Come over to the dark side. We have music. A deep dive into a few numbers you might have missed so far on your journey through life. 1: “Midnight Man” by The James Gang 2: “Starless” by the Unthanks 3: “Ach heile mich” by Cassiber 4: “Opening Theme” by Morte Macabre 5: “Gotta Go” by Bud Shank 6: “Night Life” by Ray Price 6a: “Repent Walpurgis” by Procol…

Celebrating the Survivors

When our beloved musicians die, we feel bereft because we know we’ll never hear anything new from them. An archivist may discover some buried treasure, but that’s not the same…

What I wish I had known when I started college. Or maybe not. — Plethora of Pop’s most recent challenge “Songs for your back-to-school playlist” may be one if its fruitful, given the senior superlative responses (original challenge). What would school (at any level) be like without a selection of songs to help us survive the experience? In my case, it’s an “if only…

Can you spot the best bargain from these three LPs? — A new series for vinyl lovers. Think of it as “American Pickers” for records rather than rusty motorbikes. I’ll profile some of my finds and challenge you to pick the one you think would fetch more $$$ (using Discogs as a rough guideline). Post your guess and your reasons in…

An original and two covers — a Rate a Record Challenge — It may be that Chic’s “At Last I Am Free” from their monumental C’Est Chic album can’t be improved on. But it can be transformed. As a Rate-a-Record judge, how do you compare the original with these two covers? (Rating system below, but in this case feel free to free…

It’s worse than current news stories may have suggested. — By pretending to be inspirational, Florida’s K12 African American History curriculum trivializes the progress toward an egalitarian society that African Americans and others have achieved. Correcting a few controversial passages with no other remediation may in fact worsen the distortions by concealing the pervasive falsehoods that would survive.

Dion, John Stewart, Paul Winter: Rate a Record challenge — “Easy to be hard” in these turbulent times, but there’s another way. Music can give us hope. Three songs that might do that. (If you’re an idealist, have a box of tissues handy. If you’re a cynic, have a box of tissues handy.) Dion, “Abraham, Martin, and John” Didn’t you…

Manic mountain music from 1949 — Bluegrass music has been undergoing a revival over the last few decades, but the revivalists seem to have overlooked a unique, genre-bending performance from 1946, “Shoot the Turkey Buzzard,” by J. E. Mainer and his Mountaineers. …