British Invasion

I hated Sunday afternoons—as a teenager I worked all alone in a small grocery store cleaning windows and washing floors. But I was able to blast my portable radio as loud as I wanted. One Sunday afternoon I was listening to Chicago radio station WLS or WCFL but for some reason I changed stations. I [...]

Jerry Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)

Legendary song writer/producer Jerry Leiber, one of the most important figures in the history of rhythm and blues and rock & roll, died yesterday of cardio pulmonary failure at the age of 78. Leiber, along with partner Mike Stoller, shared a deep love of black music and were staunch proponents of Rhythm and Blues in [...]

Retroflections: Carole King

Let’s go back to the early Sixties when Doo-Wop was finishing a long run as a staple on the pop charts. Young male artists such as Bobby Vee, Sam Cooke, and Ricky Nelson were being idolized while the “Girl Groups” were all the rage with the Shirelles, Crystals and Ronettes sharing their troubles with boys. [...]

O’Hara sings Bacharach/David

Incredible performance of this 1968 Bacharach-David Broadway tune by Jill O’Hara. No doubt that O’Hara is in charge…impeccable power, perfect phrasing, timing, diction, vulnerability and that Voice! Masterful lyrics by one of the greatest lyricists of our time–Hal David.

Bits and Pieces

Creepiest song on my i-Pod? Hands down gotta be Table Top Joe by Tom Waits. Tom’s in rare form–his voice is as smooth as ground asphalt. Even if I couldn’t decipher what Tom is singing about this song still would creep me out. But I’ve been a Tom Waits fan for quite some time so [...]

My Jukebox

Drop the coin right into the slot You’re gotta hear somethin’ that’s really hot –School Days Chuck Berry The jukebox is of one of the great symbols of the Golden Age of Rock and Roll. From precocious youngster to prepubescent teenager-wannabe, I was drawn to jukeboxes like Eloi were drawn to Morlocks. If my mother [...]

Unplanned occurrences and subsequent thoughts

Yes it really has been seven years since ABKCO released the remastered Rolling Stones catalog.  And it has been over two years since I last consumed a hot, heaping portion of Mick and company.  Not sure what got the Stones’ Jones awakened in me but I just finished hosting my own, private,  week-long Stones-a-thon.  What a [...]

It was 30 years ago today…

(12/8/10) It was 30 years ago today… It is very difficult for me to revisit the night of December 8,1980.  I’ll be brief. John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his New York City apartment building on the night  of December 8, 1980, at approximately 10:50 pm. Lennon and his wife, [...]

Cliff’s First Post!

Welcome Good Golly Miss Molly!

Good Golly! Miss Molly! She swears she can’t play guitar but I know I heard a few power chords emanating from the storage area a few days ago. It was Molly but that’s just her way. When I think of Molly the word unassuming immediately comes to mind. When I first told Molly about our [...]