Category: Music

Managed to sit through the last 30 minutes of Leno, a personal record, to catch the Pistols. Apparently, the band is back promo-ing their appearance on the latest edition of “Guitar Hero” a video game for kids who would rather not practice pentatonic scales. They ran through “Anarchy in the UK”. Jones flubbed his solo,…

Strange to have been so excited about seeing a band so notoriously aloof and disconnected from their audience. But the truth is, the disconnection is all surface, not quite masking the real connection, through the music. Carnegie Hall might have been a more appropriate venue. When a chamber group is playing, no one remarks how…

From someone who didn’t live to see it: We got have peace To keep the world alive And war to cease. We got to have joy, True in our hearts With strength we can’t destroy. People please hear us Through our voice the world knows There’s no choice. We’re begging save the children The little…

Spent the day putting my new Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), Cubase 4, through its paces and you can hear the results yourself. Only took a few hours to get the audio set up to match my studio and learn the basics of looping, audio tracks, MIDI tracks, mix automation, inserts, sends, mixdown, the whole works.…

Emerging from what must be one of the all-time longest work jags, maybe two months non-stop. There is one track destined to become a classic on “The Weirdness”, the new Stooges record that completely sums it up: “I’m fried”. Good record all around – could be looser, grittier. But what a huge disappointment “A Weekend…

Stones: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out; Sticky Fingers; Exile on Main Street; Black and Blue. I’m filling out the Mick Taylor period here. Now have pretty much everything I need, Stones-wise. Although I do still pine occasionally for the octagonal “Through the Past Darkly” that I bought in the Village on my very first trip to…

In “I’m Waiting for the Man”, Lou Reed heads up to Lexington and 125 with 26 dollars in his hand. Our night begins a few blocks over, getting a fix that only cost us 20 bucks. I can’t remember which jazz great it was who said of heroin: “if God made anything better, he kept…

From the “India!” Department: The power of John Hughes’ de-coolifying ray was something to be reckoned with. He trained it on a Scottish, Velvets-influenced rock group, founded in 77. And he trained it on an English, Velvets-influenced rock group, founded in 77. Ok, perhaps in the case of Simple Minds, the lads had already strayed…

From the “take-it-down-to-the-bridge” department: As the New Yorker informs us every week, “Musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives; it’s desirable to call ahead to confirm engagements.” Looking at BB King’s website, it seems Eartha Kitt will do the New Year’s Eve show instead. (And if your eyesight is really good, you can see who…