For years, Angel Hernández has drawn my score as worst ump in the Majors. I think he may be a rare case where replay has helped the ump. It used to be, any time that a call that he made was questioned and was very close, any argument at all would result in an ejection. …
Barron’s (Barrons.com) is a weekly newspaper devoted solely to stocks and the financial markets. My Dad passes along old issues to me. The October 17th edition contains a four page article that is based on responses Barron’s received from its “Big Money” poll about the 2017 financial market outlook and upcoming election. The article does …
On October 11 I ventured out to El Corazon to see LA’s the Interrupters headline their own show. And what a show it was. This ska/pop/punk quartet riles up the audience by standing on the monitors, or leaning into the crowd. This is particularly done by front woman/singer Aimee Interrupter. She constantly leaned into the …
On October 5th I had the utmost pleasure of seeing Robyn Hitchcock play at an old converted church, now Fremont Abbey Arts Center. This was a very intimate show, almost like having him play in your living room. He played two sold out nights. Robyn’s songs combine quirky, humorous lyrics with catchy melodies. This was …
As one who once loudly proclaimed my Dylan hatred, I thought it was wonderfully apt. A pleasant surprise from the Nobel committee rather than a cause for the usual mystifying Googling of an author I’ll never read. Here is a writer who actually means something to the lives of people all over the world in …
The ninth inning of last night’s Game 4 of the recently concluded series between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs was as brutal a finish to a game as I’ve ever witnessed. Five Giant relief pitchers combined to cough up four runs and render what had been a 5-2 lead into a 6-5 …
Last Saturday, Oct first, Seattle’s Highline Tavern hosted the Skatoberfest featuring five ska acts. The headliners this time was the Seattleites. This was my second time seeing them in a week, but they’ve already grown as a band. Added this time were some amazing vocalists with personality to boot. Their main singer (Joseph Quinone) not …
It’s a good thing I don’t make my living as a prophet. I expected last night’s Giants/Mets game to go something like this: Madison Bumgarner would give up a run or two early, as he often does when settling into a game, and that would have been the difference as Noah Syndergaard pitched another shutout. …
The San Francisco Giants, as they did in 2014, managed to slip into the very last available postseason spot and earn themselves a road trip for a do-or-die playoff. With five wins out of their last six games, they are looking better of late than for most of the season since the All-Star Break. Even …
Vin Scully, who spent 67 years as the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, announced his last game yesterday at AT&T Park. I’m not sure what is more astounding about his career: that he set an unbreakable record for longevity or that he did so with undiminished sharpness at 88 years old. His …
Hitch, A Wild Ride or Hitch, A Musical in 13 Parts A review of The Joy Formidable’s Latest Album By Peter Dysart As a preface, this album was released six months ago and from the week of its release, I’ve been listening intently. As the band’s third full release, Hitch was immediately a bit of …
On Sunday, we got a definitive evaluation of Chip Kelly’s San Francisco 49ers, and the news wasn’t good. Their loss to the Seahawks in Seattle wasn’t nearly as close as the final 37-18 score, since the Niners scored their two touchdowns in what was essentially garbage time in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks, who had …
Here’s how David Åhlén begins the one sheet for his new album, Hidden Light. The whole work is lovely. Check out the video above or the album sampler below: It’s 2016 and the world is (still) in darkness. Big or small, the hurt is hurting everyone and this does not simply passes by David Åhlén …
Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions will release their highly anticipated third album, Until The Hunter on November 4th. In advance of that happy day, the Warm Inventions – comprising Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine’s Colm O’Coisog – are releasing the first single from the album on all digital platforms. “Let Me …
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. –Dylan Thomas The San Francisco Giants’ even-year championship dynasty is coming to an end. It may seem premature to write their epitaph with two weeks left in the season, …
One of my sources tells me that Cub mania is heating up in Chi-town, “I’m seeing a lot more Cub attire these days, just like when the Hawks started their great run of success I saw sooooo many new Hawk fans. This town will explode if the Cubs win the WS. The other day a …
On Sunday September 15th 1963, four black girls (11 to 14 years old) were murdered by a bomb placed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Just like Nina Simone, John Coltrane was inspired to compose a musical tribute/response. Recorded on November 18th 1963, “Alabama” is Trane’s most compelling commentary, inspired by a horrific …
For those who may have missed it, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 28-0 last Monday night. This was good news for their new coach, Chip Kelly, but the general media consensus suggests that the score reflected the putridness of the Rams more than a Niners resurgence. This article on Bill Simmons’s …
Last Wednesday Sept 7, Seattle’s legendary Crocodile Cafe hosted a night of punk rock featuring Britain’s Subhumans. Subhumans didn’t come on stage as much as they ignited it. Front man Dick Lucas flitted about the stage like a lit firecracker, standing in one place no longer than a second or two. He didn’t sing as …
Samm Henshaw has shared the video for beautiful new track ‘Night Calls’, taken from The Sound Experiment 2 EP – which is out now via Columbia Records. https://www.facebook.com/SammHenshaw
This is from a Paris concert in 2005. An excellent piece. Very deep. Next level. Magnificent to see the late, great Ali Farka Toure and his backing players up close. They were one with the music and the universe.
Friday night Sept 2 brought another night of beautiful ska music at yet another Seattle club. This time it was Georgetown Orbits and Seattleites at The Royal Room in SE Seattle — a club I have never been to before. Of course if they keep booking ska bands I’m sure it won’t be the last …
Stuart Adamson of Big Country, Skids fame. Avid Scottish football and British motorcycling supporter. Notorious depressive and alcoholic who wound up hanging himself in a hotel room, for the maid to find. Met the legend backstage when I was 25 and not yet a notorious journalist. Had trouble finding words, at first. He’s asking ME …
Wednesday night August 31 Seattle’s Nectar Lounge hosted another night of wonderful ska bands. This time the evening was headlined by Butt Dial, a band I’ve been meaning to check out. Butt Dial are wildly fun. They have a gimmick that includes wild costumes, rotating musicians (as in some musicians leaving the stage and being …
Wanting to say this video was “how I spent my summer vacation” – although it has been decades since that really applied. Spent many a summer late night working out this piece. It was a labor of love. – Steve Gans
August 28 was a date I looked so forward to. The Living End, from Melbourne, Australia, were doing a US West Coast tour with a stop in Seattle. I have only seen The Living End at festivals. Once at End Fest on the Kitsap Peninsula in 2001 and at Warped Tour I think in 2006. …
I’ve known a lot of “solo artists” over the years… people that used to be in bands, or musicians who were too cheap to split the take 4-5 ways in the first place. Oh, and they moan how hard it is. They complain about airplay, how their records don’t find enough audiences. They fail to …
You know that scene in “The Fly” where Goldblum is experimenting with steak, and has Geena taste a sample of teleported meat? “Not right?” I feel that way about a lot of modern electronica in music. I would’ve thought that with the advent of PCs with keyboards/ MIDI gear essentially replacing banks of synthesizers, new …
Musically, Toronto is the new Portland. Here’s another tough new tune from the rough and tumble Hogtown in Canada. Released just yesterday, it’s taking the internet by storm. https://twitter.com/jessiereyez https://www.facebook.com/MusicJessieReyez/ https://www.instagram.com/jessiereyez/
Based on his stellar work as the voice of Bob Belcher on Bob’s Burgers (the only show that matters) and Sterling Archer on Archer, it is clear that H. Jon Benjamin is not only the most gifted actor of all time, he is the greatest human on the planet since the passing of Mother Teresa. …