(Warning: Contains rock lyrics from 40 years ago)

Some music goes beyond the sound that comes out of your speakers. From time to time, these sounds define a cultural or political movement. In a few cases, they become the soundtrack for a generation.

Neil Young wailing, “four dead in Ohio,” still conjures memories of a black and white photograph of a young girl on one knee, panic stricken, next to the face-down body of a student shot dead by the National Guard at Kent State.

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How did George Martin get that final sound at the end of “A Day In The Life” on the Sgt. Pepper album?

What popular song written by Paul McCartney used orchestra strings in a major way for the first time in pop music and eventually became the most covered song in history?

Why did Ringo keep his mouth shut?

What did John and Yoko expect to accomplish with their Bed For Peace stunt?

Where does George rank in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Best Guitarists Of All Time? (more…)

The economic environment has gotten to the point where GM is being talked about in the past tense. CNN is a barrage of red-fonted gloom. The Dow is flushing in a daily swirl. Men are having babies (I saw the guy, err, well, not exactly a guy, on Barbara Walters). TLC did a two-hour documentary about a man in Java who suffers from warts so badly; it appeared tree roots are growing from his body (the “tree man” – Google it). 

Business is warty too, but not growing. Retail sales have dropped lower than even after even 9/11. Unemployment is swelling. Bankrupt giants fill the biz news and billionaires are forced to live like millionaires. Golden parachutes aren’t opening. A government that was so decisive in war is now frozen by the fear it was so good at spreading just a few years ago. With every paper that gets delivered – bad news on the doorstep (thank you Don McLean, American Pie). Even online universities (I’ve been predicting this for 10 years) are becoming legit: See Western Governors University (https://www.wgu.edu).

When everything we thought we knew is questioned and the experts are baffled and lost; when our leaders have no solutions; when our future looks so bleak, where do we turn? (more…)

The Virgin Megastore. Times Square. New York City. Two weeks ago. A group of 23-24 year-old consumers embrace the revival of vinyl. (more…)

I heard the man’s name a long time ago – I can’t remember exactly where – but the music he championed was the soundtrack of my life growing up. (more…)

I didn’t see one rare, world famous blue lizard in Grand Cayman, mainly because I was staring straight down into the bottom of the ocean. I did see what looked like a 4-foot barracuda, grinning a mouthful of sharp teeth up through the distilled-clear water. Snorkeling is big here. Everyone is snorkeling over wrecks and reefs and colorful fish and each other. Look in those aquariums at PetSmart and imagine those colorful fish about a hundred times bigger and loose in the ocean. (more…)

As I type this, I am listening to some cool music from the Music Genome Project. Went to Pandora.com (thanks Jeff) and typed in what I wanted and they loaded me up with that and everything like it. You want personalized radio? This is it. Get the $15 software (PandoraJam) and it will automatically record your choices into iTunes for you. Sounds like the future of music is
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If you haven’t read “Hammer of the Gods,” the seminal and raunchy history of Led Zeppelin by Stephen Davis, don’t worry, you have a couple of chances to get a close-up feel for the senior citizen gods of rock at two upcoming events. On November 26, the surviving members of Led Z will take the stage in London for a reunion concert. Cash in that 401(k) now for your tickets. (more…)

Go to the Pearly Gates, take a left, and there beside the guy with the harp on Cloud Nine, is St. Peter’s Investments, Inc. The First National Bank Of The Great Beyond is down to your right. Can’t miss it. Across the street, Angelic Trust Company is building a branch near The Big Guy’s Barbecue. (more…)

I can’t remember why we went to Opp, Alabama that day in my mom’s 1969 Impala. There wasn’t much in Opp back then and there’s even less there now. I do remember this: Mom’s Impala didn’t come back. (more…)

Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, Tell where are you going?
This he told me

Said, I’m going down to Yasgur’s Farm,
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free. (more…)

If you are too young to remember what Duane Allman could do to a guitar, forgive me for saying that you are not a complete human being. Rolling Stone ranks Duane as the number two best guitarist ever, behind Jimi Hendrix. However, I bet even Jimi would argue that. Duane could turn a guitar into a different kind of instrument from what everyone else was playing. (more…)

It was about 1970, maybe 1971. I was in the eighth grade and the Big Bam Show was my first live concert and my first official date with a female human. The show was great. The date was not – but more on that later. (more…)

Selling Out, Up, Down & Dirty

Worm poop is hip. Just ask TerraCycle, Inc magazine’s 2006 “The Coolest Little Start Up In America.” Started by a Princeton dropout (who found that worm droppings helped “certain” kind of plants to grow well in when he was in college), TerraCycle is so hot they’re selling worm doo in recycled containers at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target. We’re talking “liquefied worm poop here.” About this point you’re saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?” They expect to sell $6 million worth of this stuff this year. (more…)

If you are old enough to have listened to an album, then you may have participated in this form of entertainment: Album Slinging.

I’ve done my share; more than my share. My friends and I had it down to an art. Wait, maybe I should explain first exactly what an album is for Gen-XBoxers YouTubers. (more…)