Pop Music

By Providence Journal Arts Writer Rick Massimo

December 2008 Archives


Song of the Day

7:00 AM Wed, Dec 31, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

You may have noticed a certain leaning toward '70s soul in these selections. I make no apologies. "Clean-Up Woman," Betty Wright Happy New Year, everyone!......

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Sweet? Really?

1:56 PM Mon, Dec 29, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

LOS ANGELES, CA--December 29, 2008--Popular rock band Sweet led by bassist/vocalist Steve Priest will begin their "Are You Ready Steve?" 2009 tour and will continue recording their first new CD in decades, it was announced today. I must have missed......

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Eartha Kitt, 1927-2008

11:30 AM Mon, Dec 29, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Talking to Eartha Kitt a couple of years ago to preview her show at the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport was one of the best experiences I've ever had. The thing that came through for me was that the more painful a......

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Delaney Bramlett, 1939-2008

10:49 AM Mon, Dec 29, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Delaney Bramlett was best known for the people he collaborated with than the music he made on his own, and while that's a sad thing, it's far more interesting to ponder what that says about the people he worked with.......

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Christmas Song of the Day: The Grand Finale

7:00 AM Thu, Dec 25, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Kinda knew it was going to be this one, yeah? "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Wed, Dec 24, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Passed away on Christmas Day ... "Soulful Christmas," James Brown......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Tue, Dec 23, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Three guesses why this song is for this day ... "2000 Miles," The Pretenders......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Mon, Dec 22, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

If you look on YouTube, there are versions of her doing this from many different years. And with good reason: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," Darlene Love......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Sun, Dec 21, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

What it's really like for a lot of people: "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis," Tom Waits......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Sat, Dec 20, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

One of my all-time favorites: "Fairytale of New York," The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl......

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Christmas Song of the Millennium

2:13 PM Fri, Dec 19, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

I know I've already got the series going, but this was too bad good to pass up. Via Andrew Sullivan, I give you Princess Leia from the Star Wars Christmas Special. No, I never knew there was one either. I'm......

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GWAR postponed at Lupo's

11:44 AM Fri, Dec 19, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, in Providence, has announced that the GWAR show scheduled for tonight has been postponed due to the impending snowstorm. A new date will be announced soon, and all tickets for tonight's show will be honored on the......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Thu, Dec 18, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

One week to go! "Sleigh Ride," The Ventures......

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Coldplay? Satriani? GUNTHER!

4:15 PM Wed, Dec 17, 2008 | | Comments (3)
By Rick Massimo    Email

Lawsuits like the one Joe Satriani has laid on Coldplay over the similarities between his "If I Could Fly" and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" bring everyone down. First off, here they are: "If I Could Fly" "Viva La Vida" Pretty......

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Akon pleads guilty to throwing fan off stage

3:38 PM Wed, Dec 17, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Right, like you never thought of it. Via AP: FISHKILL, N.Y. - Hip-hop star Akon pleaded guilty Wednesday to harassment for tossing a fan off stage at an upstate New York concert last year. He will serve no jail time......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Wed, Dec 17, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Next in the series! Collect 'em all! "Run Rudolph Run," Chuck Berry......

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Christmas Song of the Day

7:00 AM Tue, Dec 16, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Now through the day itself, we'll look at some of the best Christmas-related songs of all. Hopefully you'll find it to be a relief from the usual stuff. "Christmas," The Who (Live at the Isle of Wight)......

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New Dave Matthews Band album April 14

5:07 PM Mon, Dec 15, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

No title yet; it's their first studio record since 2005's Stand Up. It will include guitarist Tim Reynolds, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and saxophonist Jeff Coffin; the former two played with the DMB June 25 at the Comcast Center, in Mansfield,......

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Open letter from Axl Rose

5:01 PM Mon, Dec 15, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Mainly about the back-and-forth over who owns the name Guns N' Roses, also touching on how he regards the members of his latest edition of the band and why Chinese Democracy was a Guns record rather than an Axl Rose......

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Song of the Day

2:11 PM Fri, Dec 12, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Couldn't find an embeddable version of "Bird Flu," but I highly recommend seeking that out too: "Paper Planes," M.I.A., live on David Letterman......

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Song of the Day

1:34 PM Thu, Dec 11, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

I'm hip-deep in Christmas CDs in preparation for Sunday's annual review compendium, but in the meantime, I ask you: Whatever became of Van Hunt? That first record (from which today's clip was taken) was a killer; how this wasn't a......

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Song of the Day, Apologies Edition

9:57 AM Tue, Dec 09, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

I don't know how I overlooked John Lennon yesterday, but I hope this makes up for it. I like the studio chatter; makes the whole thing less precious and more Lennon-esque, although I like precious once in a while too......

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Song of the Day

11:34 AM Mon, Dec 08, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Jim Morrison would have been 65 years old today. The mind reels at what he and the rest of the band would be doing now. "Whisky Bar," The Doors (live, only a partial clip, unfortunately)......

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Song of the Day

2:01 PM Thu, Dec 04, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Keith Moon, making it look easy ... "I Can't Explain," The Who......

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Song of the Day, Odetta Memorial Edition

2:31 PM Wed, Dec 03, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

It's short, and I don't even know what song this is, but it's from Newport. And if it gets you onto YouTube and entices you to spend the rest of the afternoon listening to Odetta, well, how bad is that?......

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Britney too!

4:01 PM Tue, Dec 02, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Britney Spears announced during an appearance on Good Morning America today that she's heading back onto the road for the first time in five years. The Circus Tour will begin March 3 in New Orleans, end in April in Chicago......

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Manilow!

3:32 PM Tue, Dec 02, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

Barry Manilow will sing at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, in Providence, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. and range from $119 to $19. They're available at the box office, by calling......

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Song of the Day

7:00 AM Tue, Dec 02, 2008 | | Comments (1)
By Rick Massimo    Email

I always have dug him: "Big Love," Lindsey Buckingham......

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Song of the Day, Mike Terry Memorial Edition

4:33 PM Mon, Dec 01, 2008 | | Write a comment
By Rick Massimo    Email

The Motown saxophonist died Oct. 30 and was 68: For a while in the mid-1960s, the baritone saxophone was the lead guitar of soul music. More precisely, it was the instrument identified by certain producers at the Motown studios in......

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