Rated X

Miles Davis is this anomaly in the realm of jazz. While his contemporaries continued to push boundaries like him, they weren’t quite as vilified as he was when he wanted to push the boundaries of his music. I guess it’s not like Cotrane, Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, and Ornette Coleman were hailed by the jazz […]

Hell Awaits…among other things

The scariest concert I ever went to(besides Petra at the Notre Dame ACC with my uncle’s youth group) was Slayer in 1991. They were only one quarter of that evening’s entertainment, but they made up for it with sheer velocity, anger, and a smidgen of evil. I was 17 years old and as part of […]

Sco-Mule and Other Variables

Post-op pain has decided to make itself known today. It’s not unbearable, but it sure as hell is hard to find a comfortable spot. A zero-gravity room would be fantastic right about now, though drinking coffee in said room might prove difficult. Such is life. Well, in order to pass the time in-between pain pills […]

Ribbed and Veined

So yesterday was the big day. The dance with the doc. My one on one with a scalpel. My herniated disc was going to be dealt with surgically. I have to say, I was not looking forward to it. In fact I was kind of dreading it. I was wanting it taken care of. I […]

Black Mountain : IV

I’m on my third listen of Black Mountain’s newest opus, the labyrinthine IV. It should be no surprise that I will need a few more listens before I’ve covered all the nooks and crannies of this stately beast of an album, but I can say very confidently that everything they’ve done beforehand has been building […]

It Doesn’t Matter If We All Die…

I couldn’t stand The Cure in high school, man. Something about that dark, doomed gnome that caked his face white with red lipstick and teased his hair high to the sky that really bugged me. Robert Smith. Come on, man. What did he have to be so depressed about? He was making a living playing […]

A Few Words On Batman Vs Superman

Okay, so my wife and son and I hit the local cinema this past Friday and took in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. I liked it, as did my 11 year old son. My wife thought it was decent, but didn’t like that Christian Bale wasn’t Batman(she’s got a thing for the guy, what can […]

Women And Van Halen First

There was a time in the early 90s where if you admitted to being a fan of Van Halen you were ostracized by everyone around you; family, friends, neighbors, that nice senior couple that lived down the street and even the clergy. There were camps set up across the US where admitted Van Halen fans […]

Song And Dance, Man

So last night we took a little break from the normal evening shuffle and headed into my son’s elementary school for the school musical. Now if you’re someone of my age bracket(older than 41, but younger than 43), you might remember the elementary school musicals like I do, which is to say they were sort of […]

Damien Jurado : Visions of Us on the Land

Damien Jurado is one of the most interesting musicians working today. He may not think that, but he’s a modest guy. Jurado’s not the kind of artist that sits around thinking about how interesting he is. But take my word for it Damien, you are very interesting. Ever since he began his musical partnership with […]