April 6, 2026

Folk

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I Wanna Learn a Love Song by Harry Chapin

vusleeper August 27, 2025

Most casual listeners will only know Harry Chapin as the “Cat’s in the Cradle” musician, but the Grammy-winning and Hall of Fame inductee had written over 100 songs over 11 albums, until his death in 1981.

There’s no denying that “Cat’s in the Cradle” is Chapin’s signature song, and is relatable by anyone, who is too busy working to spend time with their family. Thanks to the hit single, Elektra Records was able to sell over 2.5 million copies of the 1974 album Verities and Balderdash.

All this was a little before my time, and I was gifted the album by my sixth-grade teacher, who was an avid fan. As the title suggests, this album contains important (vertities) and nonsense (balderdash) songs… in other words, a mishmash collection.

There are some gems on the record, including my personal favorite, “30,000 Pounds of Bananas”, which is much better when performed live.

The other song I liked is “I Wanna Learn a Love Song,” a song about Harry Chapin met his wife, Sandra. I didn’t know this at the time, and had always assumed that he got the idea from one of his passengers when he was a Taxi driver. That’s the case of “30,000 Pounds…”, which was a story he’s heard on a bus to Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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GWAR at Milwaukee Metal Fest (May 18, 2025) c-700wi

Best of the Fest: Milwaukee Metal Fest, Kerrville Folk Festival, and Festival International de Jazz de Montreal

vusleeper April 18, 2025

Milwaukee Metal Fest milwaukeemetalfestival.com Metal Fans Unite! The Milwaukee Metal Fest is coming up on...

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St Paul Songwriter Rounds at the White Squirrel Bar (14 July 2024)

St Paul Songwriter Rounds at the White Squirrel Bar (14 July 2024)

vusleeper July 14, 2024

The St. Paul Songwriter Rounds is a semi-weekly event held at the White Squirrel Bar, in St Paul. The showcase, hosted by TJD (Taylor), features four or five local singer/songwriters from the Twin Cities area. Each musician is asked a question and then they play a song of their choice. They do this four times (four rounds), so the whole thing is about two hours.

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