Paul Simon hangs it up, gives last concert in Queens

It’s hard to believe that Paul Simon is nearly 77, for I remember him when he was just a sprout—though an immensely talented one.  But he just gave the last concert on his last tour, saying that he wants to spend more time with his family. (He hasn’t ruled out future appearances in what he […]

Old music for Friday

I recently listened to three old songs that I’m posting for grins. The first is “Wagoner’s Lad,” a traditional American folk song whose earliest reference is 1908. It’s one of the rare traditional pieces of music highlighting the plight of women. This version is by the Kingston Trio—the incarnation after 1961, when Dave Guard had […]

Neil Young marries Darryl Hannah

This isn’t a gossip column, but I’ve always been a huge Neil Young fan, and so I found it newsworthy that, according to many venues—including CBS News—Young and actor Daryl Hannah just got married (click on the screenshot to read): An excerpt: Daryl Hannah and Neil Young have reportedly tied the knot. The actress and […]

Guess the dads!

These young men both had famous fathers, and their fathers played in the same band. Guess who they are. The answer is here, and it isn’t hard. If you guessed correctly, it shows, as I used to demonstrate to my class, that the variation among people in their facial features has substantial heritability: that is, […]

More evidence that modern pop/rock sucks

This is why modern pop music sucks so bad: a song this execrable can nevertheless get a lot of press and become a hit. You can send me all the songs you want to tell me that music as good as that of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Band, Motown, and so on still […]

Robbie and Eric: “Farther Up the Road”

Robbie Robertson turns 75 today, and, sadly, is one of only two remaining members of The Band along with Garth Hudson. (The other three died of drug abuse, tobacco abuse, and suicide.) There are many songs I could post in his honor (I’ve put “The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down” on Twitter), but here […]

“Seltzer Boy”

Speaking of Jewish humor, those of a certain age will remember Allan Sherman, the parody songwriter and Jewish comedian. My parents had his albums when I was a kid.  Here’s my favorite of his songs: “Seltzer Boy”, which, as YouTube notes, is Allan Sherman’s great 1962 Jewish parody of folk singer Odetta’s recording of the […]

“Rockin’ Chair”

Roy Eldridge (aka “Little Jazz”) blows with the Gene Krupa Orchestra. Truly one of the greatest trumpet solos in the history of jazz. The song was composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1929, and had words: a back and forth between and old man and his son. A vocal version was recorded by Louis Armstrong and […]

Fleetwood Mack fires Lindsey Buckingham

How is this possible? (Click on screenshot): Beyond what’s below (and a new piece on the band’s history of breakups), no information is given: Fleetwood Mac has fired Lindsey Buckingham after a disagreement over the band’s upcoming tour, Rolling Stone has confirmed. The band announced Monday that Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn […]

“Don’t Get Me Wrong”

I may have put this up before, so sue me if I did. It’s my favorite Pretenders song, featuring the inimitable Chrissie Hynde on vocals.  “Don’t get me wrong” (1986) was also of Hynde’s composition, and I like it because it has some SCIENCE in it. But mainly I like it because it’s a real […]