Building "Bridges" Across the Bayou City!
With all due admiration and respect for the guitarists, bassists, drummers, keyboardists, and theremin players out there, itâs not for no reason that the lead vocalist is called the âfront manâ of a band. From their position at center stage, itâs usual…
Read MoreItâs hard to fathom today, but in the 1960s and ’70s, many record companies werenât run by corporate boards, faceless businessmen, and bean counters. There were charismatic leaders installed in positions of power, real âmusic menâ who could catch a new…
Read MoreThough he was born nearly a half century after Vincent Van Gogh died, and has achieved a level of fame and acclaim in his lifetime that The Starry Night painter only did posthumously, multimedia artist David Hockney (b. 1937) has always had an affinity…
Read MoreIn high school, most World History classes teach that Athens, Greece was the epicenter of culture back in the day when there was a lot of sculpture chiseling going on and Harry Hamlin was trying to kill Medusa. But in Music History class, its unlikely …
Read MoreNashville, Tennesseeâthe home of country musicâmight seem like an odd place to start a band writing and playing original music in the sonic style of mid-â60s British Invasion bands. But thatâs exactly what Judd Fuller and Dana Radford decided to doâalb…
Read MoreIt is indeed a very strange and (here comes that word again) âunprecedentedâ time for live music. Bands, audiences, venues, and promoters are all still trying to figure out when the gears for the industry will start moving again, and how shows and tour…
Read MoreTo the casual music listener, blues music may seem like a lot of the same stuff. Those iconic opening notes from Bo Diddleyâs âIâm a Manâ (by way of Muddy Waters âHoochie Coochie Manâ), the lyrics of devilish women/lost love/being broke, the alternatel…
Read MoreBill Champlin is on the phone calling from his home in Santa Barbara, California. And while itâs ostensibly to discuss his new solo record Livinâ for Loveâavailable digitally from Imagen Records and physically from BillChamplin.comâhe first has somethi…
Read MoreMusicians have always written songs on the road as inspiration hits them during their travels. But Lee Rocker has taken it to another level, and during a pandemic. The man best known for plunking the fat strings of a standup acoustic bass for the Stray…
Read MoreDeconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, the Mob, and the Summit By Richard A. Lertzman with Lon Davis 367 pp. $24.98 Prestige Books For a brief time in the early â60s, they were the Connoisseurs of Cool and the Sultans of Swinging Swagger, taking Las Vegas …
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