Your Sound Choice
Bios and stories about the artists we feature
Michigan has been the home of numerous rock stars. Near the top, if not on the top, of that list would have to be Bob Seger. Detroit born, Ann Arbor raised, Seger went from the barrooms to arenas before he retired from touring in 2019 (at the conclusion of his Travelin’ Man Tour), but his […]
Wait…what? Who is Eddie and why are we happy that he is 50? First off, my father’s given name was Eddie Rudolf Raisanen and there is a 50 year connection to that moniker, but we will come back to that a little later. The Eddie in the above title is the beloved mascot of […]
“The Nazz Are Blue,” Lee said in reference to nothing in particular. “Who are they and why are they blue?” I asked. Lee was the bass player in my second band, Knockdown, and this discussion took place when I was dropping him by the IGA grocery store at the Marquette Mall. Lee’s wife worked […]
Reading Rik Emmitt’s biography Lay It On The Line (ECW Press – 2023), I especially enjoyed the tales he recounted from various bands he was in over more than fifty years in the music biz. I am not just talking about high profile shows with the band Triumph, but various anecdotes going all the way […]
‘Derringer’ was probably the perfect stage name when nine year old Rick began playing Country & Western tunes in the bars around Fort Recovery, Ohio with his uncle Jim. It was 1956 and he had only recently gotten a Harmony-type guitar model with one pickup and a copy of Mickey Baker’s Complete Course in […]
There are plenty of rock stars out there who climb to the top of their profession by being outrageous, bombastic, colorful, and sometimes, just plain weird. Sure, there has to be enough talent on board for one to write and/or perform music, but it seems like some are trying a little too hard to […]
The Van Halen brothers were really into George Orwell when they were working on the album listed in the title above. Don’t recognize it? They originally wanted to call it Animal Farm but settled for 1984 instead. It was a product of Ed’s new home studio he dubbed 5150. According to Ed’s brother (and […]
Regular readers of these FTVs will no doubt recognize the name Gary Tanin. Having name checked him enough times to enshrine his name in the WOAS FM Hall of Fame (if and when we get around to establishing one), it seemed that a proper introduction was well past due. Gary (and his work with […]
There was a time when one could not escape Bob Welch on FM radio. Hardly an hour would pass without his late 1970s hits Ebony Eyes or Sentimental Lady flowing from the speakers. Welch, who passed away in June of 2012 at the age of 66, was a much more complicated human being than […]
Dave Mason was feeling anything but ‘alright’ in December of 1968. He was summoned to ‘another band meeting of Traffic’, the band he had cofounded with Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, and Jim Capaldi. The meeting was held at the home of their manager Chris Blackwell who was also the head of their record label, […]