by DJ El Toro
I have notoriously flawed instincts when it comes to popular music. Before the release of Mariah Carey’s first album, I famously told a Sony executive his label was wasting time and money because the public would never go for such an obvious Whitney Houston knockoff.
Naturally, with such keen acumen, I became [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Scott Walker |
I’ve been thinking about buying a new bicycle. Again. I buy a bicycle about once a decade. I’m good at buying them. I ask questions and comparison shop and take them out for a spin before slapping down my hard-earned cash. But riding? Not so much.
I grew up thinking the world was flat — not [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Ben Sollee |
I’ve often joked that nothing good ever happens in songs set by a river. Seriously. You go down to the river, and the next thing you know innocents are being deflowered, or someone’s getting shot (Neil Young’s “Down by the River”) or bludgeoned with a rock (Nick Cave’s “Where the Wild Roses Grow”), or a [...]
by DJ El Toro
Last month, legendary producer and songwriter Phil Spector was convicted of second degree murder. And I’m finding it a bit difficult to listen to his records. I love those classic “Wall of Sound” oldies, Spector’s “little symphonies for the kids,” designed to sound huge even through the tiniest transistor radio speaker. Yet [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Jack Nitzsche |
When Steve Earle was in the KEXP studio yesterday, playing songs and talking about the life of Townes Van Zandt, he also praised another great songwriter: Loudon Wainwright III. Mere coincidence? Probably not. Wainwright is performing in Seattle tomorrow night (at the Moore Theatre), and I’d played one of his recordings on-air while Earle was [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Loudon Wainwright III |
Like all of us, the recession has forced me to make choices about how I spend my discretionary income. New books? Ha! My library card sees a lot more action than my Visa or American Express. And yet, the other day, I saw something on a remainder table — marked down from $45 to $14 [...]
You know what I hate about mp3 files? The color: None.
Last week, I plucked a copy of Josie Cotton’s 1982 single “He Could Be The One” out of a bargain bin for pennies. And that little 45 reminded me once more that, much as I appreciate the convenience of digital music, vinyl records will always [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Josie Cotton |
Between Hood-to-Hood (thanks, Capitol Hill!), Record Store Day, the 2009 Pop Conference, and covering an overnight show on Saturday night, I’m a little too drained to write anything of note this morning. So please enjoy this video of my presentation from the Pop Conference, “Papaya: Strange Fruit,” about how my favorite Polish jazz singer accidentally [...]
Also posted in KEXP | Tagged Urszula Dudziak |
Tuesday, April 7
“Delving into research for my Pop Conference presentation on Urszula Dudziak and the Papaya Dance. I’m not mad for the Papaya Dance, I’m mad at it. It should’ve made Urszula famous, at least for 15 minutes. Instead, all the attention went to the TV game show host who invented the dance, and all [...]
by DJ El Toro
Tuesday, March 31:
“I didn’t get to digest as much music as I’d have liked yesterday. (Plus I have a wad of Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy” rotting in my colon, refusing to pass — just the chorus, repeating ad nauseam, making its tenacity known with such aggression that I find [...]
