Tuesday, October 8, 2024: TWOfer Tuesday - "Hacks" Edition

I'm obsessed with the TV show "Hacks." 

If you've been living in a cave, or if you don't have HBO, Hacks is a recent comedy-drama series that follows the relationship between legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedian Deborah Vance, played by Jean Smart, and a young comedy writer, Ava Daniels, played by Hannah Einbinder.  

It works a lot of familiar tropes about the generational and personal differences between the two; isn't the young person so entitled and out of touch, isn't the old person so closed minded and out of touch, etc.

However, the joy comes from how brilliantly the writers bring nuance and complexity to those tropes, and how Smart and Einbinder, along with a supporting cast that has no visible weak links, take that material and create real, fleshed out human beings.  Their standout performances shine and make all the comedy and all the pathos a amazing experience to watch.

The bonus element is that the soundtrack is a pitch-perfect blend of old school classics and new, insightful music that is the sublime compliment to Deborah's and Ava's clashing personalities and perspectives on life and comedy.

I'd sling Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp all day if it meant I could come home to watch this series again and again.  Enjoy.

 

Tuesday, May 28, 2024: TWOfer Tuesday - The "You Need To Start Listening To Billy Strings Right Now" Edition

 

I've said many times before that the main reason I do Cool Song Of The Day is to discover and recommend new music, and to reject that old cliché that nobody makes good music anymore.

But, what happens when you come across an artist that is new, but sounds old.  Like, his records could be played on the radio in the old days.  Deep in the old days.

Meet Billy Strings.  And say hello to the Bluegrass Revival.

Wikipedia: Billy Strings

But it's certainly more than his deep connection with this uniquely American form of music.  Strings is an accomplished songwriter, a powerful performer and a damn near virtuoso on the guitar. 

Music with substance and soul, grit and complexity, unique and also universal.  And, hell, ain't that the very definition of cool.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Boom....Boom Boom BASH" Edition

 

It's that Phil Spector Beat. Kick...Kick Kick SNARE! 

It's the iconic opening rhythm to The Ronette's ageless hit "Be My Baby." 

You can thank legendary session drummer and member of the Wrecking Crew Hal Blaine for that beat. 

And, apparently, according to Hal, it was supposed to be slightly different:

"That famous drum intro was an accident. I was supposed to play the snare on the second beat as well as the fourth, but I dropped a stick. Being the faker I was in those days, I left the mistake in and it became: “Bum-ba-bum-BOOM!” And soon everyone wanted that beat. "

                                                                        How we made the Ronettes' Be My Baby

                                                                        Interview by Dave Simpson

                                                                        The Guardian, November 17, 2015

And from that 1963 hit, a musical trope was born.  And it's appeared on hundreds of records spanning every decade since. 

So, here you go, have some more of that mistake turned magic.

  

 

Tuesday, September 4, 2011: TWOfer Tuesday - The "You Can't Wear White After Labor Day" Edition

We're not much for tradition here at CSOTD, but last year we started something that I thought was pretty cool, and I think we'll continue this year.

It's all about flying in the face of conventional wisdom for not wearing white after Labor Day.

So here's more cool songs that also fly in the face of convention, and here's to wearing what you want whatever the season.

Just don't spill that Caffè Americano all over yourself, you'll never get that out.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012: TWOfer Tuesday: The "And The Livin' Is Easy" Edition

"Summertime" is an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. It is in the canon of American music as a classic, and it more than deserves that status.

I'm sure many would agree that the definitive version would be Billie Holiday's 1936 version, though I've been pretty partial to Janis Joplin's 1968 version (with Big Brother & The Holding Company).


But, when you've got a song that is a certified national treasure that's been recorded by the artists of the caliber of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Gene Vincent and Miles Davis, just to name a handful, then it's an uphill battle to truly make this song your own. Which is why I like these versions. They have a mighty hill to climb and, for me at least, I think they make it.

First up is a single from Billy Stewart, from his 1966 album Unbelievable, which became a Top 10 hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Stewart's version strikes the right balance between reverence and playful tinkering. It considers the source, but it doesn't get stale or weighed down with reverence which is a trap too many other versions of this song get lured into. Plus, how could that horn section not be cool?

And rounding out today's TWOfer, is an absolute classic in it's own right. Artie Shaw, bandleader and jazz clarinetist extraordinaire, actually played on Billie Holiday's above mentioned version, and his full throated five minute version from 1945, also strikes a great balance between reverence and playful tinkering. Though, this time the tinkering comes from a master big band vamping and brooding, serving up jazz riffs and then chewing them up with fervent abandon.

When Summertime is this cool, you'll never worry about the heat. And the livin' will always be easy.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Stroke Me" Edition

As in, "Stroke Me, who knew how many people out there liked Billy Squire?"

One of the reasons I love doing CSOTD is because I am so often absolutely flummoxed about what people consider cool. And how vastly different that often looks from what I would consider cool.

Take today's artist, Mr Billy Squier, for instance. In the 80's, Billy Squier had some hits, made what some call the World's Worst Music Video, and then stopped having hits. That's about it, actually.  That's pretty much what I remember from him.

So, imagine my surprise when, as a harmless lark, I posted Lonely Is The Night on a personal page, and the phones went wild.  Who would have thunk?

Billy Squier, for me, was the right man for the right time - the 80's.  He had that arena friendly sound (think Foreigner, who he toured with in 1981), curly hair and was one of the few rock artists to get heavy rotation on early MTV. It doesn't surprise me that his star, quickly risen, had just as quickly faded as the 80's closed.  Everyone had moved on.  Who wanted to listen to The Stroke (which is an almost borderline novelty record, if I'm honest) when Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Poison and an up and coming Metallica were dominating the scene.  Those acts demanded to be taken seriously.  Billy Squire?  He was so 1981.

But, then again, maybe such a simplistic judgement doesn't do him justice.  He did have a fantastic voice for rock and roll, as well as being a great guitarists and a pretty ok songwriter.  He also had actually been around since the early 70's, so his was one of those overnight sensations that had taken about a decade to get started.

And finally, as always, there is the music itself.  Forget the neon and the ripped shirts, forget the overblown cliches about "arena rock", and just give a listen to these two song.  Both really do sound fresh and relevant.  And bitchin'.  And cool.

So, thank you my friends, for enrolling me in another lesson in the University Of Cool.

Hopefully, I'll never graduate - because the learning will never stop.

And Stroke Me if that ain't the coolest of all.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012: TWOfer Tuesday: The "More About Me" Edition

Here's some more people and places in my life

Tuesday, December 6, 2011: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Couple Of '70s Songs About New York" Edition

I'm a California guy myself, born and raised in Los Angeles.

So, as such, I'm used to getting flack from New Yorkers. Well, let 'em hate.

I'll just return it all with love. I certainly will not do an entire week devoted to New York, not like I did with California, anyway. However, I would be more than happy to set aside a couple of songs for a TWOfer Tuesday.

Especially if they are some tasty tunes from the grooving, soulful 1970's.

Enjoy, gentle reader, whichever coast you are from

CSOTD Bonus Edition: Billy Preston - Will It Go Round In Circles?

Sorry, everyone, I just couldn't leave 1973 without playing this song too!

Keep on Trucking!

Saturday, September 18, 2010: Billy Idol - To Be A Lover

Billy Idol - To Be A Lover
Uploaded by EMI_Music. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.


Is White Wedding a cooler Billy Idol song?  Probably.  But this isn't COOLEST Song Of The Day, merely Cool Song Of The Day, thank you very much.

Besides, it's that damn boogie-woogie piano in To Be A Lover, it absolutely kills me. Every time.  I want to be that piano player.

And there opens a large window into my horribly flawed personality and debilitatingly low self-esteem. Do I want to be the handsome, cheeky, punk-ish lead singer? No. Do I want to be the killer guitar god with the cool threads and long hair? No. Do I want to be the fat, dumpy guy in a cheap suit smoking a stogie and playing boogie-woogie piano? YES! Yes I do, I want to be THAT guy.

God, I'm a mess.

Hopefully, gentle reader, you will see past my flawed character choices, which are legion, and enjoy this Saturday selection.

On VH1's Storytellers, Billy Idol tells about how he originally heard "I Forgot To Be A Lover" as a reggae song in the late 70's, and only later to find it was originally done by Stax soul artist William Bell in 1960's.

And this is why I love Billy Idol.  Those versions are perfectly acceptable performances of an absolutely middle-of-the-road song.  And leave it to our spiky-haired wonder to turn the song around and into a full on barroom brawl.

For some reason I have pictured all my faithful readers doing laundry on this Saturday, dancing around the house in their PJ's with To Be A Lover cranked up, screaming "Have Mercy!" above the din of the washer and dryer.

God, I'm a mess.

Have a good Saturday.