Want to feel old? This Saturday, July 20, is the 20th anniversary of the release of Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday. Opening at number one, it was the fastest selling rap album ever, at that point. When the album reaches the ripe old age of 20 years and one day old,…
If the late, great Patsy Cline had an opium problem and joined a psychedelic folk band, she might have sounded like Mazzy Star. Mazzy Star, with the otherworldly voice of Hope Sandoval and the morose guitar playing of Dave Roback, are back. Their dreamy sound found a charmed audience in…
The members of 311 have come a long way from their high school days in Omaha, Nebraska. After moving to Los Angeles, and three albums later, they found mainstream success with a self-titled CD. In 1996, their single “Down” made the top of the modern rock charts and “All Mixed…
As the jury deliberated the fate of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin, the media fanned the flames of fear that there would be riots if Zimmerman was found not guilty. The media was wrong about predicting riots, instead there have been strong, peaceful reactions. Especially from the…
Rivalries usually are between two sports teams (Dolphins versus Jets) or between two rappers (Tupac versus Biggie). A battle between music and sports was unheard-of until things deteriorated the way they have the past few years between NBA champions the Miami Heat and Lil Wayne. To prepare for Lil Wayne…
Last comic book convention I attended was just that: a comic book convention. A small room in a hotel filled with dealers of rare and not so rare comics with maybe one table dedicated to baseball cards. One artist would be there to sign copies of comic books, and maybe…
Beck hasn’t aged well. Physically he looks like he could be getting ready for his sophomore year of college, but his music lacks the respect it once seemed destined for. After “Loser” reached song-of-a-generation status, odds were, Beck would be a one-hit wonder, but then came Odelay. Sampling and innovating…
If you know who Soul Asylum are, you can now officially consider yourself middle-aged. But in 1993, they were amongst the biggest bands in America. The alternative rock band played President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration. Their lead singer Dave Pirner dated America’s sweetheart Winona Ryder, and their video for “Runaway…
Two weeks ago, I mocked the Pixies for sending out a press release that Kim Deal had quit the band. What was there to quit when the band hadn’t toured in years and had only recorded one new song in the past two decades? Then last Friday, The Pixies mocked…
On the day when the Supreme Court ruled all marriages are created equal, one couldn’t help but to wonder what Bob Dylan would have to say about the matter. His songs, after all, were the anthems of a hundred thousand civil rights protests. “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times…
Old fans of Marvel comic books will recall a series titled What If in which Uatu the Watcher, a giant baby-faced alien, would peek into alternate realities and tell readers what the world would be like if Peter Parker was never bitten by a radioactive spider or if Bruce Banner’s…
Sitting courtside at a Miami Heat game, the rapper Flo Rida, bedecked in a shameless amount of gold and diamond jewelry, caught television analyst Charles Barkley’s eye. To a national audience Barkley commented, “I would knock the hell out of him if I caught him in an alley. That’s a…
Climb high enough on the tree of American rock ‘n’ roll history and you will reach two branches, one marked Elvis Presley, the other Bob Dylan. Every band since these two titans first strummed a guitar has been influenced by one or the other. Climbing higher up Elvis’ side, you…
Besides reviving the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin'” to ubiquity, the TV series The Sopranos’ main claim to fame was making the show’s protagonist a villain. Every critically acclaimed hourlong drama on the air right now follows The Sopranos template, from Breaking Bad to Mad Men to Boardwalk Empire to…
Climb high enough on the tree of American rock ‘n’ roll history and you will reach two branches, one marked Elvis Presley, the other Bob Dylan. Every band since these two titans first strummed a guitar has been influenced by one or the other. Climbing higher up Elvis’ side, you…
Last week, the internet was abuzz with a found relic, an isolated vocal track from 1981 of Freddy Mercury and David Bowie singing “Under Pressure.” There’s none of Brian May’s guitar, nor any bass or drums that might give you flashbacks to “Ice Ice Baby” which took its hook from…
It had been many a Cinco de Mayo since I’d seen the number of girls wearing fake mustaches as were in the parking lot outside the Culture Club on Saturday night. The reason was simple. Donavon Frankenreiter, the surfing singer, was in town with his band. His mustache is his…
Music writers all over the world were awakened today by this press release put out by the seminal alternative rock ban, the Pixies. “We are sad to say that Kim Deal has decided to leave the Pixies. We are very proud to have worked with her on and off over…
At age 16, Donavon Frankenreiter fulfilled every teenaged fantasy by moving to Hawaii and becoming a professional surfer. Then a decade ago, he one-upped that fantasy by signing to a childhood friend’s record label and becoming a rock star. Five albums into his second career and a day before he…
At age 16, Donavon Frankenreiter fulfilled every teenaged fantasy by moving to Hawaii and becoming a professional surfer. Then a decade ago, he one-upped that fantasy by signing to a childhood friend’s record label and becoming a rock star. Five albums into his second career and a day before he…
“Boy the way Glenn Miller played songs that made the hit parade.” From the first line of “Those Were the Days,” the opening theme song from the TV series All In The Family, you know you were hearing an original. “Guys like us we had it made. Those were…
That sweat on your back and the afternoon thunderstorm can only mean one thing: Spring is over. With summer upon us, it’s time to look at what music awaits as you dodge mosquitos and floss the mango rind from your teeth. As always, this is one writer’s perspective on which…
