Cynthia Robinson, trumpeter/vocalist for Sly & The Family Stone, died Monday of cancer at 69. For music historians, she was noteworthy as being one of the few female brass players to play in a hit group. For the rest of us who just wanna jam, she was best known for hollering at the squares to go home on the band's first (and my favorite) hit, 1968's "Dance to the Music." Here's the hit. Squares beware.
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Dear Adele, Upon hearing your latest hit "Hello," I have but four words for you: He doesn't care anymore. Not to mention that calling 1,000 times is probably considered stalking.
Sincerely, Jonathan Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Paul McCartney's single "Spies Like Us." Truly one of McCartney's lost songs, it made #7 on the chart in February 1986, hasn't been heard since, and is one of the oddest numbers in Paulie's catalog with its uncharacteristic thundering drum sound and marching-chant-cadence lyrics. Nevertheless, it is one of my favorites, along with the underrated film starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase (and cameos by both Frank Oz and Jim Henson's daughter Heather) that was released in Dec. 1985. Although its cold war parody is pretty much forgotten today, according to boxofficemojo.com it made $60 million to be the #10 highest-grossing film of 1985. It beat both that year's James Bond spy flick A View To A Kill (which, of course, had a chart-topping theme by Duran Duran) at #13 and Chase's Fletch (#12) and European Vacation (#14). So , for a 30th anniversary salute....
Here's the original music video featuring McCartney, Aykroyd and Chase. Here (supposedly) is the demo, with slightly different lyrics. Here's the examination scene from the movie, with Oz as the proctor. Yes, this scene caused many a laugh among middle school students (like I was) at the time and still makes me LOL. Writer/producer/pianist Allen Toussaint died Tuesday at 77 of a heart attack in a hotel room after giving a concert in Madrid (what a cool way to die, right?). Toussaint worked with talent ranging from LaBelle to Elvis Costello and wrote many Top 10 hits recorded by others, including "Working In A Coal Mine," 'Southern Nights," and the instrumental "Java." As a salute to his songwriting talents, I'll highlight 2 of the best performances of his work.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Who's classic single "My Generation" in the US. It wasn't a big hit here - it would peak at #74 in February 1966 - but it made #2 in the UK in Nov. 1965. To commemorate, here's a collection of 3 great performances of "My Generation":
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Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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