Growing up in Kansas, from about 9 to 12 years old, I went to Christian summer camp down the highway in rural Missouri. I loved it there. We swam in creeks and caught crawfish. I played soccer and made friends. There was a zipline that ran through the … [Read more...]
She Said She’d Always Been a Dancer: London’s Soho in the 1960s
In late 1966, I arrived in London with little more than a guitar and a change of clothes. The summer of love was just around the corner and, to paraphrase Dylan, there was music in the cafés at night and cultural revolution in the air. Almost … [Read more...]
Confessions of a Donovan Fan
Imagine a world where recorded music is both expensive and hard to find. No easily accessible CDs or tapes and certainly none of your new-fangled streaming or downloadable MP3s. That was the world we record buyers inhabited back in the 60s. No megastores, … [Read more...]
From Motown to Mowtown
An obsession with polished aspirational black music finally carried me to Detroit. I had come to rediscover the heartbreak of first love and unearth a few last Okeh "cover ups". Poking my nose against a high window in the MGM Grand Hotel I survey this … [Read more...]
Review: The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry
The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry / Bennion Kearny Limited / paperback / 978-1909125124 / 240 pages Journalist and author Jim Cherry has a long history with rock 'n' roll journalism, and currently writes the column, "The Doors Examiner." The Doors … [Read more...]
Chiseled in Rock
Literature is a morgue: I go there to identify my friends. One of them evaporated yesterday, March 6, 2013. The last pic he nailed through the ether toward me had his Woodstock cherry red 335 erecting from the lap into the skies. I was, obviously, born … [Read more...]
Review – Nashville 2.0: The Rise of Americana
Once upon a time there was pop music. You either liked what you heard or you didn't, and you didn't particularly care about anything else. There were other types of music other people listened to, but that wasn't pop music. There was country and western … [Read more...]
Review – Les Paul: The Lost Interviews by Jim O’Donnell
Les Paul: The Lost Interviews: Five Never-Before-Published Talks With a Guitar Genius by Jim O'Donnell / 978-1492218913 / 152 pages What comes to mind when you hear the name "Les Paul"? Maybe the iconic guitar, launched at the dawn of rock and roll and … [Read more...]
Rob Wasserman, Michael McClure & Jay Lane – Music & Poetry – Sept. 12, 2013
Rob Wasserman • Michael McClure • Jay Lane New Music! Thursday, September 12th • 8:00 p.m. Sweetwater Music Hall 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941 Limited Seating • Box Office 415-388-1100 "Rob Wasserman was performing … [Read more...]
Book Review – Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison, by Judy Huddleston
Love Him Madly: An Intimate Memoir of Jim Morrison, by Judy Huddleston / Chicago Review Press / June 1, 2013 / 978-1613747506 / 240 pages The story begins just like many young girls' rock star fantasies do. Judy, a high-school senior, and soon-to-be … [Read more...]
Book Review – How Hip Was My Alley by Kenton Crowther
[Editor's note: 5/21/2014: How Hip Was My Alley has been re-titled Dad, the Times We Had: Baby Boomers in Paradise.] Kenton Crowther's previous volume, Alleycats and Beatsters, collected the author's writings built on the Beat Generation and the … [Read more...]
Bob Dylan, John Tams, and the Commissionaire
Whenever Bob Dylan’s 1966 UK Tour is discussed, all we ever hear about is the infamous “Judas” incident from the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. But there were several other dates on the tour and on May 16 (just one day before the Manchester show) Dylan … [Read more...]
Music Review – Amelita by Court Yard Hounds
Probably Emily Robison and Martie Maguire have been best known as two-thirds of The Dixie Chicks. But as Court Yard Hounds, the duo has created a very different sound, one which has something for their longtime country music fans, and also for … [Read more...]
Review – Reaching Out with No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono by Lisa Carver
Reaching Out with No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono / Lisa Carver / Backbeat Books / 2012 / 978-1617130946 The popular perceptions of Yoko Ono are often unflattering: hanger-on, untalented, unattractive, shrill, remote. Lisa Carver, herself an artist … [Read more...]
Ray Manzarek
I turned my laptop on just after dawn this morning, as I usually do, and sat down with a cup of strong black coffee to see what was happening in the world. Two stories caught me like punches to the stomach and I woke up without any need for caffeine: a … [Read more...]
The Art of the Statement – Be the Mule
I found humanity through music. I lose focus and grow cynical at times, but if I am honest as a listener, and remain receptive, the chance of transcending my emotional disturbances and triumphs through music remains. There's the possibility of unity, and … [Read more...]
Poems from COUNTRY by Shelby Stephenson
Nin’s making ham-hock soup, feeding her hypomania: A.M. radio talking-heads rail for holiness on and on for keeping “Christ” in Christmas, the needles, I’m sure screaming eagles in the VU-Meters at consoles saluting Limbaugh − Rush, Rush, … [Read more...]
The Time that John Lurie Called Me
My artistic, maybe even my personal, aesthetic had me identifying with the music of John Lurie the first time I heard his compositions on record. Close to a bunch of things I cannot, or do not care, to be. The celebration of the idea. The joy in … [Read more...]
An Essay on the Arcana Series
I sat down to write this as a commentary on the series of books edited by John Zorn, all of which are entitled Arcana. The series comes in six parts, including hundreds of essays written by musicians, artists, on their creative process, technique, … [Read more...]
Music Review — Sentimental Journey by Emmy Rossum – A Musical Calendar
Emmy Rossum is a multi-talented performer. As an actress, she currently stars in Showtime's Shameless, and the forthcoming film, Beautiful Creatures. Her new CD, Sentimental Journey, is her second. Its twelve songs, each an American classic, correspond at … [Read more...]
Nov 14, ’12: The Big Mix at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA
What do you get if you take Beat icon Michael McClure (who penned Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz"), add Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Ray Manzarek (Doors keyboardist), stir in jazz/Indian fusion saxophonist and composer George Brooks (Etta James, Summit, … [Read more...]
Bob Dylan’s TEMPEST Out Now!
Bob Dylan’s new album, Tempest, was released on September 11, 2012. Featuring ten new and original Bob Dylan songs, the release of Tempest coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the artist’s eponymous debut album, which was released by Columbia in March … [Read more...]
Book Review – Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue by Robert Scotto
Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue by Robert Scotto / Process Media / 2007 / 280 pages / ISBN # 978-0-9760822-8-6 Born in Marysville, Kansas in 1916, the son of an Episcopal minister, Louis Hardin Jr. lived a relatively simple life in America's … [Read more...]
Diamanda Galas – Love is a Ballad that Eviscerates
When I listen to the music of Diamanda Galás, I am reminded that I have veins. There is something in her voice that punctures the flesh, the ears, the heart, in order to get at something visceral. Hers is a sound that courses like blood, infiltrates … [Read more...]
Singer-Songwriter Elizabeth Anderson Interview
I was recently fortunate to have a conversation with Elizabeth Anderson, a talented singer-songwriter whose debut CD, The Stars are Falling, was recently released. We chatted about her sound, her musical inspirations, and the art of songwriting. How … [Read more...]