All Chris Hitchens bits from the Penn and Teller TV show on Mother Teresa
warning may cause offence (tough! and contains very strong language)
Sunday, January 25, 2026
GUESS I’M DUMB - a statement
It isn’t every day that the music blogs cover politics. Friends out in the blogosphere let me know often what their persuasions and beliefs are but this was the latest post from the brilliant Guess I’m Dumb earlier on . . . . .just this
I found it worth sharing here . . . . . .
. . . . . as somewhat obviously (I hope) I AGREE!
Talk Talk - It’s Time [The Colour of Spring] | jt1674
. . . . . . time for some more Mark Hollis (sorely missed)
Blues Myths - Will Howard | DANGEROUS MINDS
This is really worth a read . . . . . . I guess it never really struck me before that Robert Johnson’s disappearance and much lauded return suddenly 9sic) able to play like a master being from a meeting with the Devil and a pact struck down at the crossroads being a marketing ploy was so much better than the days [months years?] spent learninging to master his instrument and that it should enter the popular zeitgeist and became a central part of the myth still popular today. The death of legendary blues man Blind Lemon might also be such . . .spread to encourage sales by person or person unknown and this never occurred to me either. read on here
Did Blind Lemon Jefferson die from poisoned coffee?
V.A. - Tom Waits covers, Volume 4: 2013-2023 | Albums That Should Exist |Paul and Fabio!
Covered: Tom Waits, Volume 4: 2013-2023
Paul says: Here's the fourth and last album in the Covered series celebrating the songs of Tom Waits by collecting cover versions.
Once again, I have to thank Fabio from Rio for being the prime mover behind putting these Waits albums together. He selected a large number of songs, and I narrowed it down to a reasonable amount. And one again, Fabio was nice enough to do the write up. So, take it away, Fabio:
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Waits released his last studio record to date ("Bad as Me") in 2011. His later works revisit all earlier phases in fragmented, refined form. Waits alternates tender ballads with abrasive rhythm experiments, presenting a distilled, self-aware summary of his artistic language rather than a new stylistic break.
This last volume with performances from the 2010s and 2020s is mostly filled with female voices, hinting that, musically, Waits has become something of a ladies' man — at least for a younger generation of singers.
Here again we have a wild range of different styles, from forties-like doo-wop (Ice Cream Man) to eighties-drum-machine-electro-pop ("All Stripped Down"), from jazz and blues rock ("Fumblin' with the Blues", "Shore Leave") to americana and alt-country ("Walk Away", "Blue Skies").
We will also find adult contemporary ("In-Between Love"), dark cabaret ("Little Drop of Poison", "Starving in the Belly of a Whale"), R&B ("Such a Scream"), and confessional ballad ("Martha") in the mix.
Tom Jones makes "Bad as Me" his own. "Emotional Weather Report" is a deep cut taken from the little-known jazz and spoken-word Waits seventies album "Nighthawks on the Radio", which highlights Tom Waits' deadpan humor.
Other standouts are Rosanne Cash's "Time" and Aimee Mann's version for "Hold On" - which kind of reminded me, in spirit if not in sound, of the acappella version sung by Emily Kinney as Beth Greene in "The Walking Dead" - one of the most poignant moments of the entire series(*).
(*) You can check it out (along with Tom Waits' original version) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNeGLUAUbgQ&list=RDGNeGLUAUbgQ
This album is 55 minutes long.
01 Walk Away (Steel Wheels)
02 Bad as Me (Tom Jones)
03 Emotional Weather Report (Marissa Mulder)
04 All Stripped Down (Lisa Bassenge)
05 Ice Cream Man (Hazelnuts)
06 Blue Skies (Lisa Bassenge)
07 In Between Love (Jennifer Porter)
08 Such a Scream (Good Paper of Rev. Rob Mortimer)
09 Fumblin' with the Blues (Natascha & the Spy Boys)
10 Little Drop of Poison (Ellie Gunn and the Firethornes)
11 Hold On (Aimee Mann)
12 Time (Rosanne Cash)
13 Starving in the Belly of a Whale (Belladone)
14 Martha (Jackie Greene)
15 Shore Leave (Nickel)
Birthdays : Dr John Cooper-Clarke
Happy birthday to John Cooper Clarke, born in Salford on this day in 1949.
Let him be your vacuum cleaner, breathing in your dust.
and I have used this clip and sent it and the lyrics to so many folk . . . especially critical trolls and gaslighting aggressive nasty folks . . . . . . . v useful!
"What kind of creature bore you?Was it some kind of bat?They can’t find a good word for youbut I can . . . . . . "
Flagging Down The Double Es | Robyn Hitchcock on Desolation Row | Ray Padgett
Bonus Track: Robyn Hitchcock on the Magic of "Desolation Row"
"It’s one of his old songs that he loves to reverse a car over at the moment. "
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Today, my final (very belated) backstage convo from the Bob Dylan Center’s “Going Electric” last summer. Since we spoke, Robyn Hitchcock covered all of John Wesley Harding in Woodstock, which looked like a very fun show! But last summer, we were chatting about the two songs he was performing at Cain’s Ballroom that evening, “Desolation Row” and “Highway 61 Revisited.” “The whole human catastrophe is spelt out there in all its grotesque absurdity.”
Kelly Boesch - The Porous Heart
A really moving one from Kelly . . . .I echo her sentiments here and frankly she tis not alone hey?
This is a sad one today💔.The song is called ‘The Porous Heart”.I have been feeling extremely emotional watching these horrific scenes take place across our country, especially in Minneapolis. I mean their is a motto called "Minneapolis Nice". These are wonderful, thoughtful and kind midwesterners that they are trying to portray as bad people. They are trying to protect their neighbors. This is what neighbors do. I am not a religious person but isn't this what you are taught? I feel like I am living in the upside down world right now. I think that overly empathetic people are having an even harder time right now as we watch this horror unfold. Living in California we love the immigrants that are around us. They are the life blood of our community. Kind and wonderful people. There are bad people in every group, just look at ice, but trying to make an entire group of people out to be represented by a tiny minority is ridiculous. it sickens me that people just listen to the propaganda being fed to them without trying to do some research and opening their eyes. We are left feeling helpless and overwhelmed.I am not trying to open up a conversation about hate here. I am trying to welcome kind and empathetic comments of support. We all need support right now as we navigate this strange and dark time.I wanted to somehow portray this in a video. The characters centered in the video are different and open with their hearts and lungs showing. Walking among crowds bearing while their souls. It's so hard for me wrap my head around how people can live lacking empathy or kindness. How do they cut the nerve to the heart. One of the lines I love the most in these lyrics. I made the images in Midjourney using a style ref code that has a very Magritte feel to it. It allows the characters to really stand out and give the feeling that I wanted. It has nothing to do with the lack of diversity in the images and more about just the feeling it portrays. I tried other styles but the characters didn't feel right. Sending this out to all of my fellow empathetic followers and sending you light and kindness. Lyrics written by me, Kelly Boesch. Music created under my creative direction with assistance from Suno.
Saturday, January 24, 2026
Harry Dean Stanton & Friends perform 'Help Me Make It Through The Night’ & Hands on The Wheel
I will bid you ‘Goodnight' with this from Harry Dean (Stanton that is) and Kris Kristofferson and ‘friends’ after frequent visitor Dell mentioned Harry’s Album and our mutual appreciation . . . . .
Help Me Make It Through the night . . . note the drummer! [John Densmore from The Doors!]
Harry Dean Stanton & Friends perform 'Help Me Make It Through The Night’
Hollywood legend Harry Dean Stanton ends the night with a bang by performing 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' with Kris Kristofferson, John Densmore, Harper Simon, Karen O, John C. Reilly, Inara George, Johnny Depp, and Mariachi Los Reyes at the Harry Dean Stanton Award Show on October 23, 2016.
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