Reviews of ‘Song Book: 21 Songs From 10 Years (1964-74)‘ are now posted:
Lhasa de Sela Matters
Lhasa de Sela was a brilliant singer/songwriter who gained many fans during her short career. I had the pleasure of interviewing Fred Goodman about his beautiful new biography of her. You can read the interview here.
The Changer and the Changed: Women’s Music
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website on the “women’s music” scene of the ’70s and ’80s. You can read it here.
“Song Book” Reviews
My book Song Book: 21 Songs From 10 Years (1964-74) received a very positive review from the online Ormsby Review. You can read the book review here.
The book also got a very positive review in the most recent issue of Ugly Things magazine, which you can buy online or at the retailers listed here.
Fakewood Mac
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website on one of the oddest stories from pop music history – the fake Fleetwood Mac. You can read it here.
The Underappreciated Dave Berry
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website about the underappreciated ’60s singer Dave Berry. You can read it here.
Award Nomination
My book Song Book has been nominated for the 2019 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Awards for Excellence in Research into the History of Recorded Sound. The award finalists will be announced in the fall.
Kate Bush’s ‘Lily’
Photographer Gitte Morten has started a blog titled One Kiss In Apple Blossom. It features women who are Kate Bush fans describing their favourite Kate song, and Gitte’s photographic response to them and the song.
Being a major Kate Bush fan, as soon as I heard this idea, I was all over it. However, Gitte lives in Somerset, England, and I am in British Columbia, Canada. Being about 4500 miles away made a photo session a bit of a challenge. But thanks to FaceTime and Gitte’s willingness to experiment with photographing a computer screen, she made it happen – and it was a great deal of fun. Here are the results, and my thoughts on Kate’s song “Lily”.
After the Dark: Teddy Vann & Akim’s ‘Santa Claus Is A Black Man’
[originally appeared in Shindig! issue #86]
The late ‘60s and early ‘70s were a time of social unrest in the United States, and black Americans were a major part of the uprisings against systemic discrimination and inequality. While many black activists were challenging the societal norms that perpetuated racial oppression, they were also reclaiming pride in their own heritage – and producer and songwriter Teddy Vann was one of those activists. His ’73 single ‘Santa Claus Is A Black Man’, featuring his five-year-old daughter Akim, has been rightly described as “merging African-American empowerment with the spirit of the holiday”.
Vann was astoundingly prolific and multi-talented; although largely self-educated, he was Continue reading
Announcing My New Book
I’m very pleased to announce that my new book, Song Book: 21 Songs from 10 Years (1964-74), has been released by New Haven Publishing. You can order it from any of the sites listed here.
The book includes extended and updated versions of some of the Shindig! magazine articles posted on this site, along with previously unpublished material.
I’ll be posting updates and news about the book on Facebook and on the “Song Book – the book” page on this site. There’s also a YouTube channel for the book, featuring playlists of the songs that are discussed in the book, as well as a promotional video.
I hope you’ll check it out!
