I love music. I can’t tell you how much money I’ve spent on it through the years, but a lot. I own thousands of CDs (either in physical or digital form) and am blessed to count as friends some of the most talented artists I’ve ever heard. It’s that last part, I guess, that causes me to take what has
Read moreI’m a big Jets Overhead fan. Not only do I love the sounds they make, but it’s hard not to lose yourself in the near-zen simplicity of their message. If ever a band has dedicated itself to putting the lie to our society’s rampant affluenza, it’s these guys. They just released the vid for “Boredom and Joy.” See what I
Read moreIn sports they’re called “role players.” They’re the working class guys who play defense, dive for loose balls, get under the opponent’s skin, fight it out in the trenches. They’re not stars and they don’t make the big bucks or have lucrative endorsements or land supermodel wives. But without them you don’t win, period. Music has role players, too. We
Read moreLet’s see, who else are we loving so far in 2012? Ah, here’s one. Ryan Shaw: Real Love – I’ve been a fan of Shaw’s since … well, since I first heard him maybe three years ago. Gods, what a voice. I have argued that had he come along in the mid-1960s we’d now be remembering him favorably alongside the likes
Read moreI always do my year-end best music list, but it’s also fun to take note of where we are at the halfway pole. Or, in this case, the 7/12 pole. So here’s some of what I’ve been digging on so far this year. The Blueflowers: Stealing the Moon – Their 2011 release was one of my very best of the year,
Read moreI just tripped over this at Jeffrey Dean Foster’s FB page: Until August 3rd CDBaby is selling JDF’s Million Star Hotel and The Pinetops’ Above Ground and Vertical for only $5.00 each for the digital download. Plus they are not taking any percentage of the sale. So get them while they are cheap and help out the artist. If you don’t have
Read moreLegendary rock keyboardist Jon Lord, who pioneered Deep Purple’s signature Hammond organ-driven sound, is dead at 71. Sweet dreams, Jon, and thanks for the memories.
Read moreI’m currently reading Christopher Moore’s 2006 novel, A Dirty Job, and am nearing what I expect to be a slam-bang, fun-filled, rollicking climax. I picked it up because I thought Lamb, the story of Jesus Christ’s life as told by his best friend Levi, who is called Biff, was one of the funniest things I’d ever read. If you haven’t run across
Read moreRecently I was pondering Donald Trump’s inexplicable behavior on the campaign trail, allegedly on behalf of GOP nominee Mitt Romney. I was only able to conceive of two possible explanations that would account for his ludicrous Orly Taitz act: either he is secretly working for Obama or he’s actually a covert performance artist working on a long, episodic political satire
Read moreNot to belabor the point – because it doesn’t really need a lot of explanation – but the US Top 40 has sucked moose balls for a very long time. The fashion in recent years has tended toward prefabricated diva pop, braindead hit-hop and cynical producer-driven techno-pop music-like product. Imagine Simon Cowell’s iPod, in other words. Oscar Wilde once described
Read moreI’m a sucker for chalk art, so I always look forward to the Denver Chalk Art Festival. I’m apparently not the only one, either, as the crowd shot below suggests. The crowds seem to be getting larger each year, too, and I suppose it’s easy to understand why. June in Denver, Larimer Square, fantastic artists – what’s not to love,
Read moreJust two months ago we lost Bluegrass icon Earl Scruggs. Yesterday, Folk legend Doc Watson died at the age of 89. Both were from my native North Carolina and each played a huge role in the Tar Heel state’s rich musical tradition. Today S&R bids a fond farewell to one of America’s true innovators. Happy travels, Doc.
Read moreWe seem to offer this up each year around this time. Congratulations, grads, and please accept this tidbit of advice from those of us here at S&R: always remember where you’re from, but don’t ever let it keep you from where you want to go.
Read moreOnce I was a believer in the time-honored Senate filibuster tradition, although by “believer” I don’t necessarily mean that I loved it or revered it, exactly. I was more like a guy worried about a zombie apocalypse stocking up on 12-gauge shells. In case things go to hell, at least the good guys have the filibuster to slow the lumbering
Read moreThe new Ryan Shaw CD dropped today and I’m giddy as a schoolgirl at her first sock hop. Shaw has one of the absolute best pure voices in the entire neo-Soul genre – maybe the best. It’s like listening to Otis or Marvin or Wilson Pickett or, in more recent days, the criminally underappreciated Malford Milligan. Still on my first listen,
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lullaby pit 