Category: music

New Music for Old Rockers – Michael McDermott channeling Billy Joel

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

Maybe you like that old Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” I’m not a huge fan since it didn’t really say anything. It was just a song with a list of headlines from his life as lyrics. Still, it was a huge hit, and it was clever how he wove all the people and events into the lyrics.

I get a similar vibe from this new Michael McDermott song, except McDermott definitely has something to say. What’s that? Who is Michael McDermott? He’s a Chicago guy making music with an Irish-tinged sound. He’s not my favorite musical artist, but how can a Flanigan not like a McDermott from Chicago.

There’s no doubt on which side of the political landscape that McDermott has chosen to stand. Take a listen …

Despite only being released 3 weeks ago, I hate to admit the lyrics are already a bit dated. McDermott sings, “Dark days coming for the USA.” Sorry, Michael, they are already here.

This video is only averaging 1000 views a week. Please share it. It’s a cautionary tale worth a listen and watch by many more people.

 

RIP John Prine

~ Jim Flanigan

I’m not feeling very funny today with the passing of folk-country-rock legend (at least round these parts he is) John Prine due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. He was a mailman from the Chicago suburbs and may very well have delivered mail to my house when I was a kid. Let’s go with that story. He did. I feel better with that connection.

I only saw him in concert once. That was the first of many concerts my wife and I have seen together, but only once to see John Prine. That’s okay. It makes it very special. He was a cancer survivor – twice. His body and voice suffered a bit in recent years from the results of the cancer as well as the cure, but he continued to write good music. He was the best lyricist I have ever known. Bob Dylan wrote wonderful lyrics about sprawling stories like “Hurricane” and “Tangled up in Blue.” John Prine wrote personal, intimate lyrics about people that touch your heart and soul.

So, here comes my John Prine tribute post. Click to read more about this amazing musician.

Continue reading “RIP John Prine” →

New Music for Old Rockers – Quarantine Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

Many musical artists are releasing live versions of some of their songs during this coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a twist. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day just released this cover of a Tommy James & the Shondells hit. I like the vibe. Take a listen.

I think we’re alone now, indeed. He recorded this in his bedroom, a place where a lot of us are spending more time. At least we have some new music to keep us company. Thanks, Billie Joe.

When & Where Are They Performing?

~ Jim Flanigan

I saw this news article yesterday.

Pablo escobar cocaine hippos

Click HERE for full story.

My initial thought upon reading that there are such things as Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Hippos … GREAT NAME FOR A BAND! Can you imagine that PELIGRO text with the hippo on the bass drum? I want to see that band … NOW!

What is somewhat overshadowed in the title and story is that there were once giant llamas. Not as good a name for a band, but I want to see them, too. Not the band, the real thing.

New Music for Old Rockers – Acronym Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

I’ve never been much of a Radiohead fan. I like some of their stuff and respect them as artists, but their music has never been fun enough for me. God, that makes me sound so shallow, so I guess it’s fairly accurate. Along comes Radiohead’s guitarist Ed O’Brien with a new EOB album called Earth to be released in April, and I’m having some musical fun with this EOB single just released this month. Take a listen …

I love the slow layering of tracks over the first 2 minutes of the song. Then the tune heats up, cools off, heats up, cools off, heats up, and finishes as layered tracks get stripped away to nothing. It’s not exactly a sing-along song, but this blogger’s toe was a-tappin’.

And if you want more EOB … Continue reading “New Music for Old Rockers – Acronym Edition” →

My Non-Tide Pod Facebook Challenge, Part 2

~ Jim Flanigan

After yesterday’s Part 1 post, I am sure that most readers would have preferred if I had taken the Tide Pod challenge to eliminate any possibility of a Part 2. Sorry, but here it is. Let’s get right into another 6 albums that shaped my musical landscape.

royal scam

Before Steely Dan fans stone me, I know this is not their best album. But it was the Dan album that caught my attention with the funk of “Kid Charlemagne” and opened my eyes and ears to their whole catalog. No regrets. Listening to Steely Dan has helped refine my musical sensibilities.

I regret I never saw them in concert. Walter Becker has now passed away, but Donald Fagen is still touring as Steely Dan. I don’t feel good about that. I think he should tour as Donald Fagen or Steely or Dan, but not Steely Dan. RIP Walter.

Now this next guy looks out of place on this album cover …

Continue reading “My Non-Tide Pod Facebook Challenge, Part 2” →

My Non-Tide Pod Facebook Challenge, Part 1

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

Finally, I received a Facebook challenge that didn’t require me to eat a Tide Pod or dump a bucket of ice over my head or eat ice or dump a bucket of Tide Pods over my head. One of my nieces who will remain nameless to protect her anonymity challenged me to name 10 albums that influenced my musical tastes. Thanks a lot, Karen. I am supposed to offer 1 album a day over 10 days, but I fear that between my short attention span and memory loss, I won’t make it past 2 days. So, I am going to offer 6 albums a day for 2 days. I know what you’re thinking. Math? 6 x 2 = 12, not 10. Consider it coloring outside the lines and refusing to make hard decisions. Oh, I am also not supposed to comment on them. Well, that’s not happening. So, here are the first 6 in no particular order with full commentary.

London Calling

Okay, so I lied. London Calling is the most influential album for me, hands down. The sprawling musical genres and styles contained within this masterful double album greatly expanded my musical horizon. It’s an album that still sounds fresh and timeless to me when I listen to it today. I regret I never saw The Clash in concert, but one of my bosses went to see them (I’m recalling at the Aragon Brawlroom maybe?) and was thrilled when they spat upon him. Good times.

Okay, now the rest will be in totally random order …

Continue reading “My Non-Tide Pod Facebook Challenge, Part 1” →

New Music for Old Rockers – Prime Real Estate

~ Jim Flanigan

My business travel plans were to take me back to St. Louis next in mid-April, where just coincidentally I planned to see Real Estate in concert. If you are not familiar with that band, I was introduced to them through this song a few years back.

That song breaks a major rule of songwriting about introducing lyrics within the first 8 seconds of a song, and the one about not having a horse contribute to your music video. Regardless, I fell in love with their soft, indie, jangly, pop-rock sound. My oldest daughter advised me to stay away from the band because one of the band members was too sexual assaulty. They bounced his abusive ass from the band, replaced him with a new lead guitarist, and have a new album to be released within days called The Main Thing. Here’s a single released from the new album called “Paper Cup” that I highly recommend.

Continue reading “New Music for Old Rockers – Prime Real Estate” →

New Music for Old Rockers – Pearl Jammin’ Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

I’ve never been much of a Pearl Jam fan. I like some of their music, but it really never moved me much. Pearl Jam is officially 30 years old this year, and their last album was released in 2013 to modest reviews, so I figured they had packed it in as a band. Oops, was I wrong. Welcome, Gigaton, due to be released in March. If the rest of the album is like the first 2 songs made available, then watch out.

“Dance of the Clairvoyants” was the first song released and it definitely cooks with propane. Take a listen.

Love the bass line and drumming that drive this song forward with a vengance. And just when I thought the song was ready to end as a tight 3 minute tune, the song morphs into a dreamy jam for a tasty ending.

WARNING: Dad joke ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Continue reading “New Music for Old Rockers – Pearl Jammin’ Edition” →

A Disconcerting Effort to Start the Year

~ Jim Flanigan

2019 was a great concert year for me. I went to 11 concerts, maybe more but my memory fails me on additional ones. Here they are ranked from worst to first.

11) Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple – Imagine playing only Deep Purple songs from the time when you were in the band and the group was no longer making memorable music. I walked out.

10) Black Keys/Modest Mouse – Disappointing.

9) Mt. Joy – Fun.

8) War – Free concert in the park performed with enthusiastic joy.

7) Car Seat Headrest – An pleasant evening with my oldest son listening to music by a band I was unfamiliar with on Chicago’s beautiful lakefront.

6) Smithereens with Marshall Crenshaw on lead vocals – Surprisingly good blending of talents.

5) Beatles White Album Tribute – Todd Rundgren, Mickey Dolenz, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland of Badfinger, and some guy formerly with the group Chicago performing all songs from the Beatles White Album with fun and style.

4) Heart/Sheryl Crow – Crow > Heart.

Continue reading “A Disconcerting Effort to Start the Year” →

My Brain May Be Melting

~ Jim Flanigan

We don’t subscribe to movie channels with our cable subscription. Every once in a while when the stars align properly, we get free HBO for a few days. I record a bunch of movies, and we watch some of them until the next time we get free HBO. It’s a perfect system, except so many of the movies suck. I use the Rotten Tomatoes website to sort the viewable from the unwatchable.

I recorded Rock the Kasbah from 2015 starring Bill Murray because, well, I love Bill Murray and most everything he has ever done. I didn’t see the movie when it was released, because I heard it was terrible. And this did not look at all promising per Rotten Tomatoes …

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New Music for Old Rockers – New Yorn Yule Yarn

~ Jim Flanigan

Christmas can be a fun time, but also a very stressful time. There are gifts to buy, MAGA relatives to rub shoulders with, and decorations to put up outside often in less than ideal conditions. But Pete Yorn is back with some sage advice for this season.

Where’s Yorn been since he captivated us musically a decade ago with lyrical tales of his “Strange Condition?” Well, he’s been making music, but just not super memorable. This new tune from his 7th album may not be memorable, but it excellent advice to just calm the hell down.

If you aren’t calm after listening to that tune, then there’s something seriously wrong. Calm down. The gifts will get wrapped. The tree will be trimmed. You’ll get to go a-Wassailing, whatever that is. Ask Uncle George in his MAGA hat about his health. He won’t have time to talk about Trump. He’ll be too busy talking about his gout and the root canal he needs and the fried foods he can’t eat anymore because his cholesterol is too high and … well, you get the idea. When he’s done, just tell him to calm down because he looks great. Okay, that’s probably a lie. What is that spot on his head? But, what the hell, it’s the holidays. Maybe that Christmas lie will help him enjoy a Merry Christmas, like all of us will if we just calm down.

 

New Music for Old Rockers – Special Old Music Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

So this show came to town last night …

WhiteAlbum_600x600.jpg

Again. It was here a couple months ago and sold out. Last night it sold out thanks to me and a couple friends being in the crowd. We were intrigued by the concept, but were glad our seats were by the emergency exit, just in case the show was a train wreck, and we did think that was a distinct possibility. I was especially skeptical of the inclusion of Jason Scheff who provided bass and vocals for Chicago in the 1980s when Chicago was cranking out sappy love songs.

Boy, was I wrong.

Continue reading “New Music for Old Rockers – Special Old Music Edition” →

Mite Be Funny #144 (with backstory)

~ Jim Flanigan

Mite Be Funny #144 Children

I was inspired to create this cartoon after watching our middle daughter dance at her university yesterday. She did a fine job. On the way home, somehow the discussion between my wife, middle daughter, youngest daughter, and I drifted to who is our favorite child. I believe our middle daughter “drifted” the conversation that way. My wife and I really don’t have favorites, although none of our five children will ever believe that. We are proud of each of them for their achievements, and do our best to support their attempts to achieve. Our youngest daughter is currently intent on achieving becoming taller than our middle daughter. She’s well on her way.

Yesterday, we were proud of our middle daughter’s performance along with hearing that she will start her professional dance career in Milwaukee this summer where she’s accepted a paid position in a dance company for one month. It’s a start. She’ll return for a 5th year at the university in 2020 to finish up double majors and minors.

If you are interested, here’s a short snippet of a longer dance from last year’s fall dance concert at her university. Our daughter enters the stage first.

 

New Music for Old Rockers – Less is Not More Beck Hyperspace Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

I have grown to really like and appreciate Beck’s music as time has passed, enough to actually go see him put on a great live show this summer. I was anxious for his new album Hyperspace to be released after hearing the first song from the album, “Saw Lightning” that dropped over the summer. That song is a collaboration with Pharrell Williams, and it took a while, but it grew on me. I like songs that grab me and pull me toward the speaker or are so melodic that they cause me to sing along. My family prefers I get pulled to the speaker rather than the latter.

I started my listening relationship tentatively with “Saw Lightning.” At first, I took some baby steps toward the speaker, but eventually ran to it. But not so much with his second release from the album “Uneventful Days.” It’s a dreamy and ethereal tune, floating from the speaker to lull me into wanting to be in an elevator heading up to the 17th floor of a nondescript office building on Main Street in Anytown, USA. It doesn’t pull me to the speaker or make me want to sing along. It’s not a bad song, just … uneventful. And I find the music video to be a bit depressing.

The whole album is more minimalist than Beck’s 2017 release Colors which just roars from the speakers with layered perfection. Hyperspace has some decent tunes like “Star” and “Die Waiting,” but none that make me want to turn up the volume and shush whoever I’m with.  I’m just not sure if I can stay awake between the moderately decent tracks to get to them. It’s not like it’s a bad album. Beck breaks new ground with his new sound once again. Illinois legalizes recreational pot on January 1st. I think I may enjoy this album a lot more after a few edibles on New Year’s Day.

I feel bad about not sharing some cool new song, so I’ll close by offering up Sturgill Simpson’s new country rocker called “Sing Along,” complete with wild cartoon video.

Makes me want to get in the car, roll down the windows (brrr!), crank this tune, and speed just enough that the cops allow it without pulling me over.

Mite Be Funny #143 – Let It Be(atles) Multi-Panel Edition

~ Jim Flanigan

Mite Be Funny #143a Beatles.jpg

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Challenge Yourself

~ Jim Flanigan

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw that Trump was running a new MAGA Challenge.

Maga Challenge

What do you get if you lose? 2 visits to the White House to meet that moron?

My mind spun (as always) with the possibilities of what Trump might be challeging us to do. Here’s a partial list of what I came up with …

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My Most Embarrassing Favorite Song

~ Jim Flanigan

I was surprised when someone I have known since high school turned up his nose at “Brandy” by the Looking Glass as a fine song. Yeah, it is a mere wisp of a song, but I love it. And if it’s good enough for a  Guardians of the Galaxy movie soundtrack, it should be good enough for all of us.

I’m a sucker for catchy pop songs. “Brandy” is one of those. I filled my 2019 summer playlist with light, breezy, fun, and wistful songs. Although summer has ended, I find myself going back to that playlist for certain songs when I’m down and need cheering up or when I am already cheerful, so basically all the time. Some of those select songs include …

  • Happy Hour by Weezer
  • 24 Frames by Jason Isbell
  • King of a One Horse Town by Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys)
  • Up All Night by Beck
  • Renegades by X Ambassadors
  • Spirits by the Strumbellas

And then there’s one more older song that I can’t stop listening to, but I should. I need an intervention. Stop me before I listen to this song again …

Continue reading “My Most Embarrassing Favorite Song” →

Unhappy Halloween

~ Jim Flanigan

How did I miss it? I was so excited when I saw the sign announcing the upcoming celebrity appearance. It’s not that we are not used to celebrities in our town. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys used to live here, despite our lack of beaches. Prominent anti-vaxxer, actress, and former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy lives here now, along with her husband Donnie Wahlberg, actor and former New Kid on the Block. So proud. We have minor (and occasionally major) musical and comedic acts coming through town every week to play our local theater. And a former professional football player, and son of an NFL Hall of Famer, calls our town home. My wife works at the school where his son attends. So we know how to handle celebrities. We ignore them.

Except for students who see my wife. I get a kick out of seeing the reaction on student’s faces when my wife runs into them out in public. You would think my wife was a Hollywood A-list celebrity. Well, she is in my book.

In a similar manner, I was all agog when I saw this upcoming celebrity appearance advertised …

Munster Monday

Would Butch remember me? Yes, we met before. It seems like only yesterday …

wayne's world dream sequence

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