Lou Reed is funnier than you think
A recent show at London’s Jazz Cafe featuring a high-profile beatboxer and DJ got me thinking about shifting trends in hip hop, and how...
Posts Tagged ‘ Music ’
L.A. Punk Has a Sense of Humor, Too
Los Angeles was a haven for punk rock in the early 80s. The city is at it again. HERE is my blog post from motherjones.com.
Tankian’s Surge
I spoke with System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian backstage at Slim’s in San Francisco. A liberal-minded, Armenian Genocide activist, he was genuinely excited to speak with someone from Mother Jones Magazine, and told me he was a big fan of our publication. Folks from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office showed up after...
Joe Strummer Calling: Know Your Rights!
A film about the Clash frontman includes all the little people that Strummer befriended, inspired, and pissed off along the way. My motherjones.com review of the film lives HERE.
Audio: Henry Rollins, Post-Punk Pundit
Henry Rollins is best known as the frontman for the hardcore punk band Black Flag and later for his solo project the Rollins Band. He performs regularly as a spoken word artist and a comedian, and has written and published books of prose and poetry. Rollins is a radio and TV personality, actor, and...
Chuck D and the State of the Black Union
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...
Destroying submission, one band at a time
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...
Hip hop gets a symphonic mash-up
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...
Teenage East Bay rockers embrace punk’s do-it-yourself ethos anew
Some musicians call it East Bay thrash core, others call it punk or hardcore. Livermore area teens who play and listen to loud, aggressive, fast music don’t much care what you call it. They’re not trying to create a big music scene. For many of them, the music and its accompanying lifestyle are about...