Video: Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

there's been a lot of great live music in dc this month and it keeps on coming. old, but still awesome, randy newman is at the strathmore tomorrow night, playing two 45 minute sets. only the cheap sets are left, and they're nearly gone, so pick em up now if you want in. check out npr to hear newman perform his latest, harps and angels , in its entirety if you want to know what to expect. also, clap your hands say yeah are playing dc9 tomorrow night... but [...]

Before Randy Newman was singing "You've Got A Friend In Me" from the perspective of Toys and children and other likenesses for kiddie movie soundtracks, he was sarcastically shaking up society up with ironic songs, viewpoints and attacks guised as witty little piano ditties. In honor of his appearance at The Coronet tonight, here is Randy Newman as he was known back then-T-R-O-U-B-L-E. What do you think now? [...]

Happy 4th of July everybody. I know I've been an absentee blogger this week -- trust me when I say it has to do more with being under the weather (found out it was heat exhaustion, hooray) than anything else. So I'm spending my three-day weekend recovering, and I was thinking of doing an ironic-style 4th of July post -- you know, songs by people that look at America and say "Well... it's not all THAT great, you know..." But you know what? I'm not a big patriot flag waver, but I'm also not [...]

Rolling Stone just picked Randy Newman 's "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" as the number two song of 2007 . Alas, I'm of two minds about this. Granted, it's a great song, and obviously relevant to our historical moment, but really -- what the fuck does Rollng Stone know? Their choice for number three is that fricking "Umbrella" piece of crap by Rihanna . Memo to Rolling Stone: Did the world [...]

Okkervil River's new, free for download Golden Opportunities EP is in heavy rotation in the SVB jukebox. It's a great collection of mostly cover songs recorded live on their last tour. What's amazing is the breath of artists that lead singer Will Sheff chose to cover - Joni Mitchell, Serge Gainsbourg, John Cale, Sandy Denny, John Phillips (of Mama's and Papa's fame), Jimmy Webb, Ed Sanders (The Fugs), and Randy Newman. In his insightful liner notes Sheff writes: "I love Randy Newman ." And come to think of it, so should you. [...]

• Okkervil River - Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear
• Randy Newman - Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear

Last month, the Academy's perennial nominee Randy Newman saw "a slightly expurgated version" of the lyrics to his new song "A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country" run as an an op-ed piece in the New York Times. A...