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I got a temp job in retail before Halloween, which was enough time to get the basics before the Christmas season started.  And with the Christmas season came listening to the same awful Christmas songs day after day.  Yeah, I’d probably get sick of The Night Santa Went Crazy or Snow Miser – Heat Miser [...]

Every December (or more often, late November) radio listeners are bombarded with themes of merriment, prosperity, and togetherness, written about in traditional holiday music. It’s uplifting for the easily uplifted, but a joyless purgatory for those who dread the upcoming holiday season, a frostbitten limbo we’re forced to endure until the Christmas tree has dried [...]

In literature, “onomatopoeia” is a word that’s employed to mimic any audible sound not pertaining to any spoken language.  Examples include buzz, crack, pop, whoosh, etc.  Inserting these “meaningless” words into a piece of prose, however, does have the effect of capturing a more-convincing snapshot of reality. But this doesn’t just work on paper; it [...]

Gunplay* is familiar imagery in rock music.  Sadly, it has also been the demise of many a great musician.  Some of the songs on this list were mired in controversy when they were released, but are now radio staples.  Sometimes, the only difference between graffiti and art is time. All of the songs listed below were #1 hits [...]

United States Presidents are people like you and me, who lead daily lives and have everyday likes and dislikes, but rarely do we picture them as such. To many, the President is the executor of national laws, the Commander-in-Chief, a diplomat, the key legislator, and various other roles that require plenty of other hats. But, how often [...]

Any artistic creation is open to interpretation. This means other artists will oftentimes take your artistic creations in new and exciting directions.  The original artists may not have had these bold re-interpretations of their songs in mind when they composed and sang them.  However, the result of these covers by people of foreign lands can [...]

Break-ups hurt.  A lot.  And any surgeon will tell you that any amputation requires a great deal of analgesia to numb the pain in the aftermath.  Such is the case in the separation of two conjoined lovers, who suddenly wish to no longer meet at the hip.  Rather than indulge in booze and pills and [...]

When you’ve gotten to a point, as a songwriter, where you feel like you heard or played it all, there comes a necessary need for change. Whatever that might be; for some, that change may come in the form of an extended African holiday, a new pill combination (not advisable), or simply picking up an [...]

Great songwriting and musicianship does not guarantee that a song will be a hit, so it is wonderful when a recording artist uncovers a musical gem by, well… covering it. When a cover song becomes a hit, the original artist benefits. Often there is a renewed interest in the original artist’s work and hopefully (depending [...]

It wasn’t that long before the total dominance of the iPod and MP3′s that vinyl was king. Right up until the mid 80′s, before CD’s became popular, the 12 inch vinyl disc, or “LP” as it was often called, was the way most music was manufactured, distributed, and sold around the world. Along with the [...]