Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Playlist for 7/30

Best of Gary Stewart at Rhino - Various (Spotify Playlist)
Essential Riot Grrrl - Various (Spotify/NY Times Playlist)
Uncut Magazine's 40 Favourite Electronic Pop Singles (Spotify Playlist)
Electronic Pop: Ultimate Genre Guide (Uncut Magazine)
If You're Not Part of the Solution..Soul, Politics and Spirituality in Jazz 1967-75 - Various (Ace)
Phil Collins - Other Sides
Kinks - Great Lost Kinks Album

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Playlist for 7/24

Soul Explosion - Various (Stax)
Boy Meets Girl: Classic Stax Duets - Various (Stax)
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Rainford
Prince - Originals
Prince: Rave Un2 the Year 2000 (Concert)
Hit Parade: Invisible Miracle Sledgehammer Edition Genesis, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel Compete on the Charts (Slate Podcast)

Boy Band Con: Lou Pearlman Story (YouTube)
I Used To Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story (Documentary)
Chasing Happiness: Jonas Brothers (Documentary Amazon Video)

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Remembering Apollo 11

I was 5 years old on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the Moon.  But I was already in awe of the Space Program.  Had a G.I. Joe Astronaut.  Made my own lunar modules.  Read books and comics on the Space program.

By the time the 70's rolled around my NASA fascination was over.  The almost doomed flight of Apollo 13 was the last time most Americans, including a young me, watched these Apollo flights.

Until the Space Shuttle came along in 1981 and suddenly my 17 year old teenage self caught the bug again.  Which lasted right up until the 1986 Challenger disaster.  The only other time I paid close attention was when the Shuttle returned to space in 1988, for the first time since Challenger.

Sure, I always knew that Shuttle missions continued.  And tragedies still stung like the 2003 Columbia accident.  But today going back to the Moon doesn't capture anybody's interest.  And a trip to Mars seems as distant as the getting to the Planet.

Back in 2013, I visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and was awed again at what an achievement the whole Space program was and the other thing NASA has accomplished.

The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 has found me watching many TV specials plus a great Documentary simply titled Apollo 11. Watch that doc and you will be amazed at what a feat the first manned lunar landing was in 1969.  It brought me back to those childhood years when one had heroes.  Who wouldn't want to be Neil Armstrong? 

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Playlist for 7/18

Leon Redbone - On The Track
Leon Redbone - Christmas Island
2019 BET Awards
2019 Tony Awards
Stray Cats - 40
Thomas Rhett - Center Point Read
Miley Cyrus - She Is Coming
Beastie Boys: Still Ill: 25 Years of Ill Communication (Amazon Music Documentary)

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Beck: Top 25 Songs Poll

The latest poll I voted in was on Beck.  One of the best, most eclectic artists of the last couple decades.  Eligible for the Rock since 2018, he should be a first time nominated and inducted.

Here were my Top 25 Beck songs picks:

1.  Loser
2.  Where It's At
3.  Devil's Haircut
4.  Debra
5.  Think I'm In Love
6.  E-Pro
7.  Lost Cause
8.  Dear Life
9.  Asshole
10.  Girl
11.  Novacane
12.  Peaches & Cream
13.  Timebomb
14.  Dreams
15.  Beercan
16.  Morning
17.  Guess I'm Doing Fine
18.  New Pollution
19.  Que'Onda Guero
20.  Jack-Ass
21.  Sexx Laws
22.  Can't Help Falling In Love
23.  Turn Away
24.  Tropicalia
25.  Pay No Mind (Snoozer)

Top 7 Albums
1.  Mellow Gold
2.  Odelay
3.  Midnite Vultures
4.  Mutations
5.  Morning Phase
6.  Sea Change
7.  Colors

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Playlist for 7/13

Willie Nelson - Ride Me Back Home
Lukas Nelson - Turn Off The News
Kendalls - Just Like Real People
Dottie West - Special Delivery
Dolly Parton - Great Balls of Fire
Jade Bird - s/t
Charley Pride - You're My Jamaica
Willie Hightower - Out Of The Blue
Willie Hightower - If I Had A Hammer

Monday, July 08, 2019

Playlist for 7/8

Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
Madonna - Madame X
ReMastered: Lion's Share (Netflix Documentary)
Rahsaan Patterson - Heroes & Gods
Any Major Soul 1979: Playlist (halfhearteddude.com)
Count Basie - Good Morning Blues (1977 compilation)
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Ian Noe - Between The Country

Friday, July 05, 2019

RIP MAD Magazine

Like many, especially teenagers in the 70's, the death of a monthly MAD magazine (except for planned end-of-year issues)  brought me back to that decade when I couldn't wait to read each issue.  It also made me realize that, also like many of its former avid readers, I haven't read an issue in years.

The magazine's ending also gives many a chance to marvel at just how popular it was during its peak in the 60's/70's.  After the 70's, it began a circulation decline.  No longer a teenager, I only glanced at any new issue I'd see in the bookstore.  Not that I gave up on satiric magazines.  Spy magazine, which ran from 86-98 was an often brilliant continuation of what MAD had started.  And who can forget National Lampoon, which hit its highs in the 70's, before dying in 1998?

But none of these had the cultural impact or longevity that MAD had.  To see that it's folding as a monthly is not surprising.  Satiric comics can now be found easy online.

And, yes to sound like an old man, kids today are missing out on what every new issue of MAD did for those of us who grew up with it.  How many hands did an issue go through before it was trashed?  This was a magazine to pass around and share.  You know, things kids and teenagers liked to do.

So, go ahead and click away to find your favorite satiric websites.  I think I'll go pick up one of MAD's last issues.  We should always embrace our favorite nostalgic moments.

Monday, July 01, 2019

Playlist for 7/1

National - I Am Easy to Find
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram - Kingfish
Marty Brown - American Highway
Alan Jackson: Small Town Southern Man (Documentary)
Martin Freeman & Eddie Piller Present Soul on the Corner - Various
Doris Day & Andre Previn - Duet
Doris Day - Day by Night
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