Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

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

Largo's Dream

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

Within Your Reach

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

Ben Jaffe

New Interview: Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall Jazz Band

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

Drip Drop Drip Drop

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?

dammit

Oh Good

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

New Interview: Kristen Alderson of "One Life to Live"

Here’s the complete transcript of my interview with Kristen Alderson of One Life to Live, conducted for this Popdose feature about the show soundtrack album One Life to Live: The Sound of a Kiss. Let’s start off by talking about the way your musical aspirations have developed. Obviously,

A Thousand Points of Night

Don Was, George Bush, and a Thousand Points of Night

Here’s a curious little novelty item from my promo vaults. Released by Mercury in 1992, this CD single — recorded by Don Was under the cheeky, but not particularly clever, pseudonym A Thousand Points of Night — was timed to coincide with the great Bush/Clinton/Perot three-way showdown known as

Bruce Hornsby

Love Me Still

We’re never more vulnerable than when we express our love for another person, and I think properly expressing that vulnerability is one of the hardest things a pop songwriter can try to do. Too often, we’re willing to settle for sentimentality, irony, or cute humor — unnecessary layers built

Michael Been

Old Interview: Michael Been of The Call, November 1992

I was deeply saddened to learn of Michael Been’s recent death. I’d been a huge fan of his work for years — like a few other people, I imagine, I first heard the band in 1989, when “Let the Day Begin” made a dent at MTV and rock radio.

Dan Baird

Old Interview: Dan Baird, September 1992

I recently found an ancient bag of microcassette tapes containing some of the interviews I did in the early ’90s. Here’s a 15-minute chat with erstwhile Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird, on the occasion of the release of his first solo album, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired. I

Catchup

I haven’t posted here this week, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately: Blu-ray Review: The Princess and the Frog (Dadnabbit) CD Review: Ratboy Jr., Smorgasbord (Dadnabbit) DVD Review: Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority (Popdose) Our Favorite Movie Time

Alex Chilton

Children by the Million

Like a lot of people I know, I’m deeply saddened by the news of Alex Chilton’s sudden death…and also like them, I suspect I’ll be spending most of the day listening to Big Star tomorrow. Words may come later. Tonight…music. Keep An Eye On The

Clips

Pair of new articles up at Dadnabbit today: A review of the new Rubinoos kids’ album, Biff-Boff-Boing!, and reviews of Disney’s first four Studio Ghibli deluxe DVD/Blu-ray titles.

Jude Cole

Hallowed Ground

Temperatures are above 50 degrees here for the first time in months, which means, I guess, that spring is just around the corner — and for some reason, this time of year always makes me think of the spring of 1990. I’m not sure why, really. It wasn’t that

Bruce Willis

She & Him & Me

Girls want to be Zooey Deschanel, and guys want to do her. If there’s another reason for She & Him’s popularity, I haven’t been able to figure it out, and their new album just reinforces that — it’s the kind of record that deserves to be titled

Matt Damon

Guest Zone

I’ll be a tad scarce around the Web over the next few days, as my sister is visiting with her boyfriend (who brought me two bottles of bourbon — score!), but I’m still keeping busy. In the meantime, snuggle up with my latest Rotten Tomatoes feature, which takes a

Buffalo Tom

Just a Little Haiku

At the beginning of 1996, my life was the kind of half-mess, half-awesome blend that only makes sense when you’re cruising through your early 20s. I was living in my buddy Rahul’s spare bedroom and working a pair of nowhere part-time jobs, but I was also in the

Thaw

Much as I dread the symphony of bloodsucking bugs that comes with spring and summer, there’s something about the first few days after the mercury rises above 40 out here. Jackets off, windows down…and that snow on the ground melts away, a few centimeters at a time.

Daisy Mayhem

Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem

My first experience with the band was reviewing their new kids’ album, Ranky Tanky, due out at the end of the month. They’ve got some pretty righteous roots music for grownups, too: Big Old Life – Rani Arbo & Dai…

Awake

Yes, I’m still here, even though this space hasn’t been updated since October, due to a glitch between my WordPress installation and Twitter Tools (one which I haven’t been able to fix no matter what I do, so I’m giving up). After a year of forwarding

I love the new Dean Jones reco...

I love the new Dean Jones record even more than @jasonhare loves New England clam chowder.

Just pulled the Dean Jones/Fel...

Just pulled the Dean Jones/Felice Brothers CD out of my mailbox. YES.

What with all the bubble bathi...

What with all the bubble bathing and white wining with @KellySkittles, I forgot to finish my bourbon last night. Damn.

RT @idolator: Why Owl City, th...

RT @idolator: Why Owl City, the one-man band with the current No. 1 on the pop charts, is a rare bird indeed: http://bit.ly/2Jdfz8