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Steppenwolf's John Kay Takes a Musical Turn for Solo Virtual Concert

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 9, 2020

John Kay’s voice is one of classic rock’s most distinctive. As the lead singer/rhythm guitarist for Steppenwolf, his gravelly, powerful tone drives their best known songs like “Magic Carpet Ride,” “Rock Me,” “Hey Lawdy Mama” and of course, signature tune “Born to Be Wild.” As the sole original member left,...

The Raw Rock of Michael Des Barres

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 5, 2020

With 50 years in the music business, singer Michael Des Barres certainly counts as rock royalty. But he’s also actual royalty, as in the 26th Marquis Des Barres of France—though his childhood was anything but a soft ride on a royal horse-drawn coach. “My father was a Marquis, but he...

Mick Box Celebrates 50 Years of Uriah Heep with a Big Box! [UPDATED]

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 5, 2020

It’s not every person who can literally hold their life’s work in their hands. But that’s what exactly happened with Uriah Heep guitarist Mick Box when he recently unpacked the band’s massive, career-spanning box set 50 Years in Rock (BMG). “I was overjoyed, and it was an honest emotional reaction...

Bird Flies Again...But Hopes to Land in Some New Nests

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 30, 2020

Today, their names are among the highest of jazz titans, familiar even generations after they laid down their most famous work: Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and Charlie Parker. But it’s easy to forget that when these jazz men first started playing the new strain of bebop...

Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel Live

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 27, 2020

This year was supposed to be a busy one for Asleep at the Wheel. The western swing revivalists (who also skilled in several other genres) were set to embark on their 50th anniversary tour. A victory lap of sorts for singer/guitarist Ray Benson for reaching a milestone that few bands...

Bob Gruen's Life Through the Lens of Rock and Roll

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 22, 2020

While their names are often known only to music nerds and credit line readers, the iconic images taken by A-list Classic Rock and Roll Photographers are familiar from hundreds of record covers, T-shirts, posters, and prints which now can be seen in high-end galleries. This small club includes shutterbugs like...

Stevie Nicks Sprinkles Some 24K Gold Dust in Concert Film

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 19, 2020

In rankings of a distinctive image and self-awareness as a rock star, Stevie Nicks skews toward the top of the list. For decades, she’s cultivated a persona of a mystical sorceress in both her music and lyrics as well as stage presence. Hell, her signature song “Rhiannon” is about a...

On the Road with Linda Ronstadt and Young Mexican Songbirds

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 16, 2020

Everybody thought she was crazy. I mean, she’s Linda Ronstadt. A reigning queen of rock and roll. Why the hell would she do a complete left (and right) turn and put out an album featuring her singing old Mexican songs in Spanish? And then go on tour with a full...

Dave Mason Strives to Be Alone Together...Again!

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 15, 2020

During the current pandemic, there probably aren’t a whole lot of new rock bands forming around the country—much less one whose lineup consists solely of current or about-to-be-inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members. Unfortunately, for Dave Mason and the Quarantines, the scope of their entire career will probably...

Garage Rock Fans Get a Double Whammy on Record Store Day

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 12, 2020

If film icon Indiana Jones is…well…the Indiana Jones of finding lost or undiscovered archeological artifacts from far-flung locales, then Alec Palao is the Indiana Jones of Music. Just picture him: Headphones in place on top of his cranium instead of a battered fedora as he sifts through dusty, forgotten boxes...

Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult Talks New Record and Coronavirus Concert

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 6, 2020

If you were lucky enough to be in Swanzey, New Hampshire at the Cheshire County Fairgrounds back on July 18, then you got to see two things classic rock fans anywhere else would kill for: a live show, and one by the mighty Blue Öyster Cult. Even if you did...

How the San Francisco Area Speeded the Sowing of Thrash Metal

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 2, 2020

Maybe it was something in the water, but the San Francisco Bay Area certainly produced a lot of Titans of the Thrash Metal scene. Of the “Big Four” (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax), the first two had their careers catch fire there. And if you expanded it to a “Big Six”...

Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite on a Century (or More) of Chicago Blues

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 24, 2020

One of the tenets of blues music – especially that of the ‘50s/‘60s Chicago-based strain – is raw honesty. But it seems more than a bit dishonest that the title of Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite’s new record is 100 Years of Blues (Alligator). It’s supposed to represent how long...

Bill Flanagan Turns Back the Hands of Time in Music-Themed Novel

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 22, 2020

While time travel and body switching plots are common in books and films, few have ever waded deeply into musical territory. In Bill Flanagan’s new novel Fifty in Reverse (Tiller Press), 65-year-old Patrick Wyatt goes to sleep in 2020, but wakes up as his high-school freshman self in 1970 –...

Vanilla Fudge Adds a Little Led to the Mixture on Upcoming Record

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 17, 2020

One of Quentin Tarantino’s gifts as a filmmaker is to take a popular song of the ‘60s or ‘70s and use it really amplify a sequence. Think of the offbeat choice of Stealer’s Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” during the torture scene of Reservoir Dogs; John Travolta and...

Classic Rockers Pablo Cruise Release First Single in 37 Years — And We Have the Exclusive World Video Premiere

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 16, 2020

When the members of Pablo Cruise disembarked in Miami after playing on the high seas as part of the Puerto Rico-bound Rock and Romance Cruise, they had no clue that the late February gig was to be their last for 2020. Since then in quarantine though, the band – Cory...

Squirrel Nut Zippers Find What's Been Lost for a Long Time

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 15, 2020

One could be forgiven for thinking that the man namechecked in the title of the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ new record Lost Songs of Doc Souchon is some mythical character out of legend from the misty streets of old (very old) New Orleans. Or a fantastical creation from the vivid imagination...

Wild Thing the Latest — and Best? — Look at the Life of Jimi Hendrix

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 11, 2020

Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix By Philip Norman 400 pp. $28.95 Liverlight Publications When veteran music journalist Philip Norman turns his attention to a musician, the word “definitive” is not an understatement. For while many of his subjects are themselves subjects of dozens—even hundreds—of tomes about...

Cindy Blackman Santana Gets Some — Of Her Own!

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 10, 2020

Like most musicians, Cindy Blackman Santana expected to spend the summer of 2020 on the road. Either playing drums in the band named for her Rock and Roll Hall of Famer husband in a seat she’s occupied for over a decade, or with gigs of her own in support of...

Slim Jim Phantom on 40 Years of Rockin' Cat Cool

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 4, 2020

In 2019, fans of rockabilly revivalists the Stray Cats were ecstatic to hear that in celebration of their 40th anniversary, the band would reunite for a short tour and release their first studio album of new music in 26 years. The trio of Brian Setzer (vocals/guitar), Slim Jim Phantom (drums),...

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Looking to Get Lost by Peter Guralnick

Classic Rockers Firefall Drop First New Record in Two Decades

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