Let’s check out this post that we ran a few years ago. Spencer is now nearly 30 years old. You’ve seen him but you probably never knew his name.  The famous three month old pee-pee baring baby on the cover of the Nirvana Nevermind album is now a thirty something year old man. His name is Spencer Elden.  He told MTV News a few years back  “it’s kind of creepy that that many people have seen me naked — I feel like I’m the world’s biggest porn star.”  The shot was taken at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, California and it’also where he “kinda” recreated the cover in 2008. Elden said that his parents were...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1014 in the Series) is Crowded House, Woodface I’ve always loved the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil.  To me, the best overall music they produced was in the Split Enz, at least when you look at their music as a complete picture. I never thought I’d say this, especially considering how I adored the Enz, Time and Tide, but the best single album that the brothers ever recorded was Crowded House’s Woodface.  Both releases could easily be on my Desert Island Disc listings, that’s how strongly I’ve always felt about them. I’ve said it more than once on these pages, why aren’t these New Zealanders stars in the States, especially when you look...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1010 in the Series) is Buddy Guy, Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues The process of selecting a blues album to review is not an easy one.  First of all, a lot of people will not think they like the blues or will say they don’t know enough about the blues.  The real answer to both of these questions is that if you listen to music at all, and like music, then you are by definition a fan of the blues.  All of the great rock & rollers of today were heavily influenced by the blues in one form or another. “I’m a King Bee,” “Walking the Dog,” and “Now I’ve Got a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1009 in the Series) is Nirvana, Nevermind. In 1990 I had never heard of Nirvana, in fact, not many had. The only people that were familiar with them were the ones that were lucky enough to know them from their Sub Pop Record days. Most of those people were from the northwest. They and some real audiophiles, but not me. The grunge genre hadn’t really hit the map yet, better yet, “Alternative Music” was still, get this, alternative!  It wasn’t everywhere like it would be in the near future.  It was still “our secret” to many of the die-hards. At this time I had a “very, very close friend” that worked for Nirvana’s...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#971 in the Series) is Hal Ketchum, Past the Point of Rescue. I don’t know what it is. I’ve always been a sucker for those songs when an artist takes a known track, their’s or possibly another artists, and recreates it using a slower tempo.   I’m thinking of tracks like Joe Jackson’s live version (played as part of the Big World tour) of “Steppin’ Out” or Loey Nelson’s take on “To Sir with Love” if you were lucky enough to hear that. Here, Hal Ketchum does a spectacular rendition of The Vogues, “Five O’Clock World.”  Please check it out below. That was the track that first exposed me to Hal Ketchum.  As I...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#448 in the Series) is Peter Himmelman, From Strength to Strength   If there were a checklist of “Interesting Facts/Accomplishments of an Artist,” Minnesota native Peter Himmelman would have it nailed. Prolific songwriter? 20+ studio albums both with his former band Sussman Lawrence and solo, including 5 solo children’s albums. Award Nominations? Grammys, Emmys (for the “Judging Amy” TV series), and numerous awards for his children’s albums.  Famous Relatives? His father-in-law is Bob Dylan.  And he’s an Orthodox Jew who keeps close to his faith, saying “One of the secrets is to be able to lose yourself, your ego—in the music, in the Torah.” So either with him or not, his music is...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#332 in the Series, and #26 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is New York Rock and Soul Review, Live at the Beacon. I remember when I first heard about this project back in 1991. I was thrilled. For one, I knew it would be great.  However, the main reason I was thrilled was because it had been forever since I had a Steely Dan or a Donald Fagen fix! Steely Dan’s Gaucho was released in 1980. Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly was released in 1982. When Live at the Beacon was released we had been on a nine year drought. I was so excited. I was even more excited to hear about the...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#297 in the Series, and #21 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Steve Earle and the Dukes, Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. Steve Earle kicked off his career with two “4-Star”- country-rock, Americana, singer-songwriter styled albums. Then he decided to change his band and resurfaced with a bit of a harder sound.  That sound was evident on Copperhead Road and also on The Hard Way.  This live album was released from recordings of that tour. I loved those first two albums and was quite glad that a good chunk of them are represented here. We needed some good live versions of “Guitar Town, Someday, Good Ol’ Boy (Gettin’ Tough), I Ain’t...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#202 in the Series) is Teenage Fan Club, Bandwagonesque. Teenage Fan Club were/ is a band from Scotland. This was their third album and was released in 1991. I had a chance to see them at the ‘Metro’ in Chicago when this album was justr released.  They put on a heck of a show too! Most of this album was written by guitarists Norman Blake and Gerard Love. For this album at least it was pretty much an either / or thing.  They didn’t really collaborate that often, preferring to write on their own. Well, at least credit-wise. The rest of the band consisted of Raymond McGinley on guitar; Brendan O’Hare on drums...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#146 in the Series) is Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow. One of the finest rock and roll albums to come out of the Chicago area in 1990s, Material Issue, International Pop Overthrow. Material Issue was a three piece power pop band that wasn’t around very long.  They did put out some wonderful music while they did. They were led by Jim Ellison. He was Material Issue.  He wrote most of the songs, sang the songs, played guitar on the songs and found a record label to release the songs, etc. When Jim Elison died in 1996 so did Material Issue. Ted Asani and Mike Zelenko made up the rest of the trio. International...