If You Could Hear Me Think, This Is What I'd Write, 1/11/23

O, Social Media Persona, What Will Become of You?

As 2023 gets underway, I am finding myself unsure of how I want to use social media, blogging, etc. Part of me just wants to lay real low right now, you know what I mean? But as someone who writes a bit, and occasionally likes to get some of those ideas into the world, I still feel like I want to have an outlet.

So I’m thinking that, for now, I’ll limit my social media output to my weekly Monk-enhanced musings on this website. Either that or I will just drop out of all this and leave the social media hellscape to MTG and her D.R.E. tunes.

Ever since the week between Christmas and New Year’s I’ve been thinking I’d post a 2022 Year in Review column here, but that is not going to happen. I’m generally focused more on moving forward now than looking back, though moving forward for me does involve a 19th century diary.

It looks like 2023 has the potential to be interesting. As the year progresses — and if I continue these weekly updates — I’ll get into some detail about projects I’m going to be pursuing in the coming months.

Thomas Cope and Annesley Newlin, 19th Century Butter-Selling Hottie

Here is a preview of a project I will be working on throughout the year. I’m developing a Laurel Hill Cemetery tour that will be based on Thomas Cope (1768-1854), a notable Quaker businessman and civic leader, who recorded his life in a diary that he kept from 1800 through 1851. The diary was edited by a descendent, Eliza Cope Harrison, and published in 1978.

While Cope is not buried at Laurel Hill, many of his friends, adversaries, and other associates are buried there. During my tour, I’ll be reading Cope’s entries about these people at their gravesites. Cope’s diary provides fascinating insights into his personal life, as well as the history of Philadelphia and the young United States. The tour is scheduled for September 30, and I’ll be talking more about it as that date approaches.

I have noticed that many fascinating and/or quirky entries in the diary don’t have a direct Laurel Hill connection. Those won’t be mentioned on my tour, at least not directly, but some of them are too good to ignore, so one thing I’ll occasionally do in this weekly column is feature some of the non-Laurel Hill Cope diary entries here.

In fact, here’s one now, an anecdote related to Cope by his friend Annesley Newlin. I stopped at Newlin’s gravesite in Wilmington, Delaware last month to read the entry, which concerns the possibility of a booty call, circa 1848:

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Annesley Newlin, hot Victorian-era butter salesman. Here’s the transcript:

August 14th [1848] Annesley Newlin goes twice a week to the Philadelphia market. He relates to me the following anecdote. A female, richly dressed, robust & well formed has been in the practice of buying butter from him. On one occasion she invited him to her house, “to spend a short time with her, her husband being elsewhere & would not return till late in the day or evening.” Her motive was sufficiently explained; he however declined the invitation. A. is in the vigor of manhood, well formed & comely, about 6 feet high & well proportioned. He would anywhere be called a handsome man, his manners are also engaging. This woman is a constant visitor of the market & from her genteel appearance & good looks attracts no little attention. She is always well supplied with money.

Rich’s House of Vinyl: Something New

Every Loser — Iggy Pop

As a music writer for the PopMatters website, I have reviewed several dozen albums of new music recorded since 2019. Over the last two years, I haven’t been posting quite as many new music reviews at PopMatters, and I have to admit that I’ve lost track of new stuff.

I’m going to try to change that in 2023, by listening to at least one new album a week. Maybe I’ll get back to reviewing some things for PopMatters, but in the meantime, I’ll report on my discoveries right here. These won’t be full-fledged reviews, but maybe you, dear reader, might be inspired to check out some fresh music!

This week’s new album, released on January 6, is Iggy Pop’s Every Loser. I just started listening to it tonight, but I’ve been spinning it all evening, and my current impression is, “wow, I just love this thing.” Iggy is all over the map here, raunchy and profane one minute, witty and jazzy the next. Fortunately, every stylistic avenue Pop and his producer, Andrew Watt, wander down yields delightful musical dividends. Every Loser is fun, poignant, hilarious, obscene, poppy, artsy, insightful, and rockin’, sometimes all at once.

Rich’s House of Vinyl: Something Old

Billy Thermal — Billy Thermal (2014, but recorded in the early 1980s)

Billy Thermal is the reissue of an album that was never released in the first place. The band — and Billy Thermal was a band, not a solo guy — was an early vehicle for songwriter Billy Steinberg. Steinberg’s name might be somewhat familiar: once he met fellow songwriter Tom Kelly, they began a hugely successful songwriting collaboration that would lead to a string of hits: “Like a Virgin” (Madonna), “True Colors” (Cyndi Lauper), and “Eternal Flame” (Bangles), being just three of those smashes.

Before meeting Kelly though, Steinberg wrote a series of taut, energetic songs that fall nicely into the “power pop” category. A friend and fellow singer/songwriter named Mark Safan helped Steinberg assemble a band that would ultimate include bassist Bob Carlisle, drummer Efren Espinosa, and Craig Hull on guitar. The band, dubbed Billy Thermal, recorded a series of tunes that Steinberg wrote in an early songwriting blitz.

Billy Thermal was signed to Planet Records, but ultimately, the label decided that “new wave” was becoming old-hat and released Billy Thermal from the label, letting them keep the album. Though a few tracks were released on an EP in 1982, it wasn’t until 2014 that an entire Billy Thermal album saw the light of day.

My friend Ed Whitelock heard Billy Thermal and, knowing my love of both genuine new wave — whatever that is — and new wave-ish albums made by non-new wave artists, such as Linda Ronstadt (Mad Love) and Billy Joel (Glass Houses) sent me the CD in the mail.

I listened to the CD a few times after Ed sent it to me but I returned to it in earnest this week and I think I love it even more now than I did when I first heard. Billy Thermal is a fun, punchy listen that included the original versions of songs that were covered by Ronstadt (“How Do I Make You”) and Pat Benatar (“Precious Time” and “I’m Gonna Follow You”). It is true that Billy Thermal sounds like a product of its time, but the songs are well-constructed and the performances are solid. Planet Records missed the boat on this one, even if it wouldn’t have rocketed up the charts.

And, Finally…

Today, January 11, 2023, would have been my parents’ 59th wedding anniversary. I’ll be thinking of them today, but then, I think about them everyday.

Thanks, as always, to the guys in Poison, for writing the best-ever line in a fun-loving pop metal song.