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 […]
Rock
402 posts
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 Steven Van Zandt 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 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: The new Andre Betts produced Living Colour album Shade was unleashed today! Living Colour is supporting Prophets of Rage at the Apollo Theater on this Tuesday. Prophets of Rage members are Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk along with DJ Lord and Chuck D of PE, and B-Real of Cypress […]
The News: Craig Finn will celebrate Halloween 2017 with a show at City Winery. Finn released his third solo album outside the confines of The Hold Steady in March of this year. Prior to the release of that disc, We All Want The Same Things, Finn dropped by WFUV for […]
The quintessential New Yorker will not be erased! Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed’s companion since the early 90s and wife from 2008 until his death in 2013, spearheaded the effort to present his complete archives to the NYPL in March. Lou Reed became synonymous with New York personifying its street smarts, […]
As a founding member of Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo etched his name into the canon of New York rock artists during his 30-year tenure with the group, from 1981 to 2011. His inventive guitar playing, built upon unusual tunings, sprung from the city’s downtown experimental ‘No Wave’ scene and had […]
Some of The Black Angels’ publicity shots are trippy as befits the band. They are clearly at the head of the contemporary psychedelic rock class and arguably leading this year’s rock charge regardless of sub-genre. They are by no means passe trippy-dippy nor do their sounds feel like they […]
When Boston, Mass came out in 1985, it became one of my favorite records of my high school experience in Pepperell, Massachusetts. I connected with it sonically, locally, and emotionally. I still do. Five years ago, the Del Fuegos indulged me with an interview and session at WFUV as part […]
Judith Owen is on road with Bryan Ferry but she managed to steal a few minutes in front of a camera while the tour bus sat idle this week. In the Spring of 2014, I had a chance to speak to Judith Owen at her Slipper Room show. She […]