You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demolished by a Midwestern black man, and gender barriers were hurdled by an Arkansan and an Alaskan.Democracy has a few awesome new dance moves rolling into the Obama presidency, and it'll be a feast fo
To get an introduction to Jose El Rey (if you actually need one!)
and to read previous installments of his weekly Crossfade column, Que Pasa, M.I.A?, click here.Against my better judgment and sense of comfort and convenience, I went camping. Into the woods. Into the night. With fire. And "beware of bears" signs. Bears that want to open my sleeping bag and eat me like a pastelito de carne.A group of friends of mine invited me up to Wekiwa Springs State Park. They promised I'd have a relaxing time
People are ready for a fresh-faced heir apparent to Paul Simon, and from the looks of things, Brett Dennen is the guy. His warm, socially conscious folk continues to grow in appeal. Maybe it's the fact that he has more to say about the world than Jack Johnson, and that he does it with a fractured, sensitive croon and a buoyant acoustic sound that (like Simon's Graceland) is often laced with world-music grooves.
