Musical palate cleanser, gotta go to school edition

On the wings of news that Eric Dickerson – Eric Dickerson! – has lent his public support to the O’Bannon plaintiffs, I thought this was an appropriate choice:

Musical palate cleanser, don’t nail yourself to a cross edition

I read an interview the other day with Nils Lofgren about the E Street Band finally getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that made me reflect a little upon his career.  He’s had an impressive run, not only playing with Springsteen, but also being an integral part of Neil Young’s early solo work.  Lofgren played on Crazy Horse’s first (and excellent) album and started his first group, Grin, as a teenager.

I’ve seen him live on several occasions (he’s from the DC area and played Charlottesville often when I was in college).  He used to feature a trampoline as part of his act back then.

His name was in the mix as a replacement when Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones.  He didn’t get the gig, but maybe the process left an impression.  From 1976 and his first solo album, this is one of my favorite songs of his, “Keith Don’t Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twin)”.

Musical palate cleanser, no distractions edition

Agent Muschamp is a bit preoccupied these days.

Muschamp on the Northwestern unionization: "I've been totally immersed in our football team … Can you tell me what happened?"—
Adam Lichtenstein (@ALichtenstein24) March 28, 2014

In his honor, here’s Bergenfield, New Jersey’s finest, The Knickerbockers, with their 1966 single, “One Track Mind”.

Today’s obvious musical palate cleanser

Sensing a trend, here’s Sandy Denny’s group, Fotheringay, covering Dylan’s “Too Much of Nothing”.

Musical palate cleanser, indulging the inner Gibb edition

Bruce Springsteen’s been touring Australia of late.  He’s indulged the locals with covers of some well-known Aussie bands.  But this has to be the topper – “Stayin’ Alive” as you’ve never heard it before.

(h/t PowerPop)  And from the comments there:

When I first saw the clip a few days before this post, this popped into my head (first read of it via Dave Marsh’s book “The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made”):

“Look at great huge Maurice Gibb, singing like Donald Duck on ‘Stayin’ Alive,’” Roger Daltrey of the Who carped in 1978, then instantly added, “And that’s a great song. Bruce Springsteen could sing that lyric.”

Musical palate cleanser, obvious edition

I think you can figure out how this one popped into my head.

Musical palate cleanser, birds and bees edition

Scorpio’s comment last night about suffering from a certain kind of biologically unrequited love immediately brought a song to mind, Del Amitri’s “Not Where It’s At”.  Enjoy.

Musical palate cleanser, it was 50 years ago today edition

One day several decades back, some longhaired Brits stepped off a plane in New York City.  The rest is history.

Without any further ado, here are the Beatles first three appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show:

America sank to its knees in awe.  And, yes, I remember when this happened.  (My mom wouldn’t let me go see The Beatles when they came to Atlanta, damn it.)  I am old.

My snow story

It only took me ten minutes to get home from work yesterday.  I guess that makes me one of the lucky ones.  The reason for that was that I had to leave the office just after ten o’clock, because I received a call from the security company that monitors my house telling me the alarm had just gone off.  Sure enough, I get home to find the front door of my house kicked in.  Fortunately, the alarm must have scared off the thieves, as nothing was found missing.

I’m not posting this to share a woe is me thing with you guys, though.   I really wanted to say something in praise of the Atlanta Police Department.  I pulled in my driveway and called 911 when I saw the open door.  I had an officer respond in less than five minutes and a total of three at my house to investigate in less than fifteen.  Everyone was thorough and professional.  In short, an experience that was the complete opposite of every cliché that comes to mind when you think about the APD.

Anyway, on a day when much of the governmental class is getting justifiably ripped – if Kasim Reed spent as much effort on preparation as he has in blame deflection, the problem wouldn’t have been nearly as bad – I thought it was worth noting that there are still plenty of good folks out there doing their jobs. Even with a busted door, I felt safer going to bed last night.  Thanks, guys.

Musical palate cleaner: Don’t forget the pouring rain.

This jumped into my head as I was composing the header for the prior post.  From Eat A Peach, one of my favorite Allman Brothers songs:

Don’t have anything particularly profound to add here.  Except:  what a band.