Give me my smooth back!

We're in the fourth week of Christmas music on some of the radio stations in my area. I don't so much mind the early arrival of Christmas. I've accepted that it is a pivotal front in the culture wars, which I enjoy watching from afar.

What does bother me is that it's WROR (105.7-FM) that has gone all-Christmas, all-the-time. That's because WROR is my smooth music station, bringing me the hits of the late '70s and early '80s sometimes known as Yacht Rock.

I know it's not the case, but I have these visions of the WROR program director standing watch in a gulag while smooth music all stars like Michael McDonald and Peter Cetera sing from darkened jail cells.

Keep the fire, boys, keep the fire.

There was so much rain they needed a yacht rocker

Who knew the National Anthem could be so smooth?

John Oates, the (more?) handsome half of the late 70s/early 80s smooth rock duo Hall & Oates, sang the anthem at last night's Game 4.5 of the World Series in Philadelphia.

Oates asked the audience to help him out, but no assistance was needed for this legend of smoothness. With the singing, anyway. It looks like he could use a stylist.

The natural question when you see Oates, of course, is "Whither Hall?" Well, it turns out Oates got the call to sing the anthem yesterday morning around 8 a.m. because Daryl Hall couldn't make it.

Don't worry. Hall wasn't impaled by a harpoon in the back alley song writing duel of 1978. He just came down with the flu.

You are the Decider: Smooth Edition

It's been too long since my last installment of the NaturalBlog's occasional series on the 2008 presidential race, You are the Decider. Let's dust off that graphic.


Those are bulls pooping, because this is a no-bull zone.

I'm writing today about a phrase that was key in the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama primary fight and has reemerged in the general election fight between Obama and John McCain. The phrase is: Out of touch.

As in, McCain is out of touch because he can't remember off the top of his head how many houses he owns. Or as in, Obama is out of touch because he vacations in a far-off and exotic place that may or may not even be part of America.

With so many people so out of touch, I can only hope that Hall & Oates are getting a cut every time someone uses the phrase.


So smooth. So smooth.

Oates update -- But whither Hall?

I think this story comes from the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction file.

A production company is working on a pilot cartoon starring smooth rocker John Oates, who is pulled out of retirement at the urging of -- wait for it -- his mustache.

Billboard writes:

A dying David Crosby appears and with his last breath warns Oates of a mysterious secret group of mustache wearers bent on killing other mustache wearers. ...Oates summons his own mustache with a fist pump that simultaneously changes his clothes from conservative attire to pink pants and white boots.

Sadly, pants and boots are not pictured in the illustration provided. The voice of the mustache is provided by the scruffy comedian Dave Attell.

Speaking of mustaches, please enjoy this take on the greatest sports 'staches.

Long Overdue Props, Vol V.

If listening to Hall and Oates doesn't get you pumped, then you're out of touch. How could you not love a group smooth enough to bring you not only Private Eyes, but Maneater and You Make my Dreams, as well.

I could go on and on, but you can't go for that, so I'll conclude this edition of Long Overdue Props early, so you can enjoy this vintage album cover.