Ray Davies Concert Review

Misfits, outcasts, the downtrodden… If you fit into one of these groups, or did at one time, you probably consider Ray Davies (pronounced dave – iz) a champion for your cause. Forty-seven years after The Kinks first hit the USA Top 10 with “You Really Got Me”, chief songwriter, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Raymond [...]

R.E.M. Disband After 31 Years

It’s hard to believe a world without R.E.M. making music and touring. Although the hits dried up years ago, the creativity and artistic integrity never waned. R.E.M. simply befell the fate of almost all old rockers; obscurity in the modern age of processed music ala Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Glee and American Idol. 60′s, 70′s, [...]

9/16/72 – Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night‘s “Black and White” went to #1 on September 16, 1972, bypassing the one-hit wonder “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass. “Black And White” was originally a folk song, written in 1954 as a celebration of the Supreme Court’s ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. It was originally [...]

British Invasion

I hated Sunday afternoons—as a teenager I worked all alone in a small grocery store cleaning windows and washing floors. But I was able to blast my portable radio as loud as I wanted. One Sunday afternoon I was listening to Chicago radio station WLS or WCFL but for some reason I changed stations. I [...]

Retroflections: Carole King

Let’s go back to the early Sixties when Doo-Wop was finishing a long run as a staple on the pop charts. Young male artists such as Bobby Vee, Sam Cooke, and Ricky Nelson were being idolized while the “Girl Groups” were all the rage with the Shirelles, Crystals and Ronettes sharing their troubles with boys. [...]

Concert Review – Paul Simon & Brian Wilson (6/30/01)

Here is my unchanged (a Sammy Sosa reference?!?!) Paul Simon and Brian Wilson concert review from 10 years ago… BRIAN WILSON & PAUL SIMON – tweeter center, tinley park, IL – June 30, 2001 I was primed and pumped to see two of my musical heroes in one night. However, I found myself to be [...]

O’Hara sings Bacharach/David

Incredible performance of this 1968 Bacharach-David Broadway tune by Jill O’Hara. No doubt that O’Hara is in charge…impeccable power, perfect phrasing, timing, diction, vulnerability and that Voice! Masterful lyrics by one of the greatest lyricists of our time–Hal David.

Happy Birthday!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

It’s no wonder this tune was such a big hit. It’s snappy, fun, very catchy and yet the subject matter is universal, whether you are a teenager or not. Breaking up really can be a bitch!. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do went all the way to #1 in the USA in the summer of [...]

March 31, 1984

This was the day when Footloose by Kenny Loggins went to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1984, where it stayed for three weeks. This tune featured an infectious, repeating wobbly guitar line serving as backbeat, high energy singing and sharp synth blasts that were popular in the 80′s (see this song for an example, [...]