I am not going to lie to you. I have listened to ‘Peace Like A River’ seven times tonight. This song is so beautiful it’s cutting me. “You can beat us with wires, you can beat us with chains, you can run out your rules, but you know can’t outrun the history train” This song …
Search Results for: Davin Michael Stedman
The Colin Kaepernick story is one of the most fascinating stories of our generation. Most people didn’t even realize he was part African American until the media promoted his heartwarming adoption story, which explained why his parents were not Sicilian or Latin. Once he switched out his dooshy baseball flat brimmed cap and grew his …
REALITY CHECK: How much you want to bet that Trump doesn’t know that we actually fought China in the first Korean War, and that they whooped our ass? It was an ass whooping that ended as a stalemate and North Korea is still here taunting us because we lost. We almost got pushed right into …
Drinking a cold beer and listening to Van Morrison’s near masterpiece Veedon Fleece. I always wanted to track down this album, now I am tripping through Van’s own Irish myth and stream of conscious ramblings toward rich green patches of brilliance. He’s just a giant mushroom. He doesn’t make much sense, but you are free …
I’m not claiming to be a fan of the UFC, but this fight was amazing. The conditioning, quickness, and strategy I witnessed during Rousey vs. Holm was breathtaking. This is violence. This is brain damage. This is capitalism. You could see Rhonda Rousey’s market value and aura of invincibility hit the canvas harder than her …
I was writing a song in my backyard on my Spanish guitar, when a pair of raccoons came out of the bushes to check me out. The hood is alive… with the sounds of these little thieving quasi monkey bears and the sound of sensitive pony tail music. – Davin Michael Stedman
When I opened for Nappy Roots recently it struck me on stage like a bolt of lightning that I should start offering free harmonica lessons at shows. Folks just need to bring a decent harmonica down to the shows and I’ll send em’ home smiling with a valuable lesson or two. It’s good to keep …
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 …
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 …
Oh dear Jesus, here it comes again. I’m going on a Brandi Carlile binge again. The last time was really bad. Despite of any of her personal preferences – she’s on my pregnancy spree list. You might ask what my ‘pregnancy spree list’ is. Well let me tell you. I’m building a time machine and …
This video is my great uncle, the magnificent Daniel Santos AKA “El Jefe” when he was a young buck. He was a phenomenal singer and they used to call him the Frank Sinatra of Latin America. He had 12 wives. He told his biggest fans Fidel Castro and Che to kiss his ass when they …
Ben Bloom’s band Polyrhythmics definitely deserves their opportunity to perform on KEXP on Feb. 19 and they are absolutely going to slay it. I caught them at a music festival this Summer and they are one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen. They are working really hard and it’s nice to see a crew …
I just got off the phone with Jabrille AKA Jimmy James. There is no way for us talk for less than 75 minutes on the subject of SOUL. He does most of the talking because he’s one of the foremost experts on the classic era SOUL on planet earth. If you are playing guitar or …
My PLAN: to sneak a 40 of Old English into Benaroya Hall and catch the Seattle Symphony. They will never be able to find the 40 because I’m going to wear a huge XXXL 90’s era Raiders Parka. I think I can score some tickets if I genuinely cover the event as a music journalist. …
Sorry I’m just not buying the Sandy Hook cover up video. With all due respect, that guy should have put his energy into the next (fraudulent) Holocaust denial video. Sometimes horrible things happen and we weep for the right reason. Sometimes we try to make sense of chaos, confusion and conflicting reports. I can dig …
We all watched Philip Seymour Hoffman channel Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. But this is the man himself; the real article. Listen close you yutes; you young bloods who never bought an album but pay out your ass for your data plan and call music free; there was a brief time in American history where …
OK everyone can keep their guns as long as we don’t let Alex Jones have anything sharper than a steak knife. I am pro Second Amendment within reason. I’m pretty sure Alex Jones is going to accidentally shoot a puppy in the face in a pressure situation. How can he shoot straight freaking out like …
I’m doing some research for a new Staxx Brothers song, “Slick Willie.” I like to get my facts straight, even when the narrator is lying. This is the first time I’ve actually seen Clinton’s legendary saxophone performance on Arsenio Hall. He stepped up and ripped “Heartbreak Hotel” with soul. Those are great chops for a …
Here was Davin Michael Stedman‘s initial response to the mighty, Django Unchained: “Holy sh#tballs I just saw my favorite Tarantino movie. Django was so great I don’t want you to go into the theater with expections that may diminish its impact. It’s like Moonrise Kingdom. Leave expectations at the door and let the master do …
Sorry baby but all I wanted for Christmas was Bonnie Raitt and a bottle of whiskey, right under that tree. I would have done everything John Lee Hooker told her he was going to do, twice. Before breakfast. This **** is BAD. – Davin Michael Stedman and his band, Staxx Brothers, wish you a Happy …
Thus far, this Quad City All Star Christmas CD from 1996 is the best Holiday album I’ve ever experienced. The 69 Boys and 95 South have so far been upstaged by female MCs K-nock and 24K. I’m not sure which of them rapped this verse. But I’ll tell you what, it knocked my dick in …
I LIKE that we kill trees to make books. I love trees. I’m leaning up against one right now. I feel like a hunter of the Great Plains standing over the last gasp of a dying Buffalo when I hold a good book; admiring its achievement and its power. This book used to be alive …
This isn’t even one of my top 20 favorite songs by The Beatles , and there is still so much to learn in terms of composition, performance, and production from this deep ass cut. Great band, right up there with Kool & The Gang and Frankie Beverly’s band Maze. – Davin Michael Stedman
FULL DISCLAIMER: My father’s name is Bruce. I love My Dad Bruce’s new music video for “Popcorn.” Good song, nice video, BAD ASS BOAT. Not much more you can ask for accept I could have used a water ski and a chopper. Rappers been sleeping on the helicopter / water ski combo since The Fugees …
Start your holiday season off on the good foot with this timeless joint. Bach put 20 babies up in a pair of baby mommas, and blessed the world with the upwards of 1120 pieces of music. Bach went hard in the paint his whole life and so should you. We all have so much potential. …
Bam. Roll Tide. All the people that want their states to secede should just move to Alabama and then we’ll let Alabama secede. Bam. Roll Tide! Thanks to a disastrous 2011 anti-immigration law, Alabama successfully rid itself of its migrant workforce. Thus with this influx of secessionists, Alabama will have all the hands it needs …
Everybody who knows music knows Beethoven had a big ol’ AFRO. His 9th rocks so hard. Makes you want to light a big ol’ blunt and conduct the symphony with a wooden baseball bat on your roof top. This is the Deffest Jam of the 19th Century, NO DOUBT. I’m just saying… if some teenagers …
The True Spokes‘, “Back Porch” video was directed by feature film director Jeff Ferrell (Ghostlight) and produced by Soul United Productions with assistance and support from Summer Meltdown. The True Spokes recently changed their name from Flowmotion and released a self titled debut that reflects new aspects of their maturing sound and development as a …
OMG – Mayteana Morales of The Pimps of Joytime is literally too cool for school. That’s because we used to watch her on PBS’s Ghostwriters back when we were in school. – Davin Michael Stedman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD90ReIEEKY
Ayron Jones and his band are good. But how good – and how good I think they’re going to be – well those will be fighting words. I took the gloves off and wrote an essay. It’s coming soon to the East Portland Blog. Here’s a taste of why you need to see them LIVE …