Li'l Punks

Toddler wear, vintage clothing store, New Hope, PA

Hello hello

Steve Hogan here. I'm humbly accepting John's invite to contribute to his music blog. I do so as a guy who, like John loves music, but unlike John sucks at actually creating any. Seriously, I still need to get beyond merely learning how to tune the ukulele my wife bought me. I blame my parents for being too cheapjack for me to get a band instrument, as well as elementary school music classes having us sing stuff like this: Yes, yes, it's all very cute when there's an adorable moppet involved, but when you're a man cub pushing ten, this is the sonic equivalent of Ralphie being forced to wear the pink bunny costume at Christmas. I went through classes sullenly mouthing words and not singing so much. When I started to do a lot of theater in high school, I'd swear they staged "Once Upon a Mattress" just so they could have a musical where I'd play a mute king who sang in pantomime.

So as I post here keep in mind that at best, a friend in high school taught me how to play the main riff from Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". That's right, a song whose guitarist was MISSING TWO FINGER TIPS. Whuckachuckawhuckachukca dahdahdah!

Yer Morning Moptops - Your Outside is In

The Feelies - "Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)"

Guitar Town

Hey, check this out. You can go on a 3D Google Maps tour of my favorite guitar store in the world, Action Music in Falls Church, VA. If you love vintage, this is your favorite store, too.

Soundalike Central

"Always the Sun": the Stranglers' weird decision to channel Lou Reed's singing voice (he does have one).

Yer Morning Moptops - Paul Sings All Things Must Pass

Didn't realize yesterday was George's birthday.

CORRECTION: anniversary of his death.

A Quiet Good Night - Luciana Souza

On the Other Hand, LPs Were Great

Check out Sergeant Pepper with its cut-outs and photos and lyrics. You could buy it that way for decades.

Oh, and look what came with The Beatles (The White Album) LP. There was a big poster, too. Compare the LP to the shitty cassette version. (My copy came with the cases scotch-taped together.)

London Calling was a thang of beauty. In addition to the great front and back design, you got these great hand-written lyrics on the sleeves. (click to embiggen)

Even bands I didn't much like at the time had some cool stuff. Led Zep's Physical Graffiti had push-pull sleeve action, with images and letters appearing in  the little windows.




So did the Stones' Some Girls, which got them in copyright trouble with the likes of Lucille Ball, and they hadda re-do the cover as a result.



And I always loved Tull's Stand Up.



Yer missin' out with yer MP3s and yer I-Tunes, kids.

Nostalgia Proof: Cassette Tapes

Hate 'em, don't miss 'em.

The tangling, the warping, the hiss. 

The massive amount of time it took to make a mixtape.

The crappy sound quality, the inordinate cost.

The stupid record companies shuffling the song order of an album just so it would fit on a cassette. (That should be "She's the One", not "Night".)

To hell with 'em. Good riddance.

Oh, and screw VHS, too.

And CDs, while we're at it.

Yer Morning Moptops - Your Mammie Will Scold

A Quiet Good Night - Straighter Than Narrow

Harry Nilsson, "Me and My Arrow" from The Point (1971)

Crowded House

This blog will soon have three new contributors. Stay tuned.

Yer Morning Moptops - Two Foot Small

A Quiet Good Night - Dinah II

Sorry to say, there was all of one view of last night's Dinah Good-Night video. You guys are missing out, I'm tellin' ya! Here's another chance.

GREAT LYRICS

 This 9 to 5 bullshit don't let you forget

Whose suicide you're on.

- Paul Westerberg, "World Class Fad"