DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

Today's Affirmation:

"She Let's Me Watch Her Mom and Pop Fight"

Writers: N. Blagman*, S. Bobrick

Although she isn't much to look at,
And she isn't very bright.
I love her, I love her,
Oh boy how I love her
'Cuz she let's me watch her mom and pop fight.

To see a lamp go through the window
And watch them kick and scratch and bite.
I love her, I love her,
Oh boy how I love her
'Cuz she lets me watch her mom and pop fight.

And Friday night,
It's something wonderful to see
When her pop comes home with
Only half his check.
We split a candy bar
And watch World War III,
It's got necking beat to heck!

I'm gonna make that gal my steady
Because they're at it every night.
I love her, I love her,
Oh boy how I love her
'Cuz she let's me watch her mom and pop fight.

Lennon and McCartney eloquently recited an affirmation stating that In My Life I Loved Them All.
The affection for certain artists and the melodic poetry they injected into our souls has remained in our wiring through the good, the bad and the uncertain times of our lives.
One beloved gentleman we cherish was known as Arthur Alexander. Known as June to his closest companions, he was a one of a kind country-soul songwriter and singer. It can easily be said that he invented the genre.
The fifth American studio album by  the Rolling Stones, released in December 1965, contained the Alexander classic "You Better Move On". From that moment on I was hooked on his intimate honesty and at times, the violent dillemas created within the stories he told.
From "Anna" to "Rainbow Road" he took us into a world of hurt, light and truth.
"Anna" was first made familiar to us all through the Beatles cover version of this classic.
On June 17, 1963, they performed the tune for the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles and was included on their Vee Jay LP Introducing The Beatles.
In 1994, "Adios Amigo: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander" was released with industry legends engaging their versions of some of his classics.
Roger McQuinn, the man whose voice elevated the Byrds to historic heights recorded "Anna" for the occasion.
His reading of this tear stained composition is dealt a tender touch and inspires the notion that when the very best translate the very best, we are often rewarded beyond emotion.
On that same tribute recording, another  unexpected performance is revealed.
Robert Plant, known for his howling , screeching and a jet plane vocal roar illustrated in the metal blues ventures of Led Zeppelin offered up a remarkable surprise.
 Plant's ability to take Arthur's haunting chant' "If It Really Has To Be This Way" down a road of interrpretation few of us knew he could travel,  is a revelation which should inspire every singer to better worlds.
Once again, proof of emotive genius is discovered when a vocalist of Plant's caliber is sworn to the oath of conveying the inner depth of the heart as written by a master of song craft.
And so we enter this new realm of Double Trouble with the talent and awe of three pioneers of popular music.
We double down on the voices of Robert and Roger as the giant shadow of Arthur Alexander
conducts a human orchestra of words, urges and the need to confess that which few are capable of expressing with such passionate poise.

Robert remains with us at 82 and Roger at 76.

Arthur Alexander boarded The Mystery Train on June 9, 1993 at 54.

Ladies and gentleman. Welcome To Double Trouble.

Rich Buckland

Hello Young Lovers!

Welcome to a special Saint Valentine’s Day TWOFER from The Splendid Bohemians:

Today we’re featuring two enchanting, encyclopedic British song stylists: Anne Briggs and Elvis Costello. First up: the majestic Ms. Briggs.

SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR by Anne Briggs (Topic, 1963)

Barefoot and bedraggled, Anne Briggs became the muse of the British Traditional Folk Boom in the early nineteen sixties. Her short performance career of mystical magic was retired at age 27, leaving behind a limited, but monumental discography. 

I first heard She Moved Through the Fair on Irish Heartbeat, made by Van Morrison and the Chieftains, and it’s ethereal message left me paralyzed with romantic longing. But, that was just the prelude to my discovery of the plangent tones from this Goddess of acapella Celtic song. 

OPPORTUNITY by Elvis Costello and the Attractions (Columbia, 1980)

This cut from my favorite Elvis Costello album, GET HAPPY!!! Is R&B funky with a Stax inspired beat and tasty organ punctuations by Steve Nieve. The music is absolutely giddy, and although the acrid lyrics - (so typical of the former Declan Patrick MacManus during this early period) - may be pessimistic and sneering, the overall effect is energizing. 

In fact, the recurring refrain: “this is your big opportunity….”, with the caveat: “don’t turn around” indicates the intense, forward-looking dedication with which this artistic social climber fueled his rocket-like ascent to the firmament of the musical masters. Although Elvis succeeded handily, his early anti-authoritarian stance reminds me of so many other also-rans that, in preparation for their inevitable fall to irrelevance and obscurity, padded the ground below with a protective “fuck you” attitude. But, you knew all along that underneath the bravado that they really craved the gatekeepers recognition. 

The jaunty music belies the message of the sour lyrics, implying an alternate, more inspiring interpretation: Be alert! Recognize your opportunities and grab them while you can.

“Rock ’n roll is really swing with a modern name,” Freed once said. “It began on the levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm. It’s the rhythm that gets to the kids – they’re starved of music they can dance to, after all those years of crooners.”

HISTORICAL ALAN FREED MOMENTS:

Freed moved to WINS in New York in 1954 where his late night radio show became known as Alan Freed's Rock ’n’ Roll Party. His popularity was immediate and so was the criticism.

In July 1957, Freed was given his own nationally televisedrock ’n roll dance show billed as “The Big Beat" on ABC-TV. The show featured a mix of pop and R&B acts. Early reviews for the national show were good, but it was cancelled abruptly after Frankie Lymon, one of the show's black performers, was shown on air dancing with a white girl.The biracial dance scene enraged ABC’s Southern affiliates and the network cancelled the show despite its growing popularity.

Freed was featured in five of the earliest rock ’n’ roll movies – Rock Around the Clock and Rock, Rock, Rock in 1956; Mister Rock And Roll and Don’t Knock the Rock in 1957 and Go Johnny Go in 1958.

Freed was initially interred in New York, the city where he died at 43 in 1965. His family moved his remains to Cleveland years later and then to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Museum 12 years ago, his son Lance Freed said.

“I thought this was the last move, but then I got this call to move him,” Freed said. “He said, ‘You’ve got to come pick him up.’ “

“The museum world is moving away from exhibiting remains” since ashes don’t help tell a story, he was told.

Bullshit. The Hall's Board simply felt human remains did not belong where they could depress those paying for admission.

Alan Freed Urned His Right To Remain In The Home That  Utilized His Rock and Roll Signature As It's Way Of Earning Millions Upon Millions Of Dollars.

PLEASE VISIT THE ALAN FREED ARCHIVES AT:

https://www.alanfreed.com/wp/archives/

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull has boarded The Mystery Train at 78.

In the 70's she was anorexic, homeless and addicted to heroin.

At the time of her passing she had acquired the status of legend.

Marianne was a genuine, brilliant artist in a sea of impostors.

Sleep Well in that ocean you struggled so hard to master regardless of the merciless tears that passed by.-

Rich Buckland

Henry St. Claire Fredericks, Jr., aka Taj Mahal is 82 years of age, and like that monument in Agra, he stands as an ageless edifice of blues - rock grace. On his latest recording he croons in that familiar rasp: “I’m too young to be this old,” and there’s no denying the truth of that declaration. As the years have passed, it’s gratifying to contemplate that, 60 years ago, Taj and Ry Cooder combined forces in the seminal, interracial rock group The Rising Sons, then went their separate ways to establish themselves as the foremost living treasures of Americana and world music.  I would venture to say that, similarly to the white British rockers who influenced a generation when they recycled the blues back to America, Taj and Ry did the same thing, on their home soil, with more humility..

I have a distinct memory of being ensconced during an arduous Iowa winter, laboring to get this song down for my set at the student union: one man, one guitar,- trying to catch the funky groove of the thing. The syncopation between Al Kooper’s piano, Jesse Ed Davis’s guitar and Gary Gilmore’s bass, propels this cut forward, moving it along a track of joy - even as the singer is bemoaning his lost love. 

That’s the thing about Taj: his ever-present, infectious humor is fundamental to his magical appeal. And, the fact that he took his name in tribute to Gandhi, a man of peace, speaks mightily to his personal mission to make us all happy.

PLEASE JOIN US AT DIG THIS!!!!! https://www.facebook.com/digthiswiththesplendidbohos/

A MESSAGE FROM STAX RECORDS PRODUCER, SONGWRITER AND VOCALIST DAVID PORTER:
To say I am saddened about the loss of Sam Moore would be an understatement. You see, it was the finality of the last living connection I had to God’s gift to all of our careers.
The experiences we had with each other changed each of our lives in amazing ways. Sam will always be remembered because of what he gave out of his heart and spirit, along with Dave Prater, in the combination of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, some amazing gifts to the world.
I believe his memory will be a blessing forever to the world. And now I am the last of that combination, so I must express what I know was in the origin of the spirit for each of us during the course of recording those records. They were always filled with passion, purity, individuality and believability grounded in soul. The combination made each of our lives major. I express my condolences to Sam’s family. May his memory be a blessing. -

PBS Concert Special Celebrating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ Features Eric Church, Emmylou Harris & More

Recorded in his New Jersey bedroom, Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska has proved to be one of his most enduring works, a raw, haunted acoustic record populated by lost souls searching not for salvation but simply a reason to believe. On September 19, 2023, at Analog at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville, famed music biographer Warren Zanes — author of Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska — hosted an in-depth exploration of the album and the musician’s process.

Springsteen’s songs were performed by multiple legends in their own right, with Zanes’s spoken word storytelling in between.

“I wrote a book about Nebraska because the recording stayed with me over decades,” said Zanes. “Every time there was trouble in my life I reached for Nebraska. When I started doing events around the book’s publication, I quickly realized the best of them had music. When I went to Nashville, I had a remarkable cast of musicians to help me tell this story."

Musical performances from Nebraska include Emmylou Harris (“The Price You Pay,” “Nebraska”), Noah Kahan (“Atlantic City”), Lyle Lovett (“Used Cars,” “My Father’s House”) and The Lumineers (“Mansion on the Hill,” “State Trooper”). Two additional songs from Born in the U.S.A. are performed by Eric Church (“Dancing in the Dark”) and Lucinda Williams (“Born in the U.S.A.”). Between songs, Zanes offers insights from his book, about which The Boston Globe wrote: “Anyone interested in how music gets made — both the inspiration and the process — will be fascinated by Deliver Me From Nowhere, an amazing chronicle of one of the most unlikely albums ever recorded. And for students of Springsteen, it’s an absolute must.”

This recording, composed and performed by the criminally underestimated Rick Nelson and his right-hand man James Burton, is a tone poem of psychedelic disorientation. It lopes along, taking its sweet time, floating in mid-air, then seeps out through the singer’s enthralled brain in a sensual vortex. It reminds me of my virgin night of acid enlightenment, when I crawled across my cousin’s floor, following the swirling carpet patterns, whispering: “Oh, Wow,” over and over again.

The tune features the sitar, a trope of the time, sensitively voiced by a musician mysteriously listed as “unknown,” and they stand out as the unsung hero of the whole enterprise. Appearing as it did in 1967, Marshmallow Skies signifies that time in Rick’s career between his teen idol period and when he emerged, fully realized, as a progenitor of country rock. He’s in experimental mode here, searching for a new direction. And, with characteristic aplomb, he makes his case convincingly. 

An interesting side note: “Marshmallow Sky” is also a flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream - and, a sweet smelling iris which resembles floating clouds. Appropriate, I think.

Lucasfilm has about a dozen Star Wars movies in various stages of development. One of them is a prequel from James Mangold that will tell the origins of the Force, the mysterious energy field created by life that binds the Star Wars galaxy together.

In a recent interview with MovieWeb, Mangold opened up about what convinced him to make a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm, sharing that "the really important aspects [were] the freedom to make something new." Mangold, who is co-writing the screenplay with Beau Willimon, explained that they wanted to find "a way on the page to say something original." With his movie set to take place 25,000 years before any other Star Wars project, Mangold will seemingly be freed from decades of lore. "I'm not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it's almost immovable, and you can't please anybody," the director added, suggesting that his Star Wars movie may drastically shake up the fandom's current understanding of the force.

Announced in April 2023 at Star Wars Celebration Europe IV, Mangold's Star Wars movie will be part of an era dubbed "Dawn of the Jedi" by Lucasfilm. "The Force has become a kind of religious legend that spans through all these movies. But where did it come from? How is it found? Who found it? Who was the first Jedi? And that’s what I'm writing right now," teased Mangold at the time of its announcement. Mangold has since cited Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 silent religious epic The Ten Commandments as a major inspiration for the movie.

However, it is unclear when exactly the "Dawn of the Jedi" movie will go into production, as there is a chance Mangold's next movie will instead be his DC Universe feature, Swamp Thing. The filmmaker became attached to Swamp Thing in February 2023 and has been juggling the screenplays for both movies ever since. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has repeatedly stated that no DC movie will get greenlit until there is a finished screenplay that is worth turning into a movie, so there's a good chance that Swamp Thing may also be a ways off.
The next Star Wars movie to hit theaters will be The Mandalorian & Grogu in May 2026. When the movie is finally released, it will have been almost seven years since the last Star Wars movie, 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. The Mandalorian & Grogu is a feature-length continuation of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. While plot details remain under wraps, Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and the lovable alien Grogu will be joined on their first big-screen adventure by Star Wars Rebels character Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, Sigourney Weaver (in a mystery role), and Jeremy Allen White, who will voice a grown-up Rotta the Hutt. Jon Favreau — who created The Mandalorian — co-wrote and directed The Mandalorian & Grogu, which was shot entirely in California between August and December 2024 and is currently in post-production&

This is a difficult artistic puzzle to sort out: a) Why is this, Doris Day’s signature song, the only cover that Sly ever recorded?; and, b), Is its delivery of “cheerful fatalism” a positive or a negative? The motto, cribbed by song writers Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the Hitchcock film THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, from another film THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, has a rich history of memento mori application going back centuries, and yet, here it appears in a fresh, compelling funk version for the modern era. It’s a brain teaser.

For me it’s all positive, albeit bittersweet. The young woman, voiced by Sly’s sister Rose, asks her mother and lover to allay her apprehensions about the future, and Sly, taking the lead on the response, bursts into an ecstatic response: “Whatever will be, will be…” which turns the angsty inquiry on its head. BE HERE NOW, is the imperative. The future will take care of itself.