Louis Armstrong “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans”
Satchmo posed the enduring question: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Can you conjure the sound of the Streetcar clickety-clacking it’s way up St. Charles Avenue? Could you spend hours listening to a brass band play both in a crowded club on Frenchmen Street or sitting alone in Jackson Square? Do you... Read More
Kermit Ruffins “Drop Me Off In New Orleans”
As part of their 2018 series marking the tricentennial of the city of New Orleans and highlighting “300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans”, The Times-Picayune, the city’s local newspaper, ran a feature on beloved local trumpeter... Read More
The Meters “Cissy Strut” (1969)
If you like New Orleans music, you surely owe something to The Meters. If you enjoy funk music, you undoubtedly owe a lot to The Meters. And if you revel in New Orleans funk music, well, you pretty much owe it all to The Meters. This is the... Read More
Jim Pepper ‘Witchi Tai To’ (1971)
Freshman year of college two of my friends disappeared one day to some record store, and returned later with a few offbeat choices: “German Drinking Songs,” “Gregorian Chants,” and “Music Of The American Indian.” I think the three of them cost a dollar combined, and they probably overpaid, but we sat in their dorm room...... Read More
Gregg Allman “My Only True Friend”
The Midnight Rider's final ride: with "My Only True Friend" Gregg Allman wrote his own farewell song.... Read More
My Morning Jacket “I’m Amazed” (2008)
During my years working at Madison Square Garden, I’d occasionally be passing through the arena during the day for one reason or another, and once in a while I caught some pretty cool behind-the-scenes stuff. One of the coolest of those that I can remember was basically witnessing the actual moment a band was seeing...... Read More
Still with Weezer, none the wiser
These are very confusing times to be a Weezer fan... Read More
Rolling Stones “Dead Flowers” (1971)
There’s a lot of talk nowadays about what’s “real” country music. Personally, my views fall pretty much in line with a righteous fellow named Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos, whose website “Saving Country Music” has been around for over 10 years, and whose mission seems pretty self-explanatory (clue: It starts with something like Waylon & Willie, not...... Read More
The Mavericks “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” (1995)
I’d be hard pressed to come up with a song that has a greater disparity between its dreadfully dour lyrics and the unmitigated joy of its music than this one. While singer and bandleader Raul Malo is crooning the oft-repeated depressing title line, he’s also leading his band through one of the happiest... Read More
The Kinks “Better Things” (1981)
It seems to me the turning of the annual calendar means not only the onset of a new year but the inherent wish, whether recent times have been good or bad, for things to get better. And on that theme there are many good songs from which to choose, but some are just, well, better...... Read More