La Fin de la Semiane Essay Question: Special "Authentic Frontier Gibberish" Edition

Oh sweet jeebus, is there nothing this senile cretin and the moronic courtiers around him won't insult our intelligence with?

From the NY Times:

Touring Kennedy Center, Trump Mused on His Childhood ‘Aptitude for Music’

“I have a high aptitude for music,” he said at one point, according to people at the meeting. “Can you believe that?”

Asked about the anecdote, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, did not directly address it but said that the president “is a virtuoso and his musical choices represent a brilliant palette of vibrant colors when others often paint in pale pastels.” Mr. Cheung said that, given Mr. Trump’s roles as president and Kennedy Center chair, “there is nobody more uniquely qualified to bring this country, and its rich history of the arts, back to prominence.”

Words fail me.

Okay, that off my chest, let me assuage your anxieties by noting that there will be nothing but actual music posting (mostly about new stuff) next week, honest. Cross my geriatric heart.

And that brings us right along to today's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/country/folk/soul/doo-wop/novelty song featuring nonsense (i.e. meaningless) syllables in its title or lyrics is...?

No arbitrary rules -- obviously, what would be the point? 😎

In any case, here's my three faves.

Okay, the Beatles song is sort of a cheat, in that it actually has an important subtext -- in ways that back in the day nobody in the States quite understood (you can read about it HERE). But I still think it fits today's criteria. And hey, it's my blog, so I get the goddamned decisions -- wanna make something of it? 😎😎

I should also add, and for the record, that the Capris thing makes me absolutely swoon. Also: David Seville was a fucking genius.

Alrighty, then -- what would your choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Celebrity Joni Mitchell Impressions (An Occasional Series)

From just the other day, please enjoy charming millenial movie star Amanda Seyfried (and Her Magic Dulcimer©), as she essays Mitchell's classic "California" on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

(The music starts at the 3:58 mark if you want to skip the usual show-biz banter leading up to it.)

But seriously -- that's quite impressive. That kid can really sing.

I mean, yeah, it's not as good as Robert Downey Jr. covering "River" (on Ally McVeal, in 2000)...

...but what is? 😎

Jesse Colin Young 1941 - 2025

From their eponymous 1967 debut album (but actually recorded in 1966), please behold in breathless wonder the aforementioned JCY, with The Youngbloods, and his folk-rock/power pop/Brill building masterpiece "Tears Are Falling."

Long time readers are aware that I'm a humongous fan of the original (with Jerry Corbitt, the Lennon to Young's McCartney) pre-hippie incarnation of the Youngbloods; I am firmly of the belief that their first three LPs are among the absolute finest of their era.

I should add that they were an absolutely awesome live band, and it is a major cultural tragedy that no in-concert recording of them from their glory days has survived.

I should also add that I saw them at the Cafe au Go Go (a quintessential small NYC jazz club going rock) in late 1966, and they sounded exactly -- I mean EXACTLY -- like the stuff from the debut album. Which is to say, just like the song above.

Freaking amazing, and in large part because of Jesse's superb bass playing and his tensile high tenor(?) vocals.

Hey, as I've been saying a lot lately -- this death shit is really starting to piss me off.

Just an Old-Fashioned Drug Song...

Okay, I'm pretty sure you've never seen or heard "White Rabbit" done quite this way.

I was unfamiliar with those kids until I chanced across the above yesterday, but I gotta tell you -- that's one of the greatest things in the history of things.

I mean, I think I want to marry the fiddle player, which is a phrase I never expected to be using at any point in my life, let alone now. 😎

Also: the rabbit suit in the back is absolutely priceless.

Aww...These Guys Are Such Sentimental Romantic Old Fluffs!!!

From their fab and gear/just released new album Dumb It Down, please enjoy veteran NYC punkish power popsters The Rabies and their charmingly melodic (and obviously timely) valentine to an "Adderall Girl."

I was previously unaware of these guys, but it turns out that -- apart from being the auteurs of a lot of wonderful music -- they're quite an interesting story.

The short version: The band (the members of whom had known each other since kindergarten) first got together musically in 1981, and they were ubiquitous at CBGBs and on the college punk circuit; they also released a couple of 7" singles, including (in 1982) the fabulous ("My Girl's a) Hologram." After failing, alas, to conquer the world, they got on with their lives and went their seperate musical ways. Staying in touch as friends, however.

Cut to the 21st Century: Upon discovering that original copies of "Hologram" were going for two hundered bucks on Discogs, they wisely reunited, and eventually decided to record the (almost) new album in question (comprised of recently written originals, except for the aforementioned 80s version of "Hologram," which leads it off).

I should add that said album, which is one of the most exciting aural experiences I've had with my clothes on so far this year, was actually mastered at legendary Abbey Road studios. Which is, you'll have to admit, pretty fucking cool for a bunch of aging snot-nosed punks. 😎

Anyway, you can find out more about the guys at their Bandcamp page OVER HERE, and from whence, of course, you can stream/purchase the entirety of Dumb It Down (and some swell older recorded efforts) in digital form.

More important, while you're over there, you can also order a copy of the actual 12-inch vinyl version of the new album...

...an artifact which is quite as rewarding as you'd suspect, I'll tell you that for free. 😎😎

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "I Can't Give It Away on Seventh Avenue" Edition

[I originally did a Weekend Listomania on this topic back in (egad) 2009, and I probably did something similar more recently, but I'm too lazy to do the research. In any case, given our current troubling times -- specifically the misadventures of Eric Adams, the latest in Fun City's run of inexplicably awful Democratic(!) mayors, it struck me as newly relevant. In any case, enjoy. -- S.S.]

And speaking, as we were in today's title, of that great moral philosopher Michael Phillip Jagger -- who amongst us has not at some point been moved by his poignant cry "Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots!"?

Which brings us to today's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Beatles rock/pop/soul/country/folk song referencing (either directly or by implication) New York City and its environs is...????

I haven't got a least, but my favorite? It's a tie, and don't gimme any of that Alicia Keys shit or I'll come to your house and shove a BLT in your kisser.

The Dion song, of course, is from his epochal 1989 Yo Frankie comeback(!) album (produced by Dave Edmunds). And let's be honest -- as you can hear from it, Mr. DiMucci may be the best single motherfucking singer ever to come out of those aforementioned pavements.

As for The Trade Winds -- c'mon. There's never been anything funnier than a hit record/blues lament for a surfer transplanted to NYC.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

It's Feline Thursday: Special "Your Cat is Born Toulouse" Edition

Attentive readers will recall that, back in January, I sang (albeit not literally) the praises of "synth-driven power-poppers" (from Seattle, Chicago and Vancouver) Autogramm and their spectacularly fab new single "Born Losers."

Hey -- what can I tell you, I'm a sucker for a guy in a Yeti suit.

But now, as they used to say -- sounds so nice, let's do it twice! And this time, with a pussy!!! 😎

Okay, in case you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's their even newer (yet equally fab) single "Randy."

Take it away, guys!

"Randy” was originally slated to be released as part of their latest album Music That Humans Can Play, but was omitted as the subject of the lyrics became inaccurate. Being a self described “cat band” they naturally -- after some deliberation -- decided to re-record the vocals and dedicate the content of the lyrics to their drummer’s cat, Randy.

Autogramm drummer The Silo explains the lyrics he penned for the song.

"It's a letter to a good friend, in need of a little confidence push. Everyone needs an ego boost sometimes. Even if they’re a cat.” Listeners will delight in lines like “If you think you wanna jump up on that countertop, well baby you’ve got the tools. The world’s looking for a pretty cool dude, and maybe that dude is you.”

“Randy” will remind listeners of Devo, with tick-tack rhythms, motorik basslines and a quirky bounce that subtly points to influences like The Dead Milkmen and The Cars. Guitarist Lars Von Seattle aptly describes the new release as, “Nuevo juevo punk pop for allergic feline lovers. Blazing guitars, squiggly synths, bumping bass, and deftly thrashing drums collide in a spirit of uplift for the irrepressible Randy in all of us”.

Okay, that's a freaking riot on every level, I think.

In any case, you can hear more from those guys, plus order/stream the above stuff, over at their Bandcamp page HERE. .

Wednesday’s Cartoon Chuckle

Heh.

Actual music postings resume tomorrow.

Assuming the forthcoming Trumpian economic catastrophe -- i.e., The Tesla Chainsaw Massacre© -- fails to materialize.

Cross my heart. 😎

Your Tuesday Moment of How Cool is That?

From a 1992 rehearsal for I'm not quite sure what event, please enjoy George Harrison and company and a rollickingly wonderful update of the Revolver classic "Taxman."

As I said, I don't know what the occasion of that was -- the footage apparently derives from MTV -- but it's an absolutely delightful performance.

The musicians, however, seem identifiable. The white-haired bass player would seem to be Will Lee (then of the David Letterman Show band); the drummer is likely Steve Ferrone (then of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) and the guitar player -- having the seeming time of his life imitating the original Harrison solos -- is obviously the great Mike Campbell (whose guaranteed to be fascinating autobiography, I should add, will be available over at Amazon next week).

In any event, just fabulous.

Coming tomorrow: Actual new music by a band that isn't world famous!!!

[h/t Jai Guru Dave]

Okay, How Did I Miss This One?

From their 1998 Mermaid Avenue, please enjoy the inspired coupling(heh!) of Billy Bragg and Wilco that is "California Stars."

In case, like me, you apparently slept through the late 90s, Mermaid Avenue is comprised of previously unheard lyrics to uncompleted songs by Woody Guthrie, with Bragg and Wilco providing contemporary musical accompaniments.

The deal is that this came on the sound system while lunching at my local watering hole the other day and it blew me away, both strictly as music and when I found out who was responsible. Seriously -- I practically fell off my bar stool (no, I wasn't drinking) when the artist credits came up on Shazam.

I should also add that if "California Stars," in this iteration, doesn't strike you as quite ineffably moving, then you're obviously having more psychological trouble coping with the depressing realities of life during The Pee-Wee Hitler© administration that you've yet come to grips with. 😎