My first foray into Zappa was in grade school. 7th grade, so 1983. A bunch of us girls were having a sleepover at Jennifer Dixon's house in Cheshire CT, playing records, when Jen put on "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch." Stunning record, and the album art cracked me up. We went crazy for "Valley Girl," featuring Frank's 14-year old daughter Moon Unit. Moon did a lot to introduce her dad to prepubescent…
Many years ago I found Return of the Frog Queen by plucking it out of a $1 CD bin at Diskovery in Allston. When Yolanda rang me up (I got some used books that day too) I told her that I hadn't heard of the guy, I was just intrigued by this slim cardboard sleeve with the black & white photograph of a guy about my age. I don't know what compelled me to pick this one up. Turns out Jeremy Enigk was the frontman in Seattle-based Sunny Day …
Another
one of my mom's albums that was woven into the fabric of my childhood. A
lifetime favorite, not a clunker on it. Marlena is amazing. When I was
little I memorized "Yu Ma/Go Away Little Boy", which is a song that
starts with a long compelling narrative (Yu Ma) that blends into a song
(Go Away Little Boy). This is a send-up of a Nancy Wilson song, barely
resembling the original, peppered as it is with Marlena's sign…
I woke up today and listened to Roll the Bones (Rush). Man that's Neal Peart (RIP) at his finest, both lyrically and technically. I love the drums on the whole album. Mostly acoustic drums, a departure for Neal, and his hits and fills are exquisite. The lyrics explore the role of "chance" in our lives. Speaking of chance. I don't specifically remember the first Rush I ever heard, but I know it was high school, in Hub's beat …
Bone Gunn is a Boston artist I met one day over 15 years ago totally by accident (in the hallway at work, of all places) who blew me away with
this one. “Is It Fear” is the name of the song. I find myself listening to it every
so often. The genius behind Bone Gunn is Bryan Kane , who may or may not have moved out of Boston. I suppose I could just ask him. We're Friends on Facebook.
Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father during a family argument. It was April 1, 1984, one day before his 45th birthday. I was 14. My brother was 10 and played a lot of sports. I remember that because on that day, he had an accident on the field and my parents took him to the hospital. They sat in the waiting room. There were two elderly black gentlemen sitting across from them. My mom heard one of them say to the other, "You know, we lost …
I have a Pandora station I listen to a lot while I'm writing or working on my blogs. So many times I've dug a tune that comes up only to find it's DJ Shadow. This morning it happened again, and I finally said to myself "I think I love DJ Shadow." I found some of his albums on YouTube. Great stuff. I'll have to buy some DJ Shadow.👍
Today, I have been writing and listening to my favorite records. A lot
of my favorite records, few have heard. But everyone should hear
Jellyfish, Spilt Milk. So gorgeous! You know, there was a time, like thirty years ago , when I used to review local music. You had to describe music with words, crafted in such a way so as to have the reader able to "hear" it, to decide whether or not to support those musicians by buying the record. T…
