The Hives : The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons

Do you remember the early 2000s indie music explosion? New York had become the epicenter of a music movement once again, this time with indifferent, arty kids revamping everything from Joy Division to Television to The Cars. The Strokes, Jonathan Fire Eater, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Juan McClean, LCD Soundsystem, and Interpol were at that […]

99 Problems But Vinyl Ain’t One

The year of our Lord 2023 started out with me feeling like I’d run the course in regards to vinyl buying. I don’t know if I was burnt out, going through a rough record patch, or maybe it was just the idea that prices were going to just keep going up and up. Regardless, I […]

awakened souls : unlikely places

awakened souls is the musical project of ambient musicians and husband and wife duo Cynthia and James Bernard. Cynthia records under the name Marine Eyes, while James has had his hand in many solo and collaborative projects. Cynthia and James have, to my ears, perfected the ambient music realm. Creating sound worlds vast and beautiful, […]

Seventy-Seven

Today my dad turns 77 years old. This past Monday he had a total hip replacement on his right hip, so he’s celebrating being on this earth 77 years by becoming part man/part machine. For the last couple of years my dad has been dealing with what he thought was back pain, but it turned […]

The Strange Case Of Patrick Xavier, Stuart Hamm, And Me

I’d say it was spring of 1990. I was a full-fledged guitar dork by then – practicing in my basement space dad built for me – in lieu of underage drinking, toking, dating, athletics, or any of the other malarky teens in R-Rated comedies were doing in the 80s. It wasn’t that I was a […]

Hip Pop Hooray

My parents have been married for almost 56 years. My mom was 18 and my dad was 21. Was it what you’d call a shotgun wedding? Well, my older brother was born three months later, so you can do the math. But regardless of the circumstances they’ve remained married, and mostly happily, ever since. Little […]

Kids and Adults and Itchy Dogs, Oh My!

It’s been an interesting couple weeks. Interesting as in sometimes not so great and sometimes just it is what it is. A couple weekends ago my good friend and nearly quarter century work pal had a get-together at his place. It was a celebration of the fact that he is officially cancer-free. He spent January […]

“There Must Be Some Misunderstanding” : Growing Up With Phil And Genesis

There were a select group of artists that I grew up with. Not artists that I was a fan of and bought their albums necessarily, but more so were hoisted upon my ears via radio waves; Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown, 80s FM chart toppers, school bus rides to middle school, and extended drives with […]

Blake Mills : Jelly Road

Blake Mills could have gone the route of a world famous pop producer. As a producer he’s worked with Alabama Shakes, Fiona Apple, Perfume Genius, Sky Ferreira, and Marcus Mumford. And as a session musician he’s played with Bob Dylan, Weezer, Conor Oberst, Pink, Dixie Chicks, and Lana Del Rey to name just a few. […]

London Odense Ensemble : Live At Jaiyede Jazz Festival

When you’re as tight, forward-thinking, and exploratory as London Odense Ensemble it’s hard not to keep striking while the iron’s hot. The five-piece fusion/cosmic jazz collective is made up of Danish musicians Jonas Munk(guitar), Martin Rude(bass), and Jakob Skøtt(drums); as well as London-based Tamar Osborn(saxophone, winds) and Al MacSween(keyboards). A fruitful recording session back in […]