Via the Spectrum Road with Vernon Reid (Revisited)
Sean MurphyListening to Vernon Reid speak is like listening to Vernon Reid play the guitar: you need both ears and all your mind to keep up. Ideas flow eagerly, thoughts within…
Remembering the USS Indianapolis, Robert Shaw and The Scene
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.…
Ripe with Rich Attainments: Jethro Tull’s ‘A Passion Play’, Reassessed
For prog-rock aficionados, the hits keep coming, and one man above all deserves our gratitude: Steven Wilson. Whether it’s Yes, King Crimson, or Jethro Tull—all of whom he has worked…
Ars Moriendi or, The Art of Dying (American Style)
This post takes some excerpts from my memoir Please Talk About Me When I’m Gone. While this project is an attempt to commemorate –and celebrate– my mother’s life, it also…
Amy Winehouse: Lack of Love is A Losing Game (Revisited)
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to write about Amy Winehouse via Howard Sounes' book 27. (Full review here.) Here is the crux: For his new book, 27, Howard…
Hell’s Not Gonna Be Hot Enough: Johnny Winter, R.I.P.
Hell is not gonna be hot enough for this cat. R.I.P. Johnny Winter, an American bad-ass of the first rank. An albino playing the blues? Duh. Most young, uninitiated punks…
James Garner, R.I.P.
James Garner has died. So too has a tiny part of my childhood. What an American icon. A real hero, on many levels. I don't have anything to add. If…
Stuart Scott: Winning
All of us are winning by virtue of being alive. By fighting. But we too often frame discussion of cancer with the now-obligatory martial themes: fighting, battling, winning, losing. Etc.…
Echoing out of the Passion Play…
Wow. So I'm working on (yet another) feature about Jethro Tull, this time about the recently released deluxe reissue of A Passion Play. (See previous ones HERE, HERE, HERE, and …
Charlie Haden, R.I.P.
i. 1959 was a watershed year for jazz music (arguably the greatest single year for jazz in all history–which is saying a lot). Here’s a taste: Miles Davis Kind of…