brainsplotch

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the American release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This significant anniversary got me to thinking about my own relationship with this album. Pepper is an album I don't listen to that much anymore, and when I recently wrote a list of my favorite Beatles albums*--a challenge issued by Bill and Brian of  The Great Albums podcast (check it out if you've never heard it, it's a good podcast), I had Pepper at number seven of the 13 Beatles studio albums. This isn't to say that Pepper is a bad album--not at all. (I mean, come on, it's the Beatles for chrissakes!) It's just far from my favorite album by the Fab Four. However, there is a time when it was about the only Beatles album I knew. If you want to put a fine point on it, and if anyone out there really cares, Rubber Soul was the first Beatles album I remember listening to straight through. That's because my older cousin Suzy went thr...

I've not written about politics in here recently, mainly because something either terrible or crazy happens seemingly every day and it's impossible to keep up. That's life in Trump's America, where every day there is either a) a new wrinkle to Russia's (possible/probable) interference in the election, b) a bizarre tweet from the Donald, c) a new bit of draconian policy that Trump wants to push through, d) a hate crime somewhere in the US, or e) other miscellaneous crazy shit. Today we learn that Trump will be withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accords. Suddenly, a guy who has no problem flying to his Florida resort every weekend on the American peoples' dime declares that he is withdrawing because he cares about the American taxpayer. Yep, it's just too darned expensive ensuring we have a livable planet. I don't know if I find it more sad or amusing that in his announcement today, Trump acted like he cares about anyone besides himself and his c...

If anyone gives the 1980s band Guadalcanal Diary any consideration anymore, it's as the Athens-based band that wasn't R.E.M. (Even though Guadalcanal Diary were more accurately from suburban Atlanta).  Or as that other Georgia band that "kind of sounded like R.E.M." This is unfortunate, because Guadalcanal Diary was an outstanding band in their own right. And though they shared the same jangly guitar sound as R.E.M., it's far too reductive and unfair to brand GD as mere R.E.M. copycats. (Can we agree that saying that any music "sounds like R.E.M." is like describing a food as "tasting like chicken"). Guadalcanal Diary mastered a fairly wide variety of styles, from the aforementioned jangly pop, to 1950s Buddy Holly-esque love songs, to hard rock, to folk rock, and punky rave-ups. Songwriter and singer Murray Attaway tackled a variety of subjects in his lyrics, with a healthy combination of wisdom and humor: religious fervor and doubt (...

George Harrison's inspiration for a certain Beatles song. If you're a fan of the Fabs, you will know this one right away.

I was watching television last night and a commercial came on that featured the song “America” by Simon & Garfunkel. The commercial itself I can barely recall, I don’t even remember the product, but hearing that song made me emotional. It’s a song that I’ve liked since I was a kid, but a song that has taken on deeper meaning as I’ve gotten older. In just a few short verses, Paul Simon creates a cinematic story of two young lovers heading off on a bus trip to “look for America.” Simon perfectly evokes the feelings we all have on any trip: the initial excitement (“Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces”)--which eventually leads to boredom (“Toss me a cigarette…”)-- reflection on the beauty of the countryside (“The moon rose over an open field”)--and finally to a bit of ennui (“’Kathy, I’m lost’ I said”)—. And then the song concludes with the narrator seeing the endless lines of anonymous cars on the turnpike, like Kathy and the narrator, “looking for America.” But the s...

Hey folks, just a not to let you know that I'm still alive--just in case you were worrying. I have a few ideas I'm working on for this blog, both (probably unsurprisingly) involving music. I've been veeerrrryyy slllooowwwlllyyy working on a piece about how music is getting me through the first few months of President Dipshit's reign of error, and another piece about the 30th anniversary of U2's The Joshua Tree . And somewhere along the line, I need to get to the Tragically Hip's Fully Completely. Maybe sometime before the year 2050, if I live that long and the world hasn't been either blown up or submerged under water due to global warming, I'll complete my Tragically Hip overview. Of course, by 2050 nobody will give a shit about the Tragically Hip anymore (not that they really do now). Anyway, I have no timetable for publishing these posts, but I sure as hell would like to do it before the end of April. Please bear with me, loyal readers.

This is a "staff recommendation" I wrote for the Capital Area District Library web site. I thought I may as well share it here. Since there was a lot of cutting and pasting going on, the font and font size may be messed up compared to the rest of the blog. Drive-By Truckers—American Band A perfect soundtrack for our troubled times For over twenty years, the Athens GA based Drive-By Truckers have ambivalently assumed the mantle for Southern Rock. (I say “ambivalently” because they don’t like to be lumped into any category). Their songs have touched on Southern identity, society, and mythology, with their progressive-leaning politics always floating just under the surface. On their 2016 album, American Band, politics take center stage unlike any of their previous records. Angered and frustrated by such issues as the Charleston (S.C.) church shooting, Confederate flag controversy, and various incidents of violence throughout the nation, songwriters Patt...