Sometimes in those especially busy work weeks, all I want (or maybe need) when we get to our fine One for Friday post is a bit of affirmation, a spirited kick to the soul and an assurance that the heavy lifting that remains will be accomplished with aplomb. Naturally, I prefer my affirmations to be a little more scabrous and cynical. For positivity and endurance framed that way, I can do no better than Mr. Graham Parker. Truthfully, anything I feel compelled to share about him and my gradual discovery of his music has already been shared in this space. … Continue reading One for Friday: Graham Parker, “Don’t Let It Break You Down”

I suppose by now Lauryn Hill’s status in the exalted realm of pop stardom has been reduced to the almost entirely negligible, at kindest a cautionary tale and at meanest a punchline. Back in the mid- to late-nineteen-nineties, though, she was widely considered to be the next great music artist, the one destined to crank out classic after classic following her beloved solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She was treated as some sort of creative revolutionary, reclaiming the nearly lost sounds of old school soul and delivering a finished product with a powerful replacement engine, assembled from the … Continue reading One for Friday: Aretha Franklin, “A Rose is Still a Rose”

I spent this past weekend being continually reminded of my age, in ways that were both good and knee-weakening. Among many other indicators, there was the presence of songs that were once as contemporary as can be to me (and still maintain that freshness, at least in my head, heart, and soul) that have been transformed by the relentless shedding of calendar pages into bonafide oldies. Then there were the moments when a certain song could stir other thoughts that, when they reached their logical endpoints, were a little devastating. For example, the appearance of a Material Issue song certainly … Continue reading One for Friday: Material Issue, “What If I Killed Your Boyfriend?”

Today is the day that this year’s edition of the World’s Largest Trivia Contest gets underway, celebrating it’s forty-fifth year. The team I play on, which has achieved its own modest level of notoriety will be enjoying an anniversary of its own, playing for the twenty-fifth time, a two-and-a-half decade span that I have a difficult time wrapping my head around. In that stretch, we’ve built up a lot of team lore, involving paddles and coconut heads and little alien puppets. It’s very possible that my favorite part of our team’s extensive iconography is the song “Come On Eileen,” the … Continue reading One for Friday: Mollie Donihe, “Come On Eileen (Cover)”

I wish my college radio station was well-stocked with Big Star records, but that was sadly not the case. Instead, I often had to settle for their descendants, those happy few who were doing their best to carry forward the banner of power pop. There were few things that got me immediately excited quite like big, buzzing guitars propping up ridiculously catchy hooks. Similarly, when power pop bands turned to ballads–the emotions were the part of the song turned up to eleven–they were crafting exactly the sorts of songs that I wanted when I was doing the late night shift … Continue reading One for Friday: Velvet Crush, “Faster Days”