Email Author Hobart Rowland

1996 Stories by Hobart Rowland

• Static

  published December 26, 1996

  Reflections '96... Of all the trends and tragedies that spun modern music into its cockeyed spiral in 1996, Houston can't really claim direct... More >>

• Static

  published December 19, 1996

  22 Jacks, a John and a Joey... I must say that I've had few -- if any -- conversations with card-carrying punk rockers in which Elton John has... More >>

• Bone to Pick

  published December 19, 1996

  John Pickering has never been effective at throwing his weight around. He's warm and passive by nature, an amiable East Texan with a wide smile, a... More >>

• Rotation

  published December 19, 1996

  Semisonic Great Divide MCA Precious few know this, but Semisonic's Dan Wilson has already been a party to what is arguably the... More >>

• Think Hard

  published December 12, 1996

  Coaxing Celindine's Trey Pool out of his protective shell takes patience. But if you don't have the time to get to know him, he recommends... More >>

• Rotation

  published December 12, 1996

  Johnny Cash Unchained American Recordings In 1994, just as his myth was in danger of being destroyed by too many mediocre... More >>

• Static

  published December 12, 1996

  Trick or trifle... Cheap Trick didn't mean to become a '70s answer to the Beatles, it's just that their timing was so impeccable and their... More >>

• Digging the Delta

  published December 5, 1996

  The Mississippi Delta, birthplace of the blues -- the trunk from which most worth-a-damn American popular music branched -- has been out of the... More >>

• Rush to Judgment

  published December 5, 1996

  Sanctimonious intent and senseless experimentation are the lethal ingredients in some of rock's deadliest moments, and at one time or another,... More >>

• Static

  published December 5, 1996

  Ballroom bane... The International Ballroom and Pace Concerts didn't win themselves a lot of fans with their handling of Soundgarden's November 26... More >>

• Static

  published November 28, 1996

  Two in one... As far as I can see, there are two Jinkies: the band that cares, and the band that could not care less. Identifying traits of the... More >>

• Matter of Importance

  published November 28, 1996

  I haven't made a sweeping pronouncement in weeks, so I'm going to enjoy this: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is the most important rock band... More >>

• Hum Along with Marshall

  published November 21, 1996

  Any fan of quality-tested singer/songwriters is obligated to reserve a little empathy for Marshall Crenshaw. If the sky is truly for the stars --... More >>

• Static

  published November 21, 1996

  Ezra's Wonder... What qualifies as success obviously depends a lot on perspective. Case in point: Throughout their brief career from 1965 to 1968,... More >>

• Rotation

  published November 21, 1996

  The Presidents of the United States of America II Columbia Records Waiting for the arrival of the Presidents's sophomore effort,... More >>

• Songs and Sickness

  published November 21, 1996

  "It's not an act," insists the voice over the phone. Nor is it -- to paraphrase the voice -- some brash pop-culture statement on life imitating... More >>

• In the Blessed Name of Elvis

  published November 14, 1996

  In essence, the solution to Barry Capece's legal troubles boils down to four letters and a tacky piece of side-of-the-road art. If he wanted to,... More >>

• Out of a Dead Planet

  published November 14, 1996

  "Is this going to be a story about Planet Shock! or Aftershock?" It's an innocent enough question. Yet when Aftershock guitarist Ray "Bone"... More >>

• A Fine and Funky Odor

  published November 14, 1996

  Exhaust fumes, soul food, freshly mowed hay, good sex and great music have a defining common denominator -- smell. Without their essential, earthy... More >>

• Static

  published November 14, 1996

  Raves and wave-offs... You may have noticed lately that local hippies are getting less passive and more pushy. Sure, Houston may not foster as... More >>

• Static

  published November 7, 1996

  Anthology anticlimax... I have to admit that I expected something a little more blustery out of Capitol to mark the conclusion of its three-part... More >>

• Rotation

  published November 7, 1996

  Wilco Being There Reprise Leave it to Jeff Tweedy to take a rock-star notion as pretentious as the double-length concept album... More >>

• Hip and Hawaiian

  published November 7, 1996

  Thanks to their consolidation under the respectable classification of world beat, types of music once considered weird or indefinably alien have... More >>

• Static

  published October 31, 1996

  Gangsta rap, R.I.P.? The ripples from the death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas last month continue to roll out, with more than a few critics... More >>

• Wry Fidelity

  published October 31, 1996

  What sort of mischief can a smart, painfully self-conscious band from England stir up when it mixes a love of the trance-inducing experimentation... More >>