Clik here to view.
Christmas Eve with Louis and Irma
Please enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve post. On a winter day almost 50 years ago, Louis Armstrong went to work in the den at his home at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. That day —...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Our 3 Christmas wishes
The first wish Christmas bells, those Christmas bells Ringing through the land Bringing peace to all the world And good will to man “Snoopy’s Christmas,” the Royal Guardsmen, from “Snoopy and His...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The quietest New Year’s Eve
What are we doing New Year’s Eve? Oh, not much. Just sticking close to home, staying socially distanced. “When the bells all ring and the horns all blow “And the couples that we know are fondly kissing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gone in threes, 2020
They go in threes. They always go in threes. 2020 was relentless. AIDS pioneers: Timothy Ray Brown (first person considered cured of HIV/AIDS), Leanza Cornett (Miss America 1993, made AIDS awareness...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fixing a hole in my knowledge
Time for a confession. Because I came to know Beatles songs first as singles on the radio and then via the red and blue greatest-hits comps from 1973, I must confess that I’m still not all that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four records at a time
It took a pandemic for me to listen to a bunch of my records. Not sure what that says about me, but there you go. Staying home and socially distancing wasn’t too bad until the weather turned cold up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pondering post-pandemic playlists
Saturday morning has become a time to haul myself out of bed by 9 a.m. and listen to WXPN radio out of Philadelphia. My friend Bruce Warren always puts together a fine show — it’s one of the few...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A different kind of digging
February was Black History Month, a time to listen to a bunch of my records by Black artists. March was Women’s History Month, a time to listen a bunch of my records by women artists. Since then,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t stand so close to me
As we started to emerge from the pandemic, I’d heard the experience at sports events with 25 percent capacity was wonderful. My friend Al also had heard that, and wanted to experience it for himself,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s my birthday, too, yeah
Paul McCartney wrote “When I’m Sixty-Four” when he was 14. From that vantage point, 64 must have seemed ancient, almost unthinkable. Paul turned 79 just three days ago. Perhaps now he just smiles...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A summer evening with Ike and Tina
Listening to Ike and Tina Turner in their prime is a good way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon. But of all my records, why that one today? 50 years ago tonight, on Saturday, June 26, 1971, Ike and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Farewell, Satchmo
50 years ago today, on Tuesday, July 6, 1971, the great jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong died. He was 69. The last thing he ever recorded was a charming spoken-word rendition of “The Night...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I briefly wanted my MTV
Memory tells me I watched from the beginning as MTV debuted 40 years ago today, on Aug. 1, 1981. A little research proves otherwise. In Green Bay, my cable system didn’t show MTV that first day. Its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Paul’s new group was Wings
50 years ago today, on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1971, news started breaking ever so slowly across America that Paul McCartney, formerly of the Beatles, had a new, unnamed band. The five-paragraph item that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Record Event Of The Year!
50 years ago today, on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1971, this long, tall ad in the Green Bay Press-Gazette proclaimed that “The Record Event Of The Year” was happening at Woolworth’s. For just $3.68, you could...
View ArticleClik here to view.
They say it’s your birthday
An old friend has a birthday today, turning 39. We were both new to town back in the second week of October 1982. I’d moved to Madison in June, starting a new job at the Wisconsin State Journal. It...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Have you ever watched a moonbeam?
“Nilsson Schmilsson,” the wonderful Harry Nilsson album released 50 years ago yesterday, was not on the list of 10 all-time greatest albums I submitted to WXPN radio in Philadelphia for its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shaft and me, 50 years on
50 years ago, at about this time of year, Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft” blew my 14-year-old mind. As the first week of November 1971 came to a close, “Theme From Shaft” sat atop the Top 10 on WOKY,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Say it with me!
There was a time when men with loud, colorful, outsized personalities were the voices of record stores, stereo stores, car dealers, race tracks and drag strips in radio and TV ads across the land. Mr....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Satchmo, Irma and Christmas Eve
Please enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve post. On a winter day now more than 50 years ago, Louis Armstrong went to work in the den at his home at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. That...
View Article