News

Kirk Franklin Reveals Personal Struggles and Offers Blueprint for Fulfilling Spiritual Life in Face of Adversity, Told From Viewpoint of “A 2010 Christian Moderate, With Swag”

In an interview with Essence.com, Kirk Franklin describes his new book, “The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms,” as “a transparent approach to talking about issues — from marriage to politics to sex and religion — and it’s from my perspective. Not from a Princeton, mainline, protestant, evangelical or liberal viewpoint, but from …

Staxx Brothers Offer Free Download of Diamonds For Fiona, a Classic, Sought-After, Unreleased Track

Staxx Brothers– superstars of hard-ass soul, “the closest thing to vintage Funkadelic ever witnessed,”* and longtime friends of East Portland Blog are offering you a party that starts now and ends (if ever) in 2012. Anyone who purchases an advanced copy of Jungle Cat, the band’s next album, before the official release party, Saturday May …

Los Endos: Phil Collins to Retire – Critic’s Roundtable Discusses Genesis and Phil’s Exodus

Phil Collins has a new record coming out. Entitled “Going Back”, it features classic soul and Motown covers and no original songs by Collins. He says it’s his best album yet. He has also announced he’s retiring soon. The full story is here. Below, the critic’s roundtable responds to Collins’ retirement announcement: **************************************************** What a …

Pop Conference 2011: “Music and Money”! [UCLA, Friday 2/25 to Sunday, 2/27] by Cory Davis and Tom Kipp

Much enjoyment was had by all re: the festivities! This was my second Pop Conference – I attended sparsely last year as I had work conflicts throughout the weekend, unfortunately. We saw some great speakers this year, especially (in my opinion) Robert Christgau, David Ritz, and even an exceptional grad student or two! I had …