In 1996 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released That’s Why We’re Marching, a collection, mostly, of folk songs dating from the first half of the 1940’s.
Among the album’s trove of rare and seldom heard songs of both pro- and anti-war sentiment is one memorable spoken-word track: a story by Vincent “Jimmy” Longhi about his friend, a folk singer by the name of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie–better known to the world as Woody.
Attorney, playwright and author Longhi’s story is also recounted in his book Woody, Cisco, and Me: Seamen Three in the Merchant Marine, which chronicles his time traveling with convoys of troops during the Battle of the Atlantic with Guthrie and folk singer Cisco Houston.
The Guthrie song referenced in the story in its entirety:
…and another reminiscence from Longhi about the time their ship struck a mine in the Mediterranean, killing one person aboard:
If you’ve ever worn a band t-shirt out in public, there’s a very high chance you’ve been asked this question.
A woman has gone viral after sharing a video on TikTok of the aftermath of a hilariously awkward encounter that has had commenters rushing to suggest appropriate replies.
It’s the bane of every female music fan’s life, when you’re just trying to mind your own business and someone challenges you.
The woman, called Jo, shared a TikTok video captioned: “I don’t know how I should feel about this…” of her sitting in a diner moments after the incident.
Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo for the band Bad Habits, she sits awkwardly wondering what just happened.
On the video she explained: “Guys, I was casually waiting for my food wearing my band’s merch and a guy came up to me and asked me to name three songs.”
Problem is… Jo is the singer of the band he’s asking about…
If you Google Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star” you’ll likely read that the 1957 hit song received the Recording Industry Association of America’s first-ever Gold Record Award.
Trouble is, if you look up Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo Choo” you’re probably going to see a similar claim made for the 1941 tune.
So what’s the deal?
The deal is this: The early Gold and Silver Record Awards were given by record companies (RCA Victor in the case of Glenn Miller) in order to both recognize and publicize artists’ achievements.
Miller was presented a gold-sprayed record for sales of 1.2 million copies.
Harry Belafonte’s Calypso album and Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” single also received this type of award.
The RIAA’s official Gold and Silver Record program began in 1958, using independently verified sales statistics and codifying the standard (500,000 units sold for a Gold Record).
Thus “Catch a Falling Star” was the first official Gold Record, with the Oklahoma soundtrack becoming the first Gold album a few months later.
Platinum certification followed in 1976, with the standard being 1 million copies sold for albums and 2 million for singles.
The first Platinum Album was awarded to the Eagles for Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).
Journey are one of the biggest rock bands of all time, and their most famous song was briefly the best-selling digital track from the 20th century (it’s since been usurped by two perennial classics, Elton John‘s Candle In The Wind and Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You). But global stardom might never have happened if not for a hard-hitting ultimatum from their record company back in 1977. As the band’s original drummer Aynsley Dunbar recalled: “We were told: ‘Get a singer, get some hit songs or you’re off the label.’”
At that time, the San Francisco-based band had made three albums for Columbia Records, and all three had stiffed. Guitarist Neal Schon and vocalist/keyboard player Gregg Rolie had previously played in Santana, but Journey’s early music, mixing Santana-style jazz fusion and progressive rock, was a hard sell, and Rolie’s voice wasn’t the strongest.
Everything changed when Steve Perry joined the band after they’d tried out another singer, Robert Fleischman. With a richly expressive voice, Perry could hit high notes that other singers could only dream of. His first album with the band, 1978’s Infinity, reinvented Journey as a mainstream rock act. The album promptly went platinum, and from there, the only way was up.
In the 80s, Journey became one of the biggest bands in America, with the Holy Trinity of AOR albums: Escape, Frontiers and Raised On Radio. Perry also had a huge hit in 1984 with his first solo album, Street Talk. But the pressures of fame led Perry to quit the band in 1987, leaving Journey on hiatus until his return in 1995. And when he quit again two years later, he was gone for good.
How to replace the irreplaceable? Journey survived by finding the best Steve Perry impersonators on the planet. They made two albums in the early 2000s with Steve Augeri, formerly the singer in cult AOR band Tall Stories. And in 2007, when Journey’s classic hit Don’t StopBelievin’ was featured in The Sopranos – making the song more famous than ever before, and putting the band’s name back in the spotlight – they unveiled a new singer who had been discovered via YouTube.
Filipino Arnel Pineda’s performance of Journey songs in covers band The Zoo was enough to secure him his dream job. He sounds uncannily like Steve Perry, and has now made three albums with Journey, including Freedom, released in 2022. And while internal and legal bickering may define the current band almost as much as their back catalogue, their best work remains unimpeachable…
‘Spinal Tap II’ began production last spring, and director Rob Reiner has revealed what the fictional band’s members have been up to in the 40 years since ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ came out.
“Nigel [Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest] has been running a cheese and guitar shop in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He’s also been performing with a local folk band in the village that play penny whistle and mandolin, and he plays electric guitar with them. We show a little clip of that,” Reiner explained in a recent interview with Empire. “David St. Hubbins [played by Michael McKean] has been living in Morro Bay in California, and he’s been writing music for podcasts, particularly this one true-crime podcast called ‘The Trouble With Murder.’ He also writes the music that you hear when you’re on hold on the phone.”
“Derek [Smalls, played by Harry Shearer] is living in London and is now the curator of the New Museum of Glue. He’s curated glue from every country in the world – the whole history of glue – and he shows me around,” Reiner added, “He’s also been performing with a philharmonic orchestra, and he’s written this kind of symphony about the fact that the devil wears a bad hair piece. It’s called ‘Hell Toupée.’”
The idea for the sequel came when Tony Hendra died in 2021. Hendra played ‘Spinal Tap’s manager Ian Faith in the original film.
“[W]e came up with this idea that Ian Faith had willed his daughter, Hope, this contract that called for one more performance,” he said. “She thinks initially, ‘Well, this is not really worth anything…’ But then some big music star, while screwing around at a sound check, is filmed on an iPhone singing a Tap song, and it goes wild on social media. All of a sudden, the contract is worth something.”
In addition to the surviving members of the original cast, ‘Spinal Tap II’ also features cameos from Elton John, Paul McCartney and others.
Every Moment Has A Song 