jefitoblog.com

When it comes to relationships, I’ve never been much of a stand-up-and-fight kind of guy. When it’s over, it’s over, and it’s time to move on. A few times, though, moving on has been easier said than done — and with one relationship in particular…

Reflections on Harry Nilsson’s “Pussy Cats” and the ragged glory of the rock ‘n’ roll loser.

A few rambling thoughts inspired by an old Push Stars song and a long-ago road trip.

Here’s one from the archives — one of my first major interviews, conducted with erstwhile Chicago frontman Peter Cetera while he was out promoting his fourth solo album, World Falling Down. This is kind of like looking at a dorky old photograph for me, but it was a thrill at the time, and I think Cetera said some interesting things… Having been there “in the beginning,” do you think that rock has become more style than substance? I think if[...]

Lost Causes, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” (play) This is the opening track on my first album, and I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard it on one of the real, honest-to-goodness manufactured CDs I printed up. It’s a memory that’s lingered not only because listening to your first “real” album is usually a pretty significant personal milestone, but because the emotions it triggered were so seemingly incongruous that it[...]

Like a lot of people, I think, the romantic entanglements of my teenage years and early 20s were colored by a lot of unexpressed, misunderstood, or just plain repressed emotions — guilt over feelings that weren’t supposed to exist, or relationships that ended badly, or simple longing for what (and who) I couldn’t have. I walked around in denial a lot of the time, and every so often my subconscious rewarded me for it with a dream that would force[...]

Had a terrific chat this morning with Gorman Bechard, the director/author/photographer/all-around creative whirlwind whose latest film, Color Me Obsessed, is currently making the rounds at the festival circuit. It’s a documentary about the experience of being a hardcore fan, as viewed through the prism of the Replacements’ music; the interview was recorded with Dave Lifton as a segment for the next episode of the Popdose podcast, so listen for it soon. Our discussion, naturally, included a lot of talk about[...]

What follows is the full transcript from my interview with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Ben Jaffe, conducted for an article published in the March 2011 issue of the Hilton Head Monthly. While preparing for our talk, I read a few of your interviews, and one thing that really stands out is how often you talk about the need to respect the traditions of your music. I was raised with a sense of tradition, and I was also surrounded by[...]

You know whose music sounds perfect to me on a cold and rainy afternoon? Mary Chapin Carpenter’s. Mary Chapin Carpenter, “4 June 1989″ (play) How about you?

I know what’s in store for me today. Katie Herzig, “Shovel” (play) Ornette Coleman, “Snowflakes and Sunshine” (play)