Neil Innes (December 9, 1944-December 29, 2019)

John Cohen (August 2, 1932 – September 16, 2019)

He, "Uncle John" Cohen, wasn't necessarily that Uncle John, but still.

It's Not Easy Being Green

The purpose of owning Greenland is to finally surround Canada with America at last, from Greenland in the Arctic East to Alaska in the Arctic West above and then all the way around to the contiguous 48 below, surrounded. Then let the Canucks try something. Just let them.

I Know What You Mean, You Know What I Mean?

Bromberg Interruptus

Because August on the Misses Miller River

Art Neville (December 17, 1937 – July 22, 2019)

João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira (June 10, 1931-July 6, 2019)

Van Morrison Almost

Independence Day

Dr. John, November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019

Hammer Time

How It Is Done

What you see is what you get.

Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942-August 16, 2018)

The greatest singer of her time was 14 years old once and even then:

Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)

Happy Birthday, you grand fellow.

Fats Domino, February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017

I'm older than rock 'n roll. I remember when it achieved liftoff in the mid-'50's. I was a kid then, what we would now call pre-adolescent. Fats Domino was right in the middle of it all, serving up musical treats even a kid my age could appreciate: rhythm 'n blues from New Orleans, a style happily expropriated into the seedstock of the newly emerged American popular music style.

I remember hearing Fats Domino's music the first time, sitting in the back seat of my grandparent's car, heading down Skyline from San Francisco to their cabin outside Boulder Creek:

You Made me cry/ when you said goodbye. /Ain't that a shame? /My tears fell like rain.

And then hit after hit from him. All the Blue songs, all the Walking ones: Blue Monday, Blueberry Hill, My Blue Heaven, I'm Walking, I Want To Walk You Home, Walking To New Orleans. Yeah.

Grid Corrections

Gord Downie, February 6, 1964–October 17, 2017

Freestyle Discourse

Walter Becker, February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017

Admittedly the locus classicus of the musical trend lampooned so fondly by Yacht Rock, Walter Becker's band Steely Dan placed more and more layers of sonic embroidery on their recorded music as the years went by, not allowing an aural cranny to be overlooked where a pair or so of complementary arpeggios might comfortably fit. The marvel is that with Becker and Donald Fagan and half the sessions musicians in LA working on the Steely Dan product, they managed to pull together so many wonderfully accomplished pieces.

The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump

As Long as You've Got A Dime The Music Will Never Stop