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Founder of
not one, but two highly successful rock bands--The White Stripes and The
Raconteurs--Renaissance Man Jack White pays homage to his hometown in this poem titled
"Courageous Dream's Concern." More at The Detroit Free Press
Singer, songwriter, musician and now, talk show host Elvis Costello has booked, you guessed it, an impressive list of who's who in pop culture to appear on his new show, ‘‘Spectacle: Elvis Costello With ..." Get ready for Elton John, Tony Bennett, Lou Reed and former President Bill Clinton, to name a few. More at Billboard
The same folk and rock lyrics that once helped define a generation of social change are creeping back into modern day courts (Supreme Court in this case) as touchtones of right vs. wrong. More at The Cleveland Plain Dealer
It's hard to believe that a band that sounds so heavenly could be at such odds with each other, but there is certainly dissension in the ranks at the Blind Boys' camp. More at The San Francisco Chronicle
PAST PRINT
I can tell you I was worried about this Pretenders thing. I thought they'd be too much for me--well, not so much "they" as Chrissie Hynde herself. Going on image, what I'd read in the music papers, rumors and the mutterings of acquaintances, I expected her to have the sort of voracious sophistication I've met in certain dyed-to-the-bone-marrow rock 'n' roll people and that it would wreck me.
MoreSHELF LIFE
While Africa is undoubtedly a place of ancient origin, the story of Wijdan is one which catapults us as viewers to the forefront of modern times and modern people in this distant and spectacular land. It is through the meeting of two peoples that the gap is bridged of their respective music and culture. Even more striking in this emotional movie is the relation of the present to our ancient past.
MoreBentley's Bandstand
This is an artist where there are no fence-sitters. You either sign up for the whole show or you keep moving on. Maybe it's because Mason Jennings is less concerned with effect and concentrates instead on how he can refine his music, whittling it down to only the absolute necessities, much like a gifted painter. He skates right up to the savant side door, but doesn't go all the way in like, say, Jonathan Richman. With Jennings, it's all about expressing feelings as directly as possible, which is probably why his sixth album is on Jack Johnson's label
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Behind so many albums, there's a long and twisted road. Guts & Garbage is no different. Singer Kirsten Price began to be noticed by record labels and soon found herself signed to a company that wanted to change her. No big surprise there, except she wasn't willing to go along and decided to take a walk down her own lonely avenue.
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God knows perfect albums don't grow on trees. Everything has to line up exactly, and then the artist has to get lucky to make sure it comes out right. Willie Nelson had already taken the country by storm with his breakthrough 1975 album Red Headed Stranger and three other successful follow-ups. And then he decided to throw a curveball.
MoreALBUM OF THE WEEK
That Ry Cooder sure has a lot of nerve. First he wanted you to learn about obscure blues music way back in the ‘70s when few people cared about such things. Then he wanted you to tour the world with him, musically speaking, from Okinawa to Texas to Mali to Cuba. And he wanted you to go see movies that he'd written scores for. Then he wanted you to learn about Los Angeles history with his Chavez Ravine album, concerning the community displaced to make way for Dodger Stadium.
MoreTODAY'S BOOM TUNE
Album: Source Point
John Hammond has the touch, going all the way back to his first albums in the early ‘60s on Vanguard Records. He was a bluesman through and through, even while his wealthy father was the most revered talent scout in the music business. Hammond always stood on his own ground, and never got any favors.
MoreON THE CORNER
It should have been easy. It should still be easy. It was not easy, and it will never be easy. This story condenses several stories into one. This is the story of the Mr. Ed Fan Club, the story of how I became almost famous for a few years, and the story of how I crashed and burned, and then learned to survive disaster. This is the story of Edstock, which is celebrating its 24th anniversary this week. Let me guess; you don't know what an Edstock is.
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