Strong Reception with Eli James

In this music history episode of "Strong Reception," I am joined by two special guests as we dive into the rich history of the song "Just a Gigolo" and its unlikely sibling tune, "I Ain't Got Nobody."

Fellow music nerd Philip Emeott and I walk through the surprisingly complex journey "Just a Gigolo" took from the dance halls of 1920s Vienna to the airwaves of 1980s MTV. We get into some of the greatest unsung tracks recorded in the 20th century, as well as some of the most cringeworthy. Later in the show, bestselling author Tom Clavin and I do a deep dive into Louis Prima’s landmark 1956 version of the song. We discuss how the sound and style of that recording represented a true innovation for its time. Tom and I also talk about the underappreciated talents of two of Prima's key musical partners: his wife and fellow vocalist Keely Smith, and his arranger and sax player Sam Butera.

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If you're like me, you have judges on your ballot this November — in addition to that whole "electing a president who might not want more people to die" thing. Also if you're like me, you hate having to vote for judges you know nothing about, who don't run campaigns, who are nominated by party insiders, and are sometimes running on three or four party lines at the same time. (A judge who's running as a Democrat, a Republican, a Conservative... and maybe as a closet Whig? Where am I?)

For this voter empowerment episode, I'm joined by Jarrett Murphy, the executive editor of City Limits and an accomplished New York investigative journalist. He helps me understand why our judicial elections are set up this way, and what we can do to get better intel on judicial candidates who serve very long terms and can make very important decisions about some very vulnerable people.

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On September 29, 100,000 New Yorkers (myself among them) received misprinted absentee ballots that had someone else's name on the return envelopes. The gaffe was the result of a multimillion-dollar error from a third-party vendor (way to go, Phoenix Graphics), but it's still not a great look for the New York City Board of Elections, which has a history of negligent and sometimes suspicious practices that have left thousands of voters disenfranchised in past elections. (The board is mailing corrected ballots out to voters this week.)

In this important voter empowerment episode, I talk with Sarah Goff, deputy director of Common Cause New York, who joins me to discuss what happened with Brooklyn's absentee ballots, how the New York City Board of Elections actually works, and outlines what we New Yorkers can do to make sure our voices are heard in the 2020 election.

For more info on how and when to vote in New York, please visit: vote.nyc (for NYC), www.elections.ny.gov (for elsewhere in New York State) and check out my blog at votinginthedark.com.

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Renee Graham is a renowned music and arts journalist who has been writing for the Boston Globe for thirty years. Her remarkable ability to speak on the cultural and social movements of the last fifty years has made her a highly sought-after documentary guest, and you can hear her expert commentary in Netflix's "The Two Killings of Sam Cooke," and in CNN's "The Seventies," "The Eighties," "The Nineties," "The 2000s," "The Movies" and "1968: The Year That Changed America."

Following a hiatus, she returned to the Globe in 2016 on the day before Donald Trump was elected president. She quickly decided she couldn't just keep to her pop culture beat. Her widely read opinion column tackles politics, racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and more.

Join us as we discuss how her obsession with music started as a kid in Queens, her career-defining interview with Prince, what kinds of police reform might be needed in our cities, and her answer to my all-important question: What cover songs do you think are just as good, if not better, than the original?

Renee's Twitter

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(Recorded on September 18, 2020)

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Strong Reception, I talk to Brooklyn activist, carpenter and entrepreneur Sandy Nurse, who recently ran to fill the empty seat in New York's 37th City Council District during the height of New York's COVID-19 crisis.

Nurse's campaign was just starting to gather momentum — even collecting some high-powered endorsements from folks like AOC — when the race was abruptly jettisoned amid petition challenges and some questionable executive decisions. We discussed what happened during this race, and how the actions of a powerful few left an underserved Brooklyn community without representation during an acute crisis.

For a complete blow-by-blow of what happened in this race, please read my article at Voting in the Dark: "How a New York City Council District was Handed an Unelected Leader."

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