As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Anyone can boycott the Beijing Olympics. Everyone should.

Monday, January 31, 2022

The Marvelettes

This year I decided to periodically spotlight some other musical artists whom I like for one reason or another. Admittedly, I’m doing this at least in part because #ILikeMakingLists (see below). I decided to start with the Marvelettes so I could also pay belated tribute to Wanda Young, who died last December. While they were never as commercially successful as The Supremes or Martha & The Vandellas, they did have the distinction of having Motown’s first #1 hit on the Hot 100 with “Please Mr. Postman” in 1961. That song, along with other early singles such as “Beechwood 4-5789”, put them squarely in the mold of that era’s other “girl groups”, such as The Ronettes, The Shirelles, and The Chiffons. Their sound did evolve later in the decade, when they hit the top 20 with hits such as “Don’t Mess With Bill” and “My Baby Must Be A Magician.”

 

Favorite songs:

Forever

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game

Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead

Strange I Know

Beechwood 4-5789

When You’re Young And In Love

My Baby Must Be A Magician

Please Mr. Postman

Don’t Mess With Bill

Playboy

 

Sunday, January 30, 2022

The only outrage in the Hall of Fame voting? How many people voted for Bonds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/28/barry-bonds-roger-clemens-steroids-hall-fame/

 

John Feinstein’s best column ever, as he totally demolishes all of the justifications advanced for enshrining Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

 

“Baseball does have a character clause on its ballot — unlike, for example, the NFL. If MLB and the Baseball Hall of Fame wanted to remove that clause, they could, but they choose not to do so, for good reason. A Hall of Fame should be about more than numbers; it should be about what a player — or manager or owner or commissioner — meant to the history of the game.”

 

“A Hall of Fame — in any sport — is supposed to be about what is good in that game. It goes beyond numbers. … [T]he steroid cheats damaged the game.”