I had a buddy in college named Joel, who was from a tiny town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula called Chassell. To put “tiny town” in perspective, he once told me that his graduating class from high school was 25 people. Joel was one of the biggest music fans I knew, and we really bonded over …
I don’t think it was until high school when I finally learned that the song “Do It Again” was by Steely Dan. I remember hearing it a bunch on the radio, but I never really heard a DJ announce the band with the song. Based on just listening to the song itself, I always thought …
Admittedly, I have a difficult time finding new bands that I can really get into. One of the more recent exceptions, however, has been a band named the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. A co-worker of mine came across a video of them playing at a radio station in Seattle, KEXP, and told me to check …
My first introduction to Herbie Hancock’s music was by a gentleman named Mr. Wojciechowski, my old high school jazz band teacher. I believe it was my junior year when he wrote an arrangement of “Maiden Voyage” for us to play. There were always two drummers in jazz band and we would typically trade off songs, …
There have been a lot of great front men through the years of course, but one of my all-time favorites is Freddie Mercury. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single live performance where this man wasn’t giving the audience absolutely everything he had. His passion for his craft and appreciation for the art of …
I got to the Rage Against The Machine party kind of late. I didn’t buy my first record of theirs until I was in college and that was their The Battle Of Los Angeles album. Then I kind of worked backwards from there. By the time I got through the other records and was really …
This past Sunday, I started thinking about songs that are associated with numbers. This may have been because I had a friend over Saturday night and introduced him to some early Chicago, who have some great number songs and also number most of their releases. Two artists I immediately thought of when contemplating this subject …
I would have never thought that one of my favorite albums of Latin music would be written by a guy born in Scotland. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about David Byrne and what a good musician he is through the years, but I never knew any of his stuff beyond the handful of …
I’ve been familiar with Alice Cooper’s “Hello, Hooray” for a long time. For a majority of that time, I thought the song was originally released by them. That is, until I came across the album Who Knows Where The Time Goes by Judy Collins. I recognized the tune as soon as she started singing and …
My paternal grandmother used to babysit me a lot before I was old enough to start kindergarten. My parents both worked day shift at the time and would drop me off in the morning on their way to work. My grandma and I would play various card and board games and watch all kinds of …