Pink Moon
"Pink Moon," the title track from the 1972 album by Nick Drake, is one of those songs that stays with you. But what does it mean? The lyrics, like the arrangement and production of the song, are...
View ArticleZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, published in 1974, describes a 1968 motorcycle trip by the book's author, Robert Pirsig, and his son, Chris. For the first half of the trip they were...
View ArticleTrippy Films: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
This is the second in a series of posts on movies with psychedelic themes, discussing the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder. This movie...
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The Droogs
Early in their career, the garage/psych band The Droogs released a single entitled "Ahead of My Time," an appropriate theme song for this underappreciated band. Several years before it became...
View ArticleBill Hicks on David Letterman
Outspoken stand-up comedian Bill Hicks was invited to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman on October 1, 1993. Though he had often felt constrained by the limited amount of time he had to work...
View ArticleLife After The New Bomb Turks
Some time back I was in Barnes & Noble and a book jumped off the shelf at me. I was enjoying thumbing through We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1998-2001 even before I realized that the...
View ArticleThe Beatles' Music on TV
The most recent Mad Men episode licensed the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows," which proved, despite the price, to be a brilliant move, both artistically and in terms of promotion. Mad Men reportedly...
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Deliverance
CNN recently reported that the movie Deliverance has reached its 40th anniversary.Like a lot of people, I suppose, I've always found Deliverance to be a particularly disturbing movie. Hearing Ronnie...
View ArticleOlympic Medals in Perspective
It's fairly clear that large, wealthy nations are more likely to win medals in the Olympic games. So I got to wondering how countries would stack up if you rate them on medals won per capita and by...
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American Pi
On Tuesday the U.S. Census Bureau announced that "American Pi" occurred at 2:29pm that day. What that means is that the POPClock (that is, Current Population Clock that continually updates the...
View ArticlePaul Messis: Garage Punk Unknown
Turn Me On, Dead Man Radio begins a new regular program this week called Dig the Now Sound, featuring garage/psych released since 2010. This show, which will air Wednesdays at noon eastern time,...
View Article"Trip Inside This House" by Magic Shoppe
The featured track on this week's edition of Dig the Now Sound (Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 10:00pm eastern) is "Trip Inside This House" by Magic Shoppe. "Trip Inside This House" leads off the band's new EP...
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Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements
Here's a well made documentary about The Replacements called Color Me Obsessed.Back in the day, when I lived in the Twin Cities, I saw The Replacements play several times. I would also see them around...
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The Turn Me On, Dead Man Best of 2012
It certainly was a good year for music. I guess that's enough of an overview. Now on with the lists. First, the top 25 albums followed by the top 10 EPs and 7" releases. Top 25 Albums1MmossOnly...
View ArticleThe Best Tracks of 2012
As a companion to my previous post listing the best albums and EP/7" releases that came out in 2012, I have put together a CD-length mix of some of the best tracks released last year. There seems to be...
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Combining Led Zeppelin and The Beatles
Mashups are a hit-or-miss proposition, with more misses than hits. Here's one that really hits, though, called "Whole Lotta Helter Skelter" by Soundhog. Originally released as an audio track on...
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Dazed and Confused by Jake Holmes
On June 28, 2010, Jake Holmes at long last sued Jimmy Page for plagiarizing the song "Dazed and Confused." Rather than dragging the case through the courts, it appears they have settled out of court,...
View Article"Dutch" by Still Caves
"Dig the Now Sound" on Turn Me On, Dead Man Radio on Live365.com highlights the best of recent garage/psych. The show airs Wednesdays at 10:00pm eastern time and this week's spotlight track is "Dutch"...
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Mellotron Sounds
A highly specialized record guide is the wonderful Planet Mellotron, devoted to cataloging every appearance of the Mellotron in recorded music. The Mellotron, the forerunner of digital samplers, is a...
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Requiem for Detroit?
Requiem for Detroit? is a documentary by Julian Temple produced for the BBC in 2010 that documents the decline of the Motor City. The picture of Detroit this documentary presents is bleak, to put it...
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