Anyone who has run a marathon – or participated in any endurance sport, come to that – knows that, seasonal averages be damned, trying to predict the weather for race days is something of a crap shoot. (The exception being … Continue reading
By Steven Rosen For music to go on living, it has to be reinterpreted from time to time. That can reinvigorate it – John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things – or be so corny and awful – Pat Boone’s infamous In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Continue reading
Following a run of 2 years 9 months I’ve decided to wind things down with Living To Music, making it an irregular feature of the blog from herein. Up until now it had been a monthly series, but something has … Continue reading
I’m a fiend for line ads in print media; more often than not all human life is there and intriguing stories are contained in just a few words. Leafing through the June 24, 1971 issue of British underground magazine Frendz … Continue reading
RIP George Jones: A memory of the Wembley Country Festival, 1981 Simon and I loved the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis, and were prepared to endure any amount of maudlin production-line Nashville filler to see him. Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Morrissey, 54 years young today. I’m not typically in the habit of giving birthday shout-outs (e.g., a belated best wishes to Mr. Pete Townshend, 68 last Sunday), but this particular anniversary is much on my mind as I … Continue reading
Gospel singer Regina McCrary, an old friend of Bob Dylan’s, is 55 today (May 22, 2013). Continue reading
There must be some way out of here, but really there isn’t. The popular Atomic Cocktail radio show simply couldn’t stop a time-honored tradition (one that began in 2010) in its tracks. That’s why this Thursday, May 23, at 5 … Continue reading
“Ray RIP” texted my longtime muso pal Graham at 7am. Since neither of us, to my almost certain knowledge, has ever befriended a Raymond, my reply was instant, if incredulous: “Manzarek?” Still, only when this was confirmed did I allow … Continue reading
One from the RBP vaults: the late Doors keyboard maestro answers ten questions for Sylvie Simmons in MOJO, December 1997… Ever since Jim Morrison’s death there have been many Elvis-style, alive-and-well-and- pumping-gas ‘sightings’. Has it ever crossed your mind … Continue reading
Keyboardist of The Doors, producer of alternative acts such as X, and platinum class act for staying up to date with burgeoning pop culture Ray Manzarek passed away today at age 74. ‘Very sad to learn of his death. All … Continue reading
By Larry Jaffee Maybe it’s the recent renewed appreciation for nostalgia in popular culture (e.g., the 1920s in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby; the 1930s and 1940s in Downton Abbey; the 1950s in Call the Midwife; the 1960s in Mad … Continue reading
The most talked about album in many years, Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’, is released in the UK today, and, as discussed in my post from the beginning of the month, ‘Disco Now Disco Then’ (http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/05/disco-now-disco-then-2), it’s all set to … Continue reading
Fair use of photograph by Arthur Fellig (Weegee.) To me, this is Weegee’s best photograph because it taught me to view images differently forever. I hitherto had thought his work exploitational, but this shot makes any viewer a better human. … Continue reading
Click to read the latest column from Jeffrey Morgan: JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #368
View Upcoming 2013 Gigs by Michael Gray, Europe in a larger map Continue reading
“I’m going back to New York City / I do believe I’ve had enough…” … Continue reading
I don’t have a copy of this, and don’t know the author, but it sounds interesting – and has a title that gets itself noticed:This is the publisher’s blurb, not mine:Text and Drugs and Rock’n'Roll explores the interaction between two of the most powerful socio-cultural movements in the post-war years – the literary forces of the Beat Generation and the musical energies of rock and its attendant culture.Simon Warner examines the interweaving strands, seeded by the poet/novelists Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and others in the 1940s and 1950s, and cultivated by most of the major rock figures who emerged after 1960 – Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Bowie, the Clash and Kurt Cobain, to name just a few.This fascinating cultural history delves into a wide range of issues: Was rock culture the natural heir to the activities of the Beats? Were the hippies the Beats of the 1960s? What attitude did the Beat writers have towards musical forms and particularly rock music Continue reading
PETULA CLARK – Lost in You Album: Lost In You Artist: Petula Clark Label: The End Records/Sony Music Release Date: April 02, 2013 BY STEVEN ROSEN As much a surprise as finding a new album by 80-year-old Petula Clark (singer of the 1964 pop-rock classic “Downtown”) on a label that also features Art Brut, the Prodigy, Cradle of Filth and Anvil is the fact that it’s really good. Not just good, but contemporary in its production and (for the most part) material, creating a showcase for Clark’s reserved but convincingly involved voice. Continue reading
Before the lights dimmed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on 46th Street in Manhattan to signal the start of The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream, the voice of Steven Van Zandt boomed out at the SRO crowd. This would be … Continue reading
As we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Smiths as recording artists, with ‘Hand In Glove,’ let’s go back three more months to the gig that produced its B-side: The Haçienda, Manchester, February 4 1983. It was just their third … Continue reading
WTF? A small jet-engine-mimicking, air-cooled motor in a mass-produced Czech vehicle with a pronounced dorsal fin? It’s a car I always wanted to espy in person and heretofore never had until the 5.5.13 car show at Petersen Automotive Museum, Miracle … Continue reading
The Cocoa Song is from the cult British Film Institute-funded multicultural musical Moon Over The Alley, directed by Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq. Released in 1976 with a score by Galt McDermot, a fellow Canadian who is probably best known … Continue reading
The Psychotronic Music of Neuronium Michel Huygen & I have been in contact for over 30 years. I’ve been reviewing and playing his music all along and the Eurock files are filled with information, photos and art work … Continue reading
Bowie Walk Having helped the V&A with a photo of Dobell’s, they’re kind enough to send me this Jonathan Barnbrook-designed pamphlet, David Bowie Is Walking In Soho. The tour starts here Continue reading
