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Dave McElfresh

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Latest Articles

They Like It Rough

And so does our brave writer, who dove headfirst into a never-ending series of fascinating world- music compilations

By Dave McElfresh
Dec 4, 2003

Yours truly hasn't taken a day off since suffering the after-effects of Scottsdale's 1995 Raw Pork Festival, which means he's accrued enough vacation days to stay home studying Baywatch reruns until he's post-menopausal. Maybe it's time for a trip somewhere farther than Discount Cheeses. No can do, unfortunately. Who would...
Run, Rasta, Run

A clever reggae remake of Dark Side of the Moon lovingly lampoons the album's hazy cult

By Dave McElfresh
Feb 27, 2003

Imagine you were abducted by aliens in 1973. Thirty years later, the little green bastards return you to Earth. Your friends hold a welcome-back party, during which they ask you, "Hey, man, guess which album has ruled the charts since you left, dude?" "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?" you...
O Brother, Where Are We?

New outtakes collection spotlights the visionary stoner-bluegrass of John Hartford's Aereo-Plain

By Dave McElfresh
May 16, 2002

The Aereo-Plain cover photo looks like a close-up shot of a grasshopper, though it's only a wild-haired John Hartford, wearing broken aviator goggles, going nose to nose with the camera. The picture could clear a field of crows, and the music inside -- no less jarring -- sounds like it...
Blowing Rufus' Mind

A roundup of the latest batch of eclectica that fell through the cracks

By Dave McElfresh
Feb 21, 2002

In 1941, a 12-year-old Rufus Jones electrified his homemade guitar with a piece of fence wire and a truck battery, "to impress them local Mississippi girlies," he recalls. While showing off by playing the guitar with his teeth -- decades before Jimi Hendrix would do the same -- his pet...
Paperback Writers

Latest music books struggle to demystify pop culture's greatest enigmas

By Dave McElfresh
Dec 20, 2001

Lots of colorful musician biographies have recently been added to bookstore shelves, as well as a handful of other unique music tomes. Surprisingly, nearly all of them are worth your time -- and you'll get more smut for your entertainment dollar than you would with a VH1: Behind the Music...

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