More than once I've written about performers who were either contemporaries of Buddy Holly or seemed to echo his style in the years following his tragic death in 1959, but there's always room for one more story. Like the tale of singer/songwriter Tommy Roe, who even now continues to entertain fans after a long career … Continue reading Tommy Roe – Beyond Buddy Holly
Category: Retirement
Taking Another Look At The Holiday
I'm still a little behind from the power outage, so thought I'd repost a Memorial Day piece from a few years back. (I've reactivated the music file, too.) -------------------- The Perfect Song For The Holiday Weekend When I think about Memorial Day weekend, all the usual things related to the holiday come to mind -- … Continue reading Taking Another Look At The Holiday
Stay Away, Spider-Man!
I was reading recently about all the problems that have arisen in the attempt to turn Spider-Man into a Broadway musical, and it got me to thinking. Not about Broadway musicals or even superhero movies, but about spiders -- I hate 'em. I think it started when I was a kid. Whenever we visited my … Continue reading Stay Away, Spider-Man!
Zager & Evans Struck Gold With Strange Song
I've always resisted describing a musical act as a 'one-hit wonder'. After all, if someone has the talent and good fortune to have a hit record, it should be applauded, not dismissed because it's a one time deal. And besides that, the label is often mis-applied to artists whose one big song just nudged into … Continue reading Zager & Evans Struck Gold With Strange Song
The Hairy Ape
We haven't had one of those slideshow things for a while, so I thought I'd do one today. As a subject I've picked something near and dear to me -- whiskers. Although I've been relatively clean-shaven for the last few years, for most of my adult life I've had a full beard. (I say 'relatively' … Continue reading The Hairy Ape
June Christy — From Songbird To Cool Jazz Soloist
One of the very best of the singers who successfully managed the transition from big band songbird to solo jazz vocalist was June Christy, whose first high profile job was as the replacement for a future legend. But she would go on to a long and notable career of her own, winning a lot of … Continue reading June Christy — From Songbird To Cool Jazz Soloist
Steve Winwood And The Spencer Davis Group
By the late 1960s I was already a young married man with a family and wasn't really into the popular music of the era, but I was most definitely aware of it, and as time passed I grew to appreciate a lot of it. One of the bands I enjoyed most was a British 'blue-eyed … Continue reading Steve Winwood And The Spencer Davis Group
Toots Thielemans Still Dazzling Fans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016) Although I've written about a lot of musical stars on the ol' GMC, I've always had a special fondness for those who have had long, successful careers and are still doing their thing and doing it well, even at an advanced age. One … Continue reading Toots Thielemans Still Dazzling Fans
Red Sovine – Speaking To Truckers
It's always fun to take a look at those performers who made a specialty of story songs, especially the kind that are sentimental to the point of cheesiness -- which includes most of them, I guess. It's territory I've visited before -- for example, T. Texas Tyler's "Deck of Cards" -- but today's subject is … Continue reading Red Sovine – Speaking To Truckers
Six Degrees Of Who?
Sometimes my ideas for stories on the ol' GMC just naturally flow from earlier posts because so many artists have connections to others. In a way, I guess it's sort of a musical version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon -- or in this case, Blossom Dearie, because when writing about her recently I turned … Continue reading Six Degrees Of Who?
Geezer Music Club 