a blog for those who never gave up their turntables
DOES JACKIE DeSHANNON belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Making an argument for her or any artist is not easy for two reasons. First, the Hall does not have any set of criteria by which fans can assess potential candidates. Each year each vote appears to be a reflection of the mood of the nominators and voters of that year. [Read more] “does jackie deshannon belong in the rock & roll hall of fame?”
THIS IS THE SEVENTH in a series of ten articles listing and addressing the #1 records of the year as they appeared on Cash Box magazine’s Top 100 chart from 1960 through 1969. It was originally published as “You Keep Me Hanging On The Poor Side Of Town” on my publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on July 5, 2019. [Read more] “the #1 hit records on the pop charts 1966”
RECENTLY, I was made aware of Greg Milner’s book Perfecting Sound Forever, which is subtitled “An Aural History of Recorded Music.” When I reserved it at the library, I wasn’t expecting it to inspire an article about soulful ambivalence and a turntable—even a very impressive, very expensive turntable.
Of course, I really didn’t know what I was in for, but that’s one of the joys of reading! [Read more] “soulful ambivalence and the world’s most expensive turntable”
MISS PATSY CLINE may seem to be the focus of this article, but she’s not—at least, not primarily. Primarily it’s about hyperbole in describing the accomplishments of popular stars, even when the artist doesn’t need any embellishment to shine among the other stars. Fans of any field of artistic or athletic endeavor are given to excessive bragging about their faves, whether it’s rock bands or comic book artists or baseball players. [Read more] “hyperbolic exaggeration in pop culture and miss patsy cline”
DURING THE BRITISH INVASION of 1964-1966, ‘serious’ information on the British groups—in fact, on rock & roll artists in general—was very hard to come by for we American fans. Fans had to turn to the teenybopper fan mags of the era for any transfiguration of their tastes from the ordinary to the extraordinary. [Read more] “the transfiguration of young man mose allison”
ARGUING THE ‘BEST’ ROCK GUITAR PLAYERS of the ’60 is probably a pretty dumb way to waste time—and “Surfing Guitars” will not be doing that! Considerably more constructive and interesting would be an argument as to who were—and that’s intentionally plural—the most ‘creative’ players. Of course, to reach any kind of consensus there would require that we first agree on a definition of ‘creative’ in that context! [Read more] “surfing guitars and instrumental surf bands of the early ’60s”
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I received an invitation from a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn site, the “world’s largest professional network.” Reluctantly I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of their LinkedIn connections. [Read more] “talking with ken barnes on his career as a rock journalist”
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a blog for those of us who never gave up our turntables
Mystically liberal Virgo enjoys long walks alone in the city at night in the rain with an umbrella and a flask of 10-year-old Laphroaig who strives to live by the maxim, “It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know that just ain’t so.
I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a college dropout (twice!). Occupationally, I have been a bartender, jewelry engraver, bouncer, landscape artist, and FEMA crew chief following the Great Flood of ’72 (and that was a job that I should never, ever have left).
I am also the final author of the original O’Sullivan Woodside price guides for record collectors and the original author of the Goldmine price guides for record collectors. As such, I was often referred to as the Price Guide Guru, and—as everyone should know—it behooves one to heed the words of a guru. (Unless, of course, you’re the Beatles.)
