Song of the Day: Straight Up And Down by The Brian Jonestown Massacre


You might recognize today’s song of the day from the opening credits of Boardwalk Empire, the Martin Scorsese-produced show that starred Steve Buscemi, who is celebrating a birthday today.

It’s just a wonderful piece of music.

Brad’s Song of the Day – “Cafe Central,” written by James Woods and sung by Shooter Jennings!


Did y’all know that actor James Woods has completed two very personal musical albums in the last couple of years? First, he wrote nine songs for the 2024 album “Hear the Thunder Crack.” This album is described as… The Life of James Woods, as sung by Shooter Jennings. His latest album, “Tombstone Opera” just dropped within the last month! I recently purchased it and will be listening to it over the holiday season. Once again, Woods wrote all the lyrics, and the primary vocals are by a gentleman named Bob Wayne. I’ve listened to a couple of the songs, and they are very good! I think these are very interesting albums, and they certainly give us insight into Woods in a way that no role in a movie ever could.

I thought I’d share the song “Cafe Central” with you today, mainly because of its references to the classic Sergio Leone film ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984), a film I know many of you enjoy!

Song of the Day: Vampira by Bobby Bare


Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959, dir by Ed Wood)

103 years ago today, Maila Nurmi was born in Massachusetts.  Nurmi would go on to find fame as Vampira, television’s first horror movie hostess.  Though she is now best-remembered for playing one of the zombies in Plan 9 From Outer Space, Nurmi actually had a long and varied show business career.  James Dean was her best friend.  She had an affair with Orson Welles.  Walt Disney used her as a model for the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella.  She was commissioned to make jewelry and clothing for both Grace Slick and Frank Zappa.

Today’s song of the day came out in 1958.  Here’s Bobby Bare singing about Vampira.

Song of the Day: Suzi Snowflake by Rosemary Clooney


Oh God, this song brings back memories.

To help cover expenses while I was in college, I would usually get a part-time retail job during the winter break, helping to restock shelves and telling customers where they could find the really cheap Christmas gifts that had put on clearance because only the only people who buy them were the desperate fools who had put off shopping until the last minute.

Christmas music was usually playing nonstop.  It drove some people mad.  I could always handle it except for the year that they wouldn’t stop playing this song.  I know you’re saying what many other people said to me when I complained that year, “Jeff, it’s a cute song!”  Imagine having to hear it ten times a day.

From my nightmares, here is today’s song of the day.

I’ll spare you the details of some of the variations that my coworkers and I came up with for Suzi Snowflake.  They definitely were not safe for work.