Immigration reform has been a hot topic over the last few years and the issue is currently being debated in Congress. The most contentious issue when it comes to immigration reform is whether to allow undocumented immigrants a pathway to full citizenship. Immigration law firms around the nation have been debating this issue for some …
Month: June 2013
Whenever I hear Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street” I’m reminded of a time when as children we rode unseatbelted in cigarette-smoke-filled big cars and were left alone to figure out the world from carelessly laid issues of National Lampoon. – Nick Millward
My cousin, Tom Fredrickson, is a great writer, one of the very best I’ve had the good fortune to have known. He can write with laser exactitude on any subject. He has a new blog, http://lostwaxmethod.com/, which allows him to share his considerable music knowledge with the world. Today he writes about a Beach Boys …
Saturday June 15 marked the first day of my summer vacation and I lived it up on a beautiful sunny day just south of Seattle at the White River Amphitheater. The amphitheater grounds are vast rambling grounds with Mt. Rainier looming gloriously over it. When I first arrive around 11:30, the press list had not …
Friday was the last day of school and I wasted no time in starting my summer vacation from teaching at Seattle’s illustrious El Corazon while they hosted a night of punk/psychobilly that won’t soon be forgotten. The infamous Nekromantix headlined a night that had already heated up thanks to three stellar opening bands. More on …
Google Play Music/All Access joins the list of “specific” streaming music services, like Rhapsody and Spotify, where you can pick specific songs and make specific playlists, as well as explore random musical palettes. Contrast this with purely semi-random services like Pandora, or the new iRadio, where you can only hint at what you want, and …
The Guardian newspaper reported today that in addition to recent revelations about government phone taps, email and internet surveillance to uncover terrorist threats, it is also true that a reclusive billionaire and a lapsed CIA agent are working tirelessly in New York to save the lives of innocent and generally photogenic people who are in …
In 1997 Riot Grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) released a solo album under the name‚ “Julie Ruin” with the intention of forming a band to perform the songs live. In 2010, with Le Tigre on hiatus, Kathleen began to build her dream team with whom she recorded The Julie Ruin debut album. …
Austin-based singer-songwriter Bonnie Whitmore has just released her second album, There I Go Again, on This is American Music. There’s a rumor she references Hunter S. Thompson on one of the songs. If true, this is something I’d like to hear. Whitmore turned 30 recently and she’s been “in the biz” since she was 15. …
I was never a rabid fan, just a casual one. However, I’d love to see these guys in concert (not at a festival). I can’t believe they dissolved over 20 years ago. Man, I am old! http://www.vita.mn/crawl/210487301.html – Mark Erickson HOW THE REPLACEMENTS SAVED ME FROM THE LEDGE, by Claude Iosso
Just blundered upon this definitive MONDO “Beat It” from the infamous Jacksons VICTORY Tour of 1984, and I’ll be damned if the spectacle doesn’t live up to all its crazed HYPE, at least for the distended, 7:03 length of this one song, drum solo and all! I love how random Michael’s attempts to interact and …
By the by, former BUFFY co-star (and Tim Duncan’s teammate at Wake Forest, before that!) Marc Blucas’ mondo-gorgeous wife, Ryan Haddon, used to be married to Christian Slater, and I have an issue of the ritzy TOWN AND COUNTRY magazine in which there is a “mansion porn” article spotlighting their (then seemingly) idyllic life! Hope things are …
Are you an aspiring songwriter? If you’ve ever listened to a song and thought, “I can do that,” Seattle pop-punk band Quickie is ready to give you the chance. The trio wants to collaborate with you (and you, and YOU!) on a new song titled “Weapons of Mass Distraction”. “We’re looking for a phrase, a …
The true thoughts of sad dogs…
When worlds collide, we often get comedy. A story on National Public Radio this morning showed how this can happen even in the most traumatic situations. Apparently, kidnapping is a booming business in Latin America. The Morning Edition host, Steve Inskeep, interviewed a woman in Venezuela whose adult daughter had been kidnapped. While negotiating with …
Ah, a prime piece of bubblegum. That’s Ron Dante in the video, lead vocalist on the record. Not only did Dante (born Carmine Granito) sing lead on this, the number 1 song of 1969, but he also sang lead and backgrounds on “Tracy,” a number 9 hit by the Cufflinks. Has any other singer had …
The prospect of making money always attracted the Chess brothers’ interest, and the same may be said of their star performer, Chuck Berry. In 1956 Berry’s music was still stigmatized as “race music,” not to be played on white rock and roll stations. But a novelty tune might just scrape through, and why not hop …