-
-
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM
Category Archives: Music
“I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.” – Bob Dylan
For Bob Dylan’s birthday “When I first heard Elvis Presley’s voice I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody and nobody was going to be my boss. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out … Continue reading
“There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
“To me, John Lennon and Elvis Presley were punks, because they made music that evoked those emotions in people.” — Joey Ramone It’s Joey Ramone’s birthday today. Nothing I can say will top my brother Brendan’s essay on seeing The … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
4 Comments
“The problem for me, still today, is that I write purely with one dramatic structure and that is the rite of passage. I’m not really skilled in any other. Rock and roll itself can be described as music to accompany the rite of passage.” — Pete Townshend
It’s his birthday today. I was never a huge Who fan, but their songs were in my consciousness from a very early age. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about them – somehow. This is what it … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
2 Comments
“Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.” — Stevie Wonder
It’s his birthday today. I love that quote because I have so many memories “attached” to Stevie Wonder’s songs, so attached that they don’t feel “attached” at all. The song IS the memory. And more than a memory, really: these … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
Leave a comment
“He sold his soul to the devil to get to play like that.” – Mississippi bluesman Son House on Robert Johnson
It’s Robert Johnson’s birthday. “[Robert] Johnson has created a mood so delicate and bleak one feels he cannot possible get out of his song alive.” – Greil Marcus Recently, I was walking through Times Square and suddenly Robert Johnson’s “Hellhound” … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
8 Comments
“It’s the sexiest toughest chord change in all of rock ‘n roll.” – Steven Van Zandt on “Rumble.” Happy Birthday, Link Wray
When Link Wray wails “Have you heard the news? There’s good rockin’ tonight” in his version of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” … it sounds like a threat that could topple civilization. And when he goes up the octave? Forget about it. … Continue reading
“I still get a chill when I sing, ‘You Don’t Own Me.’ I find some new feeling in it every time.” –Lesley Gore
A re-post of what I wrote when Lesley Gore died in 2015 at the age of 68. Below you will find a clip of Lesley Gore, performing “You Don’t Own Me”, on the now-mythical 1964 T.A.M.I. Show, directed by Steve … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
45 Comments
The outlaw living legend: Happy Birthday, Willie Nelson
“Ninety-nine percent of the world’s lovers are not with their first choice. That’s what makes the jukebox play.” – Willie Nelson Legend. I will never ever forget his performance of “America the Beautiful” in the telethon on September 21, 2001. … Continue reading
Review: Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023)
I reviewed the new Little Richard documentary – Little Richard: I Am Everything – for Ebert. Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, … Continue reading
“I don’t like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn’t have. I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
It’s difficult because to so many – including myself – she does represent something. Maybe you’d have to be Gen X to get it. I think of David Lynch’s comment on Elvis, something like “He wasn’t there and then suddenly … Continue reading
