Yesterday, while flipping stations in my car, I was faced with an extremely challenging Morton's Fork; that is, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. All of the stations I had programmed in were on commercial break except for our local Oldies station and our local Classic Rock station. The Oldies station was playing Billy Joel's "Still Rock and Roll to Me"; the Classic Rock station was p...
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Morton's Fork: "Still Rock 'n Roll to Me" or "Rock and Roll Band"?
Last Man Standing: Rock 'n Roll Spelling Bee
This Last Man Standing competition may be wide open: we're looking for songs with lyrics that spell out one or more words in the song's title. The reason we're limiting this to words within the title is to create at least some difficulty for this challenge. Three songs immediately come to mind for me, led by the following and its amusing video clip:Read more »Original post blogged on b2evolution.
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Holy Sh*t! Mandom Has a Theme Song!
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The Soundtrack of My Would-Be LifeAs we've contemplated Rock Town Hall's MVJRP, some of you may have recalled our examination of the series of legendary Japanase tv ads starring Charles Bronson for the deodorant/talcum powder/sex aid Mandom. Well, at least that's where my mind wandered. An extensive YouTube search for further Mandom ads turned up this most-shocking find, a hit song (in Japan) c...
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When You Really Think About It, Jefferson Starship May Have Produced a Stronger Quartet of Songs Than Any Four Songs by Jefferson Airplane
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It's been a little more than 11 months since I first posted this controversial view. One of the characteristics I most admire in our Townspeople is our ability to reconsider past views and objections. Now may be as good a time as ever for each of us to reconsider our initial opinions and for newer members of Rock Town Hall to chime in on this issue.Frankly, I was surprised at the lack of suppor...
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Sound Alikes
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Listening to a Nina Simone compilation yesterday, a strange rendition of a tune caught my attention. I looked up this song, "Everyone's Gone To The Moon," and found the the original rendition of the song was more tuneful than Simone's (though less campy, and thus, entertaining to me). But as I listened, the song began to remind me of something else....Is it me?Or does this song sound remarkably...
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The MVJRP
Well, the World Series is over, and I send out my condolences to all you Philly Phans in the Hall. Speaking for myself, I felt like the Series was a mediocre one; I dunno, it just sort of sat there.One bright spot for me was the selection of Hideki Matsui as World Series MVP. I like sports that actually have a global reach -- sports where when the winning team says "we're world champions," th...
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Most Conspicuous Band Member Who Likely Had Little Influence Within His or Her Band?
Who is it?Before you make the jump, please consider the following question:Who is this man, a musician who in the proper context is highly conspicuous by his presumed lack of influence within his best-known group?Read more »Original post blogged on b2evolution.
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This Is Your Rock Town Hall!
Townspeople,This is your Rock Town Hall!If you've already got Back Office privileges and can initiate threads, by all means use your privileges! If you'd like to acquire such privileges, let us know. If you've got a comment that needs to be made, what are you waiting for? If you're just dropping in and find yourself feeling the need to make your voice heard, don't hesitate to register and post ...
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What Genre Do You Most Prefer Relative to the Original, "Authentic" Form When Done by "Inauthentic" Musicians?
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A simple enough question, I believe: What genre do you most prefer relative to the original, "authentic" form when done by "inauthentic" musicians?In your heart of hearts, for instance, relative to authentic reggae, would you rather listen to The Clash play "Police and Thieves" and their other reggae covers?Can you take or leave authentic Chicago blues, yet you seek out any early Fleetwood Mac ...
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Interview Liars
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Hey everyone, let's name some notable rock folks who almost certainly tell lies frequently when being interviewed. Steely Dan have long mastered the art of turning Q&As into their own personal Marx Brothers routines. I am convinced that Paul Westerberg routinely changes his answers to questions about The Replacements, possibly out of boredom. I bet both PW and the Dan learned their craft by stu...
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Wrecking Ball
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http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/68146932.htmlNever being mistaken for the World's Most Enthusiastic Concertgoer, I'm naturally skeptical over the feelings that fans and musicians have been known to express when a landmark concert venue is being closed down - and even knocked down. "I don't want to say goodbye to this place. I don't even want to think about it yet. I just want to keep . ...
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All-Star Jam
Tell me about it... Original post blogged on b2evolution.
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What's the Scariest Image You've Ever Seen in Rock?
Foreshadowing of my complete lack of interest in FlashdanceI may have mentioned this once before, as a 15-year-old boy watching The Last Waltz in a theater when it came out, the image of Joni Mitchell in all her silken, dewy womanhood in that long skirt and leotard terrified me. For some reason it was more woman on a stage with rock musicians than I could handle. Around the same time I saw Kate...
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The Kids Are Alright
Succumbing to the voluminous, daily requests from the legion of our younger audience, Rock Town Hall is now on Twitter and Facebook. It's mostly pops and buzzes to us in The Back Office but dang if it didn't come in handy today to let folks know that the blog was down for a bit. (Down because we messed up the Twitter and Facebook links...)Got 'em workin' now by-gummit. You'll see the links i...
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Rock Town Hall Featured Poll: With which Sting would you most like to engage in tantric sex?
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Top left: Sting 1; Top right: Sting 2; Middle: Sting 3; Bottom left: Sting 4; Bottom right: Tantric lute player.Courtesy of Townsman bobbybittman, we ask the question, With which Sting would you most like to engage in tantric sex?Make your answer count in today's poll! Feel free to provide your rationale, citing a key passage or two, in the Comments section for this thread. Original post...
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With Friends Like These, or: Thanks But No Thanks
Sting: Obama best person to handle world's 'mess'NEW YORK (AP) - Sting isn't a religious man, but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems. "In many ways, he's sent from God," he joked in an interview, "because the world's a mess."But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems. In an interview on Wednesda...
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Stations of The Boss, 4: Bruce Meets His Mother
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"Mama..."In 1977, Ronnie Spector, the spiritual mother of Bruce, recorded a single produced by His guitarist and bandleader, Miami Steve, and backed by His E Street Band. The involvement of The Boss had to be kept secret for fear of retaliation by former manager Mike Appel, with whom He was already involved in career-threatening litigation, litigation that His fans feared would threaten His mis...
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Last Man Standing: From Head to Toe
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Limiting ourselves to a representation of one of each body part, how many body parts can identify through song titles? The song titles may contain more than one body part, such as the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song I've cited in the title, but once a part has been cited in one song title, it cannot be cited in another. This may be a tough one with these conditions, but I want to prevent ag...
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Gut Check: Beatles Remasters
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Coincidence? That's Ray Cooper in the back, on spoons, with Harry Nilsson at piano, George on guitar, and Ringo.Shortly after their release a friend burned me the entire mono and stereo box set reissues of The Beatles' catalog. It was an incredibly generous and thoughtful gesture, but I'm sorry to say I've yet to hunker down with them. Part of the reason is because I'm leery about "cheating" on...
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