Dweezil Keeps Zappa Flag Flying At Beacon Theatre 10-30-16 I think Frank Zappa would be very proud of what his son Dweezil has done and what he is doing in regards to keeping his music alive on stages around the world. He plays it with skill and passion and is […]
Interview
439 posts
Tricky Gets Personal At Webster Hall – 10/28/31 When I spoke to Tricky a few hours before his show last Friday, he explained how people had mentioned to him that when he’s on stage there is a tension and a vibe that would be welcome in larger doses in his […]
The Damned Celebrate Forty Years At Gramercy Theatre – Saturday 10-29-16 as well as Sunday 10-30-16 The Damned vini, vidi, vici’d two sold out shows at a grand old theatre. The interview occurred in between sets on Saturday night which is the most manic time imaginable to conduct an interview. […]
I stumbled upon Black Violin at SXSW last year and have been a fan ever since. The mad instrumentation of two fiddles, a drummer, and a turntablist creates a unique template on which to build songs. Hip hop and classical music are the genres most easily identified when sampling BV […]
Bela Fleck Leads Banjo Roundtable At Symphony Space – Sunday 10-23-16 The brilliant Bela Fleck invited some of his favorite banjo players to Symphony Space for an event that highlighted the range of sounds that the instrument can make across models, playing styles, and regional traditions. Â The mutual respect and […]
Jojo Makes Triumphant Return With Mad Love – Her First Album As An Adult & Her First In A Decade It was a delight to meet Jojo whose Massachusetts/New Hampshire roots are close to mine. She takes pride in being from New England and both states are represented among her […]
Pedrito Martinez Group Hitting Subrosa Next Two Tuesdays: 10-18 & 10-25-16 Pedrito Martinez is undeniably a demon on percussion and his interest in the music and culture of countries around the world, along with his spiritual approach to his own, helps elevate his hot quartet. He’s an intuitive bandleader and […]
New Morphine Documentary, Vapors Of Morphine Shows in Brooklyn This Saturday 10-15-16 Oh the joy Morphine has given me! One of the bands I have played the most in various living rooms of apartments I’ve lived in. Always there to create a very cool vibe. As he said near the […]
Derek Trucks Talks Listening In The Tedeschi Trucks Band Tonight – Saturday, October 8th 2016 – marks the nineteenth show for the Tedeschi Trucks Band at The Beacon Theater. It caps a six night Fall ’16 residence for the twelve piece group that included three nights of support from Jorma […]
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry Ride Train, Release Album Together On Saturday -October 1st, 2016 – Billy Bragg and Joe Henry celebrated the unleashing of their first album recorded as a duo, Shine A Light, with a show at Society of Ethical Culture. Recently these two collaborated on Bragg’s excellent […]
First Ever Roots Picnic NYC Is Happening 10-1 & 10-2 This upcoming weekend’s festivities also involve many stars but will not allow non-musicians on stage. The Roots were in wicked form in July at one of my fave annual events – the Lowdown Hudson Music Festival. ROOTS PICNIC: NYC AT […]
Donovan & Brian Wilson Celebrate Fifty Year Anniversaries – Sunshine Superman and Pet Sounds were both released in 1966 and both the Glasgow born troubadour and American genius are marking the landmark releases with tours visiting New York City. Donovan played Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on Thursday September 15th, […]
Kangol Kid Honored By New York & Smithsonian – September 10th, 2016 Roxanne Roxanne by UTFO is one of those songs that got tattooed onto popular consciousness. The year was 1984 and the group was out of Brooklyn. It’s difficult to overstate how BIG a song it was. It spawned […]
Peter Wolf Brings A Cure For Loneliness To City Winery – September 8th, 2016 Also September 9th & tonight (September 10th) Peter Wolf’s A Cure For Loneliness is one of my favorite albums of 2016 and he is the kind of performer who I want to see regardless of the […]
As it always is with that most exciting of trios, it was my pleasure to take in the Soulive show a few weeks as part of the Louis Armstrong Wonderful World Festival at Flushing Meadows Park. At that time, Eric Krasno revealed in an interview that he has a Central […]
Stanley Jordan Wows Iridium – August 25th & 26, 2016 Stanley Jordan used to love to sit in with Les Paul at Iridium on Monday nights and he regards the venue as his home in New York. The artist has a long history at the club and added a few […]
Al Di Meola Lets It Rip At BB Kings – (8-23) & 8-24-16 While his fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen was setting up shop about ten miles away on the other side of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, Al Di Meola brought his Elegant Gypsy Romantic Warrior Electric Tour to […]
Steve Aoki Talks Hardcore Roots, New Documentary I met the great character that is Steve Aoki at The Roxy Hotel in Tribeca on August 22nd, 2016. He was in New York to do a handful of interviews about the new documentary film, Steve Aoki: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, that […]
Living Colour Covers Biggie In Stand Against Gun Violence – Who Shot Ya Mixtape Coming Next Month Living Colour have offered a sneak peek at their new video that will accompany their song Who Shot Ya to be released on September 9th as part of an Andre Betts produced mixtape […]
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 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 […]
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 […]