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As some of you know, on the first of this year we celebrated birthday number 3. We're getting old! But we like to think we still look pretty good for our age. Anyway, digressions aside, Chris and I kinda felt like celebrating. And part of this celebration, dear friends, is for you. Yes you. We're offering one lucky, lucky son of a gun the chance to win a nice little bundle of musical goodies from your favorite DC bloggers. What does that mean, exactly? Well, basically, friends, you could win a tidy little stack of grrrrrrreat CDs, including some that you'll see in my favorite records of the year, as well as some other fun stuff like band stickers and other little surprises. We like you so very much, we just can't not do this contest. To enter, simply email us and tell us why you love us. Hey, we're as narcissistic as the next guy, and we like heaps of praise. It can't be helped. Details: Contest is open to anyone and everyone. If we like what you have to say the best, we'll ship your goodies just about anywhere. So make it good. Let's say we'll stop accepting entries on the 1st of February. That gives you plenty of time to come up with great reasons why you love and adore us. So Happy Birthday to us, and happy contesting to you! Good luck! mp3: Subliminal Message (Happy Birthday from Happy Birthday)
Ok, this blessed event was actually yesterday, but y'all know I couldn't let this here birthday go by without wishing the birthday boy well. Mister Keith Richards belongs to the best rock&roll band that ever will be. He'll probably go down as one of the finest guitarists that ever have shredded, to boot. As he should. His lifestyle is unmatchable, the stuff of rock&roll legend. Richards is truly in a class of his own, a giant among boys. He also composed, too, for the excellent Aranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra. And to him I say, Happy Fucking Birthday, sir. mp3: Happy (The Rolling Stones from Exile On Main Street) (thanks to the most excellent Giant Panther for the tune)
Few people could, or could ever hope to, croon like Ole Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. To paraphrase The Big Lebowski, he was definitely a man for his time and place, so much does he idealize and typify gentlemen of a certain era. He was the penultimate Guy's Guy, while also managing to be the penultimate Ladies' Man. Those suits, those moves, those drinks, those women...Sinatra, one could argue, had it all and then some during his lifetime. Personally, I like him best during those wild and crazy Rat Pack years. When Vegas was a glamourous, sizzling hot place to be for reasons other than the weather. When showgirls were classy (ish) and you had to wear a suit to dinner. So raise a martini to one of the finest voices that ever did sing, Mister Frank Sinatra. mp3: The Christmas Waltz (Frank Sinatra from The Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection) (song from the excellent
A Free Man)
There are few people in life who have true Voices. When they sing, they don't merely sing. Something happens when they open their mouths, not just song but experience. There will be those who say that Ole Blue Eyes had one great Voice (personally, I prefer Dino). Some might say Janis was one such Voice. For me, it's Mick Jagger. Well, and this man. Where Mick is the sound of hot, unadulterated sex, Leonard Cohen is the other end of the spectrum, the sound of pure, blissful, agony. His songs can pull you apart, so painfully honest and bare as they are. His are songs of Blake-ian innocence and experience, wry and world-weary, and yet effortlessly and unendingly beautiful. Many of them can and frequently do make me cry.
It just so happens to be the birthday of Mister Cohen. So sit yourself in a dimly-lit corner, pop open a bottle of your finest red, and take comfort in his woebegone splendor.
mp3: Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen from Songs Of Love And Hate)
So, back in the mid-90s, I wanted nothing more in life than to become Mrs. Liam Gallagher (don't judge). To me, there was no boy cuter than Our Kid, that brashest of swaggers blowing all other teenage crushes to smithereens. Not to mention those cheekbones! Those chops! No wonder I didn't like many dudes at my high school, I was too busy swooning over the musicians at such a tender age. But really, in 1996, was there any hotter frontman? Any saucier tambourine shaker? I think not.
And so it is that today, with all those old tender feelings in mind, I'd like to extend a warm birthday snog to Mister Liam Gallagher. Word on the street is that he's working on getting a new band together, in the wake of the latest (and perhaps final?) demise of Oasis. If so, well, best of luck. But for memories' sake, here's a little Oasis for all of my fellow Liam-ites.
mp3: Wonderwall (Oasis from (What's The Story) Morning Glory?)
Guess who just turned 20? No, not that young'un you keep trying to sneak into bars, but none other than the seminal rap album, Mama Said Knock You Out, by hip hop icon LL Cool J. Now, i plan on doing an old skool review of Ladies Love Cool James sooner than later, but today is just to wish many happy returns of the day to the album that spawned the line, "Don't call it a comeback," which you and everyone you know has abused ad nauseum ever since.
Of course, i'd be remiss without mentioning the landmark MTV Unplugged that followed the album, wherein the world found out that LL really needed to change deodorants. Yipes, that was some chunky pit action going on right there.
When I think of Kenny Rogers, there are a few things that spring instantly to mind. The first, of course, being his luxurious, snowy white coif and equally awesome beard. Next, naturally, is the line, "you gotta know when to hold 'em/know when to fold 'em/know when to walk away/and know when to run," from "The Gambler". Butterfly collars are the final image in my mind when I call up mental images of Kenny. Oh, and those of us that are fans of The Big Lebowski, well, there's a dream sequence involving a Valkyrie, a mile high rack of bowling shoes, and a cracked-out Busby Berkeley-esque gaggle of bowling pin headdress clad ladies soundtracked by an unexpectedly trippy Kenny & The First Edition song. Oh yeah, and then there's Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers...
And why am I rambling about Kenny Rogers, you might be wondering? Well friends, it's the man, the myth, the legend's birthday, that's why. I'll be throwing some Kenny on the turntable later, you just wait. I hope you'll join me in wishing all the best to the one, the only, Mister Kenny Rogers.
mp3: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) (Kenny Rogers & The First Edition from The Big Lebowski OST)
Well kiddos, yours truly is pretty crankypants this morning. I'd like to once again reiterate that if you are a band/label/PR person who does not like us having a song of yours on our site, PLEASE EMAIL US TO REMOVE IT. Nobody wins when you don't go to us first, and it only makes us very unhappy to get grumpy notices from our hosting site and makes us not want to write things anymore. So then, let's all be nice to one another in future, shall we?
Stepping off my soapbox, it's time to wish a very Happy Birthday to the spirit of one of pop culture's most important and iconic figures. His birthday was actually yesterday, but I'm pretty sure Andy Warhol would be ok with my being late to the party. Warhol's shadow still looms large to this day, and I can tell you I just about got goosebumps standing in the presence of his Three Elvises at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts last weekend. Not only powerful as an artist, Warhol was powerful in life. Love him or hate him, he still stands as one of the biggest personalities this country has ever produced. And hey, I'm sure many of us sure do love the band he spent a lot of time with over the years. So to celebrate Andy, here's a little Velvet Underground to start off your day.
mp3: There She Goes Again (The Velvet Underground from The Velvet Underground & Nico)
Y’all know this already, but perhaps it bears repeating that I love The Rolling Stones. Love above just about all else. To me, it doesn’t get much better than Mick & Keith, and that blanket statement applies to many things (voracious appetites for the rock lifestyle, affinity for skinny pants, unbeatable songcraft, etc.). And as such, I certainly couldn’t let the birthday of the leader of my beloved band of legends pass by unheralded.
Yes, little lads and ladettes, today is the birthday of Mister Mick Jagger, otherwise known as The Voice (or The Lips). When it comes to frontmen, there is none better than this man. Nor, possibly, will there be better. Those pouty lips, those undulating hips…his primal persona behind the mic (and probably behind closed doors, too) means that the man is and forever shall be walking sex. And let’s face it. In the realms of rock, that’s exactly how it should be.
A very hearty, lusty, and enthusiastic birthday to Mick.
mp3: Dead Flowers (Townes Van Zandt from the Big Lebowski Soundtrack)
mp3: I'm A King Bee (The Rolling Stones from England's Newest Hitmakers)
Creepy. Kooky. Mysterious. And yes, perhaps even a little spooky. No, I’m not talking about the family Addams. I’m talking about the one, the only, the cat with a slight case of the crazies: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. The music world has never had a shortage of characters, and Screamin’ Jay still stands as one of the biggest, baddest characters the industry has ever seen. And we sure do love that here at Les Enfants Terribles!
To start with, the man had enough kids to start his own child army. He wrote a song about constipation. And standing as perhaps the crown of his eccentricities, the man had a skull that he named Henry. For all his, er, quirks, Screamin’ Jay should probably be better known for that voice of his. The impetuous, lively, gorgeous, theatrical voice that you hear in all of his songs, but perhaps most notably in the song you’ll find below.
So put on your satin cape, grab a hold of that skull you hold dear, and throw on some Screamin’ Jay today in celebration of this legend. Happy Birthday, Mr. Hawkins.
mp3: I Put A Spell On You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins from I Put A Spell On You)
mp3: I Put A Spell On You (Nina Simone from I Put A Spell On You)
mp3: I Put A Spell On You (Creedence Clearwater Revival from Chronicle)
Gather round, wee lads and lassies. I can still remember it so very well. There I was, living (and occasionally living it up) in bonnie Scotland, many years ago, when I heard of some new American bands. These bands were causing quite a kerfuffle among the British contingent, and it's still entirely possible they were more popular, as are many a good band over the years, in the UK than in their homeland.
The bands in question? That would be the ones usually given credit for popularizing the "The" movement in band naming: The Strokes, and this birthday boy's band, The White Stripes. I instantly loved them both, and found something ever so fascinating about a red-and-white-clad duo who got their jollies keeping the music press guessing about whether they were siblings or ex-lovers. Ever the oddball, Jack White has managed to create many an album of good old, dirty bluesy rock. And while he's a pretty big name now, what with all those other bands and movies and whatnot, let's all pause to remember the olden days, the days of the red and the white and the way those two Whites crashed the scene like nobody's business.
So then, Happy Birthday, indeed, Jack White.
mp3: Hello Operator (The White Stripes from De Stijl)
Where o where would we be without Ray Davies? Without him, there would be no Village Green Preservation Society, no Muswell Hillbillies, no Lola…there would be entirely less biting musical social commentary from Engerland, and that would be an utter and total shame.
From the early days of The Kinks, Davies had that band doing very, very special things indeed. You can bet your sweet bippy that there’s thousands of young musician pups who wish they were Ray Davies at any given moment. Hell, as I sit here listening to “All Day and All of The Night”, even I wanna be Ray. He’s one heck of a songwriter, that Davies, and his voice ain’t too shabby, either.
So many happy returns to Mister Ray Davies, CBE!
mp3: Lola (The Kinks from Lola Versus The Powerman & The Money-Go-Round Pt. 1)
Well, my little lovvies, yours truly is another year older (though definitely, positively, without question none the wiser) as of the wee small hours of today. I’ve got no bones about admitting when I was born, partially because I look young (or so people tell me, and they can’t all be lying) and partially because with age (supposedly) comes a certain modicum of wisdom (though, as I said above, I don’t feel all that wise), of being above being concerned about one’s age. Now, when the carding stops, then perhaps I’ll start celebrating the same birthday year after year. But for now, well, I’m in my Terrible 30s. And I’m rather happy to have made it this far.
But I’m not the only one, oh no. There were some monumentally good records born along with me in 1979, and I’d like to celebrate them today. Here’s my favorite song from some of the most noteworthy of 1979 releases. We’re not getting older, just better.
mp3: Rock Lobster (The B-52s from The B-52s)
mp3: Disorder (Joy Division from Unknown Pleasures)
mp3: Metal (Gary Numan from The Pleasure Principle)
mp3: Damaged Goods (Gang of Four from Entertainment!)
mp3: Get Over You (The Undertones from The Undertones)
mp3: Wrong ‘Em Boyo (The Clash from London Calling)
As some of you know, on the first of this year we celebrated birthday number 3. We're getting old! But we like to think we still look pretty good for our age. Anyway, digressions aside, Chris and I kinda felt like celebrating. And part of this celebration, dear friends, is for you. Yes you. We're offering one lucky, lucky son of a gun the chance to win a nice little bundle of musical goodies from your favorite DC bloggers. 
