New music from Goose, The Bobby Lees, Infinity Song, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, The LInda Lindas, The Smashin Pumpkins, Pockets (i.e. Scary Pockets), Yes, Theatre, John Southworth, The Transatlantics and much more. Enjoy!
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I have added 4 songs from Goose's new album "Big Modern!" to the playlist, and it was hard to narrow it down to just those four. This might be the best album of 2026 so far. It's a mix of Talking Heads, Steve Miller Band, King Crimson and even a touch of whimsy and 70's glam. That they're able to get all of that to work together is amazing in and of itself, but the songs are just so damned good. I've listened to this album several times in the past few days and like it more each time. Highly recommended.
The Transatlantics are exactly what their name says; a band made up of trans individuals from both the European and American sides of the Atlantic. Their self-titled debut album came out in December but it's only starting to get traction now as they tour Europe. Set aside the unique makeup of the membership of the band and you find to pretty solid rock/alternative music, a bid reminiscent of early Oasis. Give them a listen for just the music - they deserve it.
Infinity Song's new album, also self-titled, is also a standout. I had already added a few songs from the album as they came out as singles and still found room to add a few more to the playlist. They do subtle things with their vocal arrangements that I have always found worth the listen, and their songwriting skills and lyrics have gotten much better than they were when they mostly did covers. Worth your time.
I think it's fair now to stop thinking of Mike Campbell as Tom Petty's guitarist and start thinking of the band he leads, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, as what he should be remembered for. I'm not knocking all those years with Petty because there's some amazing stuff there, but the band's 4th album "Mission of Mercy" is as solid as anything Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did. It's taken a while but I think Campbell has finally settled into the leadership role and relaxed enough that the band sounds like a cohesive unit now, and the payoff has been worth waiting for. It's good and it's time to let the influence of Tom Petty go.
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I was eleven years old during the celebration of our nation's 200th birthday. I was living with my father in Michigan, about 60 miles outside of Detroit. I remember the celebration quite well as we and a few neighbors got together and barbequed steaks, pork, catfish and bass that we had caught in one of Michigan's many unnamed lakes, corn on the cobb, cokes and other assorted drinks for the adults (my dad didn't drink much beer at the time and I was much too young to appreciate whiskey).
I kissed a girl for the first time. I mean a real kiss, not a family kiss. That girl and I spent most of the summer together, not knowing that our next one would be the last. Oh, don't go for the drama. I only lived with my father over the summers and he eventually moved back to California and her family moved to Arizona. I would meet her again a few times over the years until my early 20's, but that would be that.
End digression.
Thing is, we had barbeque, fireworks, people just being together and having fun. We were speculating about the upcoming Olympic Games that would be held just across the Detroit River from us and there was the usual bread and circuses on the TV, but that was really about it.
Gerald Ford was President and all they had were fireworks. You can look it up, he was actually out of Washington D.C. for most of the day. He hosted the President of France before the day and hosted the Queen of England shortly after.
But the thing I want to note is the coordination of events. At first, there was the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission (ARBC), established in 1966 by Congress under then-President Johnson to start putting events together. However, it was disbanded in 1973 and replaced by Congress for being too commercial and too politically driven. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) was established to help coordinate all of the events nationwide and as I remember it this was quite successful. There were parades and events that after the failures of Vietnam and Watergate helped us for the first time to feel like a united country again.
The Olympics came two weeks later and after the horrors of what had happened in Munich to have a relatively safe games was not just a relief but a blessing. The US didn't have Mark Spitz swimming for us anymore but we still dominated the events, and in diving Greg Lougainis won a silver, starting a run that would eventually lead to him dominating the 1980s. It would be the games dominated by Nadia Comăneci, who earned the first 10.0 in gymnastics ever.
And everyone was just starting to hear about this Peanut Farmer from Georgia.
But on the actual night itself what I remember is a few families gathered around with their own fireworks, good food on the grill, lots of sodas and other libations, and my father blasting his two favorite musicians from inside the house: Jimi Hendrix and Neil Daimond.
What it wasn't was the celebration of any single individual. Was George Washington important? Sure. Paul Revere? Sure. Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Patrick Henry? Absolutely. Gerald Ford? No.
The whole celebration wasn't about any person, but the fact that the idea of a government by the people and for the people was still with us. Sure, we had some rocky moments but we were still here, and we were getting better.
I seriously doubt that even Ronald Reagan would approve of what's going on these days, and it's his fault that we started down this road. Weird as it sounds for me to say, I can say that having met both men. Reagan was a disaster for the country but he was all about wanting the country to succeed. He was just wrong about how to do it. The current guy? He doesn't give a fuck about the county. It's all about him.
I am perfectly happy to celebrate the country I was born and raised in, and have lived in most of my life. The country, not the administration, not the people in power. The very idea of our nation is still a good one as long as the people in power honor what it really means.
I hope to see that one day very soon. We need to erase everything the Crime Administration has done and they need to be held accountable. Their leader has put his personal touch on everything from turning the White House into the White Trash House, his name on just about everything, and everything covered in gold (gold leaf, gold plastic and so on). The East Wing of the White House restored, the Rose Garden restored, power redistributed to the three branches of government.
The real leaders of this nation throughout its history have left their marks without the need to have their own names placed on it. It's almost as if the current leader is so frightened that he'll be forgotten that he has to have his name on everything. We cannot let that happen. His name must be erased from everything that already existed before he came along. That which he's destroyed while trying to build something with his name on it must be restored.
We need to be able to celebrate the nation, not the man. It will make the fireworks of 50 years ago worth it.
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So now that the fight is over (and I have no clue or any desire to learn who won) how long will that fucking circus tent remain on the front lawn of The White House?
As if there wasn't enough to be outraged about, the Crime Administration has put $5 Million into gold-plating 4 statues of horses that are near the Lincoln Memorial. Not only if that so very tacky, but the cost of doing so should only be about 5% of that. Google it yourself if you don't believe me.
So the "deal" with Iran is to reset to where we were before we attacked Iran, plus freeing the funds we had frozen for decades, plus a few dozen American dead. Apparently the Art of the Deal is all about finger painting. About $1,000 of your tax dollars went into this. Mine as well.
So apparently the former South African/Canadian/"Visionary"/Pot-head and Ketamine enthusiast is now a Trillionaire. 1,000 Billions. The number is so large that it borders the insane and comprehensible. A Billion years ago Dinosaurs roamed the Earth. A Trillion years ago the Universe didn't exist and wouldn't for another 985 Billion years.
I do not wish any ill of Mitch McConnell, and I hope he has a speedy recovery from whatever put him in the hospital and a retirement long enough that he can see the rest of us dismantle all of the damage he's done to the Judiciary. That could take a while but it starts once he's gone from the Senate, which will be January at the latest.
Oh, in case you didn't notice it, they're coming for Medicaid and Social Security again. They always do.
I actually watched some of the circus that was the removal of the head of the Crime Administration's name from the Kennedy Center. To me, with a wee bit of construction knowledge, the scaffolding makes sense. The tarp also makes sense as it's a safety issue - although they do make them see-through. Leaving the scaffolding up, and therefore the tarp, is a political decision. You and I know full well that they have no intention to restore the portions of the exterior of the building damaged by the removal of those letters.
I'm not a Knicks fan. Never was. But you have to admit, their comeback and eventual win of the series is the stuff of legend.
Well I can tell you who didn't win the Spelling Bee.
I think that most people who work in the Swimming Pool business could tell you that a paint job doesn't prevent algae.
My dear sir, they don't want you here.
And because I love you, may I present the first video from the first band to ever give a live performance on the moon, Sparks!
(I'll add this to the playlist next week, and pay attention to who is the MC!)
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