Your Sound Choice
Bios and stories about the artists we feature
Ken & Mike, WNMU TV 13 Studio – taking publicity shots for Sledgehammer I just found out that my old bass playing electronic wizard buddy Mike Kesti passed away at his home in Oroville, CA on April 1, 2026. My condolences to his family – I attached the included photo of us from 1975 to […]
Flo & Eddie are actually four different people who co-existed in two different bands. There is an entire tail twisting story behind the name so I am going to do my best to unravel it for you. Two of the people known as Flo & Eddie are actually Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan from […]
According to an article entitled The Class of 1986 in Guitar World magazine (Vol 47 Issue 3 March 2026), ‘86 was a pivotal year for iconic albums. In this issue, GW Editor-in-Chief Damian Fanelli recounted some of the recent losses (deaths) the music world has already had this year and then he cut to […]
The Turtles almost didn’t happen. Call it fate or kismet or whatever, but one of the top selling bands of the late 1960s were DOA and then they weren’t (more on this in a bit). When vocalist Mark Voman passed away in September of 2025, it prompted me to find a copy of his […]
Let me set the record straight once and for all. Jethro Tull was a real person. He was an 18th Century agriculturist known for inventing the seed drill. Tull’s name was suggested to band leader Ian Anderson by their manager when they moved from the north of England to London. Gigs were hard to […]
I have an admission to make: I have always been and continue to be addicted to reading newspapers. It began innocently enough when I would grab the Marquette Mining Journal that the paperboy would put behind our screen door each day. The first and only order of business when this started was to flip to […]
The following artist’s names conjure up an instant mental image: Cher, Elvis, Prince, Madonna, Rihanna, Shakira, Adele, Beyonce, Bono, Sting, Eminem, Sade, Kesha, Flea, and Slash (to name a few more modern examples). Do you remember the black leather clad Elvis or the spangly jumpsuited Elvis? Do you see Cher standing next to Sonny Bono […]
If you are wondering about my numbering system for the band Guns N’ Roses, let me count them off. Version 1.0, the original line up that found fame with their debut album, included Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagen, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler on vocals, guitar, bass, second guitar and drums, respectively. They came […]
Though they span decades and many genres, there is a connecting thread between the following list of guitar players: Jeff Beck, Lindsey Buckingham, Ritchie Kotzen, Robbie Krieger, Albert Collins, Albert King, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Trucks, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and, as noted in the title above, Mark Knopfler. It isn’t a brand of guitar, the […]
After frequently using and citing references from Guitar World magazine, I was asked why a drummer would subscribe to a guitar magazine. It was a valid question and my tongue in cheek answer was, “Well, with my guitar playing skills, it isn’t for the articles about shredding solos or pentatonic scales.” The truth is, […]