Category: Uncategorized
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Today we celebrate the 124th birthday of the great American novelist John Steinbeck, who wrote The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, a book that is as timely as ever. That novel inspired Bruce Springsteen’s album, The Ghost of Tom Joad and the title song, a snippet of which I share here. Springsteen also drew inspiration…
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Happy International Clash Day, an annual celebration of the Only Band that Matters that takes place every February. Seattle radio station KEXP began International Clash Day in an impromptu fashion in 2013 when a listener asked, in response to a deejay playing a Clash song, why the station didn’t play more Clash (always a good…
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… Better known as Muddy Waters, “The blues had a baby and they named in rock ’n roll.” My late brother Tom, who inspired me to pick up the guitar at, let’s just say, an advanced age, lived by that credo. When he was a teenager, after taking guitar lessons at Chicago’s legendary Old Town…
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A few years ago, I discovered a hip-hop trio from Belfast called Kneecap. At the time, they were not well known in the US, but I was completely fascinated by them. In the years since, Kneecap have become more widely known, due, in part, to their controversial statements about Israel and Gaza and the British…
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In 2007, filmmaker Julien Temple released a documentary called Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, which chronicled the musical odyssey of my favorite artist. That title — the future is unwritten — says so much about Joe, from his sneering “teenage git” persona (his words) to his ultimately positive and uplifting message: Without people, you’re…
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Some thoughts about what’s happening in Minneapolis. Follow up (1/28/2026): Bruce Springsteen just recorded and released a song on the topic called Streets of Minneapolis.
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Last week I wrote about a popular Christmas song by the Pogues, “Fairy Tale of New York,” and some of its challenging lyrics, so in the interest of fairness, today I’m playing my my all time favorite Pogues’ song, “Thousands Are Sailing,” in honor of My Sainted Irish Mother™, who would be 102 years old…
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I waited until after the holidays to gather my thoughts about everyone’s favorite Irish Christmas song, the Pogues’ “Fairy Tale of New York,” because I’m cool like that. Far be it from me to spoil anyone’s well-intentioned enjoyment of an annual classic. And don’t worry, I won’t spoil it now, because I’ve made peace with…
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The news has been bad lately. Really bad. From Washington, D.C., to Minneapolis, to Venezuela, it’s chaos, violence, and more chaos. Turning the TV on or looking at social media these days feels hearing Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 version of “Silent Night,” played over the backdrop of the Seven O’Clock News, for the first time. …
Elvis Ate Dynamite 