Archive: 2013

Benjamin Curtis, the former Secret Machines guitarist and Tripping Daisy drummer who most recently made up half of the dream-pop duo School of Seven Bells, died at age 35 last night in New York City. He had been battling T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and the website Oklahoma Rock, which covers […]

Following cancer treatment, the bassist is getting back on-stage in Las Vegas.

Ryan breaks down the performances from the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors.

Prince’s performance at Mohegan Sun was just as James Brown as it was Jimi Hendrix and if by some chance, someone in attendance doubted his status as one of the most freakishly talented musical minds alive, they left knowing sure well where the Purple One stands amongst the greats. What made Prince’s second of three […]

There are three things you need to know about Wild Mick Brown, drummer for both Dokken and Ted Nugent: First, his moniker is not by chance. The man knows how to party wild and there are many, many stories to prove it; most recently his little incident involving a “high speed” chase on a “stolen” […]

Ahh, what could have been, but apparently Mother Nature isn’t a fan of funky stuff… On this frigid night in the Big Apple the NOLA phenom Trombone Shorty was billed to play NYC’s Terminal 5 with a special opening slot from Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Funkateer first class Bootsy Collins. However Bootzilla’s […]

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas now a few days past, and gift cards in hand, it’s a perfect time to grab some music you may have missed during the two-holiday season. Right before Thanksgiving, Def Leppard’s Phil Collen unleashed a three song EP with his band Manraze. Their first single, “I Surrender,” has […]

[rating=7.00] Jonathan Meiburg hails Fellow Travelers to be his favorite Shearwater album, as it serves as a quintessential chronicle of the Austin band’s 13-year existence told through the songs of the various acts they’ve toured with during that time. Originally conceived as an EP release, it had quickly grown to LP proportions after realizing the […]

It’s been a very, very big year for the Rolling Stones. After all, not many bands can say they are legitimately 50 years old. So if you’re looking for a little rock history reading let us recommend Keith Richards On Keith Richards, edited by Sean Egan, which is basically a compilation of interviews with Richards […]

Barbara Sheridan captures Tegan and Sara on-stage on their ‘Heartthrob’ tour.

Paul, you charming bastard.

Before 2013 goes out with a bang via a big, fun, no-holding-back interview, I decided to spend our column this week taking a moment to reflect back on MY ROOTS this year. With 54 musicians interviewed, this column has been steadily evolving since it’s inception in late 2011 from a fun, simple, jump back in […]

If you only know Iron & Wine as a man who stands alone on stage with his acoustic guitar, you are way out-of-date, my friend. Welcome to Iron & Wine the band. Although Iron & Wine has always been pretty much Sam Beam, his guitar and his words, over the years his lucidity has taken […]

[rating=8.00] When it came to quality power pop in 2013, pardon the pun but there was nobody better than Ezra Furman. For both Year of No Returning and Day of the Dog, the Oakland-based songwriter opted to record without his longtime Tufts University-born group The Harpoons, instead utilizing the skills of his current touring band […]

Warren Haynes Annual Xmas Jam 2013

Black Crowes playing the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas

For the misanthrope, the cynic, the atheist, the solitary, and the anti-consumerist among us, there are some “Christmas” movies which encapsulate the spirit of the season while not shying away from its dark underbelly.

Shia LaBeouf has stirred up a plagiarism controversy this week over his recent short film. But is it possible that he’s just trolling the whole fucking world?

[rating=9.00] Even apart from their historical significance, the relative rarity of live recordings by the Beatles makes both volumes of Live at the BBC valuable on their own terms. Half a century after the iconic quartet captured the fancy of the world, listening to the infectious energy captured on this second edition, progressing more or […]