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By The Time We Got To Woodstock's 50th Anniversary, No One Bothered To Play Along

By Pete Vonder Haar

Aug 16, 2019

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. The historic music festival was held August 15-17, 1969 on Max Yasgur's dairy farm outside Bethel, NY. You're going to see various stories and articles reliving those "3 days of peace and music," others comparing/constrasting the America of yore with that of...

The Blasters celebrate 40 years since their debut album, American Music.

Still Rocking: The Blasters Celebrate 40 Years Since Debut Album

By Gladys Fuentes

Jun 21, 2019

Forty years can change a number of things; cities grow, fads come and go, people change or are no longer around and buildings can crumble. For something to sustain its strength after that long is nothing short of amazing. The Blasters debut album, American Music, is one of those special...

Posteriors and Prince ruled 1984's music landscape.

Two Of The Greatest Albums Of All Time Are 35 Years Old This Month

By Pete Vonder Haar

Jun 20, 2019

June, 1984 didn't simply mark the halfway point in a year when everyone was making George Orwell jokes, it also saw the release of two of the most successful albums of all time. Born in the U.S.A., by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Prince and the Revolution’s...

Van Halen's 1984 Turns 35 Today, Is At Least The Second Best Work With That Title

By Pete Vonder Haar

Jan 9, 2019

Fusing the talents ot guitar mutant Eddie Van Halen, his percussive brother Alex, Tarzanian lead singer David Lee Roth, and competent bassist Michael Anthony, Van Halen was one of the biggest bands in the world in 1984, but not necessarily *the* biggest.

Ms. Lauryn Hill, the last time she did her thing in Houston.

There Are Very Few Reasonable Excuses for a Concert to Start Late

By Cory Garcia

Aug 31, 2018

Few things make you feel old like caring about set times at the concerts you attend. When you’re young, you’re a slave to the music, going along with whatever ride an artist has planned for you. Then one day you find yourself Googling set times from other cities and checking...

The Violent Femmes today: John Sparrow, Gordon Gano, and Brian Ritchie.

Violent Femmes: These Daddies Haven't Gone Anywhere

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 29, 2018

Brian Ritchie says that he gets asked a certain question often. Maybe somebody sees him with his long blond hair. Or that he’s carrying a guitar case, which precedes this inevitable exchange: Somebody: You look like a musician. Are you in a band? Ritchie: Yes, I am. Somebody: What band?...

The "Core Four" back together -seemingly in harmony - at Alpine Valley in 2002 (l to r): Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Mickey Hart.

The Grateful Dead's Long, Strange Trip

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 11, 2018

Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip By Joel Selvin with Pamela Turley 288 pp. Da Capo Press $27 When Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia died on August 9, 1995 from a heart attack, it probably seemed inconceivable even to diehard Deadheads that the...

Seymous Stein (center) with David Byrne and Madonna at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sire Records Honcho Tells Tales of Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders, and Madonna!

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 7, 2018

Siren Song: My Life in Music By Seymour Stein with Gareth Murphy 352 pp. $28.99 St. Martin’s Press As co-founder of Sire Records in 1966 – and still active in the industry today – Seymour Stein has seen a lot. Just a partial list of artists he’s discovered, scouted, signed,...

Headbanging at Howie's For Heavy Metal Sundays

By Bob Ruggiero

May 11, 2018

Pass through the doors of this small drinking establishment in a nondescript shopping center off 2920 in Spring, and you’re transformed into a low-lit Polynesian wonderland of art, paintings, sculpture, and a large bar with the ingredients to make any of the more than 135 cocktail variations on (and off)...

Your mama WILL dance to Poison! All original members in 2018: Rikki Rockett, Bobby Dall, Bret Michaels, and C.C. DeVille.

Poison Promises Nothing But a "Good Time" on Summer Tour

By Bob Ruggiero

May 7, 2018

It’s often said that any rock band has years and years to come up with the material for their first album and just months go do the same for their second. That’s the situation that glam metalers Poison found themselves in during 1988 when faced with the challenge of following...

"Visualizing the Beatles" breaks down which member wrote what percentage of each and every song they release on albums.

New Books See the Beatles in a Whole New Way and Ponder the End of Classic Rock

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 23, 2018

Visualizing the Beatles: A Complete Graphic History of the World’s Favorite Band By John Pring and Rob Thomas 288 pp. $26.99 Dey Street Books With hundreds of biographies published over decades, there can’t possibly be a completely different way to tell the well-worn story of the Fab Four, right? Wrong...

How Bad Luck Harpooned the Career of '60s San Fran Rockers Moby Grape

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 18, 2018

What’s Big and Purple and Lives in the Ocean? The Moby Grape Story By Cam Cobb 320 pp. $22.95 Jawbone Press No matter how talented a band is or the high quality of their music, sometimes a positive career trajectory just comes down to sheer luck – or lack thereof...

The once and current Dixie Dregs: Steve Davidowski, Steve Morse, Andy West, Rod Morgenstein, and Allen Sloan.

The South Rises Again on Dixie Dregs Reunion Tour

By Bob Ruggiero

Mar 13, 2018

It’s been just a week since the Dixie Dregs launched their reunion tour when guitarist Steve Morse is on the line. The trek called “Dawn of the Dregs,” marks the first time that the classic mid-‘70s lineup which released the band’s first two albums The Great Spectacular (1976) and Free...

"The Beatles Live at the Cavern" by Ron Campbell

How the Beatles Got 'Tooned in to the Times

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 27, 2018

It’s not often that an artist has his work denigrated by the very subject of it and can laugh about it decades later. But that’s exactly what has happened to animator Ron Campbell, the director of “The Beatles” cartoon series. The Saturday morning show ran from 1965-69 and featured clean-cut,...

Dave Mason is Still Feelin' More Than Alright

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 26, 2018

While Dave Mason was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for his co-founding and on/off again membership in Traffic, his solo career has long been underrated. From debut Alone Together though It’s Like You Never Left and Let it Flow, his songwriting is solid, and...

Louie Comella (in blue jacket) and Gracie Henley (in maroon shirt) with some of the crew and subjects for their documentary "Rockabilly Weekends - 21 Years of Viva Las Vegas."

Local Filmmakers Will Rock Around the Clock at Vegas Festival

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 23, 2018

For most music subcultures - be they Deadheads, EDM Ravers, or Juggalos - there is an annual festival that also serves as a gathering of the tribes. A chance for at least a weekend to be among like-minded souls and enjoy a shared enthusiasm with each other. And for rockabilly...

Silky smooth tunes from the exquisitely-maned Hall & Oates are requirements for any self-respecting Yacht Rock playlist. Hall reportedly hates the term while Oates sees the humor in it.

Book Takes You on the Smooth Sailin' Seas of Yacht Rock

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 15, 2018

The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s By Greg Prato 296 pp. $22.95 Jawbone Press Of all the “retro” music movements that have seen songs and musicians gain newfound popularity decades after their initial day in the sun, Yacht Rock...

Dennis Tufano today: From Buckinghams to Bobby Darin

'60s Star Dennis Tufano's Resurgence Is Anything But "Kind of a Drag"

By Bob Ruggiero

Jan 29, 2018

You would think that a band whose members were barely out of high school - but had the No. 1 song in the entire country - would be able to celebrate without restriction. That achievement happened for the Buckinghams in February 1967 when their two-minute-and-seven-second infectious slice of pop, “Kind...

Dennis DeYoung with guitarists Jimmy Leahey (left) and August Zadra crank out the Styx hits.

Dennis DeYoung and Night Ranger, January 27, Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land

By Bob Ruggiero

Jan 28, 2018

As the co-founder, principal vocalist/songwriter, and keyboardist for classic rock warhorse group Styx, it was a shock to fans when Dennis DeYoung was ousted from the group in 1999 for (take your pick) medical, personal, and/or creative reasons. But he wasn’t about to give up performing much of the same...

The Who in Chicago in 1975: Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend.

Allen Hill Pits Hefty Knowledge of The Who Against New Interview Tome

By Bob Ruggiero

Aug 23, 2017

"The greatest artists never stop trying," says Allen Hill on the UK rock legends.

Things That Make Us Feel Old

New Doc Celebrates — and Dissects — the History and Impact of MTV

Can '90s Alt Rockers The Incoherents Get It Together One More Time?

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