4 Mini Blog Posts to Tide You Over While I'm On Vacation

At Rock Turtleneck, we are never at a shortage for ideas, only for the time to flesh them out and post them. And there have been a few things that have been in the hopper, but I'm going on vacation for a week, so rather than belabor them, I thought I'd get them out quick. Think of the following four mini-posts as the RT equivalent of passed hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail party: nibble on a couple now and roll the others into a napkin, throw them in your bag and enjoy them later.

#1: A Great Week for Jamaica

Usain Bolt's wins in the 100 and 200 meters coincided with the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence Day. In that spirit, hers's is an early, spooky Bob Marley & the Wailers song I love from 1970 called "Mr. Brown," produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. You can get it on iTunes here.

#2: Beck is Back

Haven't heard much in the way of new material from Beck Hansen since Modern Guilt in 2008. But he is back with his strongest new tune in years. "I Just Started Hating Some People Today," recorded at Jack White's Third Man Studios in Nashville. It starts out as a country tune in the Hank Williams vein but takes some very interesting detours at the end. The track and its equally weird/great B-side "Blue Randy" were vinyl-only at first, but are now available here on iTunes.

#3: Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol

I was amazed to hear that Andy Warhol, who died in 1987, would have turned 84 this week. That's a good 10 years older than I would have guessed. This calls for perhaps the best David Bowie deep-cut ever, "Andy Warhol" from Hunky Dory. You can buy it on iTunes here. To the left is an Instagram photo I took of the Warhol statue in Union Square, the stomping ground for him and his fabulous Factory scenesters.

#4: R.I.P. Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Hamlisch, who passed away this week at 68, wrote some of the most durable modern standards in the Great American Songbook. Perhaps his most well known is "The Way We Were," made famous of course by Miss Barbra Streisand. Here's a clip from a TV special circa 1975 when she was a Superstar with a capital S. Barbra is the the gold standard for narcissistic Hollywood limousine liberals, but you got to give her props - she has amazing pipes. Buy it on iTunes here.