Life on the road wasn’t easy easy for the Winter Dance Party. Traveling across the…
Gloomy Tunes
Gloomy Tunes: Mark E. Smith, RIP
I never met Mark E. Smith, but he was a regular presence in my life.…
Gloomy Tunes: Jim Rodford, The Zombies, RIP
We would be remiss for not taking note of the death of Jim Rodford, the…
Gloomy Tunes: Abraham Martin and John
Martin Luther King would have turned 83 today. It would be nice to think that,…
Gloomy Tunes: David Bowie, “Blackstar”
David Bowie made many transitions during his career, but none was as carefully stage-managed as…
Gloomy Tunes: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Tupelo”
Elvis Presley would have turned 83 today. You know who else would have turned 83?…
Gloomy Tunes Extra: Sonny Bono, “Laugh At Me”
Merle Ginsberg reminds us that Sonny Bono—Phil Spector factotum, half of Sonny and Cher, California…
Gloomy Tunes: Charles Mingus, “Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me”
It’s been thirty-nine years since the great composer/bandleader Charles Mingus died of ALS in Mexico,…
Gloomy Tunes: Rick Hall, RIP
Unless you’re the kind of person who pores over the credits on the back of…
Gloomy Tunes: Mott The Hoople, “Death May Be Your Santa Claus”
I’ve been going back and forth about using this wonderfully raucous Mott the Hoople song…