Twenty years ago, Chuck D unapologetically announced that he was the “poetic, political, lyrical son” in the rap song “Public Enemy No. 1.” The front man for the rap group Public Enemy has sent shockwaves ever since, through his lyrics on nearly 20 hip hop albums, as a composer, actor, author, political activist and...
Skerik stands outside San Francisco’s famous blues club, the Boom Boom Room. A saxophone player from Seattle, Washington, he’s playing here tonight with one of the dozen or more independent, underground or alternative bands he either fronts or is a key member of. He kicks ass on his instrument, and he is the horn...
It’s an hour before the show, and violist Charith Premawardhana is bowing and plucking his way through rigorous music arrangements that he’s just now seeing for the very first time. Pushing dark-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, he leafs through a thick stack of sheet music labeled with song titles like “The...