Merde
So many things in today’s time feel like a novelty. Things that you can remember being special or unique are now standard. For the purpose of this piece, I’m thinking of music magazines coming with compact discs. The first magazine I remember with this added incentive was CMJ. CMJ stood for College Music Journal — … Continue reading
Euphoria
When I was hired at Wherehouse Records in 1994 I was one of three new hires. One of the other two newbies was a fellow named Jim. Jim was (and is) a DJ and he was pretty instrumental in opening up my enjoyment of dance music. He would hip me to things I wasn’t listening … Continue reading
Drink tea, for the love of god!
Beverage week. This is a music column. My drink of choice is tea, iced tea. I drink lots of it. Not quite buckets, not quite gallons, but I do drink my fair share. I love it. Ask anyone. My life is cluttered with glass bottles. Often I am like Stephen Fry’s portrayal of Wellington in … Continue reading
The language of letting go
A few weeks ago, maybe a month now, I sent our beleagured editor/driving force/pappy of the site Gavin an article on death. It wasn’t just about death, but it permeated the article, which revolved around a dumpster behind a cemetery in my town. A dumpster full of mementos and things like flowers and stuffed animals. … Continue reading
If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough
When I started this week’s column I had planned on writing about music featured in film or television. This is, but of course, a wide swatch to write about but I planned to write about one television show in particular: Jackass. That’s right, the show with the colorful cast of characters that hurt each other … Continue reading
Heart
“OK, we’re gonna give you an EKG now.” With that my doctor and his med student got up and left the room. I sat there with my wacky slightly kimono-esque gown on, one that tied in the front while I waited. A nurse came in with a machine on a cart and began to affix … Continue reading
Neu!
Consider the great bands in music, and then consider what makes these bands rise above the usual accolades into being something great. So many groups have tandems within the band, two artists that provide direction and ability. Two artists who may develop friction. I remember reading about the Clash and coming across a passage describing … Continue reading
The sincerest form of flattery
The past two weeks I’ve been (trying) to write about Kraftwerk. German band. They play instruments; flutes, keyboards, fake drums, robots. They make beautiful music, really the only way to put it, beautiful music. Really it is a singular body of work, modern music that you can listen to over and over. As with other … Continue reading
U2 in East Lansing (before and after)
Somewhere, right now, Bono is in East Lansing — Me, to my family when I arrived in EL on June 25th. Thing I most remember was Bono climbing around on the lighting equipment like an Irish monkey. -– Chris, my longtime record store friend who was in attendance when U2 last played East Lansing on … Continue reading
Kraftwerk: the early days
When we look back at Kraftwerk it is easy to have no knowledge of the early days of the band, before they really were “Kraftwerk.” Springing from the formative West Germany in the 60s Ralf Hutter and Florian Schnieder worked together as far back as 1967. Their first band was called Organization and released a … Continue reading
