From as early as his teenage years, it was plain that Warren Zevon was never going to be an ordinary person, or at the very least an ordinary writer. In the oral biography compiled by his first wife Crystal, I’ll… Read More
John Ford launched his career as a feature director with a string of more than 20 wildly successful westerns starring cowboy actor Harry Carey, who often played an iconic character type known as “the good bad man”. Only a handful… Read More
10. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy [Blanco y Negro, 1985] Whilst not a “shoegaze” record by any strict definition of the term, Psychocandy is as important as any of them for ushering in what could be done with pop… Read More
There are two kinds of “Fred Heads” (dedicated Fred Eaglesmith fans). Some relish his songwriting skills. His ability to evoke life on the farm and the pleasures of being on the rural route have been celebrated by notable artists such… Read More
The ‘people’s history’ approach to thinking about and interpreting the past has gained momentum over the last few decades. From Howard Zinn’s indispensable A People’s History of the United States in 1980 to the ReVisioning History series from Beacon Press… Read More
Why shouldn’t jazz and metal find a common cause? A good slice of both genres thrive and precision, complexity, and instrumental prowess. The composer (and sometime saxophonist) John Zorn put them together in bands Naked City and Pain Killer a… Read More
In 1977, Randy Newman had the biggest hit song of his career, “Short People”, which somewhat incredibly made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It attracted a fair amount of controversy by people who didn’t realize that… Read More
Ron Miles’ last album, 2017’s I Am a Man was elite. It brought together a striking band—his triomates Bill Frisell on guitar and drummer Brian Blade, along with Frisell’s bassist Thomas Morgan and the always-interesting pianist Jason Moran. The Miles… Read More
6 April 2020, “The Quarantine Concerts”: This is the first time I remember hearing David Grubbs like this, and I was unmoored by the presentation and the humble kind of luminosity to it all. Grubbs doesn’t break his poker face… Read More
Prince’s 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls, which introduced his band the New Power Generation, is by some counts his second best-selling album period, after Purple Rain. It went double-platinum. It contained his fifth, and final (to date), #1 single. Yet… Read More