September 2008

Earlier this evening in Tel Aviv, former Wings lead singer Paul McCartney thrilled the crowd at his first-ever gig in Israel. He crafted a magnificent setlist that featured tons of

As we mentioned earlier, we’re less than a week away from the release of Rhino’s latest Grateful Dead vault release Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978 on September 30.

We’d like to welcome back Sleepy Floyd for this week’s B List…

One of the most degrading jobs in the world, aside from greeter at Best Buy, has got to be the classic rock DJ. Playing a pre-programmed format, day after day – the same Rush songs followed by the same Foreigner songs followed by the same 38 Special songs followed by the same Boston songs.

The only thing more boring than working a tollbooth on the turnpike would have to be manning the controls of a corporate classic rock station. You know those stations: “100.7 KZLX – playing the greatest hits of yesterday and today.” Since when was Jukebox Hero or Shakin’ a greatest hit?

Bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Stones have a plethora of greatest hits. Yet we only hear Black Dog, Another Brick In The Wall, and You Can’t Always Get You Want over and over again. At least those tracks are halfway decent compared to these ten tunes which just need to be stopped from playing…period. Not that in this age of the iPod and satellite radio, anybody listens to classic rock radio anymore, but here it is anyways…

1. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded by the Light

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6AFCJ1dLdg

Alright, what most people don’t know is this obnoxious tune was actually written originally by Bruce Springsteen and featured on his album – Greetings From Asbury Park. But as the boss explained himself in concert, somehow the words got changed from “revved up like a deuce” to “revved up like a douche.”

READ ON for more tunes we can live without hearing anymore…

Like many folks in NYC, I’m slowly coming to grips with the fact that I will have my first baseball free October in thirteen years. I guess that’s a good

Last night in Troy, Page McConnell and PBS started their brief jaunt through the Northeast at Revolution Hall. Tonight, the gents bring the funk to Lupo’s in Providence before hitting

New Yorkers love to complain that major party presidential candidates overlook them, figuring that NY is and will forever be a blue state. This may be true, but I know of an even more shunned group of people who barely get even a passing glance come election season: the indie crowd.

The explosion of the “indie movement” (whatever the fuck that means) in recent years signals a significant change in the direction that the music industry is taking – less major labels, more DIY. You’d think that a smart, ambitious candidate would notice this and try to take advantage of the ever-growing number of impressionable, voting-age indie music fans and scenesters. But no, not even youth demi-god Barack Obama has attempted to reach out to this overlooked, under-appreciated vein of potential voting gold, instead preferring to pander to mainstream music fans and buddy up with major label acts like Bon Jovi. I guess he’s hoping to lock up that coveted “32- to 50-year-old Jerseyan with bad music taste” demographic.

READ ON for more of this week’s Uncensored Thursdays…