The Rutles! Who among us is not a fan of the Prefab Four? Who can’t remember where they were when Ron, Dirk, Stig, and Barry appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show? Who could forget the riots when they played the concert at Che Stadium? Who could forget the outcry when Dirk announced that he wasContinue reading “On A Brand-New Rutles Project”
Category Archives: Music
On Movies When I Was Twelve
Courtesy of Dayton Ward, “The ‘When I was 12’ movie meme thing.” Here’s how it works: go to Wikipedia (as the most convenient resource), and copy the list of movies that were released in the year when you were 12 years old. Mark in italics the movies that you’ve seen. (Not necessarily that year.) MarkContinue reading “On Movies When I Was Twelve”
On Oddball Christmas Albums
I have bought an underwhelming Christmas album on iTunes. I like Christmas music. For being a godless heathen, I enjoy listening to it year ’round. I have many different Christmas albums. Medieval and Renaissance-styled. Vince Guaraldi and other jazz standards. Celtic. Even some Beatle-esque Christmas albums, which I wrote about here a few years ago.Continue reading “On Oddball Christmas Albums”
On a Zeppelin-Esque Christmas
Because it’s Christmas-time, and because I like strange and silly and obscure Christmas music — like the conversation I had yesterday about The Royal Guardsmen and “Snoopy’s Christmas” — I thought it only fair to point out a Christmas song that I’ve liked since I first heard it. It’s “Winter Wonderland,” done in the styleContinue reading “On a Zeppelin-Esque Christmas”
On Songs for Christmas
While I’ve joined the Rage Against the Machine For Christmas #1 group on Facebook — their goal is to get a fifteen year old song to be the Christmas number one in defiance of Simon Cowell’s X Factor mutant — it looks like there’s a new competitor for Christmas number one. The Muppets. The Muppets’Continue reading “On Songs for Christmas”
On the Essential Carbon Leaf
About six months ago, on Gallifrey Base, I saw a thread in the music forum about creating a “best of” or an introduction for a favorite band. Imagine you were giving someone a single CD, what songs would you want them to hear to give them an overview about what makes this band so great?Continue reading “On the Essential Carbon Leaf”
On Peter Gabriel’s Next Album
Sometime early next year, Peter Gabriel will be releasing a new album, Scratch My Back. The Guardian describes it thusly: “[The album] is a ‘song swap,’ according to one of Gabriel’s collaborators, where the singer and a host of ‘extremely legendary artists’ will cover each other’s material.” And one of those artists, supposedly, is Elbow.Continue reading “On Peter Gabriel’s Next Album”
On the George Gershwin/Brian Wilson Collaboration
George Gershwin. Brian Wilson. Together again, for the first time. I read comic books. Of course I’m going to use that hoary cliche, “together again, for the first time,” when describing a unique collaboration between George Gershwin, dead since 1937, and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. Collaboration, you say? What’s this? Wilson will be finishedContinue reading “On the George Gershwin/Brian Wilson Collaboration”
On Music Musings
In the past year I’ve started buying MOJO on a regular basis. I used to read it, then got out of the habit, and then I’d pick up an issue here and there. But about a year ago, I began to pick it up regularly; if not every month, then certainly three out of four.Continue reading “On Music Musings”
On the Oasis Break-Up
It’s been a week since Noel Gallagher announced he was leaving Oasis. A week. And I’m not just depressed about it. I’m downright gutted. Oasis has personal meaning for me. They did. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” was part of a time and a place. “D’You Know What I Mean?” was part of a timeContinue reading “On the Oasis Break-Up”