Guster “Do You Love Me” (2010)
It was about 11:00PM on a warm, late-summer night last August at Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, the smell of salt air and spilled IPAs still present, as the starlit sky guided a muddy path for an eclectic group of giddy patrons departing the just-concluded concert by the band Guster. I was meandering slowly with...... Read More
Albert Cummings “Man On Your Mind” (2004)
Like Ted Striker in the Airplane! clip, I (too) have been nervous lots of times. Taking exams, going into surgery, just about any type of public speaking..and a million other things. But, I’ve never been more nervous than when Massachusetts bluesman Albert Cummings handed my 13-year-old son his guitar.... Read More
Kermit Ruffins “Drop Me Off In New Orleans”
As part of their 2018 series marking the tricentennial of the city of New Orleans and highlighting “300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans”, The Times-Picayune, the city’s local newspaper, ran a feature on beloved local trumpeter... Read More
My Morning Jacket “I’m Amazed” (2008)
During my years working at Madison Square Garden, I’d occasionally be passing through the arena during the day for one reason or another, and once in a while I caught some pretty cool behind-the-scenes stuff. One of the coolest of those that I can remember was basically witnessing the actual moment a band was seeing...... Read More
Weezer “Beverly Hills” (2005)
Up until recently, I would’ve confidently named Chicago as the band that had the biggest career drop-off from seriously kick-ass rock band to absolutely lame-ass schlock band (and before you say the self-described “rock and roll band with horns” was always lame, please go back and listen to their early stuff, their long-before-Terry-Kath-accidentally-blew-his-own-brains-out stuff; they...... Read More
Rolling Stones “Dead Flowers” (1971)
There’s a lot of talk nowadays about what’s “real” country music. Personally, my views fall pretty much in line with a righteous fellow named Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos, whose website “Saving Country Music” has been around for over 10 years, and whose mission seems pretty self-explanatory (clue: It starts with something like Waylon & Willie, not...... Read More
The Mavericks “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” (1995)
I’d be hard pressed to come up with a song that has a greater disparity between its dreadfully dour lyrics and the unmitigated joy of its music than this one. While singer and bandleader Raul Malo is crooning the oft-repeated depressing title line, he’s also leading his band through one of the happiest... Read More
Robert Cray “Smoking Gun” (1986)
Robert Cray has been around the block a few times. He’s been recording, and touring, and playing live shows as a Blues/Soul stalwart for nearing 40 years now – back to when his first album, Who’s Been Talkin’, came out on Tomato Records in 1980. I’m sure he’s played some crazy gigs. Yet, I’d still...... Read More
Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real “Find Yourself” (2017)
I don’t get out to the movies much. That fact is not merely a matter of my laziness or the presence of Netflix. In truth, there are just very few occasions when a new movie comes out that excites or inspires me much, let alone motivates me to actually get to a theater. So the...... Read More
Diner “Strip Joint Piano Scene” (1982)
Long before Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David created “A show about nothing,” a first-time director and seven utterly unknown actors made a movie about nothing. The year was 1982, and the film, without question my favorite one of all time, was Diner. It was directed by Barry Levinson, a resident of Baltimore, MD. where the...... Read More