Monday Cartoon Chuckle(s)

Heh. Also hah.

Actual music stuff -- including the funniest piece of brand new power pop I've heard in ages -- resumes on the morrow.

Annals of Record Company Shit-Weasels (An Occasional Series): Special "When Philistines Walked the Earth" Edition

And speaking of The Kinks, as we were Wednesday, here's some Kinks music (and the story behind it) you may not know, but should.

Let's start with the music. From their 1991 EP Did Ya on Sony, please enjoy the winsome title track....

...and a killer live version of the band's 60s classic "Gotta Move."

And now for the story. As I said, you probably don't know either of those tracks (and the EP they derive from). For this dubious distinction, we have one person to thank -- then head of Sony Records Tommy Mottola, aka Mr. Mariah Carey.

What happened was The Kinks got signed to Sony prior to Mottola assuming the reins of the company; all of a sudden Grunge happened, and the totally-respectful-of-artists Mottola basically told his subordinates -- who the fuck is responsible for these over the hill/past their sell date/dinosaurs being on my label? Oh, and by the way, we'll promote this Kinks EP and anything else these fossils give us on the same day that frozen yogurt goes on sale in hell.

Consequently, nobody except the tiny group of rock critics who'd already received Did Ya in the mail ever heard it, and the Kinks were dropped by Sony soon after delivering a complete new album that Sony was obliged to release for legal/contractual reasons.

But don't worry, the story has a happy ending. Head Kink Ray Davies eventually got knighted, and his band are not only still with us, but back in the studio recording new music.

As for Mottola, he died soon after shafting the group, friendless and alone, of a terrible and painful lingering disease.

Actually, no -- the motherfucker is still alive, well, and obscenely wealthy. But a boy can dream, can't he? 😎

PS: Mottola did exactly the same thing to the great Willie Nile and his 1991 masterpiece Places I Have Never Been...

...but I'll tell you that story on Monday, along with some happier Willie news. 😎😎

In the meantime -- have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Thursday Cartoon Chuckle(s)

Yeah, yeah, I know that one has nothing to do with music, but it cracked me up, so gimme a break. 😎

Regular -- and really really snarky -- posting resumes tomorrow.

Seriously -- tomorrow may get me sued. 😎😎

Songs I'd Forgotten Existed, Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series): Special "How Do You Say 'Up, Up and Away!' in Yiddish?" Edition

From 1979, please enjoy The Kinks and their infectious ode to superhero jealousy "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman."

I bring this up because a) I hadn't heard the song in years, and was delighted to find that it holds up nicely.

More importantly, however, it's because b) I'm really looking forward to seeing the Superman movie reboot this weekend.

I mean, not only is David Corenswet, the actor playing Supes, the first Jewish guy in the role ever (somewhere in heaven, the character's Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are smiling) but James Gunn, the film's director, conceived it specifically as an immigrant assimilation story.

Which it fucking is and always was.

Plus -- they finally gave Kal-El a furry friend, i.e. Krypto the Superdog. 😎

Seriously -- I am not even remotely a fan of most contemporary comic book flicks, but this one?

Well, it's gonna piss off all the right people and in the immortal words of Paul Westerberg -- can't hardly wait. 😎😎

You'll Never Believe Why AOC is Evil Now

Okay, I realize I've been getting a little too political with my postings around here of late, and I promise to give it a rest for the immediate forseeable future, but this item is so wonderfully absurd that I simply couldn't resist. 😎

From the estimable NO MORE MISTER NICE BLOG:

Republicans in Congress are working on a massive transfer of wealth from the non-rich to the rich, so the Murdoch media empire has a mission: persuade Americans that Democratic critics of this redistribution are the real elitists. So here's a new Fox story about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

AOC's childhood nickname revealed amid 'Bronx girl' claims

Ocasio-Cortez's suburban-toned nickname appears to be at odds with her tough 'Bronx girl' persona

Yes, Fox is serious about this.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image....

The 35-year-old "Squad" member wrote in part on X last week: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School, from where she graduated in 2007.

"There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states....

After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report.

Ocasio-Cortez’s "Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter....

(Emphasis added.)

Really? The nickname Sandy is preppy? So back in 1973, when Bruce Springsteen was a penniless jamoke on the verge of losing his record deal, he wrote a song about a preppy? 😎😎

Words fail me. 😎😎😎

Songs I'd Forgotten Existed, Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series)

From 1966, please enjoy The Buffalo Springfield and their semi-obscure mini-masterpiece "Baby Don't Scold Me."

The short version: That was on the original pressing of the band's debut album, but after "For What It's Worth" became a hit, it was removed in favor of the million-seller.

It's a little sloppy, to be sure, but I love it for a) the quote from "Day Tripper" at the end, and b) its ahead of its time sort of punkish folk-rock insouciance. Man, what I wouldn't have given to see those guys live.

And and oh my god -- that bridge is a work of freaking genius!!!

Great Moments in Hypola: An Occasional Series

So speaking as we were the other day of hero of my youth Eddie Lawrence, here are the radio spots the Great Man cut in 1974 for the John Lennon-produced Harry Nilsson LP Pussy Cats.

I had no idea that existed until alert reader Bob in IL hipped me to it the other day, and thank you Bob -- it made me laugh out loud. Especially "You got a part time job in a leather shop called Whips of All Nations..."

I should add that whole thing kind of took me back because at the time it was recorded, I was actually in the midst of a several year stint doing radio spots for Polygram Records (long story -- don't ask how). I don't remember much about the period, but I do remember I wrote and produced an ad for The Osmonds Christmas Album, featuring frequent Woody Allen-collaborator Len Maxwell doing the voice of Humphrey Bogart.

"The Osmonds Christmas album...it's good, schweetheart. REAL good." 😎

It's Independence Day. Enjoy It While You Can!!!

And in its honor -- a PowerPop tradition since 2018 -- please marvel at Bill Pullman, the greatest president of the United States who was never president of the United States...

...no, wait, now that we're living in Nazi Germany 2.0, that's not a particularly good joke anymore.

Sorry.

What I meant to say was please enjoy the late great Ben E. King and his gorgeous cover of Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."

Or perhaps The Hollies' superb 1975 version.

BTW, I saw the Hollies do that live at the old Bottom Line that year, and Bruce (who was not yet the household word he became shortly thereafter when Born to Run was released) was sitting at the table directly in front of me.

Get me drunk sometimes and I'll tell you the simultaenously hilarious and tragic story that accompanied the evening. 😎

Meanwhile, have a great Fourth, everybody!!! Assuming you don't find what's happening in our Noble Democracy at the moment a little too depressing to be festive. 😎 😎

Great Moments in Metaphysics

[It being the dawning of a long Holiday Weekend -- at an especially depressing time in our current American history -- I've decided to have a little fun for the next couple of days. Weightier, more serious postings, will resume next Monday, i.e. when the party's over, as it were. Thanks!!! -- S.S.]

In case you're wondering, Eddie Lawrence -- aka The Old Philosopher -- was one of my heroes as a kid. Not to mention a major fashion influence. 😎

And if memory serves, another one of my childhood heroes -- Soupy Sales -- used to play the above on his afternoon show all the time.

I should add that "musical accompaniment by the Sentimental Four" is now my all time favorite credit on a recorded product ever. 😎

It's Called Music, Chuckles -- Look Into It!!!

[It being the dawning of a long Holiday Weekend -- at an especially depressing time in our current American history -- I've decided to have a little fun for the next couple of days. Weightier, more serious postings, resume on Monday, when the party's over, as it were. Thanks!!! -- S.S.]

From Stereogum:

Charli XCX Responds To Boomers Criticizing Her Use Of AutoTune At Glastonbury

With Glastonbury in the books, Charli XCX has completed yet another massive Brat festival set. You’d think audiences in her home country would be most receptive to her over-the-top presentation, but apparently, some UK boomers were not pleased with Charli’s exaggerated use of AutoTune and her lack of a backing band. She shared some thoughts on the matter in a short series of tweets today following her Saturday night headlining set. She wrote:

[I'm]really enjoying these Boomer vibe comments on my glastonbury performance. it’s super fascinating to me.

Like the idea that singing with deliberate autotune makes you a fraud or that not having a traditional band suddenly means you must not be a “real artist” is like, the most boring take ever. yawn sorry just fell asleep xx

Oh puhleese. There's a phrase for doing a set with totally auto-tuned vocals and without live backup. The phrase is "Lip-synching."

Which means what she was offering the audience differed from Milli Vanilli exactly how? 😎

Also, somebody really needs to tell this pretentious low-talent bint that the words "brat" and "twat" actually rhyme. 😎 😎