Willie Simpson

Category: Youtube Favs

  • Dave Chappelle, New Standup!

    The worst thing about Dave Chappelle leaving his hit Comedy Central show all those years ago, was that so much stuff has happened in the world, and Chappelle’s voice was sorely missed.  I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear Chappelle during the 2008 election.  I needed to hear Chappelle during the fiscal…

  • Skip James, Devil Got My Woman

    Skip James was one of the original Delta Bluesmen.  Like many of these original pioneers, he disappeared into obscurity after his rather obscure debut in the 1930s.  The blues rock renaissance in the 1960s rescued him from oblivion, and allowed him one last chance to shine.  One of the songs that emerged from his exile…

  • Ted Kennedy's Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy

    Revolution, liberty, discovery, and moral courage.  These were themes prevalent in Ted Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother Bobby, after his insane assassination in 1968.  Drawing directly from one of Bobby’s greatest speeches, Ted quoting Bobby, said that, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or…

  • Robert F. Kennedy, My Hero

    I watched President Obama’s speech on jobs last night.  It stirred something very emotional in me.  It wasn’t because the speech was so wonderful, though I thought it was one of Obama’s better oratories, but perhaps because I too am unemployed.  I was laid off last May from a job that I worked at for…

  • John Lennon, Mother, Live

    I’m not ready to leave John’s 1972 concert just yet.  Yesterday I posted about “Come Together,” and in the past I posted the live performance of “Cold Turkey.”   Despite the fact that Yoko only released the inferior afternoon version of the show, as opposed to the superior evening version, there are still incredible worthwhile performances…

  • John Lennon, Come Together, Live!

    They say elephants never forget, and they also say fuck Yoko Ono.  When John Lennon played Madison Square Garden Live in 1972, he played an afternoon show and an evening show.  “Elephant’s Memory,” the backup band for John, claimed that the evening show was far superior, but upon releasing this concert  in 1986, long after…

  • The Top 20 George Carlin Moments

    So I was surfing the internet today, and I came across a brilliant little monolog that Louie C.K. did as a tribute to George Carlin.  George Carlin died in 2008, and if you didn’t know, he’s probably the greatest and most influential standup comic next to Richard Pryor.  He had an absolutely relentless ability to…

  • The Strokes, Last Nite

    I had a fun Labor Day weekend.  I crossed the Williamsburg Bridge on foot for the first time, explored Greenpoint, went to a great BBQ in Sheepshead Bay, got free tickets to the Museum of Natural History, hung out in Chinatown eating at the legendary Wo-Hop, and had a Belgium Chocolate milkshake at Haagen Dazs. …

  • The Beatles, Long, Long, Long

    To paraphrase George Harrison, “the “you” in the song, is God.”  Gaining this insight gives the song even more creepy mysticism.  “Long, Long, Long,” from the “White Album,” is officially one of my favorite Beatles songs.  Like many people growing up with the Beatles, I wasn’t a fan of the song until I got much…

  • Willie Simpson, Funeral Business

    I first wrote this song when I was a senior in college in 2006.  I had it kicking around until this past Spring when I decided to revive it.  I brought in my friend and musical genius Ian Wehrle to help me flesh out the lyrics and the bridge, and then I brought in guitar…