Song of the Day – “The Last Farewell” – Roger Whittaker

Oh, this is not rock by a long shot. It’s not a favorite song of mine. But this is for my mom, who we are saying our last farewell to today. She was a fan, and I can remember hearing Roger Whittaker over and over during my teenage years.

For you are beautiful
and I have loved you dearly
more dearly than the spoken word can tell

Song of the Day – “Junior’s Farm” – Paul McCartney and Wings

This was a non-album single that followed Band on the Run in 1974. It preceded the missteps of “Silly Love Songs” and others, and is just a great fun song to my ears.

Song of the Day – “He’s Got the Power” – The Exciters

The Exciters were a girl group with a difference – the husband of the lead singer was part of the group. Their songs aren’t played on oldies stations, and I heard them through a box set of obscure girl groups.

But this 1963 promotional video is AWESOME! The white gloves, the out-of-sync hand movements – I could watch this on a loop for hours.

iPhoneography Apps – Stackables Part 2

In part 1 of my series on Stackables, I went over the general layout and talked about the Texture, Filter and Gradient presets. Here in part 2, we’ll cover Patterns and Adjustment presets, as well as show the new masking features. That’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

We were modifying an image of a mantel clock with jade figurines. As you see below, Layer 1 is a filter; layers 2-4 are textures, and layer 5 is a gradient that adds some dark brown to the top of the image. I have added Layer 6 and chosen Patterns at the top center. It defaults to the pattern of Plain, or no pattern.

Song of the Day – “New Music” Wednesday – “Don’t F**k It Up” – Linus of Hollywood

Caution: you are in extreme danger of finding yourself singing “sha la la la don’t f**k it up” at inopportune times after hearing this song.

Kevin Dotson moved to Hollywood from Florida, and earned his nickname by wearing t-shirts like his Peanuts namesake. His latest album, Something Good, really is.

Song of the Day – “Name’s the same” Tuesday – “The Wind”

Cat Stevens – The Jesters

The song is not very long anyway, but Cat Stevens, on his Majikat tour, seemed to have somewhere to go, boosting the tempo and zipping through his tunes.

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The Jesters turn in a pedestrian doo-wop tune here – until the final figure. All of a sudden, the harmonies turn magical and you don’t want it to end.

Song of the Day – “Chalkhills and Children” – XTC

As mellow as Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding ever got. From 1989’s Oranges and Lemons.

Song of the Day – “The Captive Heart” – Renaissance

Punk and new-wave rebelled against bombastic stadium rock, but classical/rock hybrids like Renaissance were swept away by the anger and spittle as well. No matter – we can still hear beautiful songs like this one from singer Annie Haslam and the rest of the group. One of the most beautiful songs you’ve never heard.

Song of the Day – “O Superman” – Laurie Anderson

And I said, OK, who is this really?

Is there any more unlikely a pop star than performance artist Laurie Anderson? For her magnum opus, United States, she created many gadgets to help her tell her stories: mouthlights (as shown in this video) and tape violins, which held a length of audio tape in the bow that was stroked over a tape pickup head.

‘Cause when love is gone, there’s always justice.
And when justice is gone, there’s always force.
And when force is gone, there’s always Mom.
Hi Mom!

Song of the Day – “Cherchez la Femme” – Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band

An odd combination – disco and a thirties dance band. But concept is king in the music biz, and this concept worked, as long as the disco craze survived.

You may be reminded of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, as I was – and there’s a good reason for that. The trombonist that performs the solo is August Darnell, Kid Creole himself.