Mike Pell's Blog (1,024)

Welcome back to another sort of Birdland, and a Tribute To The Birds Of Spring!

There are indeed Nocturnal Birds, active primarily at night, the Owl is one.

Of course here in NYC you say Nightbird and one particular Lady comes immediately to mind!

So a Look and Listen to the Night Birds!

The Keas…

It's Week 2 of For The Birds, and that may describe how you are feeling with this staying indoors necessity.

I am here in New York City, and even though I went out 3 or 4 times I still have Cabin Fever.

But as I said nothing stops Spring, and hopefully nothing will stop us from this Playful Diversion!

The Birds do provide a familiar…

It is a STRANGE time outdoors, hope you all are well.

But nothing stops Spring outdoors, nothing will ever stop the Birds and I am honoring them with this Series!

Their nice familiar Singing is comforting, even Your Bird Can do it!

The Bluebird is the Centerpiece of this Chapter, one of the prettiest Birds, and very popular with…

Well the Snow Is Gone and Spring Has Sprung!

Wait...what Snow, lol?

What a disappointing Winter, I LOVE Snow!

A still valid indicator of Spring is When The Cliff Swallows Come Back To Mission San Juan Capistrano California, shortened thankfully in a Song Title.

And that's how I will begin this…

It's St. Patrick's Day, and no Parade this year!

It is also my Irish friend Dave Kenny's Birthday.

Continuing with my Roots Music, songs I used to get loaded to, hammered, but NO more.

It's been many years since I quit drinking, and I don't miss it a bit.

Some of these songs I remember as being…

It is time for a Playful Diversion from the News Of The World!

This is a Show for St. Patrick's Day March 17th, and over the years I've only played a song or two to acknowledge it.

This year will be different.

For the first time ever, I will do a whole show dedicated to St. Patrick's Day.

And…

This is Part Two- I didn't feel like writing, so it's pretty much the same as last time.

I am going to try it again, just play Songs with no Theme, lol!

My problem is I always think in Connections.

Here’s how I selected the Songs- they have a memory for me, they were close by, they should be played somewhere, and I LIKE…

I am going to just play Songs with no Theme!

My problem is I always think in Connections.

Here’s how I selected the Songs- they have a memory for me, they were close by, they should be played somewhere, and I LIKE them.

And on this particular day, this was where my head was at!

Simple as…

I’ll open this last half of our Road Trip to New Orleans with a short musical History Lesson about events over two hundred years ago!

I’ll have a guy who was a child prodigy, writing his first song at age 8.

The funniest song here is by another guy who could sing like a girl…and a frog- earning himself a nickname in the process, lol!

For…

We were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, so I thought we might go back for their Definitive Sound.

Rock & Roll, from its earliest days, most assuredly owes a debt to the artists who came out of that relatively small city.

And it was very difficult making the selections for this show- so much Music I had to choose from, so many folks I had to leave out.…

I'll close out the Mardi Gras, but will be staying in New Orleans for another show next week.

The opening song in this 2nd half may surprise you- a B-side of a single by a guy you surely know.

Then an authentic New Orleans Indian group doing a song for Mardi Gras (we talked about them in the 1st half), with the leader of the group, Bo Dellis, declaring himself a Big…

This week is Fat Tuesday, last day of the Mardi Gras, and the last time to party like crazy before Lent begins the next day.

I’ll have songs relating to Mardi Gras, naturally- beginning with the New Orleans legend Professor Longhair, and his classic that pops up every year for the Carnival.

Plus the story of the disputed Jockamo, the song innocently recorded, renamed…and writing…

I'll start this Episode with something that has bothered me for a long time and has nothing to do with the British Invasion.

It has to do with "Sports".

IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM IS THIS A SPORT, LOL!

And I'll even have a Song for it.

Then we'll spend some time with one of my favorites, The…

Let's pay some thoughtful attention to the British Invasion.

February always reminds me of the Beatles arrival in America in 1964, and that started the onslaught.

A good thing too, because Radio and Rock & Roll were suffering from a long period of Forty Miles Of Bad Road!

I'll have some Musical Questions, some songs that will test…

This Chapter comes at it from a different angle, is meant to mock Anti-Valentine’s Day people.

Ooh you got a Broken Heart, stop whining, it's part of Growing Up!

Whatever there is today, there are people AGAINST it- this is the world we live in, lol!

However I am sure the Singers of these Songs didn't mean for them to be taken that…

We are just days away from Valentine’s Day or the Feast Of St. Valentine.

It's a day connected to Love, Romantic Love.

And coming in mid-February we can use some Warm Love!

Then I thought I'd wander through the Music Library picking out Love Songs.

Things like a Love Song written by Bob Dylan…

Finally it is the Final Chapter of Wine Tasting!

I will start with Wine as a Metaphor for Sorrow and maybe Troubled Confusion (not necessarily sorrowful).

Leftover Wine? We won't have any, lol!

Then we…

After a week off for perhaps some needed Coffee, I will go on with just a few more Episodes of Wine Tasting.

People may be sick of it, but I am not- it's been a fun and fascinating ride for me.

When I sink my teeth into a Theme I can't let go of…

Due to other business I was unable to continue with the Wine Tasting this week.

But for any Lingering Hangovers, I have Coffee!

And I'll have some Old-Sounding Songs, some are actually Pre-Rock & Roll.…

Due to other business I was unable to continue with the Wine Tasting this week.

But for any Lingering Hangovers, I have Coffee!

This was an Impulse Show.

I found out on a Thursday it was National Coffee…