Celebrating a Lost Classic Album: Ashley Cleveland’s Big Town
The 30th anniversary of one of the most criminally underrated recordings of all time came and went this week without fanfare.
By Chris Queen
On February 12, 1991, Atlantic Records released Ashley Cleveland’s Big Town. Cleveland had spent years making a name for herself as a session singer, working with artists as diverse as John Hiatt and Margaret Becker. She even landed a song on the soundtrack of that cinematic masterpiece Ernest Goes to Camp, but Big Town was supposed to be her big break.
Big Town is brilliant heartland rock with some country and gospel flavors thrown in. If you listen to it today, it’s mostly timeless, although a couple of synth lines give its date away. But you get an idea of what sets Big Town apart from the first measures – an acapella taste of Andraé Crouch’s “Soon and Very Soon.” Cleveland’s voice, equal parts raspy rock and smooth soul, let you know what you’re in for. And it’s an exhilarating ride.
Deaf Composers, Silenced Writers, Fragile Violins, and the Late Quartets of our Times
By Scott Seward Smith
Because he was deaf when he wrote them, Beethoven never heard his “late quartets”. This is a remarkable anecdote; an inhuman feat of human creativity. I was reminded of a resonant anecdote while reading in the Spectator US of a meeting between British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his wife and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—bear with me. The article described that the Laborite couple later sent the laborious couple a book of poems by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th century Mexican nun and poet. The Spectator describes her as “a poet known for her proto-feminism and early criticism of the Spanish empire.” She is also well known for having stopped writing her risqué poetry on the orders of the Church hierarchy. This is an interesting symmetry: Beethoven writing music for us that he would never hear; Sor Juana composing poems in her head that we would never read.
Discovering Luis Miguel, Mexico’s Biggest Star Musician
By Scott Seward Smith
When I was 21, in 1991, I fell in love with a Mexican girl. It was the week of our college graduation and she was the childhood friend of a classmate. I visited my classmate in Mexico City that summer in order to see her again. The hit album at the time was “21 años” by Luis Miguel. Luis Miguel, named for the bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín memorialized by Hemingway in The Dangerous Summer, was, and still is, the biggest star in Mexico.
Lana Del Rey’s Blues
By Scott Seward Smith
In the many skirmishes in today’s culture wars I often find it easy to take a side or, in most recent cases, wish that both sides lose. This is mostly because these skirmishes involve celebrities and other cultural avatars who are two dimensional, predictable, boring. The last eccentrics died long ago or have been pummeled into submission.
Recently I stumbled across a controversy involving a young woman singer, Lana Del Rey and, of course, an internet post, that has left me on the fence. Apparently Del Rey has been accused of glorifying or romanticizing sexual violence in her songs. On Instagram she wrote…
‘Every Cop is a Criminal’
By Fred Tribuzzo
Mick Jagger liked to say that “Sympathy for the Devil” exposed the power of evil, not its support of the dark angel.
How To Build A Successful Canadian Musical Act
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 7: Who I believe to be the quintessential Canadian band
By Josh Lieblein
Have you ever watched Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video and wondered just what the earthly hell is going on?
How did this morose, strangely-dressed, monotone-voiced, wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-
10 Individualist David Bowie Songs
Check out the epilogue of Robert Dean Lurie’s David Bowie book!
By Robert Dean Lurie
Today in 1977 David Bowie’s album “Heroes” was released. Celebrate by picking up We Can Be Heroes: The Radical Individualism of David Bowie by Robert Dean Lurie.
New Fiction: The Baton
By Tom Cosentino
Peter looked as instructed and could not find what he was supposed to see until Charlotte’s finger stabbed at the top corner. There was a quarter page advertisement announcing that the Antiques Roadshow, Charlotte’s favorite program, was coming to New York.
“It’s this Saturday, I want to bring in my great Aunt Beatrice’s baton. She said it was very valuable. That it belonged to a famous conductor. This is my chance to find out exactly what it is. Maybe it’s worth enough that I can sell it to pay for my dream wedding.”
Peter looked at the date and time of the show, then forced a smile knowing he had no choice but to accompany Charlotte, even though he and his buddy Fred had tickets to the Rangers and Bruins matinee for the same day.
10 Badass Heavy Metal & Alternative Tracks to Fuel Your Wicked Writing
Put these songs on when you want to slip into the zone
By David M. Swindle
For this list, we’re going heavy — these are the metal and alternative tracks to help you get focused and creative while writing. Presented in no particular order, save for my pride for my brother’s debut album…
Don’t Play Those Funky Politics, Black Boy
Wherein Mr. West’s Brethren School Him on his Proper Place
By Roy Griffis
When I was but a lad in Nebraska, one-hit wonders released their epic paean to the seductive joys of finding one’s groove and getting down wid it.
Since our only exposure to the song was courtesy of the blown-out speakers of the AM radio in my Dad’s ’54 Chevy truck, the most we nascent deplorables could make out was the bouncy beat and the repeated admonition “Play that funky music, white boy.”
Talk about words to live by. It wasn’t until I was older (with access to better sound systems) that I began to appreciate the crazy joy in the music. But speaking of crazy and music, we have Kanye West, a fellow with no shortage of confidence and very debatable musical ability.
