4/4/16: Monday Funday Dance Party!

Written by Randy Newman, the original version of “Mama Told Me Not to Come” was recorded by Eric Burdon, and of course Three Dog Night had a big hit with it in 1970. But right now, this version by Tom Jones + Stereophonics is my favorite. Great, great, singing, and I love the guitar solo.

4/1/2016: No April Fool’s joke, just a regular old article about music.

I love listening to different versions of the same song, especially when both are terrific. A couple of my favorites are “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which was recorded by both Gladys Night & the Pips and Marvin Gaye (of course, a lot of other bands have covered it, too). Interesting that both artists

3/28/16: Monday Funday Dance Party!

Now you’ve done it. You’ve got me started on the Nicholas Brothers. Harold and Fayard. Genuises. Fred Astaire told the brothers that this sequence (from the movie “Stormy Weather”) was the greatest movie musical number he’d ever seen. The virtuosity of their moves is just stunning. And yes, that is Cab Calloway leading the orchestra.

3/21/16: Monday Funday Dance Party!

Sometime after my third cup of coffee, I said to myself, “Why not play some ukrabilly?” I saw this for the first time on Facebook. Facebook’s translations can be pretty rough, but thanks to one of the comments, I was able to find out that this is a Ukranian band called OT VINTA. Check out

3/14/16: Monday Funday Dance Party!

These are the Toelegu Pan Pipers from Toelegu Village, Havulei District, Isabel Province, the Solomon Islands. When I talk about “Monday Funday Dance Party,” I’m serious about the dancing. If you’re in a place where you can cut a rug a little bit, you’ll just feel wonderful. And I say this with full knowledge that

March 9, 2016

You can accomplish a lot in 90 years. George Martin just passed away, and my thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Some of you younger kids have probably never heard of George Martin. He’s a good name to look out for if you’re browsing through older music; he produced and arranged music for

2/29/16: Monday Funday Dance Party!

Once upon a time, there was a 21 and under club called “Phil’s Bongo Room.” It doesn’t matter where it was; it’s been gone for a long time anyway. It was lost to an unfortunate infestation of luxury condos. Anyhoo, it was fun and they had live bands and a floor that lit up like

February 15, 2016: Monday Funday Dance Party!

Quick note – I’m having some issues posting videos right now. I hope to have this worked out soon, but in the meantime you might see the video itself, or just text linking you to it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope it doesn’t take any funday out of your Monday! You feel alright?

Brahms Festival 2016

I adore Brahms, and if I had the cash I’d be on a plane out to Detroit right now! Thanks to Rich Brown of Good Music Speaks for turning us on to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s ongoing celebration of Brahm’s life & works. They’re doing all four symphonies, a Berio arrangement of Brahm’s Sonata for

January 11, 2016: David Bowie

David Bowie died on Sunday at the age of 69. In an age of macho bullshit rock & roll, he moved fluidly between styles of music, fashion, and taste, while writing great songs and lyrics. If you haven’t listened to much of Bowie’s music, 1969 – 1983 is recognized as being his “peak” period, but he