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

From the first moment I heard this ditty, it became my theme song. I learned to play it - (in a far cruder fashion than Ry, of course) and worked it into my set list. Just like the character Bill in the narrative, - (my name, btw) - my reprobate ways had also been domesticated by love. And, another harmonic convergence: I had even spent a year in Louisville, Kentucky.  Jack Yellen, the Jewish-Poli...

"GRIEVING IN THE DOLLS HOUSE" David Johansen passed away peacefully at home on February 28, holding the hands of his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, in the sunlight surrounded by music and flowers.  After a decade of profoundly compromised health he died at the age of 75.  David and his family were deeply moved by the outpouring of love and support they’ve experienced recently as...

DOUBLE TROUBLE: CINDY LAUPER AND MILEY CYRUS Two towering, Olympian female voices, from different generations, aligning here to honestly testify about their love damaged hearts. They describe world’s of hurt, confusion, and finally, triumph in the face of loss.  Miley Cyrus “Heart of Glass” I love Miley Cyrus - not only because she carries the flag of peace, love, and musical tradition with her Ha...

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back for more  DOUBLE TROUBLE Let’s talk about dreams…. Dreams can be intoxicatingly erotic; they can be filled with loss and longing; you might be falling, trapped in an confusing maze, or carried across bodies of water in a leaky boat.  I often have the actor’s nightmare - where I’m about to go onstage, but I don’t know my lines and I don’t even know which play it i...

Today's Affirmation: "She Let's Me Watch Her Mom and Pop Fight" Writers: N. Blagman *, S. Bobrick Although she isn't much to look at, And she isn't very bright. I love her, I love her, Oh boy how I love her 'Cuz she let's me watch her mom and pop fight. To see a lamp go through the window And watch them kick and scratch and bite. I love her, I love her, Oh b...

Lennon and McCartney eloquently recited an affirmation stating that In My Life I Loved Them All. The affection for certain artists and the melodic poetry they injected into our souls has remained in our wiring through the good, the bad and the uncertain times of our lives. One beloved gentleman we cherish was known as Arthur Alexander. Known as June to his closest companions, he was a one of a kin...

Hello Young Lovers! Welcome to a special Saint Valentine’s Day TWOFER from The Splendid Bohemians: Today we’re featuring two enchanting, encyclopedic British song stylists: Anne Briggs and Elvis Costello. First up: the majestic Ms. Briggs. SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR by Anne Briggs (Topic, 1963) Barefoot and bedraggled, Anne Briggs became the muse of the British Traditional Folk Boom in the early n...

“Rock ’n roll is really swing with a modern name,” Freed once said. “It began on the levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm. It’s the rhythm that gets to the kids – they’re starved of music they can dance to, after all those years of crooners.” HISTORICAL ALAN FREED MOMENTS: Freed moved to WINS in New York in 1954 where his late night radio show became known as A...

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull has boarded The Mystery Train at 78. In the 70's she was anorexic, homeless and addicted to heroin. At the time of her passing she had acquired the status of legend. Marianne was a genuine, brilliant artist in a sea of impostors. Sleep Well in that ocean you struggled so hard to master regardless of the merciless tears that passed by.- Rich Buckland

Henry St. Claire Fredericks, Jr., aka Taj Mahal is 82 years of age, and like that monument in Agra, he stands as an ageless edifice of blues - rock grace. On his latest recording he croons in that familiar rasp: “I’m too young to be this old,” and there’s no denying the truth of that declaration. As the years have passed, it’s gratifying to contemplate that, 60 years ago, Taj and Ry Cooder combine...

PLEASE JOIN US AT DIG THIS!!!!! https://www.facebook.com/digthiswiththesplendidbohos/ A MESSAGE FROM STAX RECORDS PRODUCER, SONGWRITER AND VOCALIST DAVID PORTER: To say I am saddened about the loss of Sam Moore would be an understatement. You see, it was the finality of the last living connection I had to God’s gift to all of our careers. The experiences we had with each other changed each of our...

This recording, composed and performed by the criminally underestimated Rick Nelson and his right-hand man James Burton, is a tone poem of psychedelic disorientation. It lopes along, taking its sweet time, floating in mid-air, then seeps out through the singer’s enthralled brain in a sensual vortex. It reminds me of my virgin night of acid enlightenment, when I crawled across my cousin’s floor, fo...

Lucasfilm has about a dozen Star Wars movies in various stages of development. One of them is a prequel from James Mangold that will tell the origins of the Force, the mysterious energy field created by life that binds the Star Wars galaxy together. In a recent interview with MovieWeb , Mangold opened up about what convinced him to make a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm, sharing that "the reall...

This is a difficult artistic puzzle to sort out: a) Why is this, Doris Day’s signature song, the only cover that Sly ever recorded?; and, b), Is its delivery of “cheerful fatalism” a positive or a negative? The motto, cribbed by song writers Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the Hitchcock film THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, from another film THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, has a rich history of memento mori app...

AT THE HOTEL BOHEMIA WE BELIEVE YOU CAN'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING UNLESS YOU KNOW WHERE YOU HAVE  BEEN. 2025 COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN. CAN YOU DIG IT?   Drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, “Is there anything you can’t take?” Rich replied, “Yeah, country music.” Lucky Luciano was a mob leader who helped the U.S. work wit...

This cut, from Julie London’s album of the same name, became a camp classic. It’s undeniably bawdy, with the torch songstress purring like a mod Mae West, with tongue solidly in cheek. The original, generated by neutered, pre-fab bobble heads, The Ohio Express, is a prepubescent rocker, lacking any lubriciousness whatsoever, but, emanating from Julie’s throat it’s an open invitation to bed, or a p...

1) EVIL WEINER- ALL AROUND THE WORLD 2) AIMEE MANN AND MICHAEL PENN- CHRISTMASTIME 3) CHRISTY MOORE- FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK 4) FRANK SINATRA- CHRISTMAS SEALS PUBLIC SERVICE SPOT & I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS 5) GEORGE JONES- LONELY CHRISTMAS CALL 6) MELVIS - I WANT TO GET LAID ON CHRISTMAS DAY -  (1958) 7) MABEL SCOTT- BOOGIE WOOGIE SANTA  ( 1955) 8) PORKY PIG- BLUE CHRISTMAS 9)THE RAMONES-...

Dedicated to Chemayne Halverson (1/6/1967-12/23/2020) This is a haunting song by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which expresses the indefinable mysteries of romantic love. An interesting word I learned which describes this feeling is “limerence,” which the Oxford dictionary defines as “the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily…” This revelatory gn...

Maybe late-night TV shouldn’t be called “late-night TV” anymore, with so many viewers consuming it in clips the morning after, on their phones. Yet the genre’s hallmarks — the avuncular host, the sidekick, the band, the monologue, the desk, the guests — linger. Most were stamped on America’s consciousness by Johnny Carson. A new biography about an old reliable, Bill Zehme’s “Carson the Magnificent...

You remember that anachronistic Sea Chanty internet meme a couple of years ago? All over the world people were recording themselves singing “The Wellerman”, proving the endurance of the Anglo folk tradition. You can thank Bert Lloyd (1908-1982) in the UK, for being the folklorist and song collector who documented and compiled many of these ancient songs, and for keeping the folk flame alive in the...

Okay. No one wants to spoil the party. But according to the American Psychological Association, 89% of US adults reported feeling stressed during the 2023 holiday season. It's a good news, bad news situation much like this podcast which is truly a conflicted search for the highway to heaven, if such a utopia indeed exists. At least we make an effort to engage about the comforted and the awkwa...

I miss Amoeba Records in Hollywood. When I was working a few blocks north of there, I’d visit a few times a week during my lunch break. They had a warehouse full of oddities of all mediums and genres, books, films and memorabilia. It was on one of these mid day excursions that I came across an album entitled: “The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Africa”. This was earmarked and marketed for people just...

From Bill: Reflecting upon the recent death of Alice Brock, the lady who lived in the bell tower of the abandoned church in Stockbridge, MA, along with her husband, Ray, (and Vacha, the dog) -, and who hosted the now legendary Thanksgiving feast attended by young Arlo Guthrie, that time when he got arrested trying to do his hosts a solid by dumping their excessive garbage - which subsequently soil...

The story of a boy, a bottle and the redemption Country Music can deliver.

It’s jangly and jarring, but irresistibly hypnotic.  Mark E Smith chants this incantation as if he is literally crawling out of his skin. The performance is teeth grinding punk rock in its distilled essence. a portrait of a poet in service to anarchy. And, funny. Deeply biting and ironical, this was DJ champion, John Peel’s favorite group. The lyrics here seem improvised, but he’s a gonzo beat poe...