Your mission, should you accept it, is to listen to this concern in its entirety and report back to the Hall with your impressions. All entrants will automatically be registered in a drawing to determine the winner of the patented RTH No-Prize!
Today’s Mystery Date was suggested by a Townsperson who may or may not choose to help me coax your opinions on this song. Thanks to our Mystery Shadchen!
Let’s review the ground rules here. The Mystery Date song is not necessarily something I believe to be good. So feel free to rip it or praise it. Rather the song is something of interest due to the artist, influences, time period… Your job is to decipher as much as you can about the artist without research. Who do you think it is? Or, Who do you think it sounds like? When do you think it was recorded? Etc…
If you know who it is, don’t spoil it for the rest. Anyone who knows it can play the “mockcarr option.” (And I’ve got a hunch that some of you know this one.) This option is for those of you who just can’t hold your tongue and must let everyone know just how in-the-know you are by calling it. So if you know who it is and want everyone else to know that you know, email Mr. Moderator at mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com. If correct we will post how brilliant you are in the Comments section.
The real test of strength though is to guess as close as possible without knowing. Ready, steady, go!
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mystery-Date-022111.mp3|titles=Mystery Date 022111]
The other night I heard a Billy Joel song on the radio that I’d thankfully blocked from my memory for some time, “The Entertainer.” It occurred to me, as I made myself listen to the entire heaping pile of Broadway sea shanty shit, that I may hate this song more than what I’ve long considered The Worst Song in Rock ‘n Roll: Blood, Sweat & Tears‘ “And When I Die.” At least that BS&T turd is performed with true zest.Continue reading »
I’ve been noticing songs played in places more than usual for some reason, and in particular the songs that jump out and make me think, “Who programmed this? And why did they do it? Is this some kind of joke?” It’s not so much that I hear songs that I haven’t heard in a long time, or just seldom hear, but it’s songs that seem to fit into the overall scheme of what’s happening, but just seem a little obscure to be anything but a nod to a possible Music Nerd in the audience.
For a case in point, I’m in Columbia, South Carolina the other day at IHOP, and all of a sudden The English Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom” is on. I’m thinking, “Wow – this is pretty cool. One of those Songs in the Wild Sightings I’ve been noticing, but then they play “Rock Lobster” and a whole slew of quirky early ’80s songs and I know this is a theme, and not an actual rare sighting. The real rare sightings are the ones that probably fade into nothing unless a Music Nerd is there to see it, like the first song that had me thinking about this a few weeks ago.
We were at Tuesday Morning (some store that sells overstocks and buyouts, I think) and all they play are the country hits of the day, but after a little bit I hear Neil Young’s “Cripple Creek Ferry” and I know this is a true sighting, because it’s so short that it’s almost subliminal in that the only reason the programmer tossed it in was in the hopes that someone, somewhere, might know that this guy is just doing his job and he hates that crap as much as any reasonable Music nerd would. That piqued my interest, and I mush admit I have been paying more attention in stores and restaurants lately (I think my wife thinks I’m ignoring her, but I’m actually working here!). I was in a place call Charming Charlie’s (if you’re male, never go there – it’s awful) and they play horrid dance music really loud. But all of a sudden, blasting out loudly, comes the worst Jam song ever. Yeah, they actually played “Beat Surrender.” They went straight back to pop tartlets and pretty adolescent boys after that, and I had to admit, for a minute, my least liked Jam song actually didn’t sound so bad!
I really don’t see or hear this stuff often, and what reminded me I wanted to write about it here was a few days ago when I was getting gas and the gas station was playing NRBQ’s “Ridin’ in My Car.” I thought it was like when I heard “Mirror in the Bathroom,” but this was a true sighting. The next songs had nothing to do with cars and were the usual prattlings of Taylor Swift and Toby Keith. I felt really fortunate to hear that little NRBQ song. It’s usually a fake out, and part of a theme, but catching a true Song in the Wild is pretty rewarding. Bird watchers may be on to something. What sightings have you had lately?
This week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In features the return of Townsman Hrrundivbakshi at the mic and his collection of “rescued” records. HVB’s penchant for trashpicking records from the dustbins of our nation’s capital proves to be a sound practice on both environmental and economic levels. Get this man a Cabinet position! Better yet, let’s let the man set up this week’s episode:
Greetings, seekers of the weird, the rare, the unusual, and the literally near-worthless! I come to you again in Saturday Night Shut-In form, bringing a wide variety of tunes culled from the thrift stores, yard sales, and garbage cans of our proud nation’s capitol.
This week, our installment features a wide variety of genres, from garage soul to pop to Latin boogaloo—and, as part of our ongoing effort to send mellow, peaceful healing vibes to our man Sammymaudlin, an unusually generous helping of tunes you can really RELAX to. So here’s to you, Samulah—get well soon!
HVB
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-16.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 16]
[Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]
Today’s All-Star Jam is unbelievable! Martha Quinn gives it up—totally—in honor of our recovering friend and the man who makes The Back Office tick, Townsman sammymaudlin. Get well, my friend!
