Category: Music

Don Kirshner dead!

This just in — Pop music impresario Don Kirshner has died. In more than one way, “Sugar, Sugar”, with Ron Dante and the non-existent Archies, is Kirshner’s ultimate accomplishment as a music publisher and manager.


The Archies – Sugar Sugar
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In the 70’s, “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” featured an eclectic mix of bands. Here is a fantastic set with the Ramones at their Punk Rock peak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6o_t2Q_gkg

British brass band themes

“Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records” has some real surprises on it, from the never-released “King of Fuh” (can you say Fuh King?) to this 1968 gem by Paul McCartney, the theme song to a TV show called “Thingumybob”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlV6A_7ZSV0

The Black Dyke Mills Band dates back to 1855, long before John Philip Souza, who wrote the “Liberty Bell March”, that is best known as the theme for “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yfm2HSoD50

Years later, Julian Nott wrote the delightful brass band theme for Nick Park’s wonderful “Wallace & Gromit” series.

The Boss isn’t boss

“Boss” was an expression in the mid-60’s, before “groovy,” that meant something was very good. The most recent equivalent is to say that something “rules.”

Whenever I reveal that I’m not a Springsteen fan, I get surprised and/or disappointed looks. What can I say? I’ve never felt a connection with The Boss, the hero of the working man. Yes, I know how dedicated he is, and sincere, and hard-working but, sorry, the feeling just isn’t there for me.

What got me in the late 70’s was Punk and New Wave, although I never lived a lifestyle even remotely reflecting the external manifestations of the rougher element of the genre. I remained purely a drug-free nerd, with the visceral, therapeutic intensity of listening to Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model”, in particular, being something that has always stayed with me. Here are two tunes from those days that conveyed more to me than anything I’ve ever heard by Springsteen.

The Ramones album “Road to Ruin”, with Marky taking over drums from Tommy, who helped produce, was a stunning accomplishment — this achingly heartfelt song, most of all…

…and the great “Union City Blues”, from Blondie’s ultimate achievement, “Eat to the Beat”…

Hey, you got Chuck in my Cake!

Well, that was a fun coincidence. My younger sister’s family was here today for our annual post-Christmas get-together to exchange presents. Pandora was playing on the Roku HD, and Eric had a present in his hand to give to my sister as a family gift — the first season of “Chuck” on DVD — when this song came on Pandora.

My sister’s family recognized it immediately as “Short Skirt, Long Jacket” by the band Cake, but we recognized it immediately as the “Chuck” theme from the opening credits of the show. Bismo, who introduced us to the series, had told us the tune came from somewhere else, but ya know, I never bothered to look it up, so it caught me by surprise. My sister’s family knew it only from Cake’s original version, and we knew it only from “Chuck”! One thing that isn’t in the theme is the obvious nod to “Sweet Jane” by Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.

“Short Skirt, Long Jacket” isn’t heard in the series pilot. We all watched it tonight, and it was a big hit, as I knew it would be.