Ronnie Lane Appreciation Day

 

I was listening to the Faces "A Nod Is As Good As A Wink..." as I often do, and after 50 plus years of what feels like regular rotation, I found yet one more thing to love. 

Ronnie Lane's bass playing on "Love Lives Here" is gorgeous.

Two things hit me as if I was hearing the song for the first time instead of the 101st. 

The first is just how lovely and fluid the bass line is under the verses. It reminded me of Macca's playing on "Something," giving the song a separate, subtle melody. The second is how Ronnie is basically playing the riff from "You're My Girl" (or "Plynth," if you will) on the instrumental transitions between the verses. You can hear that bit of genius begin at the 1:20 mark an then again at the 2:30 mark.

It's the little things, baby! 

Good Bunny

 

The following was posted on social media by a friend of a friend:

"Bad Bunny didn't say a political word, and that was the most political halftime show ever. They took a selection of things that are exuberantly gorgeous about Latinx life and they put them in a snow globe, and they put the snow globe down on the biggest stage in the world. And then they shook the hell out of it. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

That may be a hot take, but I like it. 

Truth be told, I wasn't feeling that while I watched it taking place. The cynic in me was too preoccupied with other things, like the music itself, whether or not any of this was live, the elaborate sets and camera angles, the special guests, how long the breakdown of the sets would take before the start of the third quarter. It was a circus, for sure, and the 13 minutes of Bad Bunny music didn't send me flying to my nearest streaming service to binge on his records. The music always comes first and that halftime show was surely not the best way to be introduced to Bad Bunny, who I admit to never hearing a note before last night.

When all was said and done, and it clearly proved to be a success, I was elated. It was pure joy, given the circumstances surrounding it all. Just like Kendrick Lamarr's performance last year, I needed a day to process it all.

Sometimes I try so hard to be positive on social media, I can feel my ribs crack. It's not easy these days. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning, knowing that by the end of my first cup of coffee, I will have read about one more atrocity at the hands of this administration. And while I have no intention of burying my head in the sand, I think I need to appreciate distractions like last night's halftime show more than I do.

We all do. 

Songs Of The Week, 2026: 1/31-2/6

 

Red Top- King Pleasure
Lipstick Traces- Mink DeVille
Living In Another World- Talk Talk
Anything For You- Jack Blades & Robin Zander
Pay Me- Tom Waits
Hold On Tight- David Werner
Topaz- The B-52's

zip

 

Red Top- King Pleasure
(One of the coolest songs of all time, you could do cartwheeels in the space of this groove.)

Lipstick Traces- Mink DeVille
(Not the Allen Toussaint tune, but a track that jumped out at me during my Willy DeVille binge last week.)

Living In Another World- Talk Talk
(Hard to pick just one from "The Colour Of Spring.")

Anything For You- Jack Blades & Robin Zander
(A new discovery courtesy of hpunch, from Night Ranger singer's 2012 release "Rock N Roll Ride," with help from Robin Zander, dig this little power pop gem. And Cheap Trick fans with smart ears might recognize the Zander section, which he recycled 10 years later for "So It Goes," on CT's "In Another World" album.)

Pay Me- Tom Waits
("It's nobody's business but mine when I'm low/
To hold yourself up is not a crime here you know")

Hold On Tight- David Werner
(Always fun to pull this lost 1979 classic off the shelf.)

Topaz- The B-52's
(Pure bliss from Kate & Cindy.)

 

 

Now Playing 4.1

As I mentioned at the start of the year, the Now Playing blog will have a little more content than just a list of what I am listening to. As of yesterday, I will be adding a few mixes to the proceedings when something inspires me. 

Check it out and enjoy. It's more fun than this weekend's wind chill, I guarantee that! 

Also, I have officially canceled my subscription to the site that has hosted all of the zip files for the last 15 years. It has become a major disaster since their migration and their support has been unsupportive. The zips will stay active through September, so if there is anything you see that appeals to you, grab it while you can.

Moving forward, it will be one link and I will be using We Transfer, which is actually a bit more expensive, but it can be paid monthly and it feels more reliable.

Donations are greatly appreciated. 

RSD, 4/18/2026

 

As per every Record Store Day, the list of releases is filled with pointless wastes of wax and time. There are picture discs, and Zoetrope vinyl with animated imagery, "breakout" releases, which really only means something that was already released in a deluxe box made available separately, and live albums that no one will play more than once, or at all. Yay.

 

Still, the fanatic in me found a few things worth getting, including a proper reissue of The Walker Brothers final studio album, "Nite Flights" from 1978 and a smart reissue of The Who's "A Quick One," which will feature a MONO remaster on LP number one, and a second LP of related singles and b-sides, including the "Ready, Steady, Who" E.P.. 

There are other things that are somewhat interesting, records I would have possibly purchased if they were a) not so expensive and b) just released properly like the old days before this stupid event. Releases by the Bad Brains, David Bowie, The Blasters, Captain Beefheart, Marshall Crenshaw, Todd Rundgren, Tommy Keene and Jurassic 5 all have some appeal, just not at $30 to $50 a pop.

That's all I've got. My mind is frozen. I will hopefully be more inspired when the temperature gets above 40 degrees.