Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)

@bowiesongs.bsky.social

1111 followers 321 following 1846 posts

Books (Rebel Rebel; Ashes to Ashes), blogs (64 Quartets; Pushing Ahead of the Dame; Locust St.)

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Fantastic choice

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Denis Johnson

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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"70 years ago today, Elvis Presley recorded “That’s All Right” at Sun with Scotty Moore & Bill Black, & Sam Phillips. The recording was not, as legend has it, The Big Bang of Rock & Roll. In 1954, hardly anyone outside of Memphis even heard the thing." nofencesreview.substack.com/p/elvis-reco...

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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July 4, as the afternoon starts to ebb. Enough of a breeze to keep the heat down.

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Mark Harris's avatar Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social
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When Chinatown opened, people said "They'll be teaching Robert Towne's screenplay 50 years from now." That was 50 years ago. Towne was one of the true legends of New Hollywood (and knew it), wrote some great movies and brought brilliance to many others. What he knew, you can't teach. RIP.

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Ned Raggett's avatar Ned Raggett @nedraggett.bsky.social
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An update on the MTV News situation that the Internet Archive has improved what they've got via assembling an organized collection. But it's still not complete and my points from my piece last Friday stand.

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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i would be curious what Smith would say---was an intentional statement? just picked a song that the band could groove on for 10 minutes?

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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i remember when it happened El & I were tweeting at each other essentially that

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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been meaning to find out who the singer was----he looks like he's at a funeral and the way his voice hiccups on the "cocaine" is like he'd just heard the original recording & is trying to replicate it all

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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revising the "Station to Station" entry in the book and have to incorporate this performance---its bizarre epilogue, a cosmic death curse from 2016, which I still can't quite believe happened sometimes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6WS...

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Jagger really was a menace between this, "Dancing in the Street" and "Let's Work"---thankfully by the end of the decade he was quarantined off with the Stones

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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its shittiness is pretty remarkable---it really seems like a studio demo that Epic put out in desperation (the actual Freddie Mercury/MJ demo sounds about the same)

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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yeah the only decent single off that record was "Torture"

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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I remember the first time I heard "State of Shock," on the car radio while my dad in a convenience store. The DJ hyped it up--"The JACKSONS and MICK JAGGER"-- but after 30 seconds or so, I felt like "wait, this is the song? Did they put on a wrong version of it?"

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Caryn Rose's avatar Caryn Rose @carynrose.bsky.social
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I’ve been obsessed with the story of Arthur Baker’s forgotten remixes for Bruce Springsteen’s BORN IN THE USA & was thrilled to have the chance to do a deep dive (including a chat with Baker) for NPR: www.npr.org/2024/07/02/n...

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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RIP Ismail Kadare. From "The General of the Dead Army" (1963):

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Saw a post describing a song as "dated", which is a totally fair comment (especially on said song!), but I think a big part of my outlook on music is that "dated" often means joyfully and powerfully speaking to its moment, and this can be as or more valuable than the "timeless"

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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the guest appearances are wild on that album: Paul Anka, Minnie Riperton, Sneaky Pete Kleinow the Jacksons, Michael Sembello, the Persuasions etc

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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"Creepin'" is pretty amazing, and like nothing he'd done before

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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turning 50, 40, 30, & 20 in July, respectively

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Comics in the Golden Age's avatar Comics in the Golden Age @comicsinthega.bsky.social
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Gasoline Alley by Frank King from June 29, 1924, exactly one hundred years ago today.

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Paul Duane's avatar Paul Duane @paulduane.bsky.social
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I think the reason Philip K Dick is still the predominant SF writer of the last century is, he was the only one who foresaw a future where everything would be boring, inconvenient and dehumanising, and where the only way you can win is to somehow refuse to give up your humanity.

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Plain old Nolan “Jon Wolter” Void's avatar Plain old Nolan “Jon Wolter” Void @wolter.bsky.social
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Homer Simpson was a baby boomer during the golden age of the Simpsons, and now he’s an elder millennial.

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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The perfection of a late June afternoon

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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thanks! really enjoying the Waxahatchee album

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Ned Raggett's avatar Ned Raggett @nedraggett.bsky.social
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MTV News online founding editor Michael Alex pulling zero punches, rightly. "History needs stewards, not owners. Whoever legally owns the archive does not legally own the history."

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Paul Duane's avatar Paul Duane @paulduane.bsky.social
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This is, I would argue, one of the great lyrics of the 1970s.
"Writing out your memoirs on some window in the frost,
Roulette eyes reflecting another morning lost
Hauled in by the Metro for killing time & pain
With the Singin' Brakeman screaming through your brain."

youtu.be/Je3FCWBWeq8?...

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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oh, I'm so sorry. Condolences. What a sweetie.

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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loving the Waxahatchee as well

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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yeah, the Jessica Pratt one is really solid--have to spend more time with it

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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curious as to what albums from the first-half of 2024 you've enjoyed. Here are four that have stuck with me:

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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weirdly it says "youtube isn't available on this device" but if you click on it, it plays? looks like a bug somewhere

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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the whole model seemed to be "will people getting a prescription be lazy enough to buy a $9 jar of Planters peanuts here, instead of walking next door"

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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a good example of their strategic thinking: they opened a store here next to a supermarket, made the pharmacy a tiny, poorly-staffed nook, and filled their store with half-empty shelves w/the same products as the grocery store, just like $1 more expensive

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Al Green, on meeting Bowie in Sept. 1974. "I just said, 'hey man, I like your music.' He said, 'I like yours, too.' We just kind of looked at each other like bandy deers. There wasn't really a whole lot to say."

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Paul Duane's avatar Paul Duane @paulduane.bsky.social
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Gonna do some self promotion today for no good reason, just because.
My folk-horror movie ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH is on VOD right now, it's about a cursed Irish folk-song that destroys the lives of those who transcribe it.
It's on Prime:
www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...

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Tim Carvell's avatar Tim Carvell @timcarvell.bsky.social
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2002: "Careful, kids, the Internet is forever!"

2024: "Oh, hey, all the work you did for a decade of your life was just deleted from the Internet for Business Reasons."

latenighter.com/news/paramou...

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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Yeah one thing that's evident is that he simply didn't have it in him even to be a Paul Westerberg

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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feel he like was regularly violating the Seventh Commandment by the mid 1980s

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Paul Duane's avatar Paul Duane @paulduane.bsky.social
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There was a time, many years ago, when any successful young rock star could expect a call from Bono where he would invite them to meet him so he could give them what he called 'the Talk'. I wonder if it still happens.

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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AI Bono is probably under development right now

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