Mark Stratton's Blog: AGGASPLETCH, page 5

50. I Sang This Song Once (iPod Challenge)

It’s true. I once got up and sang this with a band at a fraternity party.

It was my one and only time singing with a rock band. While it was fun, I was scared as hell. While I remembered the words, I stood there like a stick. While people were watching me, I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

I was a vocal performance major in college (never knew that, did you?). I actually could sing fairly well. I’d wanted to be in a rock band for a long, long time but since my voice wasn’t of the cas...

Review & Updates

Hello! Happy 2014 to one and all. The iPod Challenge resumes with Entry #50 next Monday. Beginning Saturday January 11. I’ve asked some friends to contribute their Top 3-5 songs on any topic of their choice. It makes for a nice guest post series that will run on the next few Saturday’s.

For the first time in a long, long time, I have a music review I wrote posted on Blogcritics.org. This go ’round I do a brief review of The Rockets Greetings from Detroit EPI hope you take a moment to read the...

Timeless Classic (Christmas Challenge)

Did you know you can hear this song by clicking the big great gray triangle thingie beneath these words…

Like the Coca-Cola polar bear ads, it isn’t really Christmas till I hear Der Bingle croon this classic…It’s just one of those things, y’know? The stores can start the Xmas Come On in August, but until those velvet tones utter those words, “I’ll….be home for Christmas….”

While this song originally came out during WWII, it’s become a favorite and one that rings true to so many people yet today...

A Sack of Greed with a Bundle of Cynicism, Please (iPod Christmas Challenge)

Sometimes Christmas Makes Me Ill

What with the crass commercialization that can suck the joy out of the season, and the whack-a-do’s on the Far Right screaming about a ‘War on Christmas’ when decorations go on sale in some stores in August, radio stations start playing Xmas Music 32 hours a day and you can’t escape the Christmas Sale ads on TV, Radio, Print, Online, In your sleep….

It’s enough to make a 21st Century Man say, “Bah! Fucking Humbug!”

Years ago, Pearl Bailey recorded a fun little di...

Joy to the World – iPod Christmas Challenge

I know I’ve written about this before…

This first saw the light of day in December of 2008 on my LiveJournal…

———-

I find it odd, that I can look at most CD’s and not have a clue when I bought it, or where. Without fail, I can look at almost every single one of my Christmas music CD’s and not only tell you when I bought it, but where and for how much.

There are a few Christmas CD’s that are quite special to me. One is Phil Driscoll’s Heaven and Nature Swing. Driscoll is a fine trumpet player and...

Honorable Mention – Van Go? It’s True (iPod Challenge Bonus Track)

I came to this one late, Boys and Girls…

I think I’ve demonstrated I have a love of Power Pop. So much so that I have tried to find more and more and more Power Pop to sample and enjoy. Recently, I came across a free download (hey, it was legit) and I heard the beginning of this song and my ears perked up…

Chimy, sing-song guitar intro, lyrics delivered staccato-style and a bracing beat all added up to Power Pop Goodness to me. The song is one of those that just reaches out and grabs me. So far...

51- I Wonder What Guaraldi Would Think (iPod Challenge)

Christmas time’s a coming and I miss the heat of summer

So, today I get to share the best of both worlds; a whacked out and thunderous version of something tied closely to a Holiday Tradition. Gary Hoey sort of shreds his way through the Vince Guaraldi classic “Linus & Lucy” with a breath-taking abandon that’s by turns amazing and amusing. You see, I get the joke.

Which is a song about two kids who are older in dog years than their young age on screen or in print would ever indicate. All the ch...

52. There is no Reason (iPod Challenge)

Sometimes you just don’t know why

I know I’ve said this before, but it does bear repeating; Sometimes you have no concrete reason for liking a song.

Throughout this series, I’ve been able to tie moments or ideas to songs to explain why I like them or what they mean to me or some other reason that a song resonates with me. Not so with this one. There isn’t anything in particular I can point to by way of explanation. I just like this song.

Were I to associate this with the time and place of my lif...

53 – That Riff: Everyone Knows That Riff (iPod Challenge)

Everyone knows the riff.

As cool as the other side of the pillow, this song has transcended genres and decades. Moving past its smooth jazz beginnings to become firmly entrenched in the musical milieu of our cultural fabric. Well, that’s if you look at all the people who’ve covered this particular tune…

That amazing riff is the basis of why this song is so enduring. It leaves so much space to build on. All sorts of genres have been strapped onto this riff, all sorts of solos and styles. It is p...

54 – Early Teenage Perfection (iPod Challenge)

Sometimes you can tell when a song is perfect the first time you hear it

I didn’t hear this song until I was in my 40′s. Heck, I’d never heard of Big Star until I was in my 40′s. Both of these are travesties, musically speaking. Big Star should’ve been huge, they should’ve been more than just a footnote and influential. They made hit records nobody heard for years.

So, I didn’t hear this song until I was in my 40′s, yet the first time I was 13 again. I was a teenager again and I didn’t like it...