Format Wars: The End of the MP3 Era
In 2002, I saw a photo of Shaquille O’Neal walking through LAX wearing some bright white ear pieces and carrying what I learned was an iPod. It was a sports story and didn’t have anything to do with music or tech, but the device fascinated me. I was similarly fascinated in 1980 when Sony unleashed […]
Bob at the Knob: Seger’s Final Tour
I was conflicted about attending one of Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band’s farewell tour shows in Detroit. I pretty much wrote Bob off around the time of Against the Wind (to which we always added the prefix “Don’t Pee”). I didn’t care for his hard turn into Kenny Rogers’s territory after he achieved […]
R&Beatles : A Soulful Top Ten of Beatles Covers
Everyone loves The Beatles, right? Well, for many years, I was an exception; I didn’t immediately fall in love with the Fab Four. All the obsessed fans and fetishists turned me off, even though The Beatles influenced much of the music I was listening to as a teen. Eventually I became one of those annoying […]
Mott the Hoople Live at Fillmore Detroit
Mott the Hoople The Fillmore Detroit, Michigan 5 April 2019 I recently took my dinosaurs of rock experience to a new level. Mott the Hoople made Detroit one of the eight US dates on their “Mott the Hoople ’74” tour. When a friend called with tickets to see 79-year old Ian Hunter and his old […]
Rocktology – Top American Bands Tournament
I’ve got to admit that The Cars winning our top American bands tourney was kinda unexpected. They completely dominated the F4, backing over Van Halen’s feet and then getting CCR with the door. Cheers to The Cars’ social media community, which came out in force when it counted most to support their boys. That’s right, […]
CanJam NYC 2019
You know what CanJam and the personal audio community needs? Other than a weekend in NYC in the middle of winter, we need a fixed-disc front end for our systems. A CD player, my friends! That’s right, step right up, it’s just down there in the “Things You Didn’t Know You Wanted” aisle. You know […]
360 Degrees of Hip-Hop
Hip-hop is my generation’s rock & roll. So, after a 15-year hiatus, I’ve made it a point to get back into this culture-defining music. I’ve always been a lover of classic hip-hop and a casual spectator of current pop-rap, but it had been a long time since I listened seriously to America’s favorite genre. I wanted […]
Dave Halen: The Real VH
Vulture.com recently published a list ranking all 131 Van Halen songs. First of all, mad props to author Chuck Klosterman, not only for compiling that list, but also for his thoughtful commentary on every tune. Hell of an undertaking and we salute him. But my ole buddies and I have one big beef: There is […]
Ten Tunes I Still Crank
I have a running bit with some of my friends and colleagues about songs we would blow up and eliminate from the mass of human consciousness. (That list for me will always begin with “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang.) But I’m tired of all the negative energy, so let’s talk about some tunes that, […]
The Cowls: 360º and Mac & Cheese
Certain Calculations by The Cowls AnalogueTrash Late in 2018 360ºSound was turned on to the music of The Cowls. Very early in 2019, I sat down with the band’s main man, Damion Jurrens, for a lovely conversation over dinner. I met up with Damion at Homeroom: mac+cheese in Oakland, California and we chatted about the […]