The Pop View

So, people went nuts today online about the new Brad Paisley/LL Cool J collaboration “Accidental Racist.” I was flying and didn’t get to listen to it until quite late in the day. I hadn’t intended on commenting, but now I have to.

I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the song, both for its social commentary and for its creative qualities, but I’d like to focus in on what the song is really saying at its heart.

It portrays white Brad Paisley walking into a Starbucks and then apologizing to the barista (not sure if he’s meant to be black) because the Confederate flag on his Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt suggest that its wearer might be racist.

This is the “accidental racism” of the song. “i wear the Confederate flag to express Southern pride,” some say, “not to be racist.”

And if that was that, we might have a different discussion about the agreement of the meaning of symbols. But the song goes on.

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The Pop View | Music | 04 8th, 2013 | No Comments »

Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie Django Unchained has become his most financially successful, having so far earned $139,354,000 in domestic box office. (Adjusted for inflation, 1994′s Pulp Fiction was more successful, but Django is on a path to surpass even that mark.)

At the same time, it’s also one of his most controversial works, as it focuses on slavery in the Antebellum South. It’s received some very fair criticism about how accurately it portrays its era (the film is set two years before the Civil War began — a time when dynamite, shown in the film, had not yet been invented).

Even so, with all the criticism and analysis of Django Unchained for what it says about the realities of slavery, when I saw it, I was not surprised to discover that it says nothing of importance about that topic at all. Much like Inglourious Basterds (and, for that matter, Kill Bill), Django is a movie about movies – films like Mandingo, Django (the original 1966 Italian-made Western), Nevada Smith, The Legend of Nigger Charley, The Birth of a Nation.

This makes sense. Tarantino is a white guy and a film buff, so it makes sense that his movie is primarily about those two points-of-view.

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The Pop View | Film | 01 23rd, 2013 | No Comments »

Each year, I finish out my holiday music offerings with songs for the new year. Invariably, these songs are accompanied by bittersweet recriminations, wistful longing and tepid hopes for the coming year.

This year has brought some family deaths, sicknesses and heartache, troubles and regrets. But I also got a beautiful new granddaughter. I got a great new job. There have been things, but there have been other things.

I typically will say something about how the New Year brings an opportunity for renewal and reinvention. No matter how bad things have been, we take this night to hope for things to get better. Today, I feel that more than ever.

So, you get Dan Wilson’s “What a Year For a New Year,” which was released a decade ago and which I’m now posting for the 8th time. It’s a great song, full of regret and hope. But I’m also posting a peppy number from the Los Angeles band The Rescues, taken from their forthcoming self-financed album Blah Blah Love and War. I do believe in the message of this song: “Everything’s Gonna Be Better Next Year.”

I hope everything is better for you, too.

Dan Wilson – What a Year For a New Year — BUY

The Rescues – Everything’s Gonna Be Better Next Year — BUY

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 31st, 2012 | No Comments »

To help you get through your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, here is the recap post of all of this year’s songs. All the seasonal music from this year in one handy spot.

For background information on the songs, browse back through the previous posts. (Did I remember to do Hanukkah this year? Yes, I did and those songs are here. It’s only a pair; I usually try to do more and I pledge to do better next year.)

Butterfly Boucher – Cinnamon & Chocolate — BUY

Hello Saferide – iPod Xmas

Family Force 5 – Carol of the Bells — BUY

Family Force 5 – The Baby — BUY

John Kirby Sextet – Bounce of the Sugar Plum Fairy – BUY

Duke Ellington – Sugar Rum Cherry — BUY

Joe Williams – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – BUY

Lou Rawls – Christmas Will Really Be Christmas — BUY

Heike Has The Giggles – All I Want for Christmas Is You

Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You (So So Def Remix) — BUY

Deep Sea Diver – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Deep Sea Diver – It’s Christmas Time (and I’m still alive)

The Higher Elevations – All These Winter Nights — BUY

Robbers on High Street – Season’s Greetings — BUY

Barry Gordon with Art Mooney & His Orchestra – Nuttin’ for Christmas — BUY

Barry Gordon with Art Mooney & His Orchestra – I Like Christmas (I Like It, I Like It)

Shade Tree – Christmas Peace

Amo Joy – Fall Into Christmas

Over the Rhine – Darlin’ (Christmas Is Coming)  — BUY

Owl City – Peppermint Winter — BUY

Paper Route – In the Bleak Midwinter  — DOWNLOAD

Sam Airey – In The Bleak Midwinter/Lonely This Christmas — BUY

Little Bruts – It Came Upon the Midnight Clear — DOWNLOAD

Little & Ashley – Winter Night — BUY

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 24th, 2012 | No Comments »

The accidental theme of this year’s Christmas music blogging was the topic of Christmas music itself.

Normally, I would listen primarily to my ow holiday music, which isolates me from the typical Christmas music listening experience. But this year, thanks to XM and the PA system at my new job, I’ve been listening to the sort of stuff that the general population listen to, which means a lot of Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams and Celine Dion and suchlike.

So, I’ve tried to offer something different, primarily focused on artists and songs you’re not likely to hear. I hope I’ve made my point that there’s a better Christmas music experience. If XM gave me a channel to program, I could do so in a way that would deliver something very different from what you’re used to. I think it’s also better, but that’s up to you to decide.

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The Pop View | MP3s | 12 24th, 2012 | No Comments »

The horrific events of Friday really threw me off the Christmas music blogging. Goofy songs, even peppy pop songs, didn’t seem right.

Then I thought of one of my favorite hymns, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” It always seems to be like it should be really old, like the “Coventry Carol,” which goes back to the 16th century. But “In the Bleak Midwinter” is not that old.

It’s lyrics are taken from a poem written by Christina Georgina Rossetti in 1872. It was first set to music by Gustav Holst in 1906.

The whole setting is obviously not historically accurate. It was in the 4th century that the birth of Jesus was set on December 25th, which is not “midwinter.” But Rossetti paints a vivid portrait.

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

It’s a very serious and somber song, but it’s important that performances of it don’t plod along.

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The Pop View | MP3s | 12 19th, 2012 | No Comments »

There are all kinds of Christmas songs: religious songs, profane songs, silly songs, serious songs. Some are very wrapped up in the sacred meaning of Christmas, as the celebration of the birth of Christ. Some are about finding a boyfriend at the holidays.

I like to think that Christmas is big enough to encompass all these meanings.

But I really don’t care for Christmas songs that are sappy and sentimental.

But it is possible to create Christmas music that is honest and true.

Over the Rhine is the husband-and-wife team of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Karin Bergquist. They’re named after the Cincinnati neighborhood known as Over-the-Rhine.

Owl City is an indie pop/electronica outfit from Owatonna, Minnesota, the product of singer-songwriter Adam Young.

Over the Rhine – Darlin’ (Christmas Is Coming)  — BUY

Owl City – Peppermint Winter   — BUY

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 15th, 2012 | No Comments »

The thing about Christmas, as we understand it today, is that it is both older and not as old as most people think. The idea of Christmas — a holiday to mark the birth of Christ — began in the 4th Century. So, there are songs that go back hundreds of years.

At the same time, most of our modern traditions, from Christmas cards to Christmas trees, appeared in the Victorian era, as do a lot of the most popular Christmas carols. (The commercialization of Christmas in America started in the mid 19th century.)

There are generally four categories of songs that fall into the Christmas music genre:

• Carols (“Silent Night”)
• Standards (“White Christmas”)
• Pop originals (“Little Saint Nick”)
• Winter (“Jingle Bells”)

I’ve mentioned I tend to be a traditionalist in my Christmas music preferences, but I get as burned out as anyone on hearing the same songs over and over, so I’m very fond of new original holiday songs. They’re not done all that often and they’re less frequently of high quality.

Here are two songs that hit on a couple of key points: They’re originals and they’re about the emotional mood of Christmas. It can be a joyful time and a difficult time — sometimes simultaneously.

Here’s Shade Tree, an indie pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden. And also Amo Joy, an indie pop group from Indianapolis, Indiana. Two songs brimming with bittersweet loveliness.

Shade Tree – Christmas Peace

Amo Joy – Fall Into Christmas

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 13th, 2012 | No Comments »

I have long been a fan of character actor Barry Gordon. He’s been acting for 56 years, starting as a child actor on such TV shows as The Jack Benny Program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Leave It to Beaver. He played Nick in A Thousand Clowns, on Broadway and on film. He did Archie Bunker’s Place, Barney Miller spin-off Fish, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was the voices of the Nestlé Quik bunny and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

He’s taught politics, hosted talk radio and was the longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild.

This is a long and diverse career. But I’ve left something out.

When Barry Gordon was seven years old, he had a hit record: “Nuttin’ for Christmas.”

I guess Gordon was actually six when he recorded the record with Art Mooney & His Orchestra, since he was born on December 21. Anyway, even though four other versions of the song were released that year, it was Gordon’s that was most successful, reaching #6 on the chart in December 1955 and selling over 2 million copies. I believe he has been the youngest performer ever to hit the Billboard charts.

The following year, Gordon and Mooney tried again with “I Like Christmas (I Like It, I Like It),” with “Zoomah, The Santa Claus From Mars” on the B-side (The flip of “Nuttin” was “”Santa Looks Just Like Daddy”).

So, on top of all of Barry Gordon’s other achievements, he also belongs with Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand in the pantheon of Jewish performers with Christmas records.

Barry Gordon with Art Mooney & His Orchestra – Nuttin’ for Christmas — BUY

Barry Gordon with Art Mooney & His Orchestra – I Like Christmas (I Like It, I Like It)

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 12th, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Tonight is the 4th night of Hanukkah, a fact I was only alerted to last night. In a super timely move, I was about to post Mêlée’s song “(When Is) Hanukkah This Year?” which addresses this very issue of the holiday’s unpredictable nature.

And just to round things out, here is the story of how Senator Orrin Hatch came to write a Hanukkah song. That’s the same Orrin Hatch that is the the senior senator from Utah and a famous Mormon. The song isn’t too bad!

Mêlée – (When Is) Hanukkah This Year? — BUY

Orrin Hatch and Madeline Stone – Eight Days of Hanukkah

The Pop View | MP3s | 12 11th, 2012 | No Comments »