Noah Counte

Reflections:

I'm going to be really glad to see no more campaign adertisements. They have been tedius, and laregely mean-spirited.

Voting isn't over - not by a long shot - but I have the sense that a lot of Republicans are going to be feeling what those of us who opposed a second Bush 43 term felt four years ago. My advice to those of you who are feeling pain over this election is to keep quiet for a bit. It goes away. Maybe the pain can be channeled into something productive. That's what we did, after we came out of our stupor of disbelief and depression.

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Psychobilly was born of rockabilly and 70s punk. Often, it has references to horror/exploitation films, science fiction, and usuall, overt, overdone sexuality. Mostly tongue in cheek, of course. It came in three waves (like ska), the first of which was popular in England in the 80s, the second in Europe, later in the 80s, and the third in the US in the 90s. Since then, it's retained some vitality around the world,

The term "psychobilly" comes from a Johnny Cash song, written by Wayne Kemp, "One Piece at a Time." The Cramps used the term on their concert posters, and while they have a lot of elements that people would later call psychobilly, they never considered themselves as such. Along with Screaming Jay Hawkins and The Stray Cats, The Cramps are considered to be important pre-cursors to psychobilly, and their album "Songs the Lord Taught Us" is considered one of the seeds from which the genre grew.

Look for hollow body guitars and stand up basses. Also look for lots of covers, mostly because i love covers, but also because there were some decent ones done by psychobilly artists.

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Big day today. You haven't seen this much music from me in ages, and today I'm crazy, going nuts!

I've had a weird period (a month, perhaps), where people from my past have been making odd contacts with me. Old girlfriends. Old rommates. Other friends. People I haven't talked to in four, or six, or 22 years.

It's been kind of a melancholy time.

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Levi Stubbs, the emotive lead singer of the Four Tops, died in his sleep overnight. Levi was the cousin of Jackie Wilson, and the brother of Joe Stubbs (of The Falcons). The Four Tops were one of a half dozen bands that defined the Motown sound in the 1960s.

Stubbs was a natural baritone, but most of the songs he sang with the Four Tops were written in the tenor range. He was such a gifted vocalist that many people thought tenor to be his natural range.

In the crazy world of pop music, Stubbs was remarkable for having remained married from 1960 until his death this morning. Stubbs suffered a long illness and a stroke, and had to quit performing in 2000. He is the third of the original Four Tops to pass away.

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The Grass Roots are a band that was popular in the mid-60s through the mid-70s. They bear the distinction of having been in the Billboard charts for 307 consecutive weeks, a record. They are also one of a small number of bands to have m29 or more singles make the Billboard charts (eight other artists/bands have also done it).

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