I miss them already. So I made a playlist. No Scotland No Party.

COULD THIS DAY GET ANY LONGER?

I assume all of you music people read Nick Cave's Red Hand Files. Today's was particularly good. And painful.

Barry Manilow, who didn’t write the song “I Write the Songs,” was born this day in 1943. He DID co-write this one, with Tony Orlando. It is the original version of his later hit “Could It Be Magic.”

@jtkantor.bsky.social I’m sure you have quite the playlist on deck, but I know I’d love to hear Molly’s Lips by the Vaselines. Oh, and also some Teenage Fanclub.

This looks like a great program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for Roxbury International Film Festival. It doesn't say so on the website, but Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley will participating in the post-screening Q & A I am told!

Thanks to @nodepression.bsky.social for having Joe Pernice in for a live session last month in New York. You can hear the set at the link.

Celebrating Chips Moman

Did you know that the Official FIFA World Cup 26 Boston Host City poster was designed by local artist John Rego, a Massachusetts College of Art and Design alum and faculty member?

Wilma Burgess was born this day in 1939. She was a sorely underrated country singer who had a couple of small hits, but never really made it big. She worked with hitmaker Owen Bradley, BUT she was an overweight out lesbian, and thus didn’t fit the mold in the 1960’s (or maybe ever).

Looking for a great thing to watch? For Pride month, PBS has on offer FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK, the story of the all-female, Filipina-American rock band with queer members. Oh, and in addition to being all of those things, they were also GREAT. www.pbs.org/show/fanny-r...

Ten For Today, the Birthday of Beau Brummell: Dandies, Not To Be Confused With Fops

It was the dark of the moon on the 6th of June...

Old Maids, Spinsters, and Hope Chests open.substack.com/pub/joycelin...

It was the third of June... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmFx...

Spin Magazine says Joe Pernice's new one, SUNNY, I WAS WRONG is one of the best of the year so far.

Precogs on deck.

As I don my winter coat to walk the dog this morning...

This will be a great event. It's not too early for Christmas shopping. The event is free and open to the public. And if you haven't been to Fuller Craft Museum lately, you haven't really been to Fuller Craft Museum!

This one always pops into my head on Memorial Day.

Ten Songs for Memorial Day

Celebrating Dr. Robert Moog, on his birthday.

Is there a doctor in the house? Why yes, there is. It’s Peter Wolf, receiving his honorary doctorate from Massachusetts College of Art Design.

Mickey Newbury, one of the all-time songwriting greats, was born this day in 1940.

Attended a great discussion with Professor Ethelene Whitmire. Her book tells the true story, culled from letters and other sources, of a gay, Black, Harvard-educated scholar from Dorchester who went to Europe before WWII, fell in love, and was imprisoned by Nazis.

Nice piece about @whichsideboston.bsky.social, the music series we've been producing in #Boston for almost a year now. Still hoping another city or two might pick up the mantle! csindie.com/solidarity-t...

Ten Songs for the Feast of St. Dymphna.

Japanese folksinger-songwriter Itsuroh Shimoda was born this day in 1948. This is so good. That's disco legend Vicki Sue Robinson on backing vocals!

The Fleet’s season comes to an end in double overtime in a spirited game. The good news is that this year, the popularity of women’s pro hockey grew by leaps and bounds, and new teams will be added next year. It’s a movement. Congrats to Ottawa and their eventual opponent. It’s all upside.

I wrote this one a couple of years ago for Mother’s Day. It’s all still true.

Tough loss for the Fleet last night makes Sunday's game in Ottawa do-or-die. Hoping for a game 5 in Massachusetts on Tuesday! h

Singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis was born this day in 1937. He wrote and recorded this one, which you will recognize from television if you are my age, and from Husker Du if perhaps I was your babysitter. Curtis died in September last year.

Thanks to Randi Millman and the team at WUMB for having Joe and Pete over to chat and play some music earlier this.

I am VERY excited to read this one when it arrives!

Thelma Houston was born this day in 1946. She is best known for her smash disco hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” In 1969, she made a gem of an album -- her debut -- with Jimmy Webb, and this is on it.

Johnny Bragg was born this day in 1926. He was serving six life terms in prison when he put together this band, then wrote and recorded this song with which Johnnie Ray later had a big hit.

Good for Kasey Musgraves!

The origins of “May the Fourth Be With You.”

Don't despair, Boston sports fans. There is still a team in the title hunt this season. That would be The Boston Fleet.

It's Bandcamp Friday, meaning that artist-friendly platform waives its fees to musicians. This means that more (if not all*) of the money you spend there goes directly to the artist. What will you buy today?

Birthdays this week, plus Billie Jean King, Title IX, Frances Perkins, and women helping women.

I had so much fun hosting last month's "Women's March" edition of @whichsideboston.bsky.social. We just posted a bunch of video from the all-women show on the Which Side website. (Scroll down for the clips.) www.whichside.boston/2026-03

The first time I heard MJ Lenderman I was immediately taken back to the Western Mass music scene of the mid nineties. This cover brings it all full circle.

Great piece by Melissa Ludtke on her Substack, on the amazing and far-reaching impact of Billie Jean King.

MJ Lenderman in Boston this week, covering Joe Pernice's song "Lift Me Up" from the album Massachusetts by Scud Mountain Boys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAk...

Happy #NationalLibraryWeek. This is a picture of my local this morning.

Thoroughly entertaining, positively cinematic interview with Looney Tunes' Pat McGrath.

Joe Pernice talks about what it was like to have Jimmy Webb play on his record. And other things.

Ten Songs for Tax Day

This guy's work looms large in the imaginations of many people my age.