Founded 1983: Liberal Mindset; Conservative Morality

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April 20, 2012January 21, 2013

The Death of Levon Helm is the Beginning of the End of the Dylan Era

Levon Helm died yesterday in New York City of throat cancer. He was 71. Levon was a tremendous talent and an outstanding drummer. Few people understand the engine that drives any sort of live performance music is the rhythm — and in modern music, that means a live drummer. Without a proper human metronome keeping the entire band on track and in sync, the entire song falls apart. If you have a terrible drummer, the job of keeping the energy of the music moving forward falls to the bass player. If both drummer and bass player are inept, you do not have a band. Levon Helm was, The Band:

Helm, the drummer and singer who brought an urgent beat and a genuine Arkansas twang to some of The Band’s best-known songs and helped turn a bunch of musicians known mostly as Bob Dylan’s backup group into one of rock’s most legendary acts, has died. He was 71.

Helm, who was found to have throat cancer in 1998, died Thursday afternoon of complications from cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said Lucy Sabini of Vanguard Records. On Tuesday, a message on his website said he was in the final stages of cancer.

Continue reading → The Death of Levon Helm is the Beginning of the End of the Dylan Era

March 6, 2012

Wes Montgomery and the Echoes of Indiana Avenue Review

Today, March 6, 2012, is a big Drop Day for new music on iTunes! We have a mediocre, “live” iTunes album from Paul McCartney that sounds muted and fuzzy because it was Mastered for iTunes. We have a new “Wrecking Ball” album from Springsteen that, once again, tries to prove what a great guy and a sufferer for the human condition he is — all while he counts his millions in a New Jersey mansion. John Mayer provides a new single called “Shadow Days” where he repeatedly tells us what a “good man” he really is down deep — and when anyone tells you how wonderful they are, check your wallet and run the other way!

The real watershed moment for historical new music released today is actually found in great Jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery — who died in 1968 — and who comes to us direct from the grave in the stunning, “Echoes of Indiana Avenue” released on what should have been his 88th birthday.

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November 28, 2011

The History of Jazz on the iPad Review

We learn through experience. Sometimes the experience is direct. Other times, we experience the experiences of others through immersive reading and learning. “The History of Jazz” is a terrific iPad app that, for under $10.00USD, will give you a wonderful new way to learn about the makings of Jazz.

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August 24, 2011

Let's Pretend You Did Not Write that Book: Ten Sentence Story #138

This is a story about a man named Rick Perry who has decided that the past should stay in the past and that things that he may have written in the past should have no bearing on his campaign for being president in the future.

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May 30, 2011

iCrime: The Internet Reminds Employers of Your Criminal Past

Job searching was once considerably more simple. People submitted resumes, former employers were called and it was determined if each potential employee was qualified for the job based on their history and whether or not that history was relevant to the job. Naturally, when the employers called the phone numbers they had no way of knowing if they were really reaching former employers or just people pretending to be them. I am reminded of the television show Seinfeld, wherein one character got a friend to pretend to be a company that employed him.

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March 30, 2011January 21, 2013

Then Here I Am Now

Irina Werning is a SuperGenius photographer who has found her niche. She looks for old photographs and then updates the images years later by re-staging them with the same people in the images while simultaneously preserving the tone and substance of the original shot.

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January 14, 2010

Teaching the Native American Lie

I wasn’t too different than most children who grow up in the United States and take lessons in history — specifically, the history of the United States, and how it came to be. We learned about the pilgrims and the Native Americans, and how wonderfully everything went when the pilgrims settled the colonies in an effort to escape religious persecution. We learned about the first Thanksgiving meal and how the Pilgrims learned so much about growing new crops and making homes.

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January 11, 2010

Eric Clapton is the The Blues Modern Master

We’ve hinted at it before, but now we’re officially saying: “Eric Clapton is the Modern Master of The Blues.” For 50 years Eric Clapton has dedicated his life to celebrating American Blues in the mainstream of popular music.