Music
This video has aged badly. Very, very badly.
I like this song. It’s always a hit when I play it at a wedding. But the video has not aged well. In fact, I would argue that it’s become nearly unwatchable. If Michael Jackson were alive today, it would behoove him to scrub it completely from the Internet. It’s not good in a really…
Read MoreIt’s 9:00 on a Saturday…
During my 21 years as a wedding DJ, I have played Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” at 9:00 on a Saturday whenever possible. Hundreds of times. Only once – La Renaissance, September 2011 – did someone notice.
Read MoreBruce and Clarence sharing a kiss, over and over and over again
I love these photos of Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons kissing on stage, which they did routinely when Clarence was still alive and performing with Bruce. I love these photos for three reasons: As a fan, I love witnessing the love shared between two men who I admire so much. I love the way this…
Read MoreI missed so much of ’90’s culture. Unfortunately?
I was listening to an interview with Bob Saget, who once starred in a show called Full House, which featured the Olson twins. Other than what I just stated, I know nothing about this show. I never watched the show, and I wasn’t even aware of its existence until well after it had ended its…
Read MoreThings I do #12: I worry about people mentioned in songs who are frozen in time.
I first heard Jonathan Coulton’s song “Code Monkey” about ten years ago. It’s a song about a lovelorn computer programmer who is pining over an office receptionist. After offering a soda to the receptionist and being told that she is too busy to chat, Code Monkey slinks back to his cubicle, “not feeling so great.” The…
Read MoreWhen you think the awful cover is the original song
Have you ever discovered that a song you love by a particular band or singer is actually the cover of a much more famous (and better) version of the song? I hate that. I’m not talking about the covers that few people know about. Like Joan Jett and the Blackheart’s I Love Rock n’ Roll, which…
Read MoreLyric Problems: Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth”
Belinda Carlisle claims again and again in her 1987 Billboard #1 hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” that: “They say in heaven, love comes first.” No, they don’t. This is not a commonly used (or ever used) expression. No one says this. This song is the only place where these words are spoken. In…
Read MoreLyric Problems: Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”
Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2016 hit song “Call Me Maybe” was a favorite of mine during the summer and fall of that year as it packed floors at weddings where I was working as a DJ. But I have one problem with the song. One niggling complaint. The chorus of the song goes: Hey I just…
Read MoreLyric Problems: Rachel Platten’s “I’ll Stand By You”
Rachel Platten is a popular female soloist who is best known for her anthem Fight Song but also for her almost equally popular I’ll Stand By You. I like I’ll Stand By You, but I have a serious problem with a specific lyric that ruins the song for me. Platten sings: Oh, truth, I guess…
Read MoreSomeone wrote a song about me! About me!
Spotify recently added podcasts to its offerings. Wondering if my podcast, Boy vs. Girl, had been added, I asked Alexa, our Amazon Echo, to play Boy vs. Girl. She told me that she couldn’t find it on Spotify. Then I asked her to play “Matthew Dicks,” hoping it might pick up my name as one of…
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