Tag Archives: rock

New Orleans and Jazz Fest 2013: A Chronicle


It has been 20 years since I cast my shadow on the hallowed fairgrounds where the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is held every year. Back in the early 90s, I went to the festival three times and held … Continue reading

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Battle of the Bands: Van Halen vs. Van Hagar


OK, so it is not really a fair fight, but in light of the recent return of Diamond Dave, I thought it had to be done. Many of us grew up with VH I and II and dreamed of having … Continue reading

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Music Review: Bands I Discovered in 2012 (from Alabama Shakes to Tame Impala)


As a final retrospective article about music from 2012, I wanted to write about some bands I discovered during the year that you might also enjoy. The Darkness released their 3rd album, Hot Cakes. It is a mix of Queen-like … Continue reading

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Music Review: Grunge and Punk Revival Albums in 2012 (oh, and the Beach Boys too!)


The dinosaurs of rock were not the only comeback artists last year. Bob Mould, Green Day, Dinosaur Jr, Soundgarden and Smashing Pumkpins all released albums last year and I plan to give you a few notes on each below. But … Continue reading

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Music: Battle of Thrash – Comparing Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeath, and Slayer


I won’t belabor the point tonight because I have episodes of Californication and House of Lies to watch I did want to make a few quick observations about thrash though. A few weeks back, I posted about anger and I … Continue reading

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Music Review: Metallica’s “Beyond Magnetic” EP


I talked about St Anger and touched on Death Magnetic some time back, but never got around to reviewing the follow-up EP to it, Beyond Magnetic. The EP starts off on Hate Train, a straight-forward metal anthem to the darkness within … Continue reading

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Music: Great anti-war songs


Machine Gun from Jimi Hendrix came up on my iPod the other day, and it reminded me of some of my favorite anti-war songs. The guitar stoccato of Machine Gun and the haunting lyrics put Jimi’s anti-war anthem near the … Continue reading

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Some more drummers I neglected…


I posted a few days back about 10 of my favorite drummers, but to be fair, here are a few more that merit mention: Like John Selway of Radiohead. He has a range of styles that is mind-boggling. Besides, anyone … Continue reading

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Music: My favorite drummers


Apparently, this post idea I had two days ago isn’t very original (see this recent Rolling Stone Readers Poll), but here goes. Manu Katché: Growing up in the 80′s, one of the seminal albums for me was So by Peter … Continue reading

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Metal memories Part 2


Growing up, I pretended to be a muscle-bound metalhead rather than the puny nerd that I really was and during that period, I discovered Metallica with Master of Puppets. A buddy and I would do bench presses with Battery cranked … Continue reading

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