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 Queen Ida Guillory, Creole accordionist, b. 1/15/1929. Gavin Bryars, subversive post-minimalist composer, b. 1/16/1943.

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…

A somewhat challenging Rate-a-Record challenge — Whenever the subject of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes up in a discussion here on Medium, I feel like the ugly bridesmaid cursing into my pink champagne about the disappointing opportunity for a romance that I’ve just witnessed at the Hahira Second Baptist Church sanctuary. It’s not that the Queen megahit…

A challenging Plethora of Pop Rate-a-Record challenge — Three very different interpretations of a 1945 song (one of which has eclipsed the original as a timeless classic and the other of which is yet to be discovered). I’m uploading these versions not to pit one against another, but to show how much variety can be mined from a…

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? …

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.