If you judged only by the tone of our public discourse, you’d have good reason to conclude that we’re a very angry country. According to a recent study by The Aspen Institute and The Atlantic magazine, America is feeling much more pluribus than unum these days. A different study (by The Pew Research Center for the People and the…
Read MoreThat painting to your left is probably my favorite piece of 20thC art. It’s “Sugar Shack” by African-American painter (and former NFL defensive tackle) Ernie Barnes. Barnes once described this painting in an interview as illustrating how dance “utilizes rhythm as a way of resolving physical tension.” I’ve always appreciated that description of dance, and…
Read MoreI’m not married, I’ve never been married, and I have no plans to ever be married. That said, I am a female born and raised in the American South, so to pretend as if I’ve never imagined what song I’d like to dance to at my wedding would be thoroughly disingenuous. Girls in the South…
Read MoreI promise that I copied today’s completely bizarro prompt word for word from the 30 Day Song Challenge list. Putting aside for the moment the absolutely horrendous grammar (“you are waiting for to come out”?), I still can’t make heads or tails of this prompt. I suppose I could name not-yet-released albums that I am…
Read MoreFair warning: there’s a LONG and semi-complicated backstory to my current obsession with today’s song selection, so I need to beg your forbearance in advance, dear readers. For fans of Memphis music, I can promise you won’t be disappointed, as this may be one of the most interesting music stories you’ve heard in a while. For the…
Read MoreLike a lot of people, I hardly ever actually “talk” on the phone, preferring text messages instead, and unless the incoming call is something I’m expecting or the person calling is a member of my family, I almost never answer my phone when it rings. The way I figure it, most people who I want…
Read MoreI’ll go ahead and concede, right here at the beginning, that I’m probably being more than a little unfair to my song-pick for today. For the most part, I actually think it’s a good song: catchy, peppy, eminently danceable, and with a winning hook. And yet, alas, it annoys the ever-living crap out of me….
Read MoreA few years ago, I had the very good fortune to see Lucinda Williams play a show at the New Daisy Theater here in Memphis. She was on tour for her album Blessed and I had for the first (and only) time in my life actually won tickets to the show. (I was Caller #10 in one of…
Read MoreHands down, today’s prompt is the hardest of the whole month. I’ve written so much about music on this blog over the years that I really don’t know what people wouldn’t expect me to like anymore, except the things that I actually don’t like. When I first did this Challenge back in 2011, I chose…
Read MoreToday is the first day in the 30 Day Song Challenge that I think I’m going to register a semi-controversial pick. I know a lot of people who would rather be dragged out behind the shed, rode hard and hung up wet than hear this song live or recorded. It’s cheesy, it’s corny, it encourages…
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