Five Songs for April 15
Sean MurphyHappy Tax Day! The Beatles: Pink Floyd: Jethro Tull: Jimi Hendrix: Spinal Tap:
John Zorn at 60
I’ve written a great deal about John Zorn (in some detail here and here, and his name is appropriately dropped and checked in the course of discussions of other jazz musicians,…
Time Stand Still: Why Rush Belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
First things first. Just because Rush is finally getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it doesn’t mean that institution is not still problematic for reasons too…
The Iron Maiden
As far as I'm concerned, this was Margaret Thatcher's finest work. (And yes that is both a political and artistic statement.) The ever-reliable Charles Pierce puts things succinctly in perspective,…
Neil Young: Long May He Run
It's better to burn out than to fade away. When Neil Young sang that immortal line, he was 33 years old. That was 35 years ago. Neil Young is still…
Five From Albert Ayler, For M.L.K.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn. Spirits Rejoice: The Truth Is Marching In (alternate version here): Nobody…
Improving Upon Perfection, Part Four: Mick, Keith, Gram and Harriet
Parts 1-3 of this series here, here, and here. Normally I would have at least a little bit to say about each of these versions, but... Do I really need to say anything?…
For You Blue: The Beatles’ ‘Blue Album’, 40 Years Later
It was forty years ago, today. No, really. Check it out: Let us not forget, it’s the “Blue Album”. Before it was the cassette, the eight-track, CD or digital download,…
On April Fools’ Day: Celebrating America’s Irreplaceable Court Jester
Take this joke, please. Or this one: Funny, for sure. But cut with way more than a sliver of dead seriousness. This is what Bill Hicks brought to the planet,…
The Long Way Home (Revisited)
If I ever need to check myself and consider what a privileged life I've led, I simply need to recall that moving across town in the summer of '79 was…