Carl

Here's our L list David: http://www.songfacts.com/browse-song-l-1.php

Looks like one of the YouTube comments named it. Which might be the first time a YouTube comment was useful.

I have a typewriter, and my daughter uses it. Good for them to make the connection between pushing a key and having something appear on paper. Someday, we'll be explaining cars that you have to actually drive.

We're still active Thomas, just not as active as we were in 2006. Happy to have you here.

Putting together Roger's interview with Darlene Love, where she talks about how being a backup singer can be a good career move, even today. That got me thinking about some of the singers who made the leap from singing backup to becoming superstars. The biggest names I can think of are: Mariah Carey, who was a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr. Sheryl Crow, who sang backup for Michael Jackson. Who are some others?

In March 2016, Alanis Morissette realized there was something a little off with her accounting. She fired her business manager and discovered that he stole about $4.8 million from her since 2009, using the money to pay for vacations and gambling debts. A good reminder that if a financial professional tells you you're "fine," check the books. Here's the lawsuit, which also names her manager's company, a firm that probably deals with lots of big names: http://documents.latimes.com/alanis-morissette-v-gso-business-management-jonathan-schwartz/ A few days ago, a settlement was reached with the manager admitting he stole not just the Morissette money, but about $2 million from other clients as well. Proof that financial firms don't keep tabs on their employees, even when they're in charge of millions. It appears that Alanis got her money back. I'm just disappointed that in none of the articles did it mention how the manager had one hand in her pocket.

Dean Torrence (Jan & Dean) k b

Well said.

Never knew skulduggery was a real word. Gotta start using it.

There have been a lot of these entire album tours lately, but I don't think you'll ever again see a group with all original members doing a 30-year-old album.

stomping the other

Granted (we're working on it). That guy who was here a lot in 2006 can post all the reasons you're wrong about pretty much everything. I wish I was taller.

Sweet. We all know someone who is now working as an actuary or some other upstanding corporate profession who every now and then mentions his old band. This is that band.

Good call Ron. Got this in the (e)mail today, which I thought was somehow appropriate for the New Year.

Gonna check this out now Shawna. I didn't know horses were killed. That's awful.

Trevor Immelmann (golfer) PW

It's not quite the same, but after you've had your Twilight Zone fix, check out Black Mirror on Netflix. Or just read the news. It's just as surreal.

We're getting a little inured to this by now, but we've lost another great, as George Michael is reported dead at age 53. He's been out of the public eye for a while, so it's easy to forget how big his footprint was on both the charts and the culture. In America, he hit #1 with Wham! (three times), as a solo artist (five times), and in duets with Aretha Franklin ("I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)") and Elton John ("Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"). He was an even bigger deal on his home turf; the most-played artist on British radio from 1984-2004. Michael's music could be sublime, tinged with a kind of gospel that hits you when you're ready for it. An entire TV series was built on this premise: Eli Stone. Gonna watch it again.

"Monsters Holiday" by Bobby Pickett. It's a rarely heard clone of "Monster Mash" that somehow ended up on the playlist of this wacky internet station I'm listening to.

The Hall and Oates video they made for that one was nearly a career killer.

Good to see a Cheers reference. Those don't show much these days.

"The Japanese is ungrateful - like a stray dog on the street." Great sign of the times.

Greg Lake was quite the visionary, always pushing boundaries and adhering to absurdly high standards. I got to interview him three years ago in one of those discussions that ended up being about much more than songs and songwriting. He got what I was going for: How do you think? (my M.O. in pretty much every interview). The hard part for him was never writing riffs or hitting the notes, it was "fluffing out the inspiration." This means not only finding inspiration, but sustaining it, which is where the work comes in. He and Pete Sinfield spent three months gutting out "Closer to Believing," his side on the Works, Volume 1 ELP album. OK, so there's the relentless drive, but where does the inspiration come from in the first place? "Inspiration really comes from a desire to share or to give." That's the most concrete answer I've ever heard to this rather ineffable question. So, there's the formula: take an interest in others, find your inspiration and work tirelessly to bring your idea to completion without compromise. Here's the full interview with Greg Lake. He was quite the raconteur, with some great stories about shooting the "I Believe In Father Christmas" video in the desert, and the time a rogue fireworks display gave them a scare.

Cool. Because he was on that Ben Stein show. Jimmy Fallon