Robby Valentine - Make Way For The Messenger
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I’d like to draw some attention to the Venezuelan band Van Der Dijs. They formed in 2024 and played altenative rock, blending rap-rock, nu-metal, funk and punk. On the 24. of June they were playing in their rehearsal studio, when the horrible earth quake we’ve all heard about hit Venezuela. The building collapsed, and all four members of the band were killed.
Here’s to the memory of Manuel van Der Dijs (vocals), Gabriel Gómez (guitar), Xander Hernández (bass and backing vocals) and Abraham Foucault (drums), whose young lives were cut short only four days after a sold-out show in Caracas. The band released their eight single 15 Minutos only a few weeks before the tragedy. I’d like them to be mentioned in our topic.
Van Der Dijs - 15 Minutos
Let this post also be to the memory of all the other victims of this tragic earth quake. As of today well over 5,200 people are confirmed dead, and unfortunately this number will most likely rise 
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The Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough was born 83 years ago today. He’s yet another of the musicians who’s really been around, but is a little forgotten. I’d like to give him a mention in our topic, together with a couple of songs and a brief overview of his career.
McCullough first gained some attention in the band Skyrockets, who were managed by Chas Chandler (The Animals), who was also the manager of The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the time. So Skyrockets toured with Hendrix, as well as Pink Floyd, The Move and Eric Burdon & The Animals. He then joined The Grease Band in 1968, who were Joe Cocker’s backing band. He played on Cocker’s first two albums and was in the band when Cocker did his iconic performance at the Woodstck festival.
After a short stint with Spooky Tooth (one album), McCullough joined Paul McCartney & Wings in January 1972. He played on several singles and the album Red Rose Speedway, but due to some musical and business differences, he quit Wings already in August 1973, just before the recording of Band On the Run was about to start. For the rest of the 70’s McCullough was busy doing session work for among others Marianne Faithfull, Donovan, Roy Harper, Eric Burdon and Ronnie Lane (Faces). He also replaced Wilko Johnson in Dr. Feelgood for a few weeks in 1977.
During the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s McCullough career got a little more low-key. Still he kept busy, releasing a few solo albums, doing session work and being part of a few band projects. The most noteable thing he did during these decades was probably writing the song Failed Christian, which Nick Lowe recorded for his excellent 1998 album Dig My Mood. Here’s McCulloch own version of this song.
Henry McCullough - Failed Christian (1998)
In November 2012 McCullough sufferd a heart attack he never fully recoverd from it. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 72. Here is what may be the perfomance he is best known for. To the memory of Henry McCullough 
Paul McCartney & Wings - Live And Let Die (1973)
Let me end this post with a little trivia. I guess most of you are familiar with the song Money, perhaps the best known song on the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon. Towards the end of the song you can hear a voice saying “I don’t know; I was really dru-nk at the time”. That’s Henry McCullough.
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But to make it up with that Grumpy Old Fart, a real golden oldie we all know, but also most of us forgot!!
James Darren - Goodbye Cruel World
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I don’t know; I was really dru-nk at the time
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owwhhhhhh..
this one was one the local radio station over here today.
Love that voice, and wonderfull lyrics
Ian Hunter - Read 'em ‘n’ weep
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Due to the passing of bassist Jennifer Finch last weekend, I’ve been listening a little more to some L7. And I stumbled upon this one…
L7 - Dispatch From Mar-A-Lago (live 2018)
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Since it is still July, and since it is 15 years todaty since the terror attack in Norway, where 77 people were killed. The youngest ones were 14 
Gordon Lightfoot - Black Day In July (1968)
Of course this song is about something else, but the title fits well. And the riot in Detroit, where 43 people were killed, started 59 years ago tomorrow.
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Happy Birthday to Andy Mackay! The saxophone/oboe player in Roxy Music, one of my all-time favourite bands, is turning 80 today! Let us celebrate his birthday with two of my favourite Roxy Music songs. The first one co-written by Andy Mackay, the second with some sublime playing from him during the instrumental part, starting around 2:50 and going on for two minutes. Happy Birthday
Roxy Music - A Song For Europe (live at the Apollo, London 2001)
Roxy Music - If There Is Something (1972)
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My nerdy hobby with birthdays (and the opposite) of musicians sometimes leads to some very unexpected and very pleasant re-listens. So when I noticed that the American singer Madeline Bell is turning 84 today, it sent me straight to Blue Mink.
Madeline Bell moved to the UK in the latter part of the 1960’s. She started out doing sessions as a backing singer for among others The Rolling Sones, Dusty Springfield and Donovan. In 1969 she joined the band Blue Mink, who had a big hit with their second single Melting Pot. It peaked at number 2 in New Zeeland, number 3 in the UK and number 4 in Norway, and also made the top 10 in the Netherlands, Ireland and Australia. So, Happy Birthday to Madeline Bell
Blue Mink - Melting Pot (1969)
Damn, I haven’t heard this song in ages. It is a good song, but even I had (almost) forgotten it 
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Here’s to the memory of Emmett Till, who was born 85 years ago today. In 1955 this black kid visited rural Mississippi, and was accused of "disrespecting " a white woman. Emmett was taken by two men, beaten up, tortured and then shot. It was basically the lynching of a 14 years old boy.
The men who committed the crime were charged, but they went out of the courthouse as free men. When one of them was asked why he killed Emmett Till, he answered: “What else could I do? He thought he was as good as any white man.”
Hardly anybody remembers the killers names today. Emmett Till’s name is remembered 
Bob Dylan - The Death of Emmett Till (1962)
Emmett Till’s grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Chicago, the town where he was born.
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Happy Birthday to Rita Marley, who is turning 80 today! The widow of Bob Marley and one of the I-Threes, the backing singers in Bob Marley & The Wailers. Let us celebrate Rita’s birthday and the joy of music with a song from one of her solo albums
Rita Marley - There’ll Always Be Music (1982)
There’ll always be music, oh yeah
There’ll always be a song
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Heard this while watching Gran Turismo
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A little change of pace from another culture, amidst everything modern that we label ‘music’…
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The HU - Horsemen (2026)
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