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Monthly Archives: December 2008
Stuck in the Middle of Stealers Wheel
erry Rafferty’s music makes me smile. His lyrics make me smile. His voice is warm and soothing, making me believe, as the title of the last song on Ferguslie Park says, everything will turn out fine. I know Joe Egan is part of Stealers Wheel, but I can’t dredge up feelings about his contributions. Maybe it just needs more attention.Stuck in the Middle with You, their one huge hit from their eponymous first album, seems to annoy some folks. Puzzling. Slide guitar doesn’t make it to pop music much, and this has it in spades. Slick, slippery, wiggly slide. From the opening chords on acoustic guitar, the no-nonsense bass, silly-serious hand-claps, through vocal harmonies, multiple electric guitars snapping, and some of the subtlest drumming in a pop song (cowbell! before cowbell was, well, whatever) it bounces perkily through really strange lyrics I still love, nearly 40 years later. Continue reading
Little Debbie, Little Debbie
Twang should be a genre all to itself. I’m a sucker for twang. Play way back by the bridge, turn the reverb up to some kind of tape-slap setting, and it might not even matter what the words are.Of course, if the words are about oatmeal pies, pointy boots, quarters and Little Debbie, that’s just fine, too. Continue reading
Charlie Cheney’s Music Exam (Filters)
nd one more show with Charlie. Too much information. No; not here. That’s what the show is about.It used to be that you’d read Rolling Stone or get music suggestions from the DJ on the radio. But now that there’s far too much music even to hear it all on the radio, let alone discuss, how do you filter out all the noise and zero in on the music you’ve never heard of, but want to hear? Continue reading
Charlie Cheney’s Music Exam (Social Networks)
wo more shows with Charlie (it’s been two weeks; it’s a weekly show. Coincidence, or design?)On the December 8th show we talked about social networks. In this one, you get to hear me completely blindsided because I hadn’t gotten Charlie’s email telling me what we were talking about so I hadn’t done my homework. I realize I don’t really sound like a blathering idiot. I only felt like one. (My fault, not Charlie’s. Charlie is a gracious and entertaining host.) Continue reading
I Guess I’m Floating, Too
erhaps not, but it would be fun.Daughter Rush keeps sending me fun new music. She finds some of it through some terribly not confused people at a blog called I Guess I’m Floating. Continue reading
Hubcap Diamond Star Halo
earches are down here at the ranch, but this one is one of those snippets that’ll drive you mad if you don’t know where to find it.Of course, if you’re really old and paid attention, you know that ‘hubcap diamond star halo’ is a line from the T. Rex song “Bang a Gong” which was covered by the incomparable Robert Palmer (working with the Duran Duran boys as Power Station.) Continue reading
Like a Mattress Balances on a Bottle of Wine
have managed to go an entire year without writing about Bob Dylan. I managed to go 40 years without hearing Blonde on Blonde, other than the bits played on the radio.I’ve written about Dylan’s word play in an earlier post. The lyrics of Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat aren’t as disorienting as, for instance, Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (on the same album, but ooh I love the live version on Hard Rain.) But it’s still Dylan. Not quite nonsense, but certainly not sensible. Continue reading
Opening Pandora’s Box
ately I’ve been listening to Pandora a lot. A demonstration of the value of The Music Genome Project Continue reading
Charlie Cheney’s Music Exam (Tribes)
o, this won’t be on the test.Musician and musical entrepreneur Charlie Cheney is doing an online radio show and for some reason decided he should talk to me a lot. We’ll be foisting this nonsense on an unsuspecting world every Monday evening for the foreseeable future. Check Charlie’s BlogTalkRadio page for the schedule, time, archives, and all that blather. And call in! Call and actually talk to us during the show! Your very own voice will appear right here in these podcasts! You’ll be as famous as I am! Continue reading
