Thrilled to announce that I'm at this year's PopCon in LA. The theme is “Mayhem: Pop Music and Writing in Perilous Times,” and I'm discussing Body Count and "Cop Killer" with metal journalist hero Katherine Turman and BC's Vincent Price, Friday March 13. RSVP here!
www.popconference.org
Happy 40th to Master of Puppets! Find out what magazine called it a "corporate-deathburger-influenced creative direction” in 1986: www.bloomsbury.com/us/metallica...
03.03.2026 14:50 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0NOOOOOOOO!
03.03.2026 04:11 — 👍 26 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 1Always seems like a real mensch. Hoping for the very best.
03.03.2026 02:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"Neil Young was invited. He declined, then changed his mind too late, so he'll be in the audience."
a very Neil Young photo caption (Toronto Globe & Mail, July '69)
02.03.2026 18:17 — 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Like the neocons, Trump’s neo-neocons repeatedly invoke the West’s complacency and unwillingness to defend its own values, a frailty that can be rectified only through the ritual use of military force against weaker targets. The conservative writer Jonah Goldberg once articulated what he called the “Ledeen Doctrine,” after the neoconservative Michael Ledeen, which was: “Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.” Despite Trump’s rejection of George W. Bush, MAGA bears many similarities to the right-wing politics of that era—a fetishization of violence and torture, the treatment of opposition as treasonous, a disdain for due process, and an anti-Muslim bigotry at odds with fundamental American principles.
Pundits loved telling you about Trump's "anti-interventionism" because it seemed contrarian and interesting, but he always represented neoconservatism's worst impulses shorn of any moral pretense or concern www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
02.03.2026 15:44 — 👍 1536 🔁 312 💬 28 📌 10Wow, thanks! I'd never heard of this podcast, it looks great.
01.03.2026 16:15 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Saw Johnny Marr at a festival last summer and he sang well, played beautifully, was great with the crowd and performed more Smiths songs than both Morrissey shows I've seen combined.
01.03.2026 16:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Figured I'd have Sunday to finish my article.
01.03.2026 14:59 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0"It's just a boo-boo!"
28.02.2026 17:39 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive
28.02.2026 12:42 — 👍 16264 🔁 5032 💬 126 📌 103
things every single republican president of your lifetime has done
- started a war in the middle east
- completely destroyed the economy
a page from a book with the title Love Will Keep Us Together; the year 1975 and Captain & Tennille; and songwriters: Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka. The text reads: LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER 1975 • CAPTAIN & TENNILLE Songwriters: Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka ON A PRAGMATIC level, romantic couples decide to stay together for many reasons: convenience, children, finances, and even laziness. In a perfect world, however, the glue that keeps most people together is love. That’s the obvious premise of “Love Will Keep Us Together,” a 1975 pop song popularized by Captain & Tennille, the husband-wife duo of Daryl “Captain” Dragon and Toni Tennille. Over and over again, the song’s narrator aims to reassure their partner that they’ll always be faithful and true. The couple is on rock-solid ground because of their love; any extramarital flirtations or romantic fakes are mere distractions. Buoyed by this earnest tone, “Love Will Keep Us Together” pairs Dragon’s bouncy keyboards and light funk grooves with Hal Blaine’s steady drumming flourishes. Tennille is the real star of the song, however, belting out the lyrics with confidence and sass—making it abundantly clear where she stands on fidelity. Beneath the enthusiastic surface, however, “Love Will Keep Us Together” certainly has some pointed lyrics. For example, the narrator says they’ll continue to love their partner forever—even when their partner’s youthful beauty fades and other people are no longer attracted to them. At other points, the narrator warns their partner not to lose focus if other people come around and try to flirt with them. That Tennille issues these warnings offers an interesting perspective flip, as you might expect a man to exhibit such casual sexism instead. Thematically, “Love Will Keep Us Together” grew out of an agonizing scenario: a schism between Neil Sedaka and his longtime writing partner Howard Greenfield.
![artwork with a heart lock with a key and the text: The pair co-wrote 1971’s Emergence, a lush, symphonic LP about which Sedaka
was excited. Unfortunately, the album wasn’t a success, which “shattered Howie
Greenfield and me,” Sedaka told Songfacts. “We split up for two-and-a-half years. It
was very sad. [Greenfield] moved to California.”
Before parting ways, the duo came together to write “Love Will Keep Us
Together,” which Sedaka thought “was kind of like his plea. We both cried after we
wrote it.” Musically, however, Sedaka was inspired by more upbeat things while
writing the song: Diana Ross’s inimitable voice, the swinging groove of the Beach
Boys’ song “Do It Again,” and the augmented chords favored by Al Green.
Sedaka cut “Love Will Keep Us Together” first, and it appeared on 1974’s
Sedaka’s Back LP. Captain & Tennille ended up recording the song after Kip Cohen,
a producer from A&M Records, played them Sedaka’s version. “And Toni Tennille
fell off her chair,” Sedaka told Paul Shaffer during a 2020 SiriusXM interview. “She
said, ‘We’re going in tomorrow [to] record that song.’” As it turned out, Captain &
Tennille needed another song to record for their debut album.
Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” spent four weeks at No. 1
on the Billboard Hot 100 and ended up as the overall top song of 1975. For good
measure, the song also took home a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Captain &
Tennille cut a Spanish version of the song (“Por Amor Viviremos”) that also reached
the Billboard Hot 100 and later rerecorded “Love Will Keep Us Together” for a 1995
album called Twenty Years of Romance.
Paradoxically, however, the song’s promise of
fealty and longevity didn’t extend to the duo’s
relationship. Years later, the couple went
through a high-profile (and occasionally
acrimonious) divorce. Sedaka kept things
lighter, recording a version called “Lunch
Will Keep Us Together” in 2009 for his
children’s album, Waking Up Is Hard to Do.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xf4gjjvnjnxngtp64srddaex/bafkreihxu43uxthzwkayxodzr5uvbrx5yv43kdahfmq2egrvjfeob3thgu@jpeg)
artwork with a heart lock with a key and the text: The pair co-wrote 1971’s Emergence, a lush, symphonic LP about which Sedaka was excited. Unfortunately, the album wasn’t a success, which “shattered Howie Greenfield and me,” Sedaka told Songfacts. “We split up for two-and-a-half years. It was very sad. [Greenfield] moved to California.” Before parting ways, the duo came together to write “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which Sedaka thought “was kind of like his plea. We both cried after we wrote it.” Musically, however, Sedaka was inspired by more upbeat things while writing the song: Diana Ross’s inimitable voice, the swinging groove of the Beach Boys’ song “Do It Again,” and the augmented chords favored by Al Green. Sedaka cut “Love Will Keep Us Together” first, and it appeared on 1974’s Sedaka’s Back LP. Captain & Tennille ended up recording the song after Kip Cohen, a producer from A&M Records, played them Sedaka’s version. “And Toni Tennille fell off her chair,” Sedaka told Paul Shaffer during a 2020 SiriusXM interview. “She said, ‘We’re going in tomorrow [to] record that song.’” As it turned out, Captain & Tennille needed another song to record for their debut album. Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ended up as the overall top song of 1975. For good measure, the song also took home a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Captain & Tennille cut a Spanish version of the song (“Por Amor Viviremos”) that also reached the Billboard Hot 100 and later rerecorded “Love Will Keep Us Together” for a 1995 album called Twenty Years of Romance. Paradoxically, however, the song’s promise of fealty and longevity didn’t extend to the duo’s relationship. Years later, the couple went through a high-profile (and occasionally acrimonious) divorce. Sedaka kept things lighter, recording a version called “Lunch Will Keep Us Together” in 2009 for his children’s album, Waking Up Is Hard to Do.
So bummed about the passing of Neil Sedaka. He remained so vibrant in recent years with his online concerts. I wrote about how and why he co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together" (popularized by Captain & Tennille) in my love songs book.
28.02.2026 00:35 — 👍 146 🔁 25 💬 1 📌 1I pored over those issues as a kid (think that one had the Beastie Boys cover?) and have since realized how many of those musicians were probably naming the first five albums they could think of that year
27.02.2026 20:51 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Text from an old acquaintance: "Let me know how the new Rob Zombie album is when you get it"
Apparently I'm that friend
27.02.2026 18:55 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Metallica: The $24.95 Book
Metallica: The $24.95 Book
New, signed Metallica book at the 5th Ave Barnes & Noble! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/metallica-...
27.02.2026 04:20 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
cut in Chicago 100 years ago on this date: a wonderful, joyous, swinging record. Armstrong was far from being the first to scat, but he did it masterfully here. Nothing would be the same afterward for Armstrong, for jazz, for US pop music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmG...
26.02.2026 18:10 — 👍 93 🔁 44 💬 2 📌 4
Literary arts friends, the Pulitzer Prizes are seeking a Manager of Operations. opportunities.columbia.edu/jobs/manager...
26.02.2026 12:47 — 👍 1 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0To those of you who have read and enjoyed any of my three books, the reason they wound up in your hands is that in 2004, Ann Godoff, the editing and publishing giant who founded Penguin Press, took a chance on me. She died yesterday at 76. I owe her more than I can say. She changed my life. >
25.02.2026 23:28 — 👍 1572 🔁 92 💬 28 📌 4
If you're looking to catch up on Metallica before the Sphere shows in October: www.bloomsbury.com/us/metallica...
25.02.2026 17:32 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
reds vs guardians — it’s burns and allen
george: say baseball’s back, gracie
gracie: baseball’s back, gracie
Sad news to report: The wonderful songwriter Parthenon Huxley has apparently passed away. He cowrote the song "Hello Cruel World" with E. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlg3...
31.01.2026 00:56 — 👍 15 🔁 3 💬 5 📌 1(Poetry snaps)
19.02.2026 16:14 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0This is rather well done
19.02.2026 11:48 — 👍 44 🔁 17 💬 2 📌 0
On sale now!
ICE OUT - A Stand With Minnesota Benefit Show featuring Scott Lucas from Local H, Josh Caterer from Smoking Popes, Deanna Belos from Sincere Engineer, and Stubhy Pandav from Lucky Boys Confusion.
February 21st, on sale now at BOTTOMLOUNGE.com
Today is my friend Nikki Delamotte's birthday. She would've been 38 today. Every year, I like to share this piece about her life and what made her so special so she is never forgotten -- and the beauty she brought into the world remains vibrant. www.cleveland.com/news/2018/11...
18.02.2026 23:42 — 👍 56 🔁 9 💬 4 📌 2
Bloomsbury's week-long #sale has begun with up to 40% off books on their website (including the 33 1/3 and Genre series!).
Shop 33 1/3 books: https://bit.ly/4kDea8e
Jealous! I wish there a video of that.
18.02.2026 18:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Multiple college students have told me it's their favorite.
18.02.2026 18:13 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
