How amazing is this? This is Ian Hunter and his Rant Band live at Rockefeller Park, NYC, 6/24/09 joined by Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott. – Ron Swanson
I can not, at this point, claim to know what pop culture ever is or was. I do tend to scroll the Chive each day at work, but I have to admit that their hatred for the one called Bieber passes me by. I am a 47 year old male and I have never in …
This is what I recall about 9/11/01. Normal day at the office, working in my 8’8′ cube across from soon-to-retire George Vuscko. A co-worker announces the first WTC building had been hit and then I discover that no one has internet access. We’re waiting for the decision to evacuate, which must come from D.C. Then …
I went to see Walter Trout at House of Blues in Chicago on Friday, Sept. 2. And I must say, Trout is one excellent performer to see live. Be sure to go out and see him when he comes to your town. I’m not a big guitar hero guy, but when you can play a …
Brian Lee does a wonderful job of covering Bob Dylan’s “I Want You“. I think we’ve finally reached the point where those gifted enough can do justice to Dylan’s songs without sounding half apologetic (Hi Byrds) all the way through. That is to say, the myth of Dylan is receeding enough where just the songs …
I know posts to EPB tend to be quite short and oftentimes are simply a link to something someone has deemed worthy in his/her view. That is not a criticism; I too embrace brevity. This weekend people traveled from afar, eg. Japan, CA, WA, CO, and NH, to pay Ken Olson last respects at a …
Country is EPB’s kind of thing and this song has stuck with me for 20 years. I still hold with the thought that Steve Goodman’s “You Never Even Called me by my Name” is the best country song ever, but this combination of New Orleans (search Jimmy C. Newman) and Nashville is a good one. …
“What I find striking about this song is that it wasn’t written as a performance piece. Towser was famously challenged by his producer/manager Kit Lambert to fill up a blank 10 minutes of vinyl on their in-progress LP. He responded with this mini opera. I have vexed and divided feelings about the operas — mini, …
Underrated is a common enough term for artists we like that don’t end up selling millions of records and becoming household names. I think it is safe to call John Hiatt underrated, however. This is a guy who started out writing songs done by everyone from Three Dog Night (and Hard Labor was a big …
[Update 12/21/2010: Committed has won The Sing Off in the final episode aired last night. In the embedded video below, host Nick Lachey announces the winners. Beneath that is the original article.] . [Ed. Note – Manly, gruff, security expert and sports aficionado, Ron Swanson has come to enjoy an NBC show featuring a capella …
Nils Lofgren is probably best known for his work with Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. There is no doubt he excelled in both roles, but he also has a fine legacy as a solo performer. Lofgren is widely regarded as one of the best rhythm guitarists in the history of …
. OK; write an intro for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s live version of “Prove it All Night,” Phoenix, 1978 (above). Shoot, just listen to it and you can hear that Bruce plays a better intro than I could ever write. Not to mention that the man has done some really great inteviews …
. . The 1978 concert movie “The Last Waltz” was unusual for a couple of reasons. One, it was directed by Martin Scorsese and two, it was a farewell show for an enormously popular group that had all it’s original members living, no real drop in popularity, and no band members with outstanding warrants (no …
In 1977, the Jersey sound was getting hot. Some guy named Bruce Springsteen had put out a record called Born to Run in ’75 and while everyone waited for the next album (and then waited some more), the word was there were more bands out there in the “flats of Jersey”. The Sugar Miami Steve …
. . Not sure if this has been done elsewhere, or if there would be any interest, but I’ve always had a soft spot for great lyrical couplets. Elvis Costello is pretty much the master (and Dylan, of course) but it might be interesting to see a link where posters could put up their own …
. I just had the thought, now that I’ve had some time to digest Ian Hunter’s release from last year, that Ian Hunter is probably my favorite for best rocker of the 21st Century. Who’d’ve thunk it? All three of his releases this decade have been way above average and OK, if I want to …
Ed. Note – This is just in from Ron Swanson. As it is extremely rare to hear from Ron during football season via any communicational modality, we can assume the subject here is of extreme importance and the quality of the recording, insurmountably good, since Ron chose to put down the remote and educate us …
After much negotiation, Ron Swanson submitted the following Top 25 list: I am not married to the list per se, but here’s the thought process, such as it is: put this out on the blog (more or less as is) and then add a link asking readers to vote for their fav songs to replace …