I recently encountered a lengthy article detailing the history of famous rock musicians’ involvement with the occult. Read it here: Devil Music: A History of the Occult in Rock & Roll It’s no secret that rock artists have used occult themes in… Continue Reading
Years ago in Chicago I was asked to accompany two dancers who were providing entertainment at a business women’s dance party given in a hall of the YWCA. After the … Continue Reading
Whether or not you know it by name, the drum break from “Amen Brother,” recorded by the Winstons in the late 1960’s, has been everywhere in music you have heard. Here is an excellent overview of its use throughout the… Continue Reading
Like anyone who understands good music, I hold the opinion that the Beatles were the most significant popular music act of the 20th century, and, depending on what standards by which you measure significance, perhaps the most significant in recorded… Continue Reading
Roughly three millennia before the standardization of western musical notation, the Hurrians had recorded transcriptions of some 36 hymns. Presumably, their language was dying; and this may have been part of an attempt to preserve an aspect of their culture.… Continue Reading
Here is an image that has been around the internet a few times. If you play in a group and haven’t yet come across it in your FaceBook feed, check it out: This is a transcription of advice Thelonius Monk… Continue Reading
Well, not “dead” like tissue, but “dead” like a marriage. So says Sam McPheeters in this Vice article from 2010. Comparing rock circa 1994 to the Wild West circa 1890, he describes a “closed frontier,” a state in which the once… Continue Reading
In part one of my Video History of Metal, I described Sabbath’s second and third albums as “a blueprint for the creation of metal music.” In his article for the Houston Press, Nathan Smith takes us on a tour of… Continue Reading
Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World from Joey Tosi on Vimeo.
For whatever reasons, Dave Brubeck is often overlooked by purists when recounting the greatest artists of jazz. But his legacy is nearly as impactful as any artist of the last century, and his music easily as inspiring. I first encountered… Continue Reading