• Linda Thompson — A Performance to Remember

    Lame DogFolk

    Try googling the name and you’ll be bombarded with references to one of Caitlyn Jenner’s ex-wives. But it’s her namesake to whom I pay tribute today.

    She was born Linda Pettier and grew up is Glasgow.  She tried her hand at acting, then switched to singing before marrying Richard Thompson in 1972.  About three years later, Richard decided to end his career and join a Sufi commune.  Linda dutifully followed but was miserable. And when she tried to take up with a new band, she was given a dressing down by the resident “sheik.” Fortunately for the world, Richard eventually left the commune and resumed recording with her.

    After six albums and three children together, Richard fell in love with another woman. Linda nevertheless accompanied him on a 1982 American tour in what she later described as a “pathetic” effort to win him back. Feelings ran so raw that at one point she hit him over the head with a coke bottle and stole a car. But their work on stage was said to be extraordinary.

    The years that followed had their share of challenges. Linda increasingly suffered from spasmodic dysphonia, a voice disorder that forced her to give up singing. They also contained rewards: enduring second marriages to other people for both Linda and Richard; the chance to see their son Teddy and daughter Kamila grow up to be respected musicians themselves; and the restoration of Linda’s ability to sing, at least sporadically, with the aid of botox injections into the vocal cords. In 2014, she, Teddy, Kamila, and Richard appeared together on an album entitled “Family.”

    But let’s return to an earlier day. On August 19, 1981, the BBC broadcast Linda and Richard performing a set of his songs, culminating with “The Dimming of the Day.” It’s been covered repeatedly and has deeply affected some of those who have covered it, including Emmy Lou Harris (who once called it “the greatest love song ever”), and Alison Krauss (who upon first attempting to sing it, broke down in the studio). I doubt, however, that this rendition by Linda, made when her marriage was falling apart, has been surpassed. What follows — at least to my gullible eyes — is a show of vulnerability seldom captured on video, held in check just enough to maintain full artistic control.

    (more…)

  • At the End of the Day, the Best?

    Lame DogUncategorized

    Attention.  The Dog has a matter of cultural significance for your consideration.  Who is the greatest living figure in popular music who is not a household name?

    Before we can proceed, we must define terms.  What is popular music?  That could encompass everything other than classical music.  But in order to prevent our inquiry from becoming unwieldy, let’s limit ourselves to the non-classical music of the English-speaking world.  And let’s also steer clear of the grand traditions of Broadway and the specialized realm of jazz.

    Next, what is a household name?  For present purposes, let’s define that as a name immediately recognizable to the general public of the United States.  In that way, we can avoid the daunting task of tracking everyone who is — or is not — very famous somewhere. Also, let’s assume that if a musical group is a household name, its members and ex-members likewise qualify as such, even if they may be less familiar in their individual capacities.

    Now comes the really hard part.   What does it mean to be great and how should it be measured?  That’s endlessly debatable.  But here are some possible criteria:

    — Someone with a  career of long standing, going back more than a generation.

    — Someone whose achievements as a songwriter include a substantial body of work with finely crafted lyrics and beautiful melodies.

    — Someone who is an outstanding performer on a musical instrument.

    — Someone with a stirring and memorable voice.

    — Someone who remains a creative force, having continued to tour and release new material in recent years.

    — Someone who is highly respected in music circles and has broadly influenced others in the field.

    So who best fits the bill?

    Honestly, I don’t know.   I haven’t done enough research and would lack the discernment to express a reliable opinion even if I had. But it may well be (more…)

  • Oliver Wallace — Fighting Hitler With Help From Donald Duck

    Lame DogComedy

    One day in 1942, Walt Disney approached a composer on his staff with a special rush assignment.  He needed a song for a Donald Duck cartoon intended to poke fun at the German enemy.  The composer, Oliver Wallace, had written scores for many cartoons as well as songs for the movie Dumbo.  But this time he felt stumped. That evening while biking to a store, he later recalled: “The music came to me in one flash.  It nearly knocked me off my bicycle.  My mouth opened in surprise.  There followed a second surprise.  Words came out of that mouth.” The result was “The Fuehrer’s Face,” which Oscar Hammerstein, II, later praised as the “great psychological” song of the conflict, as in psychological warfare.

    Before long, the zany bandleader Spike Jones recorded a version in which he used a “birdaphone” — a rubber novelty shop device — to punctuate each reference to “the Fuehrer’s Face” with a Bronx cheer.  The next year, the cartoon was released.  Unfortunately, the birdaphone was replaced with a trombone.  But the overall effect was such that it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

    The film can be seen on youtube.  But I prefer the superior quality of this clip, which is among the vast trove of interesting material available on the France-based website dailymotion. (more…)

  • Thistle in the Heart — Eric Bogle and James MacArthur

    Lame DogFolk

    Years ago, Lame Dog had the pleasure of seeing the Australian songwriter Eric Bogle in concert. Bogle performed many of his fine songs, but not the one that first made the Dog prick up his ears. That can be heard in the clip below. Bogle supplied the melody and the chorus. The remainder is credited to a poem by James MacArthur.

    I always assumed that MacArthur was a minor nineteenth century literary figure.  In fact, he died in 1981 and, as far as I know, never published a word. (more…)

  • Bloom Again — From Stealing Pets to Crazy Ex

    Lame DogComedy

    After releasing two comedy albums, Rachel Bloom, along with her collaborator Aline Brosh McKenna, began pitching an idea for a television series. Bloom wanted to portray a brilliant but unhappy Manhattan attorney who impulsively abandons her big firm career and moves to a boring town in California to pursue an obsessive crush on a hunky Asian guy. And it’s a musical.

    Unfortunately, Bloom was suffering from anxiety and depression. (Oh no! That topic has returned!) But she sought psychiatric help and, improbably, “Crazy Ex-Girfriend,” which is now in its third season, became a critically acclaimed success. In addition to her achievements as a comedy writer and singer, Bloom won a 2016 Golden Globe Award for best actress for playing the lead role.

    While I haven’t yet had an opportunity to watch much of the show, I’ve been enjoying videos of the featured songs. I’m especially fond of the following clip. Here, we get to listen in on the protagonist’s inner rap monologue as she employs her formidable social skills to impress her boyfriend’s parents (and reduce her romantic competition to “bupkis”). (more…)

  • “It’s the Seventh Grade Dance in the Shed” — A Salute to Rachel Bloom

    Lame DogComedy

    I think we could use a pick-me-up after that last post on depression. Anyway, I’m looking for an excuse to tout a comedy powerhouse.  Plus she just celebrated her 30th birthday (on April 3rd).

    Rachel Bloom grew up in Southern California but was something of a neurotic New Yorker at heart. In addition to a behind the scenes stint as an intern at Saturday Night Live, she cut her teeth with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, an improv troupe whose other graduates include Amy Poehler. Bloom first attracted widespread attention in 2010 with a rude song about wanting to have sex with the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. It was in poor taste as she was 23 at the time while Bradbury was 90. But I reserve the right to change my mind about that some day in the distant future.

    The following year, in 2011, Bloom hit her hit her stride with this video. Notice that she comes on like an (even more) over-the-top Rebecca Black before taking a bizarre turn:

    Behind the laughter lurked a shadow. Back when Bloom herself was in 7th grade, she was

    (more…)

  • Big Country Blues — Depression and Creativity

    Lame DogUncategorized

    Not long ago, the friendly algorithms at Youtube, which know more about my peculiar tastes than I may have cared to reveal, recommended that I view a particular video. In it, the Be Good Tanyas, a Canadian folk trio, perform a song in which the narrator describes being abandoned by his mother and swindled by his girlfriend before going to jail for robbery. It concludes with the lines:

    Now I’m out of prison.  I got me a friend at last.
    He don’t steal or cheat or drink or lie.
    His name’s Codeine.  He’s the nicest thing I’ve seen.
    Together we’re gonna wait around and die.

    Who could have written such a lyric?  A quick check revealed a name that I’d occasionally run across in conjunction with the adjective “legendary” and the phrase “songwriter’s songwriter.” It was (more…)

  • The Everly Brothers — An Ode to Masturbation?

    Lame DogClassic Rock

    This next clip is truly a special treat. Here is the exquisite harmony of the Everly Brothers performing “All I Have to Do is Dream,” with members of Bill Haley’s Comets playing backup.  It was a number one hit in June, 1958. In the clip below, it’s followed by the Everly Brothers’ wonderful “new” song, “Cathy’s Clown.”

    “Dream” was written by Bordleaux Bryant, who, along with his wife Felice, formed one of the great songwriting teams.  In Rock and Roll: An Introduction, Michael Campbell and James Brody state that “[t]he theme of the lyrics is romantic love — commonplace in pop but increasingly on the wane in rock-era music.” On the other hand, in The Sound of the City, the British musicologist Charlie Gillet had this to say:

    Boudleaux and Felice Bryant … showed a remarkable flair for conveying the narcissistic self-preoccupations of adolescents…. “All I Have to do is Dream” joined the short list of teen ballads that never lose their effect for teenagers caught in a particular situation; the song came as close as pop ever dared to the taboo topic of masturbation, as the singer insisted that he did not need his lover because he could fantasize about her at any moment. It was not established whether “she” was a particular girl, or just the perfect embodiment of the singer’s selfish needs.

    While Gillett is entertaining, his comment strikes me as a tad overblown.  The song proclaims “I need you so that I could die/ I love you so….” — a remark that would seem to be directed to an actual person for whose company the singer is longing, rather than a mere fantasy.

    Also, is it fair to characterize teenagers generally as narcissistic? Or masturbation (assuming that is what was accompanying the dreaming) as selfish?  If the attraction is mutual, one would think that upon hearing this lament, the dreamed-of-other would be deeply touched. Otherwise, she or he is probably not worth dreaming about in the first place.

    In any event, a song intended to break down barriers by overtly celebrating masturbation did eventually become a hit on mainstream radio. Can you name it? (more…)

  • 37 Fantastic New Ways to Reach Orgasm That Are Actually A Fraudulent Ploy to Promote This Website

    Lame DogUncategorized

    Here, at Lame Dog, we work hard to bring quality content to our thousands of subscribers. Well, currently four subscribers. And that includes — oh my God, can I bear the embarrassment? — the Dog himself. But who’s counting?

    In the hope of increasing my international influence, I’ve been conducting an in depth study of business practices. Based on the behavior of certain other web sites (and local magazines), here are my findings.  If you want to succeed, you need to:

    1. Post things that will appeal to your audience’s narrow self-interest.
    2. Post things that are vaguely prurient. Or not so vaguely.
    3. Turn everything into a list. Because it’s the only thing the human brain can process anymore.

    Hence, the title of this post. But before we get to that, let’s spend a moment talking about this blog. Now, I’m sure you’ve been saying to yourself, “What can I do to help this site realize it’s manifest destiny to become an astounding success?” Glad you asked.

    First of all, if you haven’t done so already, please consider subscribing. It’s not hard. See where it says “Subscribe” at the top right of the home page. Click on it. That’s important because you’ll receive an email alert when I have a new post, which is not often. Otherwise, you may log on at random times and see nothing new. Come on.   It’s got to be less annoying that those alerts you receive when one of your virtual friends announces that … wow! … they ate in a restaurant.

    What else can you do? If you know people who may be interested, you can send them an email or post a link on your social media page. Say something like: “Check this out!! I have no idea who this lame dog character might be.  But he/she/it is my new guru.”

     After that, if you’re still itching for ways to help, you can:
    * Put a sign on your lawn that reads “Log onto lame-dog.com”
    * Take out a second mortgage and donate the proceeds to lame-dog.com.
    * Remember Lame Dog in your will. Do you really want to leave that money to provide for your loved ones?
    * Go up to random strangers in the supermarket and say, “The Dog Wants to Know.”

    Okay. So about that orgasm. Here are the ways: (more…)

  • Billy Tipton Plays “The Man I Love”

    Lame DogJazz

    In the summer of 1956, the Billy Tipton Trio — a group based in Spokane, Washington  —  came to Los Angeles to record for the independent label Tops Records. They performed instrumental versions of jazz standards, primarily from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The recordings were later released on two albums: Sweet Georgia Brown (“a Masterpiece of Incomparable High-Fidelity Sound”) and Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi on Piano. During one session, which took place at a studio located at Capital Records, a woman happened to be hanging around the sound booth. She came up and told them, “Gee, you guys sound great.” It was Ella Fitzgerald.

    I particularly like their version of George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.”

     

    While the albums did not sell poorly, Tipton faded into obscurity. He turned down a lucrative gig in Reno saying that he wanted to return to Spokane and settle down. And he proceeded to do just that. He married the last of his five wives (although the prior marriages were not official) and adopted three sons. He died in Spokane at the age of 74 in 1989.

    Under ordinary circumstances, Tipton’s name may have been entirely forgotten. But something happened the day he died — something that shocked nearly everyone who had met him since his youth in the mid-West. The medic summoned to Tipton’s residence discovered   (more…)

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