Newton’s Scrapple

We gotta talk a little bit about The White Album... Since its release more than fifty years ago, The White Album has been certified platinum 24 times, earned 5-star ratings from every reviewer worthy of consideration, and has imprinted itself into the musical consciousness of four generations. It boasts some of The Beatles' most memorable songs and is recognized as one of the most unique and vital albums ever made.  So why doesn't this album get any respect? The general opinion is along the lines of "Well…sure, it's a great album, but…" Fair enough. But I'll ask you to consider that both of the following propositions are true: 1) The White Album has a couple of songs that are real stinkers; 2) The White Album is a unique and special work of art, holding a place all its own in The Beatles' catalogue. Its significance has increased over time, and it is certainly one of The Beatles' top three albums. [NOTE: Before I put some thoughts out there to back...

  This is a true story... “Stephen! Stephen! Wake up!” I woke up and saw my mother standing over me with a shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other.   It was the morning after my cousin Amy’s wedding, a traditional Catholic affair with a reception befitting the Italian-American heritage of the groom’s family.   So as you can imagine, I looked, smelled, and felt my best as my mother loomed over me with a wild expression in her eyes and a gun in each hand. “Huh?...Whatsit?…what the hey…?” “There’s a snake in the barn!”   I had spent the night at her house after the wedding.   “You’ve gotta do something!   It’s eating my chickens!” <….chickens….Jesus….God my head hurts….did she say a snake?....> “Alright alright gimme a minute grmblgrmblgrmbl”.   Mom kept talking as I dragged on some jeans (Where the hell are my shoes?) and quickly dusted cobwebs.   I have little in this world but I would have traded every bit of it at that m...

  Today (November 12, 2021) is Neil Young’s 76 th birthday. His music has been a part of me for forty years. I'm fifty-two. In that time, I’ve learned there are some truths, both good and bad we have to keep in mind about our boy Neil... NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF NEIL: All Neil albums (with the exception of two, maybe) have at least one song that is substandard, and often truly horrible at that. But that’s okay because… NEWTON’S SECOND LAW OF NEIL: All Neil albums have at least three songs and other moments that make them worthwhile. Consider Trans , considered by many (not me) to be the nadir of Neil’s career.   Half of the album was Neil doing songs a la Kraftwerk, with synthesizers, vocoders, drum machines, and the like (this was 1981 and well before MTV made such standard issue).   The remaining songs used traditional instrumentation with Crazy Horse in support.   Honestly, the electronic songs are better (with one exception) than the traditional songs. ...

 “Ghosts” said Pastor Plait, “I’m agin’ ‘em!” He learned early in his career that use of the vernacular helped a pastor better connect with the flock. But regardless of how he put it, those in attendance that evening at the Double Rock Fellowship had no doubt of how Pastor Plait felt about ghosts. For he had become known to many in the region as the preeminent authority on all matters related to the damnable spirits that started showing up around the globe two years before. Pastor Plait had performed “deliverance of justice” (Plait found the term “exorcism” to be too Church of Rome) on three ghosts. Though most people by this time had accepted the existence of ghosts, what with the preponderance of evidence, to actually see one was a rare occurrence. The typical encounter consisted, at most, of a fleeting glimpse, and only a brave few had actually interacted with these manifestations of a new reality. So around here, three ghosts made Pastor Plait the expert. He told his new ...

  Hi Folks! Alison and I went to Charlotte for the Immersive Van Gogh experience.  This exhibition is being held until the end of October at Camp North End in the old Ford plant, which also served as a bomb factory back in the day. I found it a little weird that an event featuring an artist known for his brilliant and beautiful representations of European town and country would be taking place in a facility that produced things used to blast the living hell out of said town and country just a few years later, but I kept my swords-into-plowshares bullshit to myself and got on with the program, using the ever-popular “well, nothing can be done to help it now” justification. Anyhoo, what this consisted of was a 35-minute film that served as an animated (but not in a cartoony way) tapestry of the master’s works. We watched it three times. It was spellbinding. The film is divided into what I remember as six or seven different theme-based segments, each of them serving as the fr...