a blog for those who never gave up their turntables or records
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS features articles that don’t fit comfortably into any of the other categories.
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Longhairs still walked the streets and played in the parks.
WHILE THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to address the records that were released decades before most of the people who spend the most time on the internet were even born, I can look at a current topic every now and again. I suppose my fascination with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in not establishing some objective standards for eligibility and the equally obstinate Wikipedia in insisting on “sources” but not on hiring editors to fact-check those sources. READ MORE
I LEFT WIKIPEDIA ALONE for the past few months, even though critiquing their entries is like shooting fish in a barrel. When it comes to “definitions” of persons and terms regarding popular music, Wikipedia’s theme song seems to be a well-known song by Elvis: “If you’re looking for trouble, you’ve come to the right place. “Substitute “boneheaded statements” for “trouble” and you’ve got Wikipedia nailed. READ MORE
I HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE titled Bleeding Heart Liberal Petitions. Most days, I receive a slew of emails with petitions for various causes such as saving an endangered species, urging my representatives in state and federal government to vote for or against a particular bill, protest an injustice, etc. I read them all, sign most of them, and add a few to the Facebook page. READ MORE
MY OLD (OLD) BUDDY, Jerichau St. John, posted a cartoon on my Facebook page. It struck an immediate chord in my record collector’s soul. I left a commented for JSJ and then went looking for the image online. I found it and I am sharing it here with my readers. The cartoon is by Alex Gregory and was published in The New Yorker on May 25, 2015. READ MORE
WHILE TWEAKING AN ARTICLE for publication on my Tell It Like It Was publication on Medium, I noticed that I had referred to lead singer Diana Ross’s soft, whispery vocals on all three of the Supremes’ #1 hits of 1964 as “sex kittenish.” They certainly were coyly flirtatious and the antithesis of most soul singers of the ’60s. READ MORE
IN NOVEMBER 1968, the Beatles released their long-awaited new album. It had been eighteen months since the release of their landmark Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an unheard of period of time between albums in the ’60s. Unlike the over-the-top presentation of the earlier album, the new album did not have a clever title or an excessively busy and colorful jacket.
MY ATTENTION remains focused on Tell It Like It Was, my new publication on Medium. And Tell It Like It Was remains focused on music—mostly music of the ’60s but we will get into the rock & roll and rhythm & blues before and after that decade eventually.
In the past week, Lew Shiner and John Ross published pieces on drummers: Lew with “Jack Sperling, King of the Big-Band Drummers” and John with “Give the Drummers Some!” READ MORE
MY APOLOGIES for neglecting regular readers of my blogs for the past few months. Fortunately, there is a good reason for this that has nothing to do with those silly rumors circulated by the VRC that I had run off and joined a progressive commune in Vermont left over from those hippie-wannabe days of yore. Sigh, as enticing as that sounds, there’s work yet to be done. READ MORE