Recent Posts
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Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman debuts “Freight Train” video; song featured on Grey’s Anatomy, By Steve Stav
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Sheila E – Erotic City, By Lou Trez
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More Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll…and String Quartets – A Review of Dutch Uncles’ Out of Touch In The Wild, By Peter Dysart
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David Bowie’s Space Oddity – Chris Hadfield
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Rancid — One of the Top Ten Bands To Come Out of the Nineties, By Holly Homan
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Warriors! Come Out To Play! By Chuck Strom
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Michel Petrucciani – Round Midnight, By Davin Michael Stedman
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Do You Remember These? 10 Biggest Fitness Flops
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Why Choosing Your Employees Might Be the Most Important Business Decision you Make
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All Time Low – Backseat Serenade
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Why Doesn’t Amazon Make Any Money?
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So You’re Relocating to DC: Where Should You Live?
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Tonic for the Soul: Raising the Flag on Opening Day, By Chuck Strom
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THIS TRAIN – ROY ORBISON, JOHNNY CASH, CARL PERKINS, JERRY LEE LEWIS
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Metallica Night at AT&T Park, By Chuck Strom
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GOAT live at Truckstop Alaska, Gothenburg, By Mark Erickson
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Brit Punks Killing Joke Ascend From Seattle’s Capitol Hill After Openers Czar Levitate Packed Crowd, By Holly Homan
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Is Bad Press Better Than No Press? When Public Relations Goes Bad
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New Heavy Holy Grail?! By Tom Kipp
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They Might Be Giants – Insect Hospital
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By admin, on May 17th, 2013
Video premiere: Sara Jackson-Holman’s ‘Freight Train’ in USA Today – http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/05/16/freight-train-sara-jackson-holman-video-greys-anatomy/2173893/
For someone untrained in the sweet science, Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman sure knows how to land a one-two punch.
Thursday morning, USA Today‘s website debuted the video for Jackson-Holman’s breathtaking new single, “Freight Train;” that evening, the song was featured in Grey’s Anatomy’s . . . → Read More: Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman debuts “Freight Train” video; song featured on Grey’s Anatomy, By Steve Stav
By admin, on May 16th, 2013
If you’re one of the “Sexy People” you’ve danced and sweated to “Erotic City” and to Sheila E. “Erotic City,” written by Prince, has one of the most recognizable dance grooves on this planet if you’re not compelled to hit the dance floor in the first 4 bars you’re dead. On a side note, . . . → Read More: Sheila E – Erotic City, By Lou Trez
By admin, on May 16th, 2013
I’ve long abandoned most modern and pop music labels, thinking of them as nothing more than marketing teams testing clever ways to sell products to people with little understanding musical evolution. In the broadest sense, general terms like Indie Rock are perfectly acceptable provided that critics don’t simply slather additional meaningless labels . . . → Read More: More Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll…and String Quartets – A Review of Dutch Uncles’ Out of Touch In The Wild, By Peter Dysart
By admin, on May 14th, 2013
Here is a revised version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”– a song originally recorded on earth and released June 11, 1969 to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing– which was recently covered by Canadian Astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield, while on board the International Space Station. Someone had to do this eventually– cover the . . . → Read More: David Bowie’s Space Oddity – Chris Hadfield
By admin, on May 14th, 2013
Rancid will be performing July 11 and 12 at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle with Transplants and Noise on the 11th and Transplants and The Interrupters on the 12th.
Rancid’s now classic album And Out Come the Wolves was first played in Seattle around 1997 by KNDD (a station that used to play . . . → Read More: Rancid — One of the Top Ten Bands To Come Out of the Nineties, By Holly Homan
By admin, on May 14th, 2013
As of this writing, the Golden State Warriors are tied at two wins apiece with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Western Conference semifinals. This is their best showing in the playoffs since the 1970s, when Rick Barry was setting records for free throws with his trademark granny shot. Fans of NBA basketball . . . → Read More: Warriors! Come Out To Play! By Chuck Strom
By admin, on May 14th, 2013
How did I miss this guy? Talk about a guy overcoming his disabilities. This poor kid, Michel Petrucciani died at 36 years old but lived to be one of the best Jazz pianists of his generation. He’s off the charts amazing at piano and you’d assume at first glance that his size would limit . . . → Read More: Michel Petrucciani – Round Midnight, By Davin Michael Stedman
By admin, on May 7th, 2013
“The cast of an off-Broadway production of Jersey Boys sang the national anthem, and the bearers unfurled the flag at a run until it nearly covered the outfield.”
After the San Francisco Giants won their championship in 2010, I wish that I had attended Opening Day the next season. Until then, I had thought . . . → Read More: Tonic for the Soul: Raising the Flag on Opening Day, By Chuck Strom
By admin, on May 4th, 2013
The members of Metallica, including vocalist James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hemmett, live in Marin County and attend Giants games regularly
At nine in the morning on Friday, my wife called me at my office. “It’s Metallica Night at AT&T Park,” she said. “I think you should go.”
That sounded a lot better than . . . → Read More: Metallica Night at AT&T Park, By Chuck Strom
By admin, on May 4th, 2013
This Swedish band, Goat, is from Korpilombolo. There were in Chicago two days ago. I should have gone. Drat! Sweden produces great music these days… Opeth and Meshuggah are very different from Goat.
– Mark Erickson
. . . → Read More: GOAT live at Truckstop Alaska, Gothenburg, By Mark Erickson
By admin, on May 2nd, 2013
Killing Joke
Just because it’s a Tuesday night doesn’t mean Seattle’s night life slows down. The last day of April and Neumos on Seattle’s eclectic Capitol Hill is hosting London punks Killing Joke.
Front man Jeremy (Jaz) Coleman came out looking like a cross between Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper with heavy black eyeliner, . . . → Read More: Brit Punks Killing Joke Ascend From Seattle’s Capitol Hill After Openers Czar Levitate Packed Crowd, By Holly Homan
By admin, on April 30th, 2013
In the decades since we discovered (and learned to revere) Sir Lord Baltimore’s proto-Speed Metal debut LP, 1970’s peerless KINGDOM COME, I don’t recall encountering anything quite THIS enticingly-described within the realm of Classic Hard Rock Collector Scum Aesthetics!
Description: Rare 1969 Deep Groove Stereo Original. Cut Corner. . . . → Read More: New Heavy Holy Grail?! By Tom Kipp
By admin, on April 27th, 2013
From: Marc Marshall
To: Kipp, Thomas J Subject: Davie Allan
Hi Tom! Did I forward this to you already? My new musical friend at Noblis I told you about, Frank Lawrence, turned me on to Davie Allan recently.
Thanks Marc!
What a fabulous summary of both . . . → Read More: “Fuzztone Biker Rock” from Davie Allan and Mike Curb, two ol’ pals from Grant High School in Van Nuys, CA! Plus: The Mike Curb Congregation & MGM’s “Golden Archive Series”! By Tom Kipp and Marc Marshall
By admin, on April 27th, 2013
Rock and roll. Every time I’ve seen Cheap Trick, they played as if they invented it. Most exciting band in the world.
– Steve Stav
By admin, on April 25th, 2013
When the audience for Chicago blues shifted in the 1960′s from working class black to college age white, a good bit of strange and sometimes wonderful music resulted. Electric Mud certainly makes the first category. The second? Well…
Leonard and Phil Chess had already tried to market Muddy Waters to suit the folk craze . . . → Read More: Muddy Waters – The Electric Mud Catastrophe, By John Siscoe
By admin, on April 23rd, 2013
Rocketz
Another Saturday night in Seattle and another great night for local music. This time it was the 9th Annual Psychobilly Brawl at the Highline on Broadway. The Rocketz were headlining, but first there were some great acts to heat up the stage and set the night on fire.
When I . . . → Read More: The 9th Annual Psychobilly Brawl Sets the Night On Fire, By Holly Homan
By admin, on April 20th, 2013
Years ago I read in the San Diego Computer Edge magazine that Andy Rathbone had been added as a contributing writer. Besides being the author of the original Windows for Dummies books, Andy is also known for being the inspiration for the character “Rat” in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The “rat” . . . → Read More: Fast Times at Ridgemont High: What Really Happened to the Class of ’79? By Knute Rimkus
By admin, on April 19th, 2013
Seattle-based songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Rob Middleton has returned to the scene and is preparing an album’s worth of songs for release. Working with him on this project is Bill Ackerlund, an old friend from the ‘hood. Rob writes everything and performs everything. Bill is the engineer and co-producer. They have been gracious enough . . . → Read More: Rob Middleton – In Your Honor – Every Other Sunday – World Premiere MP3s
By admin, on April 18th, 2013
Wednesday night April 17 was another great night for live music in Seattle. The Neptune Theater hosted New Jersey’s own Gaslight Anthem. Fresh off a Coachella performance, Gaslight Anthem are a little bit Springsteen, a little bit Clash and enough of their own unique sound to make them, well, unique. Vocalist Brian Fallon sounds . . . → Read More: Gaslight Anthem Play to An Adoring and Enthusiastic Crowd at Seattle’s Neptune Theater, by Holly Homan
By admin, on April 18th, 2013
Denver-based Americana songstress Katey Laurel has an alluring voice which sounds like springtime in the Rockies and her songs—“Everything I Love,” “The Wheel,” and many others—embrace American magic and longing in their sounds, themes, production and intonation. Laurel has begun to attract the attention of other songwriters and a list of her accolades sounds . . . → Read More: Katey Laurel – “From Here” to a Bright Future – Free EP Download
By admin, on April 16th, 2013
Bad Religion
Monday night April 15th Seattle’s Showbox SODO hosted the Godfathers of Punk — Bad Religion.
Around since 1979, the only band considered being in the punk genre that rivals Bad Religion in longevity is Social Distortion. Social D was born in 1978 but didn’t release their first album until 1983. Bad Religion . . . → Read More: Bad Religion’s Triumphant Return Rile Up Punk Rockers at Showbox SODO, by Holly Homan
By admin, on April 16th, 2013
Feathers
MH: OMG, I almost managed a morning start! Not quite pre-noon, although I did manage to get back down to 6th Street in order to catch Feathers play a lunch-time slot. I was curious about these. Their PR image is of a very glossy 4-girl band, almost too glamorous to be real, and . . . → Read More: SXSW Conclusions – Saturday and the Aftermath, By Mike Hughes and Peter Dysart
By admin, on April 16th, 2013
The comedy geniuses behind the Ultimate Dog Tease video are back with a pro-adoption message:
By admin, on April 10th, 2013
Tim Finn
The old phrase, “… and the plot thickens,” isn’t quite adequate to describe the episode-by-episode tension-building of Jane Campion’s new mystery miniseries, Top Of The Lake. The 7-parter, now airing on the Sundance Channel, follows a police detective (Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss) who returns to her rugged hometown and finds herself leading . . . → Read More: New Zealand Icon Tim Finn Reflects Upon Top Of The Lake, By Steve Stav
By admin, on April 9th, 2013
What a wonderful time for women in the UK at the moment. So many talented ladies dominate the airwaves there and we the unlucky here in the America are really missing out. Paloma is of Spanish and English roots and she’s spot on with here lyrics and compositions. I first saw here on the . . . → Read More: Paloma Faith – Fall to Grace, By Eduard P. Gomez
By admin, on April 6th, 2013
Oh dear Jesus, here it comes again. I’m going on a Brandi Carlile binge again. The last time was really bad. Despite of any of her personal preferences – she’s on my pregnancy spree list.
You might ask what my ‘pregnancy spree list’ is. Well let me tell you. I’m building a time machine . . . → Read More: Brandi Carlile – Dreams, By Davin Michael Stedman
By admin, on April 6th, 2013
Racing doesn’t have to happen only in a race car. If your children are minors, you might not want them racing in full-size cars. Because they’re interested in learning how to race, and you’re interested in their safety, consider getting them started in competitive Gokarting. It’s probably best to have them wait until . . . → Read More: How to Get Your Kids Started With Gokart Racing
By admin, on April 2nd, 2013
Alpine
PD: Friday morning came like a dull thud. Fell out of bed and down to breakfast just before the kitchen shut. The morning was more challenging than any previous that week, and I hated missing perfectly good sets starting at noon, but there are only so many 03.00 roll-ins one can manage without . . . → Read More: SXSW Friday – “Hells teeth but it was a huge charabanc, and it needed to be,” By Peter Dysart and Mike Hughes
By admin, on April 2nd, 2013
Saturday night March 30 Seattle’s Neptune Theater hosted the legendary Mike Nesmith. Once one fourth of the sixties bubblegum band The Monkees, now an artist in his own right, Mike Nesmith came on stage spot on time at eight o’clock. There was no opening act, just Nesmith and a backup band.
He opened with . . . → Read More: Legendary Monkee Mike Nesmith Mesmerizes a Packed Crowd at Seattle’s Neptune, by Holly Homan
By admin, on March 30th, 2013
These two lovely, dark, deep, delicious, and lonely-sounding tunes, both reminiscent of Pink Floyd, are from the recent album, Two Halves, by UK via Berlin songwriter, Lukas Creswell-Rost. Creswell-Rost created and recorded these tunes in 2007 and 2008 while “stuck in his tiny attic bedroom somewhere in Northern England, with nothing else to . . . → Read More: Lukas Creswell-Rost – These Four Walls, Looking Under Stones
By admin, on March 30th, 2013
This video is my great uncle, the magnificent Daniel Santos AKA “El Jefe” when he was a young buck. He was a phenomenal singer and they used to call him the Frank Sinatra of Latin America. He had 12 wives. He told his biggest fans Fidel Castro and Che to kiss his ass when . . . → Read More: Here’s to My Great Uncle, One of the Great Lovers and Singers of Latin America, By Davin Michael Stedman
By admin, on March 30th, 2013
Xavi Hernandez
With absurd ease, Andres Iniesta steals the ball in A.C. Milan’s half of the field and sends a pass forward to Xavi, who slides a deft ball past a sliding defender to striker David Villa. In the box, at an angle, the Spaniard stops the ball, then drives it with his left . . . → Read More: Frank Deford Never Met Xavi’s Foot, By Claude Iosso
By admin, on March 30th, 2013
Wednesday night March 27, 2013, Seattle hosted legendary ska masters, The Specials. I saw The Specials for the first time fifteen years ago almost to the very day. It was a festival called Bored Stiff sponsored by KNDD (back when they were still playing good music). The concert was held at Snoqualmie Summit, in . . . → Read More: The Specials Wow A Packed Crowd at Seattle’s Showbox SODO, By Holly Homan
By admin, on March 27th, 2013
CHVRCHES
Mike Hughes: Thursday was another hot one in Austin. I was playing with that ‘SXSW conundrum’ — do I go and see British bands, especially ones that are going to be playing down the road from me in a few weeks? The decision today was a resounding yes, so I said farewell for . . . → Read More: SXSW Thursday – We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Fetching Mancunian Blonde on Bass, By Peter Dysart and Mike Hughes
By admin, on March 26th, 2013
Sadplant is a "a D.I.Y. punk band" from Westbrook, Connecticut. Formed in 2007 by husband and wife team Ben Kerr (aka ‘Ben Social’ – guitarist/lead vocals) and Amy Wappel (bassist/vocals), they’ve already released seven albums, all self-recorded and produced, quit their day jobs and put their show on the road (in . . . → Read More: Sadplant: East. Coast. Skate. Punk…. By Jeff Williams
By admin, on March 23rd, 2013
Tegan and Sara
Mike: Wednesday was going to provide no respite on the sleep front. You gotta have a plan for SXSW and mine was to aim for one or two main ‘must-do’s per day, then fill in the rest. Today’s first imperative was to see Tegan And Sara, who I last saw in . . . → Read More: SXSW 2013 – No Respite on the Sleep Front, By Mike Hughes and Peter Dysart
By admin, on March 21st, 2013
Here’s a new song for which I wrote the lyrics. The Cynz from NYC did the music and the video for it. It’s got the old ’77 New York feel to it. This will be on their new EP, which should be coming out shortly called Blame it on the Kiss. Thats a very . . . → Read More: The Cynz – Blame it on the Kiss, By Gary Heffern
By admin, on March 21st, 2013
So, Mike speaking here. I’m sitting in Austin-Bergstrom Airport at the end of my second SXSW. I’ve got the cans on to drown out the sound. You can’t knock it, there’s 3 live bands playing in the airport departure lounge on the Monday after it’s all over, but I need to concentrate. On the . . . → Read More: SXSW 2013 – Ground Zero and Day One, By Peter Dysart and Mike Hughes
By admin, on March 14th, 2013
Watching this video I had two trains of thought. One was how impressive this kid is in navigating and playing his instruments, while really holding his own vocally. Some have implied that the fact that Geddy Lee sings like a 12 year old boy is one of the reasons it took Rush so long . . . → Read More: Middle Schooler Matt Luca Covers Rush’s Tom Sawyer, By Steve Gans
By admin, on March 9th, 2013
How this CD slipped out here in the U.S. is beyond me. This album displaced Adele atop the charts in the UK and has spawned several hits. There was no push for this on American radio. Emeli has a very mature voice and feel like she has an old soul. The themes here are . . . → Read More: Emeli Sandé – Our Version of Events, Review By Eduard P. Gomez
By admin, on March 3rd, 2013
A couple of years ago, National Public Radio ran a story about people recalling what they had done on the day before September 11, 2001. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the story is that people actually recalled in detail what had happened that day, as opposed to September 11th itself. A few people, . . . → Read More: Two Days before September 11, By Chuck Strom
By admin, on February 17th, 2013
Recently I ordered my set of DVDs of the 2012 World Series from Major League Baseball. I had deliberately delayed my purchase, and my patience was rewarded with a price that was half what had been offered during the holidays. I was pleased with MLB’s choice of games to include in addition to the . . . → Read More: On Memory, Technology, and Digital Obsolescence, By Chuck Strom
By admin, on February 12th, 2013
Quote from ceiling mural at McCovey’s.
Last Saturday at the KNBR Giants Fan Fest I walked onto the grass of AT&T Park for the first time. If anyone had told me beforehand that it would be one of the most frustrating experiences of my life, I would have thought that to be impossible. . . . → Read More: If You Really Want an Autograph, Just Go Buy One, By Chuck Strom
By admin, on January 31st, 2013
A review of Wolf’s Law by The Joy Formidable
By Peter Dysart
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot
Risk is essential to a strong and thriving creative process, but it’s also central to the survival instinct. Popular . . . → Read More: The art of adaptation and survival… The land of milk and evolution… Fuck it. Let’s just see how far they can go.
By admin, on January 18th, 2013
Classically trained pianist. Introspective singer-songwriter. Soul-pop tour de force.
And now, mermaid.
Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman keeps revealing more facets as she introduces her latest album, Cardiology, to the world. Playing a fin-footed Siren in the new video for her single, “For Albert,” wasn’t an exercise in revelation, however; the supremely photogenic singer says . . . → Read More: “It Was Weird, But Not Too Weird for Portland” – Sara Jackson-Holman Debuts “For Albert” Video, By Steve Stav
By admin, on December 30th, 2012
With Sledgeback, May 2012
The driving force behind Seattle band Sledgeback is Gabi Hun, a force of nature who began playing in punk bands in his native Hungary back in the early nineties. Sledgeback looks the part of seasoned punk rockers. They’ve been around the punk rock world a few times and they sport . . . → Read More: You Can’t Fake Rock’n Roll – An Interview With Gabi Hun of Sledgeback, By Holly Homan
By admin, on December 30th, 2012
I have a bit of history wit’ CHARLIE IS MY DARLING, which is a great fave, especially in the phenomenally cleaned up & recently completed version now finally available!
I first read about it in 1981, when Dave Marsh published the first edition of THE BOOK OF ROCK . . . → Read More: Rolling Stones – Charlie is My Darling – Recommended With Greatest Enthusiasm, By Tom Kipp
By admin, on December 18th, 2012
In retrospect, “The Happening” seemed like the moment when Motown first lost its way: the beginning of the end. A theme for a painfully unhip cinematic attempt at hipness, written by Holland-Dozier-Holland with a Hollywood hand best known for TV themes (Family Affair, Gidget, My Three Sons).* It was a formal foot in the . . . → Read More: The Supremes – Happenings 45 Years Ago, By Tom Fredrickson
By admin, on November 28th, 2012
I just got urgent word from England about Vienna Blood and “Caesar,” the newly released single which they’re giving away. The tune is lovely, smooth, completely hook-filled, and the singer definitely has what we used to call a “unit mover” voice, meaning that his voice has an inherently catchy quality which could sell many . . . → Read More: Vienna Blood – Caesar
By admin, on May 11th, 2013
Have you ever jumped on the bandwagon of the latest exercise fad? Maybe you thought you’d get a beach body in 90 days or tried to whittle your thighs into submission with the thigh master. If you can count yourself among the millions that have fallen for one of the latest exercise . . . → Read More: Do You Remember These? 10 Biggest Fitness Flops
By admin, on May 10th, 2013
Much is made over famous entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs was practically immortalized, for example. But an important concept to keep in mind is that entrepreneurs rarely make it to the top alone. Successful companies have a team of successful employees who work together to make the entrepreneur’s ideas materialize. Not only is it . . . → Read More: Why Choosing Your Employees Might Be the Most Important Business Decision you Make
By admin, on May 9th, 2013
“Whiskey princess, drink me under, pull me in…”
This is a catchy little tune from All Time Low and the vid is salted with some funny scenes. Generally I’ve been done with pop punk since London Calling, and certainly since Rancid’s And Out Come the Wolves, but the chorus of this power pop . . . → Read More: All Time Low – Backseat Serenade
By admin, on May 8th, 2013
In a recent article on Slate.com, Amazon has been compared to a charitable organization. Despite sales in the billions, Amazon’s profits tumbled by 45 percent. How in the world does this happen and why aren’t investors up in arms? The answer may lie in the fact that Jeff Bezos is looking at the . . . → Read More: Why Doesn’t Amazon Make Any Money?
By admin, on May 7th, 2013
Your new job will be in Washington, D.C., and you have visions of the Potomac, the Smithsonian and the National Gallery dancing in your head. But DC is a little more complicated when it comes to real estate. In fact, most people who work in DC live either in Maryland or Virginia. As . . . → Read More: So You’re Relocating to DC: Where Should You Live?
By admin, on May 7th, 2013
From The Johnny Cash Show:
By admin, on April 30th, 2013
There’s an enduring saying in the public relations industry that getting any sort of press coverage at all is a good thing, even if what’s being said is not favorable. While this might be true for companies that have virtually no name recognition and would do almost anything to get their names on . . . → Read More: Is Bad Press Better Than No Press? When Public Relations Goes Bad
By admin, on April 30th, 2013
Behold They Might Be Giants’ new video for “Insect Hospital” above. TMBG is currently touring in support of their album Nanobots and will perform in June 12 at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom and June 11 at Seattle’s Showbox SoDo. Here’s the latest from their publicist:
Brooklyn’s original alternative rockers, They Might Be Giants . . . → Read More: They Might Be Giants – Insect Hospital
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