Deliver Me From Nowhere: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’
Sean Murphy(Damn right I came up with the title of the movie first. Actually, Bruce did—and it’s one of his best lines, from one of his best songs from an album…
Never Say Die: Ozzy into the Void
He accomplished everything he was put here to do. And more. He didn't merely change music, and the world, for the better, he shifted history, like a cultural tectonic plate:…
Sly Stone: For me to stay here, I got to be me
Listen: hearing is believing. Always. Which isn’t to say that we don’t need or shouldn’t appreciate critics (hi!), but sometimes it really is best to let the tape roll and…
2023: A Final Farewell to Some Irreplaceable Icons
Wow, it's sad to look back and see the sheer number of all-times greats we watched depart our planet this year. Of course, these losses are invariably mitigated by the…
Celebrating Sue Mingus
Sad to hear the news of Sue Mingus's passing, but am here to celebrate an incredible life fully led, with adventure and passion to spare. And for us jazz fans…
The Centennial of Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus had many things to say, and he used his mouth, his pen, his fists, and mostly his music to say them. Of the myriad words that describe Mingus, passionate would…
RIP Ian McDonald: MVP of the Best Prog Album Ever
If Ian McDonald had done nothing other than be a crucial (arguably the crucial) member of the band that, in 1969, recorded the album that launched a thousand pretentious, proggy,…
Robert Fripp at 75: The King of the Court
Happy 75th to an artist who has not merely helped shape and define whatever it is, exactly, prog rock has managed to encompass, but as a positive force for music:…
Goodfellas at 30: The Most Definitive American Movie of the Last Three Decades
First, a confession. I did not love Goodfellas the first time I saw it (in the theater, shortly after it opened, in October, 1990). Then again, this seems to happen with certain…
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: Celebrating Sgt. Pepper
It was fifty years ago today… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To get a proper handle on how revolutionary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was, it’s imperative…