Phil Spector's Wall of Sound around him

Phil Spector's bad hair day
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Phil Spector is on trial for murder, and showed up in court last week sporting this hairdo which led some pundits to wonder if he is in electroshock therapy while going through this ordeal.

This photo, by the way, is courtesy of the Associated Press and was published in most major newspapers, not because they think Spector's case is really that newsworthy, but who could pass up that 'doo?'

Phil Spector invented something he called the Wall of Sound back in the 60s and had many hits. His wife for awhile, Ronnie, was the lead singer in the Ronettes. In fact if you do a quick search for his songs on the Internet, you'll find that he produced hundreds of titles most people recognize.

So why am I opining about Phil Spector?

Well, first, because his album, A Christmas Gift for You is one of the first albums I ever bought and you can sitll hear it played every Christmas. It's a rock 'n roll treatment of White Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and a half dozen other standards. Darlene Love's Please Come Home is fantastic.

So it's sad to see Phil fallen from grace. But the real reason I wrote this piece?

The hair, of course. It was a great excuse to post this photo. Art for art's sake you know...