the
Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
the
Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms, yearning to breathe free.
"No, Spiardi. I bought myself a ring that's too big." This is how Miss S.T. sarcastically answered when I asked if her boyfriend bought her the yarn-wrapped ring she was sporting on her finger. It had never occurred to me that the fuzzy bands worn by the A-list girls began their lives as one-size-fits-all pieces of cheap metal, purchased by…
Give an old record a loving home! Today is the eighth annual Record Store Day, so visit one of your local independently owned shops, browse the bins, and pick up a platter full of sound that you can actually hold in your hands -- a shiny groooovy disc with a sleeve that doesn't require a magnifying glass to read! And even if you no longer have a way to spin the record, stop in anyway. You'll marvel at those old LP covers and find yourself saying, "I had that one...and that one...and OH, I forgot all about that one!" It's like taking a trip in a time machine.
On this date in 1949, RCA Records issued the first ever 45 rpm single. So, why am I featuring their rival, Capitol Records, in this post? Because, as we celebrate this anniversary, it gives me the perfect opportunity to show how the little vinyl disc influenced the design of one of the world's most famous buildings - the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. This landmark, built to resemble a stack of records, has been featured in countless movies and TV shows filmed in and around Tinseltown, so you're bound to have seen it.
The year is 1967 and you're just out of high school. You're burning your draft card, experimenting with various herbs, and licking acid from blotter papers while listening to "Eight Miles High" and "Light My Fire." And psychedelia-loving hipster that you are, you're ready to pull your long hair out every time the opening organ chords of "I'm a Believer" came piping from the nearest radio. Forty-eight years ago this week, The Monkees' single "I'm a Believer" was getting more airplay than any other song in the country. Thanks to 1,051,280 advance orders, it went gold within two days of its November 1966 release and spent seven weeks at the top of the charts, making it the biggest selling record of 1967. You couldn't escape the sound. Free-form FM was still in its infancy, and most of the nation's gargantuan cars came equipped with only an AM dial. So, even the most musically savvy flower children couldn't escape the pop hits of the day - many of which they considered bubblegum music. But I was a mere child of 7, and I absolutely loved both bubblegum and pop hits!