Too old for trick-or-treating? Not into haunted houses? Looking for more excitement than handing out candy to an army of Hannah Montanas, and Transformers? Tired of doing the “Monster Mash?” Here are some of our top picks for Halloween songs and a few parties if you’re still looking for something to do after you’ve watched “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” for the 100th time.
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As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look back at the best music of 2008.
In no particular order these albums have become favorites as a whole, not just for their individual singles or for a handful of tracks.
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Unlike most easy listening radio stations and large department stores, I don’t start the holiday music until about a week before Christmas.
And it’s not that I don’t love Brenda Lee, but I can only take so much rocking around trees and decking the halls before the songs start to sound like week-old fallen snow.
So turn off the radio and spend your holidays with something slightly different.
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Maybe it was the time you drove 16 hours to see your girlfriend/boyfriend.
Or the summer you had to visit Aunt Edna in Alabama.
Or that one time you and 4 of your closest friends decided to follow String Cheese Incident (or any other band) across the country in a beat up van.
Chances are you’ve been stuck in the seat of a car for far too long at some point in your life and can at least sympathize with the truckers who haul food and other such goodies.
In this roundup we’ll look at driving of various origin.
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You know you’ve made it in country music when you’re invited to play the Grand Ole Opry.
Even though the Opry is no longer taped at the Ryman Auditorium like it used to be, the symbolism of singing on the same stage as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and hundreds of other performers before you and hearing the call letters WSM remains.
The only problem is you have to watch your step. One false move and you could find yourself among those banned from the Opry.
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Folk-singer Tom Glazer gave the world the gift of “On Top Of Spaghetti” in 1963. Meatballs everywhere mourned the loss of their mushed cousin.
But it’s not the only song in which food takes the starring role. From more meatballs to chicken to tofu and rants about gelato and other culinary offerings in San Francisco we’ll take a look at a handful of odes to the edible.
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Hidden tracks, or those songs not listed on liner notes usually tacked on at the end of an album, within a “double groove” on a vinyl record, stuck either way before (track 0) the beginning of a CD or somewhere else that you may miss it. It rewards the listeners who are actually listening, not just hearing.
Of all the hundreds of “hidden tracks” the Beatles are considered the pioneers of the concept.
Some dispute which of their tracks is actually a hidden track but since the Inner Groove on Sgt. Pepper’s is really just noise and that in all my years of obsessive Beatle fan-dom I never actually heard the one on The Beatles (also known as the White Album), I considered Her Majesty on Abbey Road to be the very first true hidden track, tacked on 14 odd seconds after the final cut on Abbey Road as it had been taken out of the Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam medley.
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Eliza Gilkyson
Late spring seems to be a great time to release an album.
It’s just before the summer tours start kicking and everyone’s getting out of school, the weather is getting really nice and we’re all in the mood for some new tunes.
This week’s new records include John Hiatt, Cyndi Lauper and Eliza Gilkyson.
Within the coming few weeks Emmylou Harris, Martha Wainwright, and the Watson Twins have discs hitting the shelves.
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