Your Thursday Moment of Words Fail Me

Heh.

Sorry to have been slacking two days in a row. Have no fear, however -- you'll find that tomorrow's Weekend Essay Question is particularly substantive, if I do say so myself, and I'm offering it in penance. 😎

Today's Cartoon Chuckle(s)

Heh. 😎

BTW, I don't usually like (or approve of) those so-called Nancy "remixes" that are omnipresent on the intertubes lately, but the Iggy joke was too good not to include here.

My New Favorite Band (An Occasional Series)

Okay, I realize that I'm late to the party, but this song and video (from 2020) by New Zealand punk/pop mavens The Beths (who I first discovered and wrote about last Thursday) is/are the most wonderful thing(s) I've seen/heard in ages.

Seriously, I love just everything about that -- the guitar interplay, the harmonies, the whole instructional premise -- but when the bass player suddenly showed up as Paul McCartney I nearly fell off my desk chair.

A coveted Power Pop No-Prize© is hereby awarded to reader Sid Much Rock, who hipped me to it. Kudos and huzzahs, my friend.

It's Labor Day, Bitches...

...and in its honor, we give you honorary American Neil Young going all up the workers with his classic "Union Man."

I should add that the above song is something of a holiday tradition in these precincts. Originally, I used to post The Strawbs' British hit "Part of the Union," which I always assumed had been designed to piss off Margaret Thatcher, may she rot in hell, but I have since been informed by several genuine Limeys of my acquaintance that in the UK the song is actually read as being ANTI-labor. Go figure. In any case, as a result, Neil is now my go-to guy for songs with a pro-prole bent. At least till I discover a really cool more contemporary song echoing the same sentiments.

I should also say that the above seems especially pertinent given that we are currently living in the kind of country that inspired Woody Guthrie's guitar to kill the kind of people now running it -- and hey, is Donny Demento dead yet? But I lack the energy to go into that at the moment, and I'd rather (and I bet you would too) just enjoy today's lovely weather.

So have a nice one, and regular power pop themed posting resumes on the morrow.

La Fin De La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Time For My Boot Heels To Be Wandering" Edition

Okay, it's a holiday weekend, and consequently I have better things to do than write some kind of long sardonic intro to the following.

So let's just get to the business at hand with no further foo farrah. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) song/recorded performance (live or studio) by Bob Dylan is...?

Discuss.

No arbitrary rules, obviously, but just to be clear -- we're talking about one of Bob's songs, or Bob performing one of his own songs or Bob performing a song by somebody else. No Dylan covers by other artistes need apply.

And in case you're wondering, my favorite -- by a mile -- is...

That's absolutely spellbinding, but I should note here and for the record (as it were) that I was actually planning to post the electric studio version of same that Dylan did with The Hawks, and which I first heard on a Trademark of Quality bootleg circa 1974.

And which is right up there in my Top 10 Greatest Performances of Anything by Anybody list. 😎

Alas, to my surprise, it's not up at YouTube, so I went with that almost as fabulous live Aussie version from the same period (1966).

And speaking of which, I originally heard that on another Trademark of Quality bootleg, the one with this hilarious album cover by the great William Stout.

Okay, and moving right along, my least favorite Dylan performance, and man, is it fucking awful, is...

As you may have noticed, Bob's singing a duet with himself on that in both his normal and his Nashville Skyline voices, so it's possible -- perhaps, maybe, could be -- that it's meant tongue-in-cheek.

I doubt it, though. 😎😎

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody!!!

Oh wait -- I found that studio version of "Johanna" with The Hawks. Enjoy!!!

Well, Isn't This Just the Cutest Thing

From their about to be released (Aug. 29) new album Straight Line Was a Lie, please enjoy New Zealand power-poppers The Beths and the album's utterly infectious title track.

In the interests of full disclosure, I must confess I was previously unaware of these kids -- who've been around for a decade, actually -- until somebody at a political blog(!) I hang out at posted a link to the above the other day. In any case, I was instantly charmed and (assuming you don't already know from them) I suspect you will be too.

In the meantime, you can (and should) find out more about them -- including tour dates and where to stream more of their music -- over at their website HERE.

I should add that seeing them live has now become a bucket list thing for me; fortunately, they're scheduled to perform in NYC in early December. 😎

Today's Cartoon Chuckle(s)

I must admit, it took me a minute to get the first one. And if you don't get the Sir Mix-a-Lot one, look at his lawyer's rear end. 😎

Hot Fun in the Summertime

And speaking as we were yesterday of Bruce Springsteen in 1975, attentive reader VR has inquired whether I was in attendance for any of the Boss's legendary August week-long 10-show run at the Bottom Line, the performances that directly preceded the release of Born to Run 50 years ago yesterday.

The answer -- yes, I was. I saw three of the shows in fact (three and a half, if you count the early one broadcast live on WNEW-FM, which I made sure to listen to/tape at home before I went out to see the 11:30 follow-up).

What can I tell you -- I was a hardcore fan.

Here's one of my favorite performances from the aforemetioned radio show. BTW, I seem to recall there was later a very fancy shmancy two-LP bootleg of it that I went on to play countless times in several different apartments of mine. 😎

I should add that -- believe it or not -- I was bitterly disappointed by the first of the shows I attended, and for possibly the stupidest reason imaginable. To wit, that some of the guys in the E-Street Band -- particularly Miami Steve Van Zant (who I had never seen playing with the group before) -- hit the stage wearing white ice cream pimp suits, rather than the usual casual street attire. I don't know why, but it struck me as some kind of ghastly betrayal at the time. I kid you not.

Hey, by the second show I had gotten over it. 😎😎

Oy Gevalt, Now I'm REALLY Old!!!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of Born to Run. Seriously -- just kill me now. 😎

Okay, in actual fact the good news is that in celebration of the event, Springsteen just released this quite splendid outtake from the original album sessions. Probably wouldn't have fit in with the album as released, but it's a pretty cool song nonetheless.

I should add that I remember the aforementioned release day of BTR beyond vividly. It was around 4pm on a Friday, and a messenger from CBS Records dropped it off for me at the old Park Avenue offices of Stereo Review. It came in a soft cardboard gatefold cover (without a spine), and with the iconic photo of the Boss and the Big Man on the front, but with the title stuff (artist and album name) in a script typeface (like the above) rather than the familiar plain cap letters. And nothing else inside or on the back cover. The disc itself had a white label with no info on it at all, not even the album title.

Needless to say, I immediately played it through from start to finish and thoroughly kvelled. I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard, and my opinion has not changed substantially since then.

I should also add that said copy of the album would fetch quite a pretty penny on the collector's market today, but needless to say I gave it away to somebody -- I forget who -- years ago.

Yes, I'm not just old, I'm an idiot. 😎😎

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Urban Hellhole" Edition

So I originally did a version of this in 2008(!), back when the world and this blog were young, and if you had told me then that our noble republic would someday be in the hands of a demented short-fingered vulgarian with a vocabulary of approximately 700 words and the emotional maturity of a toddler, I would have suggested you were fucking high.

In any event, it turned out to be true, which is one of the reasons (i.e., I'm really exhausted coping) I've recyled it now. It also seems newly relevant, given that the aforementioned SFV is -- post his occupation of our nation's capitol -- now threatening to send Federal troops into other liberal cities, specifically including the Big Apple.

Hey -- good luck with that one, Donny. To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca -- "There are certain sections of New York, shithead, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."

Which leads us, inexorably, to the subject of today's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Beatles Pop/Rock/Folk/Soul song/record about/referencing New York City and environs in the title or lyrics is...???

Okay, no arbitrary rules here, but if you nominate any version of "New York, New York" I will come to your house and kill you AND your family. Sorry.

Obviously, NY-themed songs are almost too numerous to mention, but in case you're wondering, my fave(s) is a tie between...

...and...

As you may recall, Fear was a band much beloved of John Belushi, and the song above holds a special place in my heart because they performed it during their legendary SNL appearance, at which they almost literally brought the house down (a story I'll perhaps retell on another occasion).

As for the Tradewinds record, hell -- what could be a more poignant existential dilemma than being the only living surfer boy in New York? 😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend everybody!!!