The year was 1970, and the song of the moment was called Ride Captain Ride. It cut through the boring sounds on the AM radio like a diamond on glass. You listened to the song and thought: Who are these guys? You got the sense that this was a band that was tight and going [...]
Archive for the ‘Music videos’ Category
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: Blues Image And Ride Captain Ride
Posted in Music, Music videos, tagged Blues Image, Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Ride Captain Ride on February 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: The Cyrkle And Red Rubber Ball
Posted in Music, Music videos, tagged Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Paul Simon, Red Rubber Ball, the Beatles, The Cyrkle on January 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Cyrkle recorded the best upbeat break-up song ever — Red Rubber Ball — but who knows anything about them? They seem like just another of those ’60s bands with a kind of “psychedelic” name, like Vanilla Fudge or the Strawberry Alarm Clock. But this is a band with another interesting accomplishment: they were the [...]
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: Red Rider And Lunatic Fringe
Posted in Music, Music videos, tagged Lunatic Fringe, Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Red Rider on January 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Who was Red Rider, and how did they come up with a great song like Lunatic Fringe? The greatness of the song starts, of course, with its title. The phrase Lunatic Fringe absolutely reeks of fear, paranoia, and danger. And then the song reinforces that feel with a lonely, ominous intro that conjures up images [...]
Miles Ahead
Posted in Family, Music, Music videos, tagged Family, Miles Greene, Music, Music videos, the Beatles on January 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Our nephew Miles was recorded live on January 17, 2011 at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco. He performs the Beatles’ Don’t Let Me Down in front of an enthusiastic (albeit shirt-oriented), singalong crowd. I’m impressed not only by Miles’ talent, but also by his easy manner in front of a crowd. Way to go, [...]
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs And Wooly Bully
Posted in America, Music, Music videos, tagged America, Folk Music, Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Rock 'N Roll, Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs, Wooly Bully on January 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In the ’50s and early ’60s, rock ‘n roll was simple and, well, fun. The songs were about things like cars, or finding the right girl, or some new dance. The weighty, political issues of the day were reserved for the folk singers, with their heartfelt lyrics about social injustice, their severe black clothing, and [...]
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: Hocus Pocus And Focus
Posted in America, Growing Up, Music, Music videos, tagged America, Focus, Growing Up, Hocus Pocus, Moving Waves, Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Popular Radio, Radio on January 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It was the early 1970s. It was a time when you could hear just about anything on the radio. Playlists hadn’t yet hardened into the genre-specific, focus group-driven, audience-targeted sameness of today, where you know exactly what you are going to get. For perhaps the last time, American popular radio could be full of surprises. [...]
Goodbye, California?
Posted in America, Music, Music videos on January 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Jerry Brown was sworn in yesterday as the new governor of California. He inherits a pantload of problems, the biggest of which are a multi-billion dollar budget deficit and a dysfunctional state political environment. In the linked article, Brown is talking about budget proposals that reorient how government services are provided and try to decentralize [...]
Hearing The Distant Strains Of Steel Drum Music
Posted in Ipods, Music, Music videos, Travel, tagged Caribbean, Ipod, Music, Music videos, Steel Drum Music, Steel Drums, Travel on December 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It’s chilly and damp here in Columbus, and the weather forecast is for colder temperatures and snow. I’m mentally not ready for it. So, I’ve plugged in my iPod and decided to listen to some steel drum music. Steel drum music is one of the few musical genres that will immediately transport you to a [...]
Weird Robots And The Japanese Soul
Posted in Humor, Movies, Music, Music videos, Science, Technology, TV, World, tagged Glee, Humor, Japan, Japanese Robots, Lost In Space, Music, Music videos, Science, Seinfeld, Technology, The Wizard Of Oz, World on November 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
What is it with the Japanese and robots, anyway? They not only seem to be obsessed by them, they act on their obsessions in very weird ways. Consider the Youtube clip below. It shows a “female” Japanese robot known as HRP-4C, pictured at left, singing an annoying song as several young Japanese women frolic around [...]
Thirty Years, Old Friends, Elvis, And “The Train,” Too
Posted in College, Family, Music, Music videos, tagged Annie Kraus, Ben Kraus, College, Family, Ken Kraus, Live Music, LuAnn Kraus, Music, Music videos, Wayne Hancock on September 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Kish and I were happy to join in last night’s celebration of the 30th wedding anniversary of our friends Ken and LuAnn. And what a celebration it was! Friends like Scott, Pat, and Theiser came in from all over. LuAnn ironed her normally kinky hair to glass-like flatness. Ken wore his baggy green Vegas jacket. [...]
Back In The U.S.A.
Posted in America, Family, Music, Music videos, Travel, World, tagged America, Back In The U.S.A., Chuck Berry, Family, Keith Richards, Linda Ronstadt, Music, Music videos, Travel, Vietnam, World on July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’m pleased to report that Russell has returned to the United States from his trip to Vietnam, safe and sound and no doubt enriched — personally, culturally, and artistically — by the experience. For now, however, he may be mostly glad to get back to the land of serious air conditioning. In recognition of that [...]
The Man Who Put The Beat In The Beatles
Posted in Music, Music videos, tagged Abbey Road, Beatles, Come Together, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, I Saw Her Standing There, It Don't Come Easy, Music, Music videos, Photograph, Rain, Ringo Starr, Saturday Night Live, the Beatles, Twist and Shout on July 6, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Today is Ringo Starr’s 70th birthday. He is celebrating with a private event at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City, followed by a concert at Radio City Music Hall. I always thought Ringo Starr was a vastly underrated rock drummer. Because he was a character who became known for his “Ringoisms” — like [...]
The March King, Independence Day, And The Stars And Stripes Forever
Posted in America, Music, Music videos, tagged Fourth of July, Independence Day, John Philip Sousa, Marine Band, Patriotic Music, The Stars and Stripes Forever on July 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
As America prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July with parades, floats, bunting, and marching bands, the music of one composer — and indeed one song he composed — undoubtedly will be played more than any other, from sea to shining sea. The composer is John Philip Sousa and the song, of course, is The [...]
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: Wang Chung And Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Posted in Family, Music, Music videos, tagged Dire Straits, Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Family, Money For Nothing, MTV, Music, Music videos, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer, Wang Chung on June 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The scene is a small, sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Alexandria, Virginia, just off Little River Turnpike. It is the early summer of 1986, about 2 a.m. on any day of the week. In the combination living room and dining room, I sit on a rocking chair, rocking and holding a squalling [...]
Obscure Bands And Great Songs: The Standells And Dirty Water
Posted in Music, Music videos, tagged Boston, Boston Red Sox, Dirty Water, Music, Obscure Bands and Great Songs, The Munsters, The Standells on May 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Standells were the classic garage band. Although their only hit was about living in Boston, the band was actually from Los Angeles. They played for years — including playing themselves on an episode of The Munsters, oddly enough — but lightning struck only once, with the song Dirty Water. The backstory about Dirty Water [...]
