Don Van Vliet (R.I.P.), with his idiosyncracies, individuality and iconoclasm, represents virtually everything that is profoundly beautiful about America both as a concept and actuality. Like his compatriots Syd Barrett…
Shortly after 2011 began, I noted the unhappy occasion of Gerry Rafferty's passing and did my best to articulate (and celebrate) what his work meant to me (original post here).…
Once again I'm indebted to my man Robert Rodriguez (and once again: if you are a music fan and especially if you are a Beatles fan, you need to get…
However unwittingly, Ian Anderson wrote his artistic epitaph all the way back in 1976. “Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die!”, the hit from the album of…
Whatever one’s feelings about progressive rock, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung is a rare album that remains at once part of, and above, the fray. It is, to be certain, a cornerstone…
Shortly after 2011 began, I noted the unhappy occasion of Gerry Rafferty's passing and did my best to articulate (and celebrate) what his work meant to me (original post here). In…
As Ian Anderson said, “We’re getting a bit short on heroes lately.” And Ian, while he wasn’t speaking of Don Van Vliet, nevertheless would --and has— endorsed the man better known…
The first bit of good news regarding this “collector’s edition” of Stand Up is that you don’t need it. The second bit of good news is that for the most…
She nodded. "Make it extraordinarily squalid and moving," she suggested. "Are you at all acquainted with squalor?" I said not exactly but that I was getting better acquainted with it,…
Meanwhile back in the year…1978? It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The progressive rock monolith (immortalized, or infamous, from the cover of Emerson, Lake…
Sean Murphy