Spitball Army

Besides other humans, dogs are probably the smartest animals that we come in contact with on a daily basis. I’ve known some dogs that are most definitely smarter than some humans I’ve known, but that’s another story. Dogs play with us, they keep us company, and they make us happy. It is no surprise, then, that after humans (in, for instance, love songs and murder ballads), the next most popular animal represented in song is man’s best friend.

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The Golden Age of American Popular Music: The Jazz Hits from the Hot 100 1958-1966;
Whale Rider;
readthewords.com

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Who says you need to be able to carry a tune in order to get a song across to an audience? It certainly wasn’t a necessary prerequisite for 93-year-old Eileen Hall, who delivered The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” in the film Young @ Heart. In fact, her British-accented rendition of the lyrics leans more toward the “spoken” than toward the “sung.”

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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About a week ago, on the Facebook website, someone posted an event entitled “Election Day.” Members were asked to choose whether they were “attending” or not, much like R.S.V.P.’ing for a dinner party. I selected Yes, and added a note: You would have to kill me to keep me from attending. I haven’t always felt this way.

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According to the documents, attorneys for the Big 4 music companies argue that if the government is willing to take steps to protect Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and AIG, who are only suffering because of their own risky investments and bad decision making, then it should do the same for other poorly run businesses.

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National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” today aired a spot focusing on the unusual but inspired collaboration between classical violinist Hilary Hahn and one of Spitball’s favorite songwriters and persons, Josh Ritter.

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I swear I am not making this up. If the iPod had eyes, it would have winked at me when I whipped my head around toward it in astonishment.

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