Lyric Of The Day #1 (January 30, 2020)

The roller-coaster ride we took is nearly at an end

I bought my ticket with my tears, that's all I'm gonna spend

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxRfbJvjsN8

 

This one was co-written by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers and Paul Simon. It was turned into a big hit (#2 on Billboard’s Hot 100) in 1966 by a band from Easton, Pennsylvania, which is often unfairly labeled as a one-hit wonder.

Lyric Of The Day Intro

New feature for the new decade – I’m planning to occasionally post song lyrics (one or more lines, not entire songs) that struck me for one reason or another.

LP #26 Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing (1997)

This one came close to making my original list, but I basically just ran out of room. Although critical reaction was mixed, McLachlan certainly deserves all of the airplay and album sales that Surfacing produced. While the more uptempo tunes such as “Adia” and “Sweet Surrender” are fine, she’s at her best when she’s at her most ethereal, as with “Angel”, “Witness”, and “Full Of Grace”. As it happens, I also picked up her previous album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (good, but not as consistent in terms of material) and her follow-up effort Afterglow (which unfortunately didn’t do much for me at all).
 

Favorite tracks:

 

Angel

Do What You Have To Do

Witness

Building A Mystery

Full Of Grace

More Favorite Albums

As was the case earlier with songs, I decided that 25 favorite albums (plus 5 favorite live albums) weren’t enough. I also needed a new musical project for the year, although I’m already running behind with it.

 

So, I’ll be singing the praises of 15 more albums, starting with #26 and going through #40. Again, to spread the love around, only one album per artist, and those that appeared on the previous album lists aren’t eligible for this one.

Can Facebook and our democracy co-exist?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/24/facebook-is-inflaming-divides-tearing-democratic-party/

 

A couple of key quotes:

 

The volume and viciousness of the memes — portraying Warren (D-Mass.) as a snake, a backstabber and a liar — reflect how Facebook identifies and rewards emotionally charged content to generate reactions from its billions of users. That serves the company’s ad-driven business model, which equates engagement with profit. But it also, in the view of experts who study Facebook’s effect on political speech, distorts democratic debate by confirming biases, sharpening divisions and elevating the glib visual logic of memes over reasoned discussion.

 

Facebook’s “algorithm not only aggregates people, it activates people in a way that accentuates extremism,” said George Washington University professor Steven Livingston, director of the university’s Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics. “It inflames passions. It inflames the nature of the discourse.”

 

And:

 

[Trump’s] campaign aides have credited Facebook with his victory in 2016, when he poured money into advertising on the platform while also using organic posts on social media to speak directly to his followers, who responded with a torrent of posts backing him and lacerating his opponents.

Shuffle #128 (January 25, 2020)

The Guitar – They Might Be Giants

One Fine Wire – Colbie Caillat

Coyote – Joni Mitchell

You Ain’t Thinking (About Me) – Sonia Dada

The Land Of Milk And Honey – The Vogues

Food For Songs – Del Amitri

Son Of Your Father – Elton John

Southland In The Springtime – Indigo Girls

Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder

Richard Thompson – The Birchmere, 1/22/2020

Table 319 – the leftmost of the tables that are parallel to the stage and just in front of the divider. Only drawback was that it was extremely difficult to stand for ovations.

 

I’ve said plenty about Richard Thompson on other occasions, so I won’t go into great detail here. There were 22 songs over about 105 minutes. While there was no opening act, Zara Phillips joined him to sing harmony on the final five songs of the main set (“Wall Of Death”, followed by four tunes from his more recent albums) and the last two encores. Hit-wise, the show was very much front-loaded; 6 of his first 7 selections appear on my list of 20 RT favorites.

 

Personal highlights: I Misunderstood (which opened the show), the relatively seldom-performed Walking The Long Miles Home (with a great story about what he’d have to do as a boy in order to stay until the end of shows by The Who), Crocodile Tears, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, plus two great (and apparently new) songs: If I Could Live My Life Again, and When The Saints Rise Out Of Their Graves (the final encore)

 

Setlist

The Hot Sardines – Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, 1/17/2020

Table 101, Seat 2  

 

A couple friends of mine had recommended this hot-jazz-revival band, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed by their show Friday evening in Annapolis, in front of a large, appreciative crowd. They opened their two-hour set with a lively “I Love Paris” (effectively an homage to frontwoman-singer Elizabeth Bougerol’s native country), closed with “Caravan” (featuring a percussion duet between drummer David Berger and tapper extraordinaire A.C. Lincoln), and encored with “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”. Other highlights included Sophie Tucker’s signature song “Some Of These Days”, the Fats Waller classic “Your Feet’s Too Big” (a critical factor in the formation of the band), “Lulu's Back in Town” (with trombonist Todd Londagin showing a few tap moves of his own), and “Here You Are Again” (a charming C&W-flavored tune penned by Bougerol).

 

The band did have a few recent obstacles to overcome, most notably a skiing accident by pianist and co-leader Evan Palazzo. (Bougerol described the incident as Palazzo going “ass over teakettle”.) She also thanked the Rams Head staff for a last-minute trip to Home Depot to purchase a large-enough sheet of plywood for Lincoln to display all of his moves; their initial request for something for someone doing “seated percussion” had yielded a platform that she compared to the size of the venue’s menus.

Shuffle #127 (January 12, 2020)

Bustin’ Loose – Chuck Brown

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman – Carole King

Hung On You – The Righteous Brothers

Those Will Be The Good Old Days – The Dreamlovers

Just A Little Bit Better – Herman’s Hermits

Your Song – Elton John

I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water – Lou Rawls

She’s Always A Woman – Owen Danoff

Time To Be Planting Again – Leslie Eliel

Shuffle #126 (January 4, 2020)

Omaha – Counting Crows

House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals

16 Candles – The Crests

Gypsy Woman – Brian Hyland

King Of The World – Steely Dan

It’s Hard To Believe – The Impressions

I’m Still Standing – Elton John

I’m Gonna Be Strong – Gene Pitney

Pushover – Etta James

Plastic Flowers – Don McMinn

Violet Hill -- Coldplay