Author Archive
01 Oct 2009
Concert Review: Charlotte Pop Fest (part 1)
The Charlotte Pop Fest (September 24-26 2009) was both thrilling and disappointing, sometimes all at once. It’s important to make clear right up front that attendees easily got value for […]
01 Oct 2009
Audio Preview: James McMurtry – Live in Europe
Here’s an audio preview of the song “Bayou Tortue”, the opening track from James McMurtry‘s forthcoming album Live in Europe. His press kit quotes some heavy hitters: The Village Voice […]
30 Sep 2009
Album Review: Jim Duffy – Mood Lit
Pop-jazz. Jazz-pop. The labels are mere shorthand for a sort of music that’s tough to describe. The terms can often be applied in a pejorative sense, used to describe (and […]
29 Sep 2009
Album Review: The Smithereens Play Tommy
The Smithereens are well-known rock fans. Their unique, canny take on rock music is informed by everyone from the Four Freshmen (drummer Dennis Diken cites them as a large-looming influence) […]
28 Sep 2009
It Can’t Get Better Than This
The only thing better that spending an evening interviewing Dennis Diken of The Smithereens — discussing his new album Late Music (in stores tomorrow! review here) would be to interview […]
25 Sep 2009
The Bigelf Interview: Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Mellotron!
The plan was not for the scheduled interview with Bigelf‘s leader Damon Fox to focus primarily on equipment. But to some extent, that’s how it worked out. As a keyboard […]
24 Sep 2009
Album Review: The D.I.’s – Rare Cuts!
Note: the album is included as a bonus CD in the deluxe package of The Gears‘ Rockin’ at Ground Zero (reviewed below), but it deserves its own review. The 2009 […]
23 Sep 2009
Album Review: The Gears – Rockin’ at Ground Zero
Initially I had reservations about even spinning my review copy of Rockin’ at Ground Zero. While I wasn’t familiar with The Gears, I do know enough about the L.A. punk […]
20 Sep 2009
One From the Vaults: Green Fuz – Back From the Ashes
Late 1960s legends The Green Fuz are back! But unless you’re an aficionado of garage compilations, an inveterate record crate digger, or a fanatical collector of hopelessly obscure 45s from […]