No Muskrat Love in Missouri
By JIM SALTER, Associated Press Writer
WINFIELD, Mo. - Defiant residents of this eastern Missouri community lost one struggle against the relentless Mississippi River Friday, but quickly prepared for another.
Residents and flood fighters were saddened after a burrowing muskrat brought down the saturated Pin Oak levee shortly before dawn. But within […]

David Cantwell writes:
Here’s my George Carlin story.
On the morning of my 13th birthday, I found two presents wrapped and at my place at the breakfast table, both clearly albums. This was exciting. Not only would these lp’s likely be ones I wanted–I’d earlier supplied my parents with a list of desired albums for just this […]

 
 
David Cantwell returns to blogging the records that hit number one on the country charts during the Nashville Sound era. We started with “Don’t Be Cruel,” proceded to “Singing the Blues,” and now, at last, turn to… 
A bit of trivia to amaze your friends: Between 1964 and 1973, who had the most number one singles […]

Charles Hughes writes:
Good morning, daddy!
Ain’t you heard
the boogie-woogie rumble of a dream deferred?
-Langston Hughes
Bo Diddley passed away on Sunday night, following a long string of health troubles that included heart attacks and strokes.  Diddley was among the ever-shrinking handful of rock-and-roll pioneers, who forever changed American popular music and culture in the late 1950s with […]

 
Charles Hughes writes:
If, to borrow a phrase from Jeff Chang, the best current hip-hop is about “embracing the ambivalence” of modern life, exploring both the opportunities and the pitfalls of our brave new world, then few artists have been as willing to wade into the deep end than The Roots, the Philly crew that – […]