“I’m gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause even if this room gets filled with lies like these . . . somebody will listen to me . . .” — James Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington “Been broken down too fucking long . . .” —…
Ben Franklin defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” which explains why he only flew his kite into lightning once. In pop music, you want that kind of insanity — plus repetition and reiteration on a theme, which, if done properly, can intensify…
Many have defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” which explains why Ben Franklin flew his kite in lightning only once. In pop music, you want that kind of insanity — plus repetition and reiteration on a theme, which, if done properly, can…
How is it that two of 2007’s top sellers — Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears — sold more than a million records in the U.S. without touring the U.S. this year? It’s because pity has become the new indispensable promotional tool. See how your faves have already maxed out the…
Because kids in 2007 aren’t buying CDs like kids of yesteryear did, retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target are threatening to scale back their shelf space to stock only new releases from artists with proven sales. Not a big deal if you buy CDs on Amazon or iTunes, but…
One lament you’d never expect to hear about the local punk scene is that there’s no sense of community. Punk, by its very nature, champions apathy, an I-could-give-a-shit belief system and do-it-yourself work ethic. But truth be told, punk’s nihilistic front just ensures that you’re not listening to music made…
Rarely has revenge been served colder than the frozen shit sandwich the record industry has been served. Two decades after forcing the record-buying public into accepting the CD without once lowering its list price, people let it be known via iTunes that they just want the tracks they like, thanks…
It’s either fortuitous psychic planning or just plain dumb luck that The Green Lady Killers released an EP that opens with a song called “Psycho Ellen” in the same week Ellen DeGeneres cuckooed up the airwaves weeping about a troublesome doggy she couldn’t handle with some kind of Michael Vick…
Until now, Elton John, Philip Norman’s 1992 unauthorized biography of the piano man, has stood as the definitive word (also updated in 2000 as Sir Elton: The Definitive Biography, for those who missed the point). That’s the tome where we first learned about “Elton’s little moments” — his frequent tantrums…
Since its inception, reality TV hasn’t brought us much in the way of realism. Someone who wouldn’t normally nosh on a plateful of live Madagascar hissing cockroaches breaking down and chewing on a few shouldn’t fall under the “reality” category just because there’s prize money involved and an accredited medic…
One of Jim Louvau’s favorite talking points when making a case for his new band The Attitude is the void to be filled because there are no more new rock stars. And he’s right. If you want cocksure swagger and violence, rappers have that segment fully under control. And as…
The three most sentimental places in the world are cemeteries, airports, and tattoo parlors. Because the first two are verboten, thanks to the church and Homeland Security, Jake La Botz has been making good on the remaining option with his second annual Tattoos Across America tour. If you’ve ever wondered…
Here’s a reconstituted ’70s classic-rock group with an otherwise engaged leader. Deep Purple’s grumpy guitar hero, Ritchie Blackmore, probably hasn’t even played the “Smoke on the Water” riff around the house since 1993, but clearly, Purple is the headliner. Besides the added value of having Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse…
If you took a hand counter to a televangelist, you’d click six times as many references to Satan as to his former boss — it’s way better for the play-acting to grouse and growl than it is to ape a stoic and benevolent Christ. So why should a screamo gospel…
One or two of the acts on the “Hippiefest” tour would’ve spiced up the typical take-the-money-and-run oldies packages that plow through town every summer. But together, this package of ’60s acts truly shows remarkable breadth. The acts have retained their critical cachet and haven’t worn out their names with nostalgia…
Hard to believe, but in the 10-plus years that The Cremains have made rawkin’ their business, they’ve never been represented by a full-length recording. Besides the two EPs that started them off, there was the Sacred Stage album they did with Navajo singer James Bilagody. On that album, The Cremains…
It’s no small source of stupid pride for me that there are a million cool anagrams for my name, everything from Mr. Iodine Scene to I Sneer Demonic to No Dicier Semen. Any one of these would make a natty album title. But apparently, it’s equally no small source of…
When the members of Psycho Gypsy first applied makeup to their young faces in early 1992, it was at a time when their musical heroes had thoroughly scrubbed the stuff out of their pores, seemingly for good. Psycho Gypsy co-founder and bassist/guitarist Tim Cheney says, “Before we put together our…
Perhaps more significant to today’s audiences than Sgt. Pepper’s 40th anniversary was the Beatles’ contribution that same summer to the program Our World. As part of the very first live global television link, the show was broadcast to 26 countries and watched by 350 million people via satellite on June…
The man they once called Tiger Tom was savvy enough to secure all the rights to his ITV variety show, which ran in England and America from 1969 to 1971, but securing rights from some of the performers proved harder. That’s why review copies of the DVD This Is Tom…
The next guy who calls 2007 “the year of the reunion” is gonna get his nose separated from his face. Sure, 40 years removed from the Summer of Love, it’d be nice to think there were larger Utopian forces at work beyond common greed and stalled solo careers bringing together…
Music that bears the most repeated listenings hits you on an abstract, moth-to-a-naked-light bulb level. The attraction may be lyrical ambiguity, sonic submersion, a spirited count-off or just the decibel ring of a voice around the circumference of your skull. All we know is, we’ve been repeatedly playing the two…
