Music
March 23, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I was unfamiliar with the story of rapper Afroman (Joseph Foreman) and the case that put his free speech rights in issue. Jonathan Turley flagged the case exactly three years ago in “Police Officers Sue ‘Afroman’ for the Use of Their Images from Raid on his Home.” Now the verdict is in. The jury has spoken. Professor Turley returns to tell the rest of the story in “‘Will You Help
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March 22, 2026 — Scott Johnson
This past Sunday I watched the Oscar-nominated film Blue Moon instead of watching the Oscars. The film is a portrait of Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers’s first lyricist. I found the movie on cable and watched it while we were snowbound at home. The movie was directed by Richard Linklater, written by Robert Koplow, and stars Ethan Hawke. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard a reference to “feminine rhyme” in
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March 20, 2026 — Scott Johnson
As a break from the news of the day I’m taking the liberty of reposting this tribute to a great song with an unusual story behind it. Since I first wrote this 20 years ago, YouTube has become a resource that allows me to fill out the story. Stretching back from Ella Fitzgerald to Fran Landesman to T.S. Eliot and Geoffrey Chaucer, this is the bare-bones version of the tale:
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March 16, 2026 — Scott Johnson
We hate Hollywood. We hate the Oscars. We hate being lectured by moral cretins. However, reading previews of last night’s event, I learned of the film Blue Moon. The film is a portrait of Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers’s first lyricist. I found the movie on cable and watched it while we were snowbound at home yesterday afternoon. The movie was directed by Richard Linklater, written by Robert Koplow, and starred
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March 9, 2026 — John Hinderaker
It had been a long time since I had thought about Country Joe and the Fish, until I saw Joe McDonald’s obituary in the New York Times. McDonald died recently at age 84, having pursued an obscure career as a solo artist after the breakup of the Fish. Country Joe and the Fish were associated with the anti-Vietnam War movement, with their best-known song being “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’to
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March 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
John Oates is one-half of what is generally recognized as the most successful duo in music history. I attended each of his two shows this past Friday evening at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis, a return engagement following the two shows he performed there in November 2023. Last time around he performed acoustic sets accompanying himself on guitar backed by John Michel on percussion and Nathaniel Smith on cello. This
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February 28, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Our coverage of the conflict in Iran will resume soon. First, a brief digression… When I was 10 or 11 years old, my parents bought a shack on a good-sized lake near our home in South Dakota, where, from then on, we lived in the summer. It was rather primitive: we didn’t have hot running water, so my mother boiled water on the stove to cook with. We had no
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February 23, 2026 — Scott Johnson
We went to see the current touring production of Les Misérables at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis last night. The tickets were a birthday gift to my wife — it was her third time seeing various productions of the show. She wanted to see it again. Last night it played to a packed house of 2,600 in the conclusion of its six-day run in town. I identified with the
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February 15, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I held off posting this on Valentine’s Day in order to start out this morning with a positive thought. Written by William Hart and Thom Bell, produced by Thom Bell and Stan Watson, “La-La (Means I Love You)” is a classic of Philadelphia soul, vintage 1968, and was a memorable hit for the Delfonics on the Philly Groove Records label. Hart sang the shimmering falsetto lead on the hit single.
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February 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I have to ask readers who follow this series to indulge this week’s edition on feminist folk/pop artist Dar Williams. Dar has a gift for pop hooks and catchy songs of female empowerment. As a father of three daughters with independent minds, I’m on board with her just that far. I first saw Dar in person with Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell at St. Catherine University’s O’Shaughnessy Auditorium in the
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February 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson
When Don Everly died in August 2020 I put together a set of videos with previous reflections on the music of the Everly Brothers. This is the season of their birthdays — Don was born on February 1, 1937, Phil on January 19, 1939. I thought I would use the occasion to replay it in this revised edition one more time in the hope that it might capture the interest
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January 18, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I have documented my appreciation and enjoyment of the Grateful Dead following every Meet Up at the Movies since 2017. Each of my posts elicited something like a torrent of mockery and clichéd jokes at the expense of the band. To the readers of this occasional series, please follow my version of the Latin saying De mortuis nil nisi bonum: Of the Dead, say nothing unless good. The saying applies
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January 11, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The second time I saw Tom Rush perform live he appeared in Minneapolis for a show at the Cedar Theater. A few days before the show I contacted Tom by email and asked him for an interview, which he kindly granted. I was ecstatic to see him live after many years and just about equally happy to chat with him for Power Line, although I don’t think I managed to
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January 4, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Listening briefly to WUMB’s Highway 61 Revisited yesterday morning, I learned that Stephen Stills turned 81 yesterday. I celebrated when he turned 80 last year, but it seems a waste to leave this retrospective behind. Let us continue to celebrate him while he is alive and kicking. I’m limiting myself to ten mostly lesser known Stills favorites of mine from early on to salute him here this morning. He deserves
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December 28, 2025 — Scott Johnson
I’m beginning to think this occasional series has become one of my bad habits, but as those with a bad habit frequently say, I can kick it any time. “I don’t need no doctor.” Let’s live it up in the here and now. Yesterday vocalist Tracy Nelson turned 81. I would like to celebrate her birthday. I had wanted to see Tracy perform live since I was a college freshman,
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December 25, 2025 — Scott Johnson
Having done this annually over the past several years, I want to revisit a few of the secular pop songs that seize on Christmas in one way or another for their own artistic purposes. With a little help from the omniscient programmers at WUMB, I have enlarged this year’s selections to expand the palette. Here they are in chronological order of release along with my notes on them. In the
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December 21, 2025 — Scott Johnson
I originally wrote this a few years ago when a friend wrote to recall the effect Sarah Vaughan’s Live At Kelly’s and the John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman album had on him. I love Sarah Vaughan and I love Sarah Vaughan’s I Love Brazil!, her second album on Norman Granz’s Pablo label. In this slightly revised and expanded form. I would like to revisit the album in search of uplift and consolation
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