Left Side, Right Side : Rush’ Masterpiece ‘Hemispheres’

It’s been one year to the day that one of the greatest drummers to beat the toms passed away from cancer. The wizard, the professor, and the all around thoughtful thinker Neil Peart moved on to the next phase of existence. For a guy that had gone through so much heartache and sickness of his […]

Revisiting The Classics : The Films of Scorsese and Coppola

There are milestones you look forward to in the lives of your children. First words, first steps, first day of school, first best friend, sleepovers, learning to drive, high school graduation, college graduation, marriage, and then becoming a parent themselves. Then there’s the milestones that parents look forward to because the parents themselves are interested […]

“Lost inside my sick head”…

Alice In Chains’ Facelift was unlike any album I’d heard when I first put it in my ears of December 1990. They were a Seattle band, but they were not like Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, Screaming Trees, or Mudhoney. They were darker and much more metal than their Pacific Northwest peers. With Jerry Cantrell’s guitar […]

“If Words Could Speak They’d Mean Even Less”

Christmas, 1990. I was 17-years old and my Christmas list consisted of just a few very important items: Alice in Chains’ Facelift, Super Mario 3, Soundgarden’s Louder Than Live videotape, and Jellyfish’ Bellybutton. There were some socks and a bag of peanut M&Ms, as well as a bottle of Brut 33 in my stocking. Under […]

Revisited : Joe Satriani’s ‘Not Of This Earth’

As an awkward teenager I found most of my heroes in guitarists. Middle school was littered with cassettes of guys with names like Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Howe, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman. Every time I picked up a Guitar magazine I’d flip to the back of the magazine and […]

“Stuck In Indiana With A Bug In My Banana”

I think it was 1988. Or maybe it was 1989. It was still the neon decade and I was a middle schooler on the cusp of being a high schooler. I wasn’t popular or even barely noticed in school, but I had a small crew of friends that I could relate to. My older brother […]

Where’d All The Time Go? : Revisiting Dr. Dog’s ‘Shame, Shame’

Occasionally I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job parenting. I mean, my kids have all turned out to be polite, kind, and thoughtful young adults so I know I didn’t completely screw them up. But as a parent you’re in a constant state of self-judgement and self-diagnosis, wondering if that one time when […]

“Drink scotch whiskey all night long, and die behind the wheel”

I grew up hearing Steely Dan on the radio. I’d hear songs like “My Old School”, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”, “Do It Again”, “Hey Nineteen”, and of course the classic AOR rock standard “Reelin’ In The Years” and I’d cringe as a kid. It sounded like old man rock. I could picture some grey-haired […]

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down : ‘Bitches Brew’ Turns 50

I won’t go too crazy here as this record has been talked about ad nauseum since it’s release in 1970, but I just had to talk a little about Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew as it celebrated it’s 50th anniversary on March 30th. 50 years since one of the most prolific, forward-thinking albums to hit our puny […]

So Many Erotic Nightmares

When I was little I used to tag along with my mom quite a bit. During summer break my brother usually had a friend to hang out with or ball practice to be at, so when my mom wanted to go to my grandma’s or clothes shopping or just out of the damn house I […]