Remembering Paul Barrere
October 27, 2019 I’m 18 in a dorm room at UCSC and this dude from Philly puts on Waiting for Columbus. Knew the band, but really, didn’t know the band. Dixie Chicken, Lowell George, guys from L.A.. Sure. And then those first swampy grooves of Fat Man hit me like lightning. They still do. […]
Mark Knopfler, Greek Theatre
September 22, 2019 I was 17 the first time I heard “Sultans of Swing”, and I was not amused. Who was this nasally sounding, semi-spoken Brit with circular breathing like hammer-ons? But, it didn’t take me long to figure out that those tunes and that Strat playing were off the charts extraordinary. “Down to the Waterline”, […]
David Crosby, Saban Theatre
September 10, 2019 Croz always comes straight at you and from the heart, burned bridges and all. No surprise his Sky Trails tour two-setter at the Saban Theatre was so warmly greeted, from the “In My Dreams” CSN opener to the “Wooden Ships” and “Ohio” closers. “Eight Miles High”, “Guinnevere” and “Long Time Gone” were […]
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Greek Theatre
August 16, 2019 If you have ever been into the Dead, and written off JRAD as just a Dead cover band, you are so missing the point. For me, this band goes places I haven’t been, fueled by the Dead’s musical canon. If you made it to the Greek (or any show on this […]
NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL 2019, FORT ADAMS, RHODE ISLAND
July 26-28, 2019 As the sun dipped to meet Naragansett Bay a few Sundays back, the 60 years since the first Newport Folk Festival seemingly came full circle. The Fort Stage crowd serenading Rambling Jack Elliott, and the dozens of singers and musicians paying tribute to the spirit and songs of Pete Seeger (who […]