Dave is Thinking:
Saturday, June 29th, 2013
Bobby “Blue” Bland and the Perfection of Southern Soul Bobby Bland was, in his prime, the most powerful blues shouter of all time, though capable as well of a caressing tenderness. “Turn On Your Lovelight” is what the rock world knows, I guess, but the man’s legacy is also in “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” […]
Tags: Bobby "Blue" Bland, Dave Marsh on Bobby Bland, Southern Soul, Two Steps from the Blues
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Tuesday, June 4th, 2013
Five thousand miles from home and not so fresh from a midnight discussion of drastically under appreciated soul genius — mainly Luther, Teddy and Donnie — I entered my hotel room and snapped up the iPad to check the headlines from home. Something whispered not to forget the obits, so I checked. And then I […]
Tags: Iron Throat, Marvin Junior, Philly-style soul, The Dells, doo-wop
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Friday, August 10th, 2012
by Dave Marsh and Danny Alexander You might wonder, for good reason, why we are writing about Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball five months after its release. Some of the reasons have been personal. But there are better reasons why we’re speaking up now, and speaking in the way that we are. Part of it is that […]
Tags: Bruce Springsteen, Danny Alexander, Dave Marsh, Death to My Hometown, Easy Money, Jack of All Trades, Land of Hope and Dreams, Rock & Rap Confidential, Rocky Ground, Shackled and Drawn, This Depression, We Are Alive, We Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball, Wrecking Ball song, You Got It, music and politics
Posted in Saying, Hearing, Writing, Thinking | 20 Comments »
Monday, April 16th, 2012
You probably never knew my friend Kathy Rich. You really missed something. A good way to find out what is to read Margalit Fox’s obituary for her in the April 7 New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/health/katherine-russell-rich-who-wrote-of-cancer-fight-dies-at-56.html?hpw). I’d bet all my socks that Fox knew Kathy, partly because she captures so much that’s crucial about her and […]
Tags: Dreaming in Hindi, Kathy Rich, The Red Devil, cancer survival, life and death, writing, young adults cancer
Posted in Writing, Thinking | No Comments »
Monday, April 9th, 2012
I wrote this for Rock & Rap Confidential, the (now online) newsletter about music and politics I’ve edited with Lee Ballinger for thirty years–we started right about this time of year, too, I think. I’ve said very little at RRC in recent months, and this topic (suggested by Lee) seems a good place to get […]
Tags: Bruce Springsteen, David Alvarez, Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy LaFave, Joe Ely, Juanes, Kiss, Lester Bangs, Little Richard, Low Anthem, RRC, Rock and Rap Confidential, SXSW, Smokey Robinson, Steve Earle, The Animals, Woody Guthrie, Wrecking Ball album, alejandro escovedo
Posted in Saying, Hearing, Writing, Thinking, Linking | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
This article originally appeared at the website of Tim Wise, who wrote it. It appears here with the permission of Wise, but you would do well to connect to the original page: http://www.timwise.org/2012/01/of-broken-clocks-presidential-candidates-and-the-confusion-of-certain-white-liberals/ Tim Wise is the outstanding white opponent of racism and white supremacy in the United States today. The connections he makes here […]
Tags: 2012 Republican candidates, 2012 election, Kevin Gray, Ron Paul, Tim Wise, white racism, white supremacy
Posted in Hearing, Thinking, Linking | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Dear Kristen, Can I tell you a secret? It’s ridiculous but I didn’t even know it was a secret until I heard Lady GaGa’s “Hair” this morning and then I realized that I’d kept it even from myself. In my ears, it’s a record where I always find you. “I’ve had enough, this is my […]
Tags: Kristen Ann Carr, Kristen Carr, Lady GaGa, cancer, chemotherapy, children, children and cancer, death, hair, parents, parents and cancer
Posted in Saying, Writing, Thinking | 12 Comments »
Friday, July 15th, 2011
From the Rock & Rap Confidential mailing list (www.rockrap.com). Letter to the Baltimore Sun July 7, 2011 Sen. Benjamin Cardin’s recent letter defending Bono and his ONE foundation puts him in direct opposition to President Obama’s appeal for “corporate jet” owners to pay their fair share of tax (“Cardin: ONE Campaign works,” June 27). U2 […]
Tags: Bono, U2 tax dodge, overpaid rock stars
Posted in Saying, Hearing, Thinking | 26 Comments »
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
It’s said that Bob Dylan once called Jimmy Cliff’s “Vietnam” the best protest song he’d ever heard. If he did, there’d be no reason to argue. If he didn’t, he could’ve. At Glastonbury, last month, Cliff changed “Vietnam” (41 years old) into a contemporary song once again by changing the title to “Afghanistan.” As you […]
Tags: "honor the troops", Jimmy Cliff, War in Afghanistan, peace movement
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