Chasing Bowie
A long time ago, I didn’t know who David Bowie was. I was young, foolish, and in 8th grade. Without a drivers license, and desperate to “spread my wings,” I learned how to navigate the subway…
Where is David Bowie?
Without going on and on and on about how last night’s Closing Ceremonies, what seemed oddest to me was the attention lavished on David Bowie. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy. But where has…
RIP Adam Yauch
When you’re a Jewish kid growing up in the suburbs, your choices are pretty slim. You like Billy Joel, you go to Hebrew School, you get braces, and you practice for your Bar Mitzvah. That’s pretty…
Amoeba My Dreams
Latest Amoeba Music shopping spree: You should all go buy these NOW! And while I love Newbury Comics, Amoeba Music is the greatest music store on the planet. Perhaps the galaxy, and likely the universe…
Snowpocalypse Now
It snowed in Boston. One reporter saw a guy named Noah putting snow tires on his ark. Shoopa Shoopa. Knowing that I was going to be spending a large amount of time outside snowblowing/shoveling/cursing my life,…
The best thing you’ll see all day. Maybe all week…
So there’s all this hype and rumble around the new Elton John/Leon Russell album. Some love it, some hate it, and most agree it could’ve been better. I’ve been an Elton fan for a LONG time….
September Song…
I love timely musical references. Maybe it’s the radio geek in me, I dunno. Here’s Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughan performing “September Song” with the Boston Pops from the early ’80s…posted today September 1st !!!
The Summer’s Top Five Music Festivals
I’m a fan of lists. For no good reason I love hearing the best, worst, most likely to, or things you’d bring onto a desert island. It’s less about what’s on the list than it is…
Carole & James
For about a month now, I had been debating whether or not I should check out the “Troubadour Reunion” tour by James Taylor and Carole King. I’ve always wanted to see Carole King in concert, and…
All the small things (from my past…?)
Just found this, randomly. Me interviewing Blink-182, on my birthday, in 2004 … in Paso Robles, CA.
The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
When I started at Berklee, I got a job in the jazz department at Tower Records. This was before iPods, before MySpace, and at a time when people were still asking what we had on cassette….
I bought new music.
While I spend plenty on iTunes and AmazonMP3, there’s something to be said for the experience of seeking music out in the store, looking at the cover art, and waiting ’til you get it home to open, listen, and savor the music.
Beware! Beware! The Ides of March are upon us …
…and they’re singing “Vehicle” 🙂 The best-est part of working in radio was being able to play amazingly topical music. Specifically, March 15th meant the one time we got to play “Vehicle” by the Ides of…
So you’re thinking: What does Scott want for his birthday?
I’m so glad you’re planning ahead. You see, lots of people tend to wait ’til the last minute. And at that point, I end up getting coffee mugs and gift cards. Not that those aren’t nice,…
All the King’s Horses, Part II
So as Ian and I discussed the state of the industry, its cast of characters, and what kind of artists should be using Topspin (or Nimbit … or Bandcamp … or Audiolife … ), it all became re-enforced by what I saw on the tv last night: style over substance, instant over earned, easy over challenging.
King EvRock’s Soulsonic Decade
Bringing The Party Back To The People… Despite the 2000’s being soaked with celebrity deaths, unwanted wars, cowboy presidents, and the bankruptcy of the U.S.A., there was an rebirth of music as power, public praise and…
Happy Thanksgiving …
This is a song about Alice …
Happy Veterans Day from Phil Ochs
“I’ll do for you now, for you nice people here, a protest song. A protest song is defined as something, as a song you don’t hear on the radio. And they’ll say you don’t hear it…
Oh Bob ….
Like many music industry types, I read the Lefsetz Letter. And again, like many, I often think old Bob is just a cranky, washed-up, old-school record label type guy. Case in point: he recently shredded a…
Picture of the Day: The Rat
Gone for nearly a decade, The Rat(hskellar) in Kenmore Square (Boston) was the dingy, local launchpad for all kinds of bands. A couple of note: The Police, The Talking Heads, and the Ramones. Take a little…
Happy Birthday, John …
Today would’ve been John Lennon’s 69th birthday…
If “A” is for Allah, is “S” for sellout?
The public is a fickle lover. One minute, it’s a blissful romance, and in the next you’re a loathed, lambasted lothario clamoring for acceptance from those who understand you. Alliteration aside, the public has the power…
92 is #1 …. not 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 21st, 24th, 29th, 31st, 33rd, 37th, or 38th !
Reprinted from CNN Vera Lynn, who made her name entertaining troops in World War II after recording her first song 70 years ago, has become the oldest living artist to have a number one album. The…
Here a Beatle, There a Beatle …
Judging from this week’s media hype, 9/09/09 is the next coming of the Beatles. The folks at Harmonix are releasing RockBand: Beatles Edition, and all things Beatle are flooding the market. I just got back from…
Sailing takes me away …
It’s Labor Day Weekend, so I’m taking to the high seas and/or Boston Harbor for a day of sailing. And, naturally, that involves creating the playlist for the day’s activities. Here’s what I’ve got so far….
I’m just looking for the bridge…
I’m not sure why I find this so amusing, but …. For those of you interested in playing “The Crunge” by Led Zeppelin, here’s how to count it out (courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia, so…
If the Jews wrote the hits …
Here’re a few thoughts on classic rock tunes if they had (truly) been written by my brethren – the Chosen People: 1. Dirty Deeds Done for a Very Reasonable Price – AC/DC 2. Stairway to Brisket…
Elton and Eminem and Timbaland and …
Springsteen played Bonnaroo. McCartney played Coachella. Elton recorded a track with Timbaland. Somewhere, somehow the lines are becoming blurred. Speaking of McCartney, let’s not forget that Rockband – Beatles Edition comes out on 9/9/09. Can a…
A Phish-y lesson …
Last night I trekked down to the Comcast Center to see Phish. Admittedly, I’m only a passing Phish phan, but the ticket was offered, seemed like phun, and off (oph?) I went. In my own defense,…
But was your face blown out … ?
The big news in Boston was the opening of the brand-new, super-duper House of Blues on Landsdowne St. Rising from the ashes of Avalon (formerly Venus de Milo which was formerly Metro which was formerly Citi…
Free your iPod !!!
iPod might be the greatest thing to happen to music since ears. But my personal listening habits (and many others who I scientifically polled…), seem to evolve around listening to the same bunch of songs. Granted…
Find it here, but listen to it … there!?
Back in ye olde days, I had a pretty sweet system. Bose speakers, Denon receiver and cd player, and the oh-so-pricey gold Monster Cables connecting everything together. I was a sophomore in high school, and I…
The Fine Art of Pissing People Off
It has always amazed me that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease.” And while there are quieter, more deserving people in need of help or praise, there may in fact be more to gain by squeaking…
It’s 2009 and boy are my arms tired …
Now that we’re into a new year, and most people have already made and/or broken their resolutions, I wanted to address a l’il issue that bugs me. For those who know me, this isn’t the following:…
The Death of Idealism
Lately, as we march deeper into the nastiness of recession, I’ve seen those whom I consider good people become less than honorable. The fear of many things -mostly financial- has whittled away their sense of idealism,…
Something amazingly good
Bruce sang that there were “57 channels and nothing on.” Back then, he wasn’t far off. But the good folks at Comcast have found a way to trump that by nearly ten-fold. Then, when the despair…
And he found brown m&ms in the bowl…
In an odd way, I think he did the right thing. In the world of music, massaging the ego is usually lesson one. There is an eminent Russian conductor encamped at a private home in Brookline,…
Dorothy Parker lives on – sort of.
Criticism, in its best and worst form lives on. The late, great Dorothy Parker wrote some of the finest, including: “This not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force”…
Dorothy Parker lives on – sort of.
Criticism, in its best and worst form lives on. The late, great Dorothy Parker wrote some of the finest, including: “This not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force”…
Turn me on, Deadman
Once a month I go out and buy some music. You know: in the store, CD in hand, and actually purchase items. While it’s a longer discussion, I really do like having a physical product and…
It’s hot. Africa hot.
So the docs have given me permission (after nearly 4 weeks!) to go back to the gym. Whatever was supposed to heal in my shoulder has done so, and I’m headed up the road to test…