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 …
Saturday night May 25th I headed to Seattle’s University District to a very cozy little place called Kraken Lounge. On the bill were two of my favorite Seattle bands — Poorsport and Angie and the Car Wrecks. Poorsport finished out the night and unfortunately many had left by the time they came on. I don’t …
http://www.mstarz.com/articles/12655/20130510/jimi-hendrix-miles-davis-collaboration-included-paul-mccartney-memo-requesting.htm Would’ve made an interesting rip in the Rock/Time Continuum, needless to say! If only Mark Shipper had known about this…. Imagine The Seventies if….Jimi, Paul, Miles, and Tony HAD formed "Sky Church" in late-1969 and (inevitably) sold MILLIONS of records— 1. The Beatles might not have had to break up permanently, thereby stanching the FLOOD of questionable “solo” product …
I actually kinda/sorta liked this song during its year of what seemed like hourly airplay on Seattle’s KCMU/KEXP (it’s right on the cusp o’ that local re-branding shift, so I don’t recall which call letter era it falls into, specifically), and at the very least it has stuck wit’ me all these years, but I greatly disliked them and all they represented and …
An impromptu night out Saturday May 18th landed me south of downtown Seattle at Slim’s Last Chance. This was my first time in this now legendary club. It think it’s even cozier than Darrel’s Tavern that’s about as far north as Slim’s is south to downtown Seattle. Slim’s is cozy, intimate and very friendly. I …
I’m not going to do a post on Ray Manzarek. I met him once. He was a good guy. I was part of a group of students that brought him and the poet Michael McClure to Washington State University for a standing room only performance. Ray was a perfect gentleman, a seasoned entertainer, and he …
Video premiere: Sara Jackson-Holman’s ‘Freight Train’ in USA Today – http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/05/16/freight-train-sara-jackson-holman-video-greys-anatomy/2173893/ For someone untrained in the sweet science, Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman sure knows how to land a one-two punch. Thursday morning, USA Today‘s website debuted the video for Jackson-Holman’s breathtaking new single, “Freight Train;” that evening, the song was featured in Grey’s Anatomy’s season finale. …
If you’re one of the “Sexy People” you’ve danced and sweated to “Erotic City” and to Sheila E. “Erotic City,” written by Prince, has one of the most recognizable dance grooves on this planet if you’re not compelled to hit the dance floor in the first 4 bars you’re dead. On a side note, Sheila …
I’ve long abandoned most modern and pop music labels, thinking of them as nothing more than marketing teams testing clever ways to sell products to people with little understanding musical evolution. In the broadest sense, general terms like Indie Rock are perfectly acceptable provided that critics don’t simply slather additional meaningless labels on top of …
Here is a revised version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”– a song originally recorded on earth and released June 11, 1969 to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing– which was recently covered by Canadian Astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield, while on board the International Space Station. Someone had to do this eventually– cover the “Major …
Rancid will be performing July 11 and 12 at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle with Transplants and Noise on the 11th and Transplants and The Interrupters on the 12th. Rancid’s now classic album And Out Come the Wolves was first played in Seattle around 1997 by KNDD (a station that used to play punk but …
As of this writing, the Golden State Warriors are tied at two wins apiece with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Western Conference semifinals. This is their best showing in the playoffs since the 1970s, when Rick Barry was setting records for free throws with his trademark granny shot. Fans of NBA basketball north …
How did I miss this guy? Talk about a guy overcoming his disabilities. This poor kid, Michel Petrucciani died at 36 years old but lived to be one of the best Jazz pianists of his generation. He’s off the charts amazing at piano and you’d assume at first glance that his size would limit his …
“Whiskey princess, drink me under, pull me in…” This is a catchy little tune from All Time Low and the vid is salted with some funny scenes. Generally I’ve been done with pop punk since London Calling, and certainly since Rancid’s And Out Come the Wolves, but the chorus of this power-sweetened tune is stuck …
From The Johnny Cash Show:
At nine in the morning on Friday, my wife called me at my office. “It’s Metallica Night at AT&T Park,” she said. “I think you should go.” That sounded a lot better than working, so after lunch I took off and drove down to Concord, where I took a BART train into San Francisco. It …
This Swedish band, Goat, is from Korpilombolo. There were in Chicago two days ago. I should have gone. Drat! Sweden produces great music these days… Opeth and Meshuggah are very different from Goat. – Mark Erickson
Just because it’s a Tuesday night doesn’t mean Seattle’s night life slows down. The last day of April and Neumos on Seattle’s eclectic Capitol Hill is hosting London punks Killing Joke. Front man Jeremy (Jaz) Coleman came out looking like a cross between Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper with heavy black eyeliner, thick black hair …
In the decades since we discovered (and learned to revere) Sir Lord Baltimore’s proto-Speed Metal debut LP, 1970’s peerless KINGDOM COME, I don’t recall encountering anything quite THIS enticingly-described within the realm of Classic Hard Rock Collector Scum Aesthetics! Description: Rare 1969 Deep Groove Stereo Original. Cut Corner. Appears Unplayed. Thunder And Roses Was An Early Power Trio …
Behold They Might Be Giants’ new video for “Insect Hospital” above. TMBG is currently touring in support of their album Nanobots and will perform in June 12 at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom and June 11 at Seattle’s Showbox SoDo. Here’s the latest from their publicist: Brooklyn’s original alternative rockers, They Might Be Giants are currently on …
From: Marc Marshall To: Kipp, Thomas J Subject: Davie Allan Hi Tom! Did I forward this to you already? My new musical friend at Noblis I told you about, Frank Lawrence, turned me on to Davie Allan recently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjhno4sn2TA Thanks Marc! What a fabulous summary of both the 1967 HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS movie and Davie Allan’s greatest fuzztone guitar masterpiece, “Cycle-Delic”! Also a wonderful …
Rock and roll. Every time I’ve seen Cheap Trick, they played as if they invented it. Most exciting band in the world. – Steve Stav http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qojUFE7ZkI8
When the audience for Chicago blues shifted in the 1960’s from working class black to college age white, a good bit of strange and sometimes wonderful music resulted. Electric Mud certainly makes the first category. The second? Well… Leonard and Phil Chess had already tried to market Muddy Waters to suit the folk craze and …
Another Saturday night in Seattle and another great night for local music. This time it was the 9th Annual Psychobilly Brawl at the Highline on Broadway. The Rocketz were headlining, but first there were some great acts to heat up the stage and set the night on fire. When I entered the cozy club a …
Seattle-based songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Rob Middleton has returned to the scene and is preparing an album’s worth of songs for release. Working with him on this project is Bill Ackerlund, an old friend from the ‘hood. Rob writes everything and performs everything. Bill is the engineer and co-producer. They have been gracious enough to …
Wednesday night April 17 was another great night for live music in Seattle. The Neptune Theater hosted New Jersey’s own Gaslight Anthem. Fresh off a Coachella performance, Gaslight Anthem are a little bit Springsteen, a little bit Clash and enough of their own unique sound to make them, well, unique. Vocalist Brian Fallon sounds like …
Denver-based Americana songstress Katey Laurel has an alluring voice which sounds like springtime in the Rockies and her songs—“Everything I Love,” “The Wheel,” and many others—embrace American magic and longing in their sounds, themes, production and intonation. Laurel has begun to attract the attention of other songwriters and a list of her accolades sounds like …
Monday night April 15th Seattle’s Showbox SODO hosted the Godfathers of Punk — Bad Religion. Around since 1979, the only band considered being in the punk genre that rivals Bad Religion in longevity is Social Distortion. Social D was born in 1978 but didn’t release their first album until 1983. Bad Religion released their first …
MH: OMG, I almost managed a morning start! Not quite pre-noon, although I did manage to get back down to 6th Street in order to catch Feathers play a lunch-time slot. I was curious about these. Their PR image is of a very glossy 4-girl band, almost too glamorous to be real, and I’d been …
The old phrase, “… and the plot thickens,” isn’t quite adequate to describe the episode-by-episode tension-building of Jane Campion’s new mystery miniseries, Top Of The Lake. The 7-parter, now airing on the Sundance Channel, follows a police detective (Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss) who returns to her rugged hometown and finds herself leading an investigation into …