DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

THUNDER ROAD (THE WORK IN PROGRESS- ORIGINAL ACOUSTIC TAKE) THE HEIST (FIRST TAKE OF THE WORK COMPLETED AS  "MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER" BORN TO RUN (ALTERNATIVE TAKE) BACKSTREETS (ALTERNATIVE TAKE) LOVERS IN THE COLD  (DID NOT MAKE THE CUT FOR THE ALBUM) A LOVE SO FINE  (DID NOT MAKE THE CUT FOR THE ALBUM) JUNGLELAND (REHEARSAL) I was a possessive motherfucker when it came to The Boss (he...

A major part of my sentimental education was connected to the keening, heart-throbbing tone of Emmylou Harris. And, this cut off her Pieces of the Sky album has me literally in tears every time I hear it.  I can’t help it. It’s my romantic ideal personified; perfect love - unattainable, yet always worth striving for.  I was acquainted with Emmylou’s plangent sound before that, as muse and partner...

THE KINKS ON NPR- https://www.npr.org/artists/15420606/the-kinks

“ On a tree by a river a little Tom Tit, sang willow, tit willow, tit willow…”  This how Ko-Ko’s plaintive lament of unrequited love begins.  When I was eleven, playing the challenging role of Ko Ko, The Lord High Executioner, in the Lake Massapaug Middle School production of The Mikado,  I laboriously committed those delicious lyrics to memory, along some other tasty tongue twisters, - syllable,...

https://www.sinatra.com/ Frank Flew Us To The Moon and Sang For The Lonely In The Wee Wee Hours. They Were Very Good Years. 1) Downtown (Outtake) 2) It Was A Very Good Year (Outtake)                               3) Something- Frank Channels George Harrison-  Meadowlands Arena- September 9, 1979 

The Creators, a four man doo wop group from Bayonne, NJ, put Mary Ann Thomas upfront, cut a demo of this song, which they then brought to Lieber and Stoller - and the rest is history: The Boy from NYC was cool. And I, because I came from NYC, I was cool by association.  I didn’t own a mohair suit, hell, I didn’t even know what mohair was, but that sounded cool, too. And, don’t forget the pocket fu...

"Ah, the blessings of the cursed.  Shane McGowan’s torrid and mighty voice is mud and roses punched out with swaggering stagger, ancient longing that is blasted all to hell.  A Bard’s bard, may he cast his spell upon us all forevermore." Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan

There are certain artists with whom we share an affinity - those who have touched our souls in such a way that our lives are forever changed.  Such an artist was Patrick Sky: a folk singer of Georgia Creek descent, whose professional trials and eventual retreat from public life tell a compelling story.

Lulu’s husky croon is unmistakeable. The Scottish shouter is a UK national treasure, and still gorgeous. Picking up the torch from Brenda Lee, and passing it to Miley Cyrus, Lulu was, (along with Dusty Springfield), foundational to the world-wide popularization of white, female voiced R&B. Her 1964 cover of The Isley Brother’s Shout, at the age of 15 cemented her vocal persuasiveness, and To S...

Blossom Dearie: what a great name! It was her real name, too. Well, Margrethe Blossom Dearie - she dropped the first part, and that was a good choice for Show Biz, I think. And, that voice: light, breathy, girlish, delightfully witty - I loved it from the first time I heard it.  And, not only was she a fantastic vocalist, but considered one of the great jazz pianists - Bill Evans was inspired by h...

THE DIG THIS THANKSGIVING EXTRAVAGANZA- AN AUDIO MOTION PICTURE- MUSIC, GRATITUDE, INSPIRATION, LOVE, FAITH AND LAUGHTER- OUR GIFT TO YOU AND YOURS. HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM RICH BUCKLAND & BILL MESNIK-YOUR SPLENDID BOHEMIANS BILL MESNIK'S HOLIDAY INVOCATION 1) CHAPEL IN THE MOOLIGHT- THE ORIOLES 2) THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND- ANDREW GOLD 3) IN MY LIFE- DIANA KRALL 4) I THANK YOU- SAM AN...

In 1985, the British rock band Dire Straits released the song “Money for Nothing.”  It is an undeniable rock classic. It also is a superb entry point for—of all things—judging the morality of capitalism. It is worth a listen as well as a classroom lesson. The lyrics relay the perspective of a laborer. As he sees a video of rock musicians on MTV, he expresses envy. He strains in the delivery of app...

The Wanderer is two minutes, fifty-one seconds of pure swagger. Imagine my surprise when I read a quote from Dion where he said it was essentially a sad song, and that the one of lyrics demonstrated the singer’s existential crisis: “with my two fists of iron - ( I always thought it was “two fifths of wine”) - and I’m goin’ nowhere!”   Dion is a Buddha of self-reflection. He has always been my rock...

Samuel Laird Cregar  (1914-1944) was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. They toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Laird’s mother was the former Elizabeth Smith. Laird Cregar was educated at Winchester College in England, spending his summers as a page boy and bit player with the Stratford-u...

Vanguard Records is best known for its eclectic catalog of pivotal jazz, folk, rock and blues recordings by iconic artists like Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, John Fahey, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Doc Watson, Country Joe and the Fish and countless others. Most recently, Vanguard has carried forward the label's legacy of artistic excellence with a diverse roster including...

There is a corner off Route 66, in Winslow, Arizona which has been memorialized with a statue of the late musician Glen Frey, in front of a Trompe-L’oeil image of a red, flat-bed Ford truck, containing a girl (my Lord) giving him the once over.  How many songs can you name that have been so celebrated?   Take it Easy, written by neighbors Jackson Browne and Glen Frey, was the cut that launched the...

William Wyler’s intimate epic, from 1946—about three soldiers returning from the Second World War to their families in a small Midwestern city—profoundly and sensitively balances the private demons of scarred veterans and the press of public policies that leave their mark on daily life. Al Stevenson (Fredric March), a prosperous banker and paterfamilias, resumes his warm domestic life with a jaund...

A musical phenomenon capturing America’s fancy during that Camelot period, just before Kennedy’s assassination, HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDAH, Allan Sherman’s parody of “The Dance of the Hours” ballet, from the opera La Giocanda was a world-wide smash. (It made it to #2 on the Billboard Top 100, won the Grammy for best comedy performance, inspired books, a sitcom, a musical, numerous commercials, and...

I’m sure almost everyone who interviews you must ask about “Time Is on My Side.” But could you talk about why you gave up playing it for a while in the middle of your career? " Well you know, after a while, when you sing something that you know you’ve recorded, and you did the first national version of it, and when you’re singing, somebody tells you: “Oh, you’re doing a Rolling Stones song,”...

IT IS TIME TO WALK WITH THE ZOMBIES! ' WELCOME TO THE PORTAL NO ONE LEAVES ALIVE. HALLOWEEN IS UPON US, AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE THIS TERRIFYING TRADITION THAN A "DIG THIS" JOURNEY INTO THE THE NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRE. YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED AND EDUCATED WITH DELIGHTFUL DREAD AS WE VISIT THE TALE OF ROCK AND REAPER ICON ROKY ERICKSON, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SPOOKY SPLENDOR OF...

Ok, this is an ironic first for SUNNY SONGS: an emo number about death. WTF? I can’t really explain why, when I set about devising a list of songs that make me feel good, this one popped into my head. Maybe it’s the unflinching devotion expressed by composer Ben Gibbard. It’s calm, simple, stoic, resolute. “When your soul embarks I will follow you into the dark,” he proclaims. No questions, no hes...

"Moby Grape Just Can't Catch a Break" https://www.npr.org/2007/12/21/17498799/moby-grape-just-cant-catch-a-break

Bob Crewe 1930- 2014 Inducted Into The Songwriters Hall Of Fame In 1995. While songwriter/producer/recording star, Bob Crewe, is perhaps best remembered for the notable parade of hits penned with co-writer Bob Gaudio for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, his songwriting credits began considerably earlier. In the early '50s, New Jersey-born Crewe first tasted success on the music charts with...

All it takes is one good idea; one spark of Promethean fire to ignite a life-long, multi-generational success. For Ross Bagdasarian Sr., it was a sped up tape recording of a nonsense scat phrase: “Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah; Ting-tang Walla Walla Bing Bang…” Taking inspiration from “Duel with the Witch Doctor”, a volume sitting on his bookshelf, Ross bought a tape recorder and set about creating a silly rocka...

Jimi Hendrix- "Electric Church/ Red House" An u nreleased Jam session featuring  Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Lee Michaels  and the great Buddy Miles This track was originally intended for release on an album titled "Best Of The Bootlegs". This album was scheduled for release by Warner Brothers in 1994 but was shelved by producer Alan Douglas. All tracks were early demos and s...