I “O Superman” might have beenthe strangest pop song I had ever heard in my lifeup to that point. I heard it for the first timethe year after I graduated from high schooland I bought the Big Science album.In ’87, in a fit of stupidity, obsessedover the hot new digital medium for music, I soldContinue reading “#596: A is for Anderson, the Laurie Variety”
Tag Archives: music
#593: A is for A-ha
I I never leave the shrink wrap on an album I’ve purchased, but I left the plastic on this first A-ha album, purchased used within the last several years, because the original price tag was still there, $6.99 new at Tower Records, 1985.I did some thinking about thisrecently, about the price of a new recordContinue reading “#593: A is for A-ha”
#592: A is for Arooj Aftab
I go to a tequila bartonight, not for tequila, but for food, in part because it’s right behind the liquor store, where I reallywant to go, but also becauseI need something to eat. No kitchen. Everything on the food menu is preparedhere inside of an air fryer.I can easily go elsewhere,elsewhere, but for convenienceand economicsContinue reading “#592: A is for Arooj Aftab”
#591: A is for AC/DC
Bon Scott died about six monthsafter the release of Highway to Hell. I was fifteen years old. I loved him, his weirdness, his humor: I loved it when he pretended to keel over at the end of “ShotDown in Flames,” and I loved his rock-uncharacteristic nod to Mork and Mindy at the end of “NightContinue reading “#591: A is for AC/DC”
I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux
Nearly 100 poems ago, I wrote about the desire to listen to every record in my collection from A-Z. This is a bit of a pattern for me, as, more than twelve years ago now, I made a similar claim about my CD collection, that I would like to listen to at least a singleContinue reading “I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux”
#587: A musician of a certain age. . .
. . . sits on his drum throne and bends overto tighten the floor tom legs and the agonyis immediate. He’s not sure if he hears an actual crack or if the pain synapses inhis brain are exploding his auditory nerves. What is most likely is that the pain hascaused him to yell. He’s settingContinue reading “#587: A musician of a certain age. . .”
#575: There Is A Ritual To It
The dance floor is open, she says, and people begin dancing. Sometimes, she doesn’t have to say anything. From the first downbeat people leave their seatsand flock. They don’t even haveto be sure that the music is good. It starts, they begin, as if they could not help it. They are exercising, they areentertaining themselves,Continue reading “#575: There Is A Ritual To It”
#573: A Double Loose Love Sonnet for Daily Records
I When I was a teen, 45 years ago now, I’d walk weekly to a neighborhoodrecord store. There were, in fact, three to choose from on the samesuburban strip, otherwise, a culturalwasteland. By the time I was an adult,all three of them were shuttered. My favorite, Everybody’s Records, turned into a pornshop. ALL ADULT VIDEOContinue reading “#573: A Double Loose Love Sonnet for Daily Records”
#572: On Seeing Your Son Perform at the University of Dayton Arena with Pulse Percussion
You try not to cry. Absolutely mind-blownby the ability, the skill,the prowess, the intensity of hisparts, his movement, his seamless integrationwith this group, a groupthat plays and movesas if it were one body. The tug comes from different directions. On the one hand, you miss him. He has been away from home for nearly sixContinue reading “#572: On Seeing Your Son Perform at the University of Dayton Arena with Pulse Percussion”
#571: You’ll Always Be Right Here
After something like 25 yearsliving on different sides of a widecontinent, the two friends decideto start writing music together. He’d arrange a musical idea,play bass guitar to a click track, maybe add some keyboard, and share these tracks with hisfriend via the mighty google drive. His friend, then, would downloadthese tracks into his own homestudio,Continue reading “#571: You’ll Always Be Right Here”
michael jarmer 