Spurred on by my limerick for “White Zombie”, Hilary Barta over at Limerwrecks has spent most of the season posting paeans to old horror movies. Here’s one I contributed for ol Doc Frankenstein: His raising the dead’s not a living and townsfolk are most unforgiving But Doc isn’t crying His monster’s undying A gift that [...]

From my favorite Irish band, the Waxies! Check out the band’s site for club dates all over Western Michigan in the next couple months! Slainte!

To celebrate the wearin’ of the green, I present here a video of me nephew’s band, Grand Rapids’ most popular Irish band, The Waxies! Give em hell, me boyos, and one fer Uncle Jamie! Branden blames me for getting him hooked on Irish music and history, because one night I went on too long with [...]

My Brother Hungerdunger Stu Shea has started a new project to harness the awesome power of Youtube. Every day, he plans to post a video with information about that day in Beatles history. Here’s the first installment: We ‘Dungers have been talking for months about how to take advantage of the brave new world to [...]

Sorry, Mark, I had to post this on my blog first.

I’ve known Lou Carlozo for a number of years. He’s an excellent writer, a thoughtful editor, an energetic teacher, a generous Hungerdunger, and an all-around mensch. I’ve also known he plays a little music. But in all the time I’ve known him, I didn’t know how kick-ass he plays that music. Now that his first [...]

I was unfamiliar with Al “Jazzbo” Collins until I saw this clip. Now I’ve got some new recordings to pursue. Check out this video from the folks at Crooks & Liars:

Don’t you just love pro team fight songs? More specifically, don’t you love the songs for your hometown teams and find those for other teams absolutely horrifying? Then check out Zulkey.com today, where the irrepressible Miss Claire has put together a mix tape of all the fight songs she could find. Disco, heavy metal, dixieland, [...]

Such sad news that Luciano Pavarotti, blessed with such a divine voice, finally succumbed to the fate of all mortals. Can any of us imagine what it would be like to be born with a voice like that? To be the greatest tenor in the past 70 years? Since I don’t run an opera company, [...]

What’s playing, not on my iPod, but on a continuous loop in my fleshy brain that will only stop replaying by the merciful intercession of Death: “Hell is for Children” by Pat Benatar (Thank you, oh-so-ironic college deejays at WLUW. Wait till someone pulls this kind of crap on you when you’re 45 with a [...]

People in the greater Grand Rapids area, you are hereby advised to check out the Hibernian hotness of that great new band, THE MOLLY MAGUIRES, playing this Saturday at Dillenbeck’s Coffee House at 7 pm. (Dillenbeck‘s is located at 1059 W. Fulton, on the west side of town by John Ball Park.) Recently recovered from [...]

Iggy, that is. Once again, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame passed over inducting Iggy and the Stooges and gone for the really controversial acts, like the Ronnettes and REM. Way to go out on a limb, fellas. I’ve got nothing against the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It does give a person [...]

While the holiday season was full of events big and little, today’s subject occurred most recently. Saturday was the occasion of Number One Son’s first opera. Real opera, as in downtown, in the Lyric Opera House, and no comfy chairs like out at the Oak Brook Drury Lane. The show was “Die Fledermaus”, which is [...]

This morning my chest feels like squirrels have been nesting in it all fall. Friends had a little caroling party yesterday afternoon, and I thought it would be churlish of me to not join in with my favorites, despite the chest cold I’ve been incubating for a week. So I gave it a go, sang [...]

WXRT, the local rock station for people like me who don’t so much rock it anymore as rub it after a bad sprain, for years has had a Saturday morning show called “Flashback”, in which they choose a year and highlight the songs, the news and groovy trends of said year. While intended to arouse [...]