There Oughtta Be a Law

It's pretty clear that we live in a lawless age. Criminals aren't fighting "the law", just as "crime fighters" aren't fighting crime.You can complain about it or you can celebrate it, but you can't deny it.

Freedom Highway

Rhiannon Giddens is best known as a singer, fiddler and banjo player with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a band that began with the goal of bringing attention to the role that black musicians played in the development of Mountain music, Bluegrass and Blues, old-timey Country and early hot Jazz.

'Freedom Highway' is her second solo album.

It's A Fiddlin' Kind Of Day

Think I'll start things off with some Papa John...

You Got This Shit figgered out? Teach me.

Show me how.

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

The Kinks never got the credit they deserved on this side of the Atlantic, in no small part because they were banned from touring in this country from 1965 to 1969.  Which is too bad, because The Kinks may just be the best band to come out of the Sixties British Invasion.

Yeah, yeah...  I know...  We're all supposed to believe The Beatles were the best band ever, but personally, I find The Kinks' music to be more interesting.  More human, if you will.  More organic.

In 1970, The Kinks returned to the USA with 'Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One', which would definitely make my list of 50 best Rock 'N Roll albums.  Built around a cynical look at the music industry, it was originally meant to be part of a double album but the band never got around to making Part Two.  As Ray Davies said in a 2014 interview, "Lola Versus Powerman… was good versus evil, obviously, and in Volume Two, I sketched out how you become your worst nightmare, how the good man goes so far he becomes the evil person he always fought against. But we had to do another tour, we had the RCA deal, and we had other recording projects that we had to work towards, and it got lost, unfortunately."

But that's okay.  Part One is good enough for me.  Enjoy...

`Blank Generation

Before The Clash and The Sex Pistols there was Richard Hell and The Voidoids, spiking their hair and wearing safety pins as an anti-fashion statement.  Richard and the boys played their first gig on this day in 1976, marking what many believe was the beginning of Punk.

It's What We Do

On this day in 2005, Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Eurythmics are among the honorees inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The second annual show, which takes place in a ceremony at London's Alexandra Palace, features some momentous reunions, including the gathering of the original Kinks and a performance by the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osbourne.

File under the category of "Little known but interesting facts".

Volunteers

Had a request for Jefferson Airplane's 'Volunteers' a few weeks ago.  Took me awhile to find a copy that had decent sound quality but I perservered.

Enjoy.  It's a good 'un.

Rain and Snow

That's the kind of weather we've been getting around here.  Beats the hell out of drought and wildfires. 

Nothin' new 'bout that!

This post has no direction. (Of course it doesn't.)

Spanker Madness

Asylum Street Spankers started out doing covers of old dope songs mixed in with a few originals.  Since my home state had a ballot proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, I thought it would be appropriate to feature one of my favorite Spanker albums.

Don't know if the ballot proposal passed, but it was leading 56.1 to 43.9 the last time I checked.

Because They Hate Us...

Changing our clocks twice a year is associated with increases in highway fatalities and workplace accidents.  It's also associated with an increase in heart attacks and strokes.  What it doesn't do is reduce energy consumption, which is the reason why it was instituted.    

Congress could do away with Daylight Saving Time.  Sometimes, I wonder if they don't repeal it because they hate us.  Or maybe it's just a power trip.  They keep it because they can and there's nothing we can do about it.  

Think about that while you're changing your clocks.    

It's Happening All Around You

If you aren't aware of the theory of a Fourth Turning, you might want to strap on your google glasses and you'll soon see we're in the middle of one. But don't do it tonight.

Instead, strap on your favorite headphones and crank it up, coz we should party like it's 1929.