The Tedeschi Trucks Band is a rare outfit. It’s a group steeped in rock, in blues, in soul, in jazz, in American music, and with the musicianship and spirit to immerse themselves in songs and allow the songs to go where they want to go. It’s tough keeping any band […]
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In September I had a golden opportunity for a lifelong fan of ZZ Top, an invitation to talk with Billy Gibbons for about an hour in front of an audience at The Iridium. The show was taped for Speakeasy TV who distribute the show through PBS. It is airing tonight […]
Bettye Lavette put on a typically thrilling show at The Iridium last night. She highlighted songs from her most recent album Things Have Changed which is up for Best Americana (Americana?) Album Grammy later this month. She has also been nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance (that sounds more like […]
The Revivalists, a New Orleans octet, are riding high these days. They’ve got a couple of big hits under their belt with Wish I Knew You and All My Friends and they’ve recently taken the bold musical step of adding a second drummer to their live shows. Vocalist and guitarist David […]
With ties to the Catskills as well as New York, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds have built a reputation as a stomping, brass-soaked, eight-piece live band rooted in traditional rhythm and blues. The band’s new album, Gold, is released as a solo work by Sister Sparrow although The Dirty […]
2018 is now in the rear view mirror (or as us Pearl Jam fans prefer rearviewmirror) but before I say Hey Nineteen, here’s some photos and words – with the benefit of some time to digest – about a couple of my fave experiences from the latest trip around the […]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who records as Hozier, is friendly and unassuming in person. I met him on a Friday afternoon in September in the photograph-lined offices of Columbia Records on Madison Avenue following a busy week in which the 28-year-old Irishman performed three sold-out shows at the Beacon Theatre and also […]
Listening to Chris Cornell climb the seemingly infinite ladder of his vocal range on tracks like Loud Love and Jesus Christ Pose remains thrilling and a new release of Soundgarden A-Sides, the tasty compilation originally unleashed in 1997, offers the chance to renew your appreciation for him and them. These […]
Last Friday I had the opportunity to guest host Rita Houston’s Whole Wide World free form radio show on WFUV. As is my habit when I fill in on the WWW, I cooked up a theme that would be enjoyable to explore. Last fall, it was my pleasure to interview […]
Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, evidently with full bellies, will invade the Beacon in less than two hours. Set time is 9p. Opener, and fellow Brit singer/songwriter, Seth Lakeman – who plays fiddle on Plant’s latest album Carry Fire, will take the stage shortly after 8. This show has […]
In their first visit to New York this month as part of Globalfest, Jupiter & Okwess, who hail from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, stole the show with a frenetic, joyful performance that represented the catholic spirit of the annual event put on by its not for profit namesake organization. […]
The video for the new song Roman Cars was released this week following a show by Bill Janovitz and Chris Colbourn in Soho this month that was unusual in a couple of ways. It offered the chance to see Buffalo Tom as a drummer-less duo and do it in the homey, […]
Everybody had a hard year, Everybody had a good time Everybody had a wet dream, Everybody saw the sunshine Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah – I’ve Got A Feeling by The Beatles from Let It Be Yes, 2017 was a hard year but we the time to […]
Bang! The Bert Berns Story is now available on iTunes and Apple Music. It is one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen and I watch an absurd amount of music documentaries! The film, narrated by Steven Zan Vandt is the vision of Bert’s son Brett Berns who I spoke […]
I spoke with SVZ at Carroll Studios in Hells Kitchen before the group blasted through a pair of tunes from the Soulfire album for WFUV Public Radio. Vaz Zandt spoke about his latest album but also looked back on how a hurricane helped he and Southside Johnny create the Jersey […]
The Bean is back! New York’s own Sunflower Bean released their first new original music in almost two years last month – a single called I Was A Fool. After wrapping up a tour with London’s Wolf Alice recently, they played a headlining show on Thursday night in Brooklyn. Here’s how […]
Oh BORIS! Atsuo, Takeshi, and Wata otherwise known as BORIS shot off sonic swirls of drone defined by neither riff nor fuzz on Wednesdsay, November 1st. Their show, from the lighting to the dry ice to the gestures, is too big for Madison Square Garden so Warsaw, the 1,000 person […]
The death of Tom Petty this week leaves a hole in my heart that only his music can fill. As is always the case when we lose an artist that made the world a better place, I am trying to celebrate the life and the music more than bemoaning the […]
Thievery Corporation kissed off September of ’17 with a spirited performance at the Ford Amphitheater on the Coney Island Boardwalk Saturday night as part of the Temple Of I & I tour. As is the Corporation‘s standard operating procedure, the crew born in DC in the mid 90s had a […]
The only sensible response to The Pixies frequent touring since 2004 is to gluttonously consume all the shows it is possible to attend! The quartet with roots at Umass Amherst added a sequel to their Cap show of 2014 last night and followed up on the three New York shows […]
Catch them if you can at The Capitol Theatre tomorrow night & The Gramercy Theatre on Monday Little Steven (AKA Steven Van Zandt and Silvio Dante among other things) is touring behind the undeniable Soulfire album – his first as a bandleader since ’99. That record, Born Again Savage was garage-y […]
What a band, what a night! Last night Prophets of Rage celebrated the release of their debut album at the Apollo Theater. The self-titled disc will be unleashed on Friday. The video above is the band’s official video for Radical Eyes directed & edited by D.J. Sing. Before the pictures […]
Adam Clayton of U2 called me while I was on air at WFUV on Wednesday night! The occasion was the release of You’re The Best Thing About Me, the first new album track from Songs of Experience which will be released on December 1st. They also performed the song on the […]
The News: Walter Becker who, along with Donald Fagen, was half of the core duo of Steely Dan, died last week. It was only last October when The Dan played a glorious ten night stand at The Beacon. Footage from the video that reported on those shows was gathered […]
The News: Chuck D and DJ Lord of PE will perform at the Apollo on Tuesday, September 12th as members of Prophets of Rage with support from Living Colour. There’s no one who is more important from what’s come to be known as the golden age of hip hop than […]