#WhatsHappening for January 10, 2022

Try as I might, I rarely manage to stay "on top" of things the way I mean to. Like last weekend. See, in the back of my mind (somewhere), I knew there were a couple of "big name" birthdays. Turns out it was Bowie and Elvis, who would've been 75 and 87, respectively. It was also Robby Krieger's birthday- and, while I do love the Doors, there were a couple of bigger names there, right?

We did manage to have a birthday bash for the Thin White Duke and the King, though, so I guess it worked out, huh? 

This Saturday would be Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 93rd birthday.

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Just a reminder, kids- it's still not exactly a good idea to get all up in each other's faces! I say this because there have been a few people who seem to have been offended when I ask them to step back away from me.

Even in the best of times, I'm not a huge fan of people being in my personal space. Toss in a modern plague? Yeah, I'm gonna keep right on telling you to back up.

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Woodstock organizer and co-founder Michael Lang died Saturday in New York and a long battle with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 77.

Lang's last public appearance was around the time of the 50th anniversary of the festival during (unsuccessful) attempts to stage a Woodstock 50 festival. Lang was able to organize a 25th anniversary show in 1994, and Woodstock 99 (held in Rome, NY).

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Remember The Tracy Ullman Show? That was the last time I thought The Simpsons were funny. (Okay, maybe the first few seasons, too.) Seriously, though- how has this fucking show been on the air for more than 30 years? 

Then again, Family Guy has been on more than 20 years. At least I still think that one's funny...

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The Tracy Ullman Show also had one of the best theme songs ever.

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Skimming through Variety's music headlines and I'm more surprised by the fact that there was actually a Pussycrap Pussycat Dolls reunion tour being considered and that there were people who wanted to see it than I am about the news it was cancelled.

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Singer Clay Aiken, announced today that he was entering the 2022 North Carolina Congressional race. 

In a Tweet announcing his candidacy (because who needs press conferences?), Aiken referenced his American Idol participation and said the state needed "powerful voices more than ever, so I’m running for Congress. And my voice is even stronger now!"

This is Aiken's second try at turn at running for a seat in his home state. His previous try came in 2014.

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Percussionist and producer James Mtume, best known his 1983 hit Juicy Fruit and his work Miles Davis has died at the age of 76, his son confirmed.

Mtume began working with Davis in 1972, on the jazz legend's On The Corner. He also collaborated with pianist McCoy Tyner, trumpeter Art Farmer, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith Jr., saxophonists Gato Barbieri and Pharoah Sanders and even Duke Ellington. He also did composed movie (Native Son) and television (New York Undercover) music, and tackled genres as diverse and disco and avant-garde. Mtume also produced and co-wrote Stephanie Mills' hit Never Knew Love Like This Before and Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's The Closer I Get To You with his musical partner Reggie Lucas. He also had a stint as an on-air personality for KISS 98.7 FM in New York in the late 80s.

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Pssst... whoever's in charge of the ad campaign... don't care if you buy a spot in every break on every channel, Licorice Pizza (besides being a revolting combination to suggest) still looks like pretentious crap.

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Hey, look- NME had an article about the Beatles. And it was pretty much the only name I recognized on the "Music" page.

I'm old. I readily admit that. I don't really listen to the radio- not even in the car (my car will play songs via USB, so I keep a 1TB flash drive with my music collection on it plugged in pretty much all the time). The only time I do listen to the radio is on the way to work, and that's to the local NPR station for the morning news.

The point is (and I've said this I don't know how many times- here, and during shows, and Facebook posts) I don't know modern music. Hell, I don't really know music from around 1996 on. If you ask me about a song and I tell you I don't know what it is- trust me. And you singing it to me isn't going to help. Neither is saying "it's really popular" or "everybody has/knows it" because a) I don't listen to the radio (so popular means fuck-all) and 2) no, everybody does most certainly not have it/know it. I'm part of everybody and I don't have it/know it.

What I've always been (mostly) willing to do is pursue adding songs to the songbook if there's a demand for them. Email your request via the link on this page, or shoot us a Facebook message with the title and artist. If it's available, there's a pretty decent chance I'll add it, unless you give me a bunch of crap about not having it in the first place!

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Birthdays today include: Ronnie Hawkins (87); Rod Stewart (77); Ansley Dunbar of Jefferson Starship (76); Cyrill Neville of the Neville Brothers (74); Donald Fagen of Steely Dan (74); Pat Benetar (69); Luci Martin of Chic (67); Shawn Colvin (66); Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies (58); Joey Santiago of the Pixies (57); Aerle Taree of Arrested Development (49); and Chris Smith of Kriss Kross (49). #MusicalBirthdays