Let me start out by saying that my attitude towards the music of Neil Young runs hot and cold. There have been both records and shows of his that I have liked and those that I have not. Based on reports of his recent shows with backing band Promise of the Real, I went to […]
I was truly blessed to see a reprise (with a nice space in between) of Springsteen’s River Tour in Columbus after having seen it February in Louisville. Unexpectedly, this show turned out to be of particular interest since it was Bruce’s first after his much-publicized North Carolina boycott. Outside of him appearing well-rested, there was […]
Well, add classic country music legend Merle Haggard to the list of artists who have passed on this year. Sadly, the man who helped create the Bakersfield Sound died today on his 79th birthday. At this rate, next year’s Grammy Awards segment on obits will take the show into overtime. Merle was certainly a legend, […]
(Author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements with special musical guests: Bright Little Field and Tommy Womack) Listening to Bob Mehr talk about The Replacements put me back under the spell that reading his fabulous book had me under. It was also like group therapy to be in a room full of […]
Recently, I got involved with a thread about which of rock’s founding fathers I have seen live in concert. Not those who sold millions of records, but those who helped build the foundation of rock and roll. At the time, I felt quite fortunate about who I had seen. But now, my list now seems […]
Those who know me know of my frequent trips home to see my parents In New Jersey. In addition to the quality family time, the evenings usually offer me time to exploit the New York area for my two passions: pizza and music. New York music plans start at http://www.pollstar.com, and this time the site […]
I suspect that everyone my age may have had a progressive (“prog”) rock phase. The radio, New York City’s WNEW-FM in my case, had a big role in that. In the pre-punk and new wave days of the early 70s, DJs like Alison Steele, had no shame in playing the big prog-rockers of the day: […]
E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent, who has witnessed more live Springsteen shows than anyone other than Bruce himself, came back to Nashville during a break between River Tour shows in Milwaukee and St. Louis. In addition to catching up on his laundry, Garry managed to squeeze in a record release Friday appearance at his […]
After travelling up the road from Music City to Louisville to see a River Tour show, here are a few things I’d like to tell Bruce. What you are doing is incredible! The fact that you are performing The River album in its entirety 35-years after its release is remarkable. This is analogous to hearing […]
Unless you follow Todd Snider’s Facebook page, you would not have heard about this one. Although I don’t, a message from a Todd-devotee friend of mine in Arizona got the word to me. Here is the alert that Todd made only 24 hours before show time about his unusual free East Nashville afternoon performance. My […]
Music City Mike 