Carl

November Spawned a Monster

It was big news when Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize For Literature. But since the announcement on October 13, there has been no word from Dylan. One of the most laconic men in entertainment, it's no surprise that Dylan didn't gush over this. His silence is making a statement and stirring discussion in the same way his songs have done for decades. He doesn't need yet another award to secure his legacy, so there's no onus on him to accept or even acknowledge it, which becomes a fine bit of performance art and a great sociological experiment: Can you blame a guy for snubbing an award he didn't ask for? Does he have a stack of emails to get through before he gets to that one? After this plays out, maybe he'll write a song about it.

Otherwise known as "kinda Yes". John Anderson gave us a great interview a few years ago where it became clear that the songs still hold deep connections for him, and performing them is a way for him to relive the journey with the audience. That's what he did when I saw ARW on Friday night. It was like re-reading a really good book and remembering those lessons learned. Rabin was a driving force in '80s Yes, so "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" got an extended play. That's one of the songs Jon doesn't have much affinity for, but musically, it served its purpose. Now that James Brown is no longer with us, Rick Wakeman is probably the only guy who can earnestly wear a cape even before Halloween (he is after all, a keyboard wizard). Not a great photo, but what he's wearing in this shot stayed on for the whole show.

Been giving this a shot. It's got a big budget and some clever plot lines, but having a hard time distinguishing it from every other time-travel show ever made.

Interesting. That city has had some major restructuring. I think the monorail is still there.

This is the kind of show that ages well, since the music is, we'll say, refined. Heard lots of great things about ELO shows over the last few years. Great to see them still going strong.

I heard that as a message to fans about their ticket prices.

Looks like a comment in our "Tusk" Songfacts set off a feud between the marching bands at the University of Alabama and USC. The LA Times quotes it in this story: http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-usc-alabama-tusk-20160826-snap-story.html The USC band played on the track back in 1979 and it has been part of their culture ever since. But about 10 years ago, Alabama started playing it regularly, since their mascot is an elephant (usually rendered without tusks, however), and they're located in Tuscaloosa. Well, they battle in football on September 3, so there could be showdown among the bands as well. More in the "Tusk" Songfacts.

David Bowie won an MTV Video Music Award last night, taking Best Art Direction for "Blackstar." Of the nominees, he was the only one who used a full name: Drake Fergie Beyoncé Adele

And I'll raise you Les Paul doing "Mack The Knife."

A friend of mine works at Dick's Sporting Goods. She did this today. And yes, she's a Giants fan.

Alex Rodriguez then

Thinking of songs for a new category: Broken Dreams. Any ideas?

Wow. 200 years is a long time at the bottom of a lake.

I'm in.

Touch me in the morning Then just walk away

Obama is going to go down as having the best taste in music of any president. Some sweet picks on his playlists this year. Some backstory: the White House set up a Spotify account in 2015, and Obama broke it in with two summer playlists: Day and Night. Since then it has been used to make playlists like "Holidays With The Bidens" and "The First Lady's Day Of The Girl." Below are the POTUS Picks, which seem a bit wistful, perhaps because it's his last year in office. (Wonder what will be on President Trump's playlist ). Note the soul classic from Tower of Power, "So Very Hard to Go." Day: LoveHate Thing - Wale Smooth Sailin' - Leon Bridges Elevator Operator - Courtney Barnett Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Many the Miles - Sara Bareilles Tightrope - Janelle Monáe Classic Man - Jidenna So Ambitious - Jay Z feat. Pharrell Me Gustas Tu - Manu Chao Forever Begins - Common The Man - Aloe Blacc As We Enter - Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley Sinnerman - Nina Simone U Got the Look - Prince Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin Good Vibrations - Beach Boys Don't Owe You A Thang - Gary Clark Jr. Man Like That - Gin Wigmore II B.S. (edit) - Charles Mingus Night: If I Have My Way - Chrisette Michele Espera - Esperanza Spalding Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville Alright - Ledisi Trapped By A Thing Called Love - Denise LaSalle Lady - D'Angelo So Very Hard to Go - Tower of Power Midnight Sun - Carmen McCrae Cucurrucucú Paloma - Caetano Veloso Green Aphrodisiac - Corinne Bailey Rae I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need - Mary J. Blige / Method Man Lover Man - Billie Holiday Criminal - Fiona Apple Acid Rain - Chance the Rapper My Funny Valentine - Miles Davis Do You Feel Me - Anthony Hamilton I Get Lonely - Janet Jackson Lean In - Lizz Wright All Day Music - War Say Yes - Floetry

He insists that the wall be 800 feet high. It is built, but the weight of it collapses the border with Mexico, and both countries cave in. This displaces the oceans, and rising waters flood all remaining land masses. Name a sport that should be in the Olympics, but isn't.

Sounds good Kevin. Please post the info here, since I'm not sure Yahoo will tell me.

Wow. That's a few years ahead of its time.

There have been many moments during the Rio Olympics where I've had to hit pause and go back to see if what I just saw really happened... in the commercials. Like this one for Xfinity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XrECRcPZU Xfinity is a giant American cable company that everyone uses because there's really no other choice. Their customer service is designed to make you hang up in frustration, thus solving the problem on their end. This commercial uses "Everything Is Awesome," re-sung with "everything is cool when you're part of a team" altered to "everything is cool when you're watching a screen." The song is from the Lego Movie, where evil Lord Business keeps the citizens of Bricksburg mollified by making sure this is the only song they hear: Have you heard the news, everyone's talking Life is good 'cause everything's awesome Lost my job, it's a new opportunity More free time for my awesome community By promising to transfix us to our screens, Xfinity is making a similar offer. Not sure if they get the irony. If they do and are pushing this anyway, that's scary. Then there's Brad Paisley and Rachel Platten singing for Nationwide in separate commercials. Each of them gets lots of tight shots and are titled at the beginning, as if the insurance giant is saying, "Yes, really. These people are singing our jingle." There is a feeling of satire here, with lyrics like (Paisley's version): Made the most of your retirement plan So better learn to drive that RV van It sure isn't Platten's "Fight Song" - more of her "Cash In" song. Just when we get used to "Dream On" in the commercial where the Skittles talk to Steven Tyler, the song shows up again in this very earnest spot for Walmart, where we see hard-working people getting ready for their day. What are they "dreaming on" about? Apparently, having a job and making enough money to get by. At the end, we finally see how it's supposed to tie in: Ah yes. The American dream. Now we get it. Queen has two songs going. This one reworking the Flash Gordon theme: And this one that plays on our fears of running out of storage space just as we were about to get the perfect shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEK37MBTUPk Finally, there's this one for the venerable McNugget, which is now well into the second generation: This is beautifully executed, with a great cover of "Time After Time" and a nice reveal as we learn that the guy on the left the girl's dad. It's very sweet, but we still have to wonder what used to be in those nuggets. "Time After Time" was co-written by a terrific musician named Rob Hyman, who was a member of The Hooters. He told us about the song a long time ago in one of our first songwriter interviews. Always happy when someone like that gets a nice payday.

Probably no "convenience fee" either. Of course, we bought albums back then.

Cool. He had great theme music. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Tim Urban came to my town tonight. Not the guy who does the Ted talks, but the fellow who finished seventh on American Idol Season 9 (the one with Ellen DeGeneres). I always wonder what it's like to be an Idol contestant who didn't make it big. In Tim's case, the show was all gravy. He auditioned to shut up his friends, and somehow made his way to the Top 10. This got him on the Idol tour, which took him all over America. It's a triumph of expectations. He seemed thrilled to be playing our little town, and did a terrific set. He's got a bunch of brothers and sisters (two in the military) and apparently they all play music. One of his sisters (Abby, I think) joined him on stage a few times. Was good to see someone in it for the love of the game.

Just learned that Penny Lane from Almost Famous is a real person, but her name is really spelled Pennie Lane: https://pennielane.com/