold Floyd Brooks was often called 'Teeny', and by the time his family moved to [...]
A while back I wrote a piece about childhood memories of my attempts to learn how to throw a knife like characters in movies. At the risk of sounding like someone who is spending way too much time thinking about sharply pointed objects, I thought I'd pass along the fact that I've now recalled another childhood knife fascination, and I don't think I'm the only one intrigued by this particular variety, judging from how often it's appeared in movies. That's right, I'm talking about the switchblade, the steel implement that became so notorious and wickedly evil-appearing that it was eventually [...]
I've always enjoyed well-written TV sitcoms with likable characters, and one of my favorites from the 1990s was Coach , which starred Craig T. Nelson, Shelley Fabares, and Jerry Van Dyke. It has been rerun fairly often through the years and Mrs. BigGeez and I have tuned in a number of times, but she had to remind me that the lady on the screen was also once a teen idol who not only had a number-one hit record, but even co-starred in several movies with Elvis Presley. While growing up in California, young Michele Marie Fabares [...]
After getting back together last year to record a trio of tracks for Ben Folds' new retrospective album , the members of Ben Fold Five are now working on their first full-length LP since 19992s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . As SPIN.com points out, Folds revealed the news on Twitter last night, tweeting a photo of himself with bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee. He wrote as a caption, "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord." When asked by a [...]
Plastic Plates is a DJ who has the unique ability to make me dance regardless of the situation-in my chair at work, in my car, on the elliptical-you get the idea. The LA-via-Australia producer has just put out an original called "Toys," which is making me all sorts of nostalgic for a west coast summer. "Toys" has a subtle 802s feel backed by layers upon layers of synth that really shine on this nu-disco track. Make sure to catch him on tour - he knows how to get a summer pool party moving. MP3: [...]
What is the deal with this weather? Twice in January our region of the central Midwest has been treated to daytime temperatures in the 60s and full-fledged thunderstorms at night, complete with strong winds and downed powerlines. At least we haven't had the tornadoes experienced by some folks, but still. . . I guess some would say it's all related to global warming but I'm not going to get in the middle of that free-for-all. At least we haven't gotten to the point where the weather has completely reversed itself by generating a snowstorm in June. But actually [...]
Legendary hip-hop outfit 2 Live Crew has officially reunited and plans to tour this summer, according to Rolling Stone . The group's MC Luther Campbell (aka Luke) confirmed the news over the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, while promoting his latest short film The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke . The Miami, FL collective, whose last release dates back to 1998, originally stirred up controversy in the '90s for their third LP, As Nasty As They Wanne Be , namely for its crude tracks ("Me So Horny", "The Fuck Shop") and [...]
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Karmin – “Broken Hearted” and “I Told You So” 2/11 SNL
The Best Whitney Houston Covers: A Tribute
