The unexpected upside of not having set foot inside of a live music venue for eight months has been rediscovering records that I had fallen out of touch with over the years. Sure, plenty of artists have chosen to release new music during the pandemic, but there’s something exhilarating about getting reacquainted with an album … Continue reading Guitarist Martin Barre on COVID and 50 Years of Jethro Tull
“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” – Bruce Springsteen, “Atlantic City” (1982) In her 1963 book, “Not Quite Posthumous Letter to My Daughter,” author Caitlin Thomas set out to write a manifesto in which every morsel of matriarchal wisdom that her 50-year-old self had accumulated up to that point … Continue reading Grief In the Time of COVID
Calling a funeral home at 3:30 a.m. to arrange the cremation of your 17-week-old daughter is something that no human being should ever have to do, but I did it, and I’m still here. Despite feeling as if I’ll never be the same again, I’ve soldiered on in the face of inscrutable tragedy to reach … Continue reading The Fab 50
“Race and racism continue to be important factors in American life, but we should not reduce every problem facing people of color to race and racism. That’s just part of the overall problem.” – William Julius Wilson Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson popularized the term “White Flight” in the mid-20th century as a way to … Continue reading We’re all stars now in the dope show
Joe Louis Walker has seen some shit. He made a name for himself within the Bay Area music scene when he was just 16-years-old and played alongside luminaries such as John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, and Muddy Waters, so, when he speaks his piece on how COVID-19 has decimated the industry, he knows what he’s … Continue reading Blues Comin’ Down: A conversation with legendary Bay Area bluesman Joe Louis Walker
While Shirley King admits that being the daughter of a blues legend has had certain advantages, the amount of time, energy, and hip shaking that she has put into establishing her own career can’t be denied. She turned to the blues in 1990 after spending 21 years as a dancer, and, three decades later, finally … Continue reading Blues For a King: Why Shirley King’s time is now
Western New York is in the process of entering “Phase Two” this week, but does anyone believe that we’re going to emerge as a kinder, gentler society as a result of our government-mandated isolation? Does anyone really feel as if the time apart will inspire us to rethink our approach to social interactions moving forward? … Continue reading If there’s a new way, I’ll be the first in line
“This is your life This is your time What if the flame won’t last forever? This is your here This is your now Let it be magical” When Ronnie James Dio sang those words in 1996’s “This Is Your Life,” he couldn’t possibly have imagined how affirming they would be to a kid from … Continue reading Ten Years Gone: Vinny Appice pays tribute to the late, great Ronnie James Dio on the 10th anniversary of his death
Last month, I shared a list of pop culture items that I felt could make your time in isolation a little less maddening. Not much has changed since then, so I’ve decided to offer another one to hopefully carry you through until the government decides what the next step is. Enjoy. Movies – “Videodrome” – … Continue reading The Quarantine Collection Part II
Gram Parsons died in 1973, but the legacy of what he and the rest of the original members of The Flying Burrito Brothers created on their first two studio albums is impossible to deny. Everyone from Glenn Frey to Elvis Costello to Emmylou Harris has cited Parsons as an influence and his contribution to the … Continue reading The legacy of The Burrito Brothers lives on
