Are you a sucker, like me, for pop songs? Before you become a quivering mass of artificially imposed emotionality, detox now by joining New Monuments at singer Frank Sinatra’s home from 1954 to 1995 beside the 17th fairway of Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage CA. With the help of a special friend, writer Marcel Proust, we will break down why pop songs do what they do to us. Marcel, you have the mic.

These tunes…offered me their secrets, ogled me, came up to me with affected or vulgar movements, accosted me, caressed me as if I had suddenly become more seductive, more powerful and more rich; I indeed found in these tunes an element of cruelty; because any such thing as a disinterested feeling for beauty, a gleam of intelligence was unknown to them; for them physical pleasures alone existed…But while I was humming softly to myself the notes of this tune, and returning its kiss, the pleasure peculiar to itself which it made me feel became so dear to me that I would have left my father and mother, to follow it through the singular world which it constructed in the invisible…Although such a pleasure as this is not calculated to enhance the value of the person to whom it comes, for it is perceived by him alone…I felt myself more powerful, almost irresistible. It seemed to me that my love was no longer something unattractive, at which people might smile, but had precisely the touching beauty, the seductiveness of this music…suddenly grown intimate.

The pop music world’s monetization of every note its performers make precludes inviting them because we cannot pay them, so stay tuned for the voice of the Golf Widow and/or the house cover band. Why disturb the peace at Frank’s pad at Tamarisk? It’s my closest answer to «Coachella» (Music Festival) in Indio.

Discography in progress
Cairo FM (2026), Alewya * Don’t Look Any Further (2026), Meshell Ndegeocello * Summer Skin (2026), Desire * Touch Touch (2026), Haute & Freddy * Solid (2025), Cut Copy * Alice in Orchidverse (2024), Jane Paknia and Hagop Tchaparian * Bloom (2024), Maribou State * Caroline (2024), Baby Rose * Clementine (2024), Yannis and the Yaw * Distrust the Magician (2024), Unessential Oils * Glades and Avenues (feat. Theodore) (2024), Equitoriale * Out of Sight (2024), Jim Noir * Reason Why (2024), Sophie * Run! (2024), Willow * Safe and Sound (2024), Parcels * Triangular Girl (2024), Pearl & The Oysters * Under the Sun (2022), Lady Wray * Got Me Worried (2021), Django Django * Dis Generation (2016), A Tribe Called Quest * Empire State of Mind (2009), Jay-Z and Alicia Keys * Wake Up (2006), Clara Hill * Such Great Heights (2003), The Postal Service * Check the Rhime (1991), A Tribe Called Quest * Cruel Summer (1983), Bananarama * True (1983), Spandau Ballet * Rock Lobster (1978), The B-52s * Float On (1977), The Floaters * Sail On, Sailor (1973), Beach Boys * American Pie (1971), Don McLean * I’m Eighteen (1970), Alice Cooper * One Less Bell to Answer (1970), The 5th Dimension * Glowing (1969), The Rationals * Stoned Soul Picnic (1968), The 5th Dimension * Theme from Valley of the Dolls (1968), Dionne Warwick * Darlin’ (1967), Beach Boys * Try to Remember (1964), The Brothers Four * One Mint Julep (1962), Sarah Vaughan * Manhattan (1959), Blossom Dearie * A Fine Spring Morning (1957), Blossom Dearie
 
acknowledgment
Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Santa Monica
 
rev. October 31, 2026