Blasters shows have been described as a “cross between Creedence and the Clash.” – from their website. In my mind, they were a great band that not enough people found out about. Bill Bateman is one of the best drummers there is, and then, of … Continue reading The Blasters
Chasing Trane is a documentary about the life of John Coltrane which I had the good fortune to see a few nights ago at a local repertory theater. All the words attributed to Coltrane from interviews, liner notes, etc. are spoken in the film by … Continue reading Movie Review – Chasing Trane
Wikipedia: The Lowell Folk Festival is the longest running, and second largest, free folk festival in the United States. Only Seattle’s Northwest Folklife is larger, both in attendance and number of performance stages. It is made up of three days of traditional music, dance, craft demonstrations, street parades, … Continue reading The Lowell Folk Festival
(Pictured above – Southern Avenue) I don’t do nearly enough blues on this blog. Well, maybe I do and I never noticed. Anyway, a couple of bluesy things to listen to because you A) woke up this morning; B) lost your job and 3) your … Continue reading Time for a Shot of Blues
If you spent any time hanging around Harvard Square in the early 1980’s, you would have seen any number of street musicians (buskers) plying their trade. (Including, occasionally, my friend Bill and me.) One of those buskers was a college student named Tracy Chapman. (I’d … Continue reading Tracy Chapman
The character of the base music here is overwhelming: complex, ebullient and life-affirming, and in yoking this intricate dance music to his sophisticated New Yorker sensibility, Simon created a transatlantic bridge that neither pandered to nor patronized either culture.” – The Independent He looks around, … Continue reading Featured Album – Graceland – Paul Simon (Final of Two)
Ordinarily when I write about a featured album, it’ s only one post. In this case, I’m going to do two, not necessarily because Graceland is such a great album, but because the story around it is so big, so relevant and so damned interesting. … Continue reading Featured Album – Graceland – Paul Simon (Part One)
