Jill Scott Owns Apollo Debut After Earning It – August 9, 2016 Jill Scott is absolutely radiant these days. She’s killing it on stage with an amazing band as she emphatically showed at New York City’s most historic uptown theater. In the acting domain, she’s the #1 Lady at the […]
Eric Holland
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Eric Burdon Hits The Mark At City Winery – August 8, 2016 “If you want to find the truth in life, don’t pass music by. You know, you know…I would not lie!” -Eric Burdon from Monterey, 1967 I was a little intimidated to meet Eric Burdon whose voice is nothing […]
Ageless Paul McCartney Conquers MetLife Stadium – August 7, 2016 Paul McCartney puts on a phenomenal show by any standard. The fact that the brilliant artist is doing what he doing at age 74 only adds another level of awe. It was the setlist of doom; 38 songs in all. […]
Garbage Hits Summerstage In Central Park – August 1, 2016 touring behind the new album Strange Little Birds… As I mentioned to Shirley Manson as I was clipping a microphone on her garment last Monday evening, I read an interview with her in the mid 90s in which she was […]
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down In Town Tonight – August 4, 2016 When I spoke with Thao on a lovely afternoon in Austin during SXSX in March, she said that the new record A Man Alive was a much more personal album than she and the band had […]
D Generation Celebrate Comeback Album At Irving Plaza – July 30, 2016 “We always liked bands that had melodic kind of pop songs; groups like The Replacements and Cheap Trick and T-Rex. You’re taking something really nasty with the melody and the two are fighting against each other and you […]
New Documentary Film: Miss Sharon Jones – playing this week in NYC “Her spirit is driven by music, and this was always her source of inspiration to continue onwards, despite the odds. Sharon makes you believe in anything.” – Barbara Kopple As a lover of her music as well as […]
Femi Kuti Brings Positive Force To Prospect Park – July 23, 2016 Swirling, intoxicating polyrhythms emanated from Prospect Park on Saturday night. Undeterred by the wicked New York City heatwave that’s been torching the five boroughs of late, fans of Femi Kuti packed the band shell for a free show […]
Wonderful World With Dr. John, Soulive, Kermit Ruffins – July 16, 2016 Flushing Meadows Park was the venue for the third annual Louis Armstrong Wonderful World Festival. It was a day to appreciate not only Armstrong’s legacy but the rich musical tradition of his home city New Orleans. Both Kermit […]
Ramones Live At WFUV And At Queens Museum – always but especially this week at WFUV…til July 31, 2016 at Queens Museum This week WFUV is celebrating the Ramones as an essential artist. I’ll be doing a 30 minute set of their music on the air at 90.7 FM NYC […]
Michael Franti & Spearhead Lively Up Times Square at the Playstation Theater – July 15, 2016 Michael Franti has a great attitude; he emanates positivity. Â His live shows are love-ins. That was especially true last week Friday at the Playstation Theater in Times Square as a second stage was set […]
So I collect my cash then slide, I got my back, my gun’s on my side… It shouldn’t have to be like that, I guess it ain’t where you’re from it’s where you’re at – Eric B & Rakim from In The Ghetto off Paid In Full Rakim’s Paid In […]
The Roots Got Lowdown Last Night; Free Festival Continues Tonight July 13, 2016 A genius double bill last night at The Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival with Antibalas and The Roots. Tonight, the free fest continues with Rayland Baxter, Valerie June, and Drive-By Truckers!
Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood Do Yankee Stadium – July 8th and 9th, 2016 The first country music concert ever at Yankee Stadium happened on Friday night followed by the second one the following evening. These were the first shows for Garth Brooks since the freebie in Central Park that […]
James Carter Organ Trio: Django Unchained – July 2, 2016 James Carter honked, squawked, squeaked, and whistled his way through an exciting and entertaining set on Saturday night as part of the 37th annual Montreal Jazzfest. He even did a bit where he produced sound from a sax without putting […]
Montreal Jazzfest ’16: Stacey Kent – July 3, 2016 Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is a honking good time! As for the talent, the ten day hootenanny draws an embarrassment of riches. For the fans, whether they be native Quebecois or the quarter of a million or so visitors […]
“Somewhere between long awaited and well overdue” was how Dave Wakeling described the status of a new English Beat record when I spoke to him during a recent visit to New York City. Dave and the rest of the band are back in town for a show this week at […]
Public Enemy Does Brownsville Freebie 6-21-16 There’s no one who is more important from what’s come to be known as the golden age of hip hop than Public Enemy. Last Tuesday evening Betsy Head Park in Brownsville was the place to be as Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and Professor Grif […]
“Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music. Music is the best.” – Frank Zappa (From Packard Goose off Joe’s Garage, Act III) Few artists are as worthy of a documentary film as Frank […]
The Compulsions: Log Cabin Studio Session 2016 If you’ve spent a night in a NYC venue listening to a rock show over the last decade, you might have seen Rob Carlyle and/or his mates who have played innumerable gigs in dives, joints, clubs, and theaters across the five boroughs and […]
Wolf Parade Light Fuse On 2016 Northside Festival; June 9, 2016 After Wolf Parade’s sound check on a gorgeous afternoon at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, Dan Boeckner clipped on a microphone and spoke about this band‘s wildly triumphant comeback. “I underestimated what this band meant to people while we were active.” […]
CeeLo Parties Aboard Circle Line In New York Harbor; June 7, 2016 A hootenanny with CeeLo on a boat was a brilliant way to usher in the summer of ’16! It was a beautiful night to take in the skyline views and shake bones to the sounds of the Atlanta […]
It was a no-brainer to take a road trip up to Syracuse when I learned I’d have an opportunity to sit down with none other than Ringo Starr! The occasion was the first gig of a tour by the All Starr Band featuring Steve Lukather and Todd Rundgren on guitars, […]
John Scofield is a guitar virtuoso. He can make his guitar, seemingly, do anything he wants short or having it buy a round of drinks. Brad Mehldau is a keyboard virtuoso. No appreciable space exists between sounds in his head (I imagine) and the sounds that emanate from his piano […]
Sunflower Bean at Flamingo Cantina in Austin for SXSW 3-16-16 & coming to House Of Vans as part of the annual Brooklyn hootenanny known as the Northside Festival on Thursday 6-9-16 Love the Bean! The Wednesday afternoon performance that you get a taste of in the accompanying video was a […]