I am going to tell you what makes this song so great. I am not going to go into Greil Marcus territory and lay out some whole context — real or imagined. We all know everything about the sixties by now. Its arc is perhaps the most-documented six-year era ever. It goes something like this: …
A few people asked me which club the 1987 Johnnie Ray show mentioned in the last post took place. My wife reminded me, Cozy Morley’s Club Avalon, long defunct. Read about it and Cozy, one of those Broadway Danny Rose-like old time comedians, here in an old Times article. Club Avalon was a barn. He …
In the summer of 1987, when I was 21, I got to see Johnnie Ray at a tiny little dump called Cozy Morley’s Club Avalon in Wildwood New Jersey. He was close enough to us that his sweat rained down on us. And sweat he did. The cat really brought it, much to the delight …
Excellent piece on nostalgia for an old bar, here in today’s Times.
From one of my favorite records of the year, truly a stunning work. By the way, if you are interested in other such pronouncements and links, you can subscribe to my Facebook posts. This blog here is a far more edited (believe it or not) version of that pathetic and ongoing display of my id. …
Bon Iver and Subscribe to the Facebook Updates (if you so desire). Read More »
The author of the seminal Our Band Could Be Your Life, and the recent bio of Bob Mould weighed in a few years ago on this holiday classic. few people write this well about music.
It’s true! The Christmas Coyote is real! He came to our backyard this morning! It’s a Christmas Miracle! First I will write a song about him, then a children’s book, and then Stephen Spielberg will make a movie based on the book. I will be rich
…right off your shoes. Happy holidays, ladies, gentleman.
Listen to this. Here is one of my favorite singers — one of my favorite people — singing one of my favorite songs. Tanya Donelly sings Tom Waits. Here you have an offering from one of America’s all-time great songwriters from one of his many artistic peaks, the 1999 Mule Variations LP. I am a huge Waits fan. Stones, …