Earlier I mentioned today being the 50th anniversary of the release of The Ramones debut album, and I won’t pretend to bother having anything original to say about what an effect it would have on my life; I will, however, point out that while I love my new 180-gram vinyl copy thanks to my recent vinyl refurbishment program, for today’s anniversary I'm rocking the copy my buddy Rylo got for me in New Orleans for Christmas 1991, back when these records were hard to find.
LONG LIVE THE RAMONES!!!
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Xmastime Wants
I wanna see a 10-part Netflix series on The Wrecking Crew’s Leon Russell playing that pounding choppy runaway piano on Da Doo Ron Ron. It sounds like the piano comes in & out of the mix, was he playing that way throughout the entire song? We’ve spent 60+ years marveling at John Lennon’s rhythm guitar on All My Loving that came out just a few months later, yet I’ve never heard if its own staccato relentlessness was partly inspired by the piano on Da Doo Ron Ron? 🤔🎹🤷♂️
UPDATE: of course I asked my bff CHatGPT about the Lennon connection, you're very welcome:
UPDATE: of course I asked my bff CHatGPT about the Lennon connection, you're very welcome:
Your instinct here is really sharp.
- “Da Doo Ron Ron”: released March 1963
- “All My Loving” by The Beatles: recorded July 1963
That timing absolutely allows for influence. John Lennon was famously plugged into American pop—especially girl groups and Spector productions.
Similarities
- Both parts are relentless, driving subdivisions
- Both create momentum by never letting the rhythm breathe
- Both sit slightly above the mix, giving a sense of urgency
Key difference
- Russell’s piano = percussive attack inside a dense wall
- Lennon’s guitar = clean, exposed motor, almost like a snare drum made of strings
So… did Lennon borrow the idea?
There’s no documented confirmation that he was thinking, “I’m copying that piano part.” But stylistically:
- The Beatles absolutely absorbed Spector/girl-group production ideas
- Lennon’s right hand on “All My Loving” feels like a translation of that percussive keyboard energy into guitar
A fair read is:
not a direct lift, but part of the same 1963 moment where rhythm instruments became engines, not just accompaniment
Memories Never Made
As we come up on my 40,000th post - just 3 away now! - I find myself finding this old comment from 2007 and wondering who was this delightful young lady, and for whom is she cooking potatoes now? 🤔🥲
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Promises. I Make Them.
Week One of an Xmastme presidential administration will include an executive order stating that the country must be given a warning anytime a Jennifer-centered episode of Family Ties episode is coming up in the rotation.
Priorities. They're Important.
NETFLIX
DOGS
MUSIC
You know I wanna say "books" but let's be real people it can get real fucking quiet out there ya'll.
DOGS
MUSIC
You know I wanna say "books" but let's be real people it can get real fucking quiet out there ya'll.
Dear Diary
Dear Diary:
I'm doing a Top 5 Beatles songs playlist with Marley & Watty and I think this is gonna be the coming-out-party for my putting She Loves You in place of I Want to Hold Your Hand, which up until it finally hit me a year ago had been, in a word, unthinkable
Love,
YOUR PAL XMASTIME
Things I’ve Learned in This Thing Called Life, Vol. 1
If you wanna make a teenage kid instantly appear before you, this is the text to send.
Fuck This Asshole
I'm almost exhausted from trying to explain his to you people every 10 minutes but John Roberts is an absolute piece of shit who not only is corrupt but is stupid enough to have decided Donald Trump is the man he should attach his eternal legacy to.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Imaginary Conversatons in the Recording Studio with The Barber, Vol. I
Me: wow I got to that first chorus in 26 seconds!
The Barber: should be at the 2nd one by then.
Xmastime Brilliance du Jour
Wouldn't it just be cheaper to make twice as many cups instead of these heat things; I'd assume once you’re making like a million cups a day then it's fairly easy to make 2 million, certainly easier & cheaper than having to make a whole new part, and the second cup would act as insulation against the heat of your coffee.
YOU'RE WELCOME, BUSINESS!!
100%.
With apologies for making anybody watch this shit, this is what we in the business call "walking the dog on this super-hypocrite fake Christian shithead Santa Claus-looking motherfucker."
Great Moments in College Professor Comments History
Dr. Kitterman
Fall 1992
Never-minding the sophomoric writing (dafuck was I was I writing about The Brady Bunch for?)(well, I guess I could actually read the paper to find out but that's not fucking happening I can tell you that right now), how is it possible that it looks like I wrote left-handed in 1992? While sliding off a desk?
Fall 1992
Never-minding the sophomoric writing (dafuck was I was I writing about The Brady Bunch for?)(well, I guess I could actually read the paper to find out but that's not fucking happening I can tell you that right now), how is it possible that it looks like I wrote left-handed in 1992? While sliding off a desk?
Paging Corey Hart
The other night I was waiting for my Uber when I suspected he must be sitting in the car idling about 20 yards away; the car was far enough away that I couldn’t read the license plate to tell for sure if it was him, so I put on my glasses see all the way from where I was standing with my bags.
The prescription glasses I need to see things from far away being sunglasses meant that once I’d confirmed it was him & approached his car, the driver was scrambling out of his seat in a hurry to help me with my bags, WAY more than any driver has ever been with me, even the helpful ones, and of course it then dawned on me...
...this motherfucker thinks I’m blind.
I calculated whether or not I’d be able to pull off pretending to be blind for the entire ride, 30 minutes, and quickly dismissed the notion as potentially mean-spirited towards the driver (I also wondered what would happen if he said “hey, my mother’s blind”, at which point I’d be trapped/fucked) so I decided to invest all that energy into typing up this tasty little nugget of a story for you people.
He got five stars.
THE END.
The prescription glasses I need to see things from far away being sunglasses meant that once I’d confirmed it was him & approached his car, the driver was scrambling out of his seat in a hurry to help me with my bags, WAY more than any driver has ever been with me, even the helpful ones, and of course it then dawned on me...
...this motherfucker thinks I’m blind.
I calculated whether or not I’d be able to pull off pretending to be blind for the entire ride, 30 minutes, and quickly dismissed the notion as potentially mean-spirited towards the driver (I also wondered what would happen if he said “hey, my mother’s blind”, at which point I’d be trapped/fucked) so I decided to invest all that energy into typing up this tasty little nugget of a story for you people.
He got five stars.
THE END.
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