Announcements and reviews about new music
Some musicians wear hats and I never gave it much thought until I saw Dwight Yoakum in the movie Sling Blade (1996). As a disciple of the Bakersfield Sound, I always assumed Yoakum’s ever present cowboy hat was symbolic of his country music roots. Despite the ample locks of hair that streamed from under his […]
Surely you have seen pictures of Jeff Lynne. As the leader of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), there was a period of time when his face adorned publications as varied as Rolling Stone, Melody Maker, Time, Newsweek, and even People. With his curly halo of dark hair, neatly trimmed beard, trademark aviator shades, and […]
We last visited drummer Kenney Jones in the fall of 2018 (FTV: Kenney Jones 9-12-18) when Classic Rock Magazine talked with him about his book Let The Good Times Roll – My Life in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who (Kenney Jones, 2018 – St.Martin’s Press). It had just come out that month so […]
My first introduction to Keith Moon and The Who came from the 45 rpm I had added to my drum practice records. I would put on a stack of 45s (and later, albums) and retreat to the basement. After playing through as many songs as would fit on the spindle, my mom would flip […]
It was on one of those TV shows that tried to be ‘really hip’ back in the 1970s, yet some how still seemed like a typical TV musical variety show, just aimed at a younger audience. This show would do little vignettes of comedy between popular music acts of the day. The guest host was […]
It is late 1967. Bob Dylan is holed up in Woodstock, NY recovering from a serious motorcycle accident that had prematurely ended the tour he had been on using Levon and The Hawks as his backing band. Actually, the second half of the tour had been just with The Hawks as Levon Helm had gotten […]
Mark Lavon Helm (1940 – 2012) was an Arkansas country boy raised in the cotton picking culture that surrounded his boyhood home of Turkey Scratch. As soon as school let out for the summer, the back breaking work of cotton farming consumed his summers. When I learned that Helm started his farming career as a […]
Dan Aykroyd’s movies averaged $50 million at the box office in 1983. Unfortunately, one of his films, Doctor Detroit, was a stinker that only accounted for $8 million, thus lowering the overall average just a bit. Doctor Detroit cost $10 million to make and was Aykroyd’s second flop in a row. The pundits were already […]
Steve Gorman looked into the bathroom mirror and conversed with his reflection: “Just do what your gut tells you.” His gut replied, “Do NOT join this band, they’re (expletive deleted) crazy.” With that settled, he resolved to stay with Mary My Hope, the band he had joined soon after relocating from his native Kentucky […]
How could anyone sing on more than 20,000 songs and yet not be recognized? Such was the hand that fate dealt to a trio of young singers from Detroit called The Andantes. Unless you have jumped into a time machine and escaped to the distant past before radio was invented, I am willing to bet […]