September 21, 2024
The Arts Fuse
When no other deity would suffice.
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July 19, 2024
Quillette
Isolation as musical daffodil.
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July 1, 2024
American Purpose
The Boss’s misunderstood statement.
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April 17, 2024
The Arts Fuse
A mysterious, aquatic gem.
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February 12, 2024
Quillette
The Boss’s dark inner journey.
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January 4, 2024
American Purpose
The life and work of a saxophone colossus.
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October 23, 2023
The Arts Fuse
Tim gets a box set.
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October 19, 2023
The Smart Set
The subversiveness of the brown eyed handsome man.
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September 17, 2023
The Arts Fuse
His last recorded concert.
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September 14, 2023
The Smart Set
The lonesome blues boy still strikes a plangent note.
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May 15, 2023
The Arts Fuse
Those breathy, soulful voices magnificently hold up.
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April 15, 2023
The Arts Fuse
Dylan’s 1997 fragments.
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February 9, 2023
The Smart Set
A tribute to the leader of my favorite CBGBs band.
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October 30, 2022
The Arts Fuse
The new Pixies record disappoints.
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September 26, 2022
Rock and Roll Globe
Icicles in your brain.
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September 8, 2022
The Smart Set
A playlist and tribute.
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June 24, 2022
Rock and Roll Globe
A mixed bag of a covers record.
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April 25, 2022
The Smart Set
Why Jonathan Richman wrote the greatest rock song ever.
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March 3, 2022
The Smart Set
Why Todd Haynes’ immersive doc almost hits the mark.
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February 15, 2022
The Arts Fuse
A previously lost trip through his back pages.
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October 5, 2021
Rock & Roll Globe
The Replacements’ scrappy debut
“I hate music/ sometimes I don’t.”
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September 16, 2021
The Arts Fuse
John Lennon’s hard won cup of instant karma.
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December 26, 2020
The Arts Fuse
Radiohead as soundtrack for the zeitgeist.
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September 7, 2020
The Arts Fuse
Hitting their primal stride.
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August 9, 2020
The American Interest
Ornette Coleman’s Visionary Jazz
His life and work, with a podcast interview.
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July 27 , 2020
The Smart Set
TMBG’s masterpiece at 30.
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June 12 , 2020
Aquarium Drunkard
All Things Must Pass & Plastic Ono Band at 50
How the two best Beatles solo records deal with fame, exhaustion, and disappointment in very different ways.
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April 22 , 2020
Aquarium Drunkard
Review of a new documentary and a curated playlist.
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April 16 , 2020
The Smart Set
Pretty Pretty Pretty Peggy Sue
The perverse ambiguities of Buddy Holly’s signature hit.
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April 2 , 2020
The Arts Fuse
Dylan’s new song surveys the madness within America, and supplies a certain kind of corrective for it.
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February 3 , 2020
The Smart Set
One of the greatest nervous breakdown records of all time.
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January 17 , 2020
Aquarium Drunkard
The true meaning of some of the greatest vocal interjections in rock history.
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October 5 , 2019
The Arts Fuse
Overlooked Songs from “Country Music”
Country music is as rich and complex as any other genre, and it might be a good time to pay tribute to some artists that Ken Burns missed. ____________________________________________________________________________
July 11 , 2019
The Millions
Thirteen Songs That Prove Lou Reed Was a Literary Master
As the man himself put it, between thought and expression lies a lifetime.
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May 23, 2019
The Baffler
Never mind the bollocks, is there hope for John Lydon?
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April 23 , 2019
The Arts Fuse
Nervous Eaters- Back For Another Helping
Luckily for us, after playing the occasional electrifying concert date over the years, Boston’s own garage punks Nervous Eaters are reuniting once again.
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January 6, 2019
The Arts Fuse
Ryan Lee Crosby’s River Music- A Potent Musical Stew
Crosby’s unique blend of Delta Blues and Indian Raga will deeply satisfy the slightly adventurous listener.
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October 22, 2018
The Arts Fuse
Joe Strummer 001- He Never Rested on His Laurels
What the box set makes adamantly clear is how egalitarian Joe’s musical vision really was. If you don’t already know his solo work, you should; if you don’t listen to The Clash, what’s wrong with you? _____________________________________________________________________________
September 10, 2018
The Smart Set
Giant Steps: Getting Hip to Jazz
As Louis Armstrong once said: “If you have to ask, you’ll never know!”
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May 16, 2018
The Arts Fuse
Rock Review: The Damned Deliver Damned Good “Evil Spirits”
Even after decades, The Damned is still grandly flying its freak flag.
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October 4, 2017
The Arts Fuse
Rock Review: Here Come The Monks — Again
The Monks were, and to some extent still are, the quintessential cult band.
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October 30, 2016
The Arts Fuse
Leonard Cohen — Embracing the Darkness
At 82, Leonard Cohen seems to feel that there isn’t a lot of time left and that he has nothing to prove to anyone, least of all himself.
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October 21, 2014
The Arts Fuse
Leonard Cohen’s Timeless Solutions to Our “Popular Problems”
Cohen fans, rejoice—Popular Problems proves that the power and depth of his music haven’t faded now that the man singing them is officially an octogenarian.
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May 30, 2014
The Arts Fuse
Help Make Roadrunner the Official Rock Song of Massachusetts
Bay Staters, be warned – we are living in a state without an official rock song. Luckily, if we pitch in, we can help the government solve this problem.
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February 2, 2012
The Millions
Nevermind Nostalgia: Twenty Years After Nirvana
Hearing that Nirvana’s Nevermind was 20 years old was kind of like seeing an old drinking buddy turn to Jesus in his autumn years. I was happy for him and everything, but I missed the old days when we shared the fortress of solitude.
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July 28, 2007
Flak Magazine
Redemption Song: A Life of Joe Strummer
Salewicz knew the man personally (Strummer called him “sandwich”) and was known to have drank and smoked with him for years longer than many.
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August 2, 2006
Flak Magazine
Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs by John Miller
After looking more closely at the song and artist selection, there is some pretty glaring disharmony and outright dissonance.
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September 12, 2005
Flak Magazine
The cover song always carries with it a unique risk.
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June 17, 2006
Flak Magazine
Words Are Enough: Leonard Cohen
The correlation between poetry and music is as old as either one.
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January 12, 2007
Flak Magazine
Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers
One of the greatest things ever said about Johnathan Richman, was that he “looked like Dustin Hoffman and moved like Mick Jagger.”
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June 2, 2007
Flak Magazine
“People don’t really feel like immigrants or refugees contribute to culture in any way. That they’re just leeches that suck from whatever.”
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March 30, 2007
Flak Magazine
Words Are Enough: Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson may or may not deserve credit for rock’s inception, but he definitely set the mold.