Tom Jones is Welsh. Did you know that? I certainly didn’t for the longest time. Listening to his music, I never noticed an accent when he sang. I wonder if that could have been a result of the influence of early rock and roll by artists such as Little Richard and Elvis Presley on the …
Spring seemed to have arrived early in Southern California yesterday. It was an absolutely perfect day, one that my buddy Carlos and I took full advantage of with an early morning, celebratory hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. While chatting along the trail, the subject of credit card technology came up, particularly about how the …
My interest in basketball started pretty young, probably somewhere around 1987 or 1988. The Pistons were on the verge of winning their back-to-back championships. Then shortly thereafter, Michael Jordan took over. During his period of dominance, I probably ended up watching more Bulls games than Pistons games, being within proximity to channel WGN from Chicago …
Considering how many songs have been written throughout history, it seemed inevitable that song titles would eventually repeat. When I hear the song title “One,” for example, I can immediately think of three artists – U2, Metallica, and Harry Nilsson – that each have their own unique songs by this name. In the 1990s, there …
I was hoping to get tickets a couple of weeks ago for Paul McCartney in Los Angeles, but they ended up being too rich for my blood. I’ve been fortunate enough to see him before, though he wasn’t the first Beatle I ever saw live. That distinction goes to Mr. Ringo Starr. When I was …
One of the first films that comes to mind when I think of top-notch, inspirational cinema is Rocky. I love the story, the characters, and, of course, the music. I sometimes wonder if the theme from Rocky would of had the same affect on me had I heard it before seeing the picture or if …
I had heard the name Ministry bandied about for while before I ever actually heard any music by them. I eventually heard a song or two while I was in college, but I didn’t really care for what I heard. About five years into my career, however, they ended up back on my radar when …
Mort Crim was an anchorman and staple of the Channel 4 news in Detroit for pretty much my entire childhood. While living with my buddy Red Ryan towards the end of college, we had a lengthy conversation about the band The White Stripes. Ryan had a couple of their records, but I only knew them …
The first movie I can remember seeing with my dad in the theater was The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! Even for as young as I was, and surely many jokes going over my head at the time, it became one of my favorites to watch repeatedly. One hilarious sequence in the …
I have to hand it to Jimmy Buffett. I can’t think of another artist who’s managed to take one song and turn it into a veritable empire. Restaurants, resorts, cruises, clothing, it seems like you can pretty much do or buy anything associated with the song “Margaritaville.” Sure, there have been artists that have used …