Springsteen played Bonnaroo. McCartney played Coachella. Elton recorded a track with Timbaland. Somewhere, somehow the lines are becoming blurred. Speaking of McCartney, let’s not forget that Rockband – Beatles Edition comes out on 9/9/09. Can a Rolling Stones/Miley Cyrus duet...

Last night I trekked down to the Comcast Center to see Phish.  Admittedly, I’m only a passing Phish phan, but the ticket was offered, seemed like phun, and off (oph?) I went.  In my own defense, I’m far more fascinated by what’s going on backstage and not on stage.  Phish,...

The big news in Boston was the opening of the brand-new, super-duper House of Blues on Landsdowne St.  Rising from the ashes of Avalon (formerly Venus de Milo which was formerly Metro which was formerly Citi which … you get the idea), was this already legendary musical phoenix. Kicking...

iPod might be the greatest thing to happen to music since ears.  But my personal listening habits (and many others who I scientifically polled…), seem to evolve around listening to the same bunch of songs.  Granted it’s the same 200 or so songs, but there’s an extreme...

Back in ye olde days, I had a pretty sweet system.  Bose speakers, Denon receiver and cd player, and the oh-so-pricey gold Monster Cables connecting everything together.  I was a sophomore in high school, and I saved up (Jewish) confirmation gift money, went to Tweeter’s “Scratch...

It has always amazed me that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  And while there are quieter, more deserving people in need of help or praise, there may in fact be more to gain by squeaking your wheel. That being said, I wonder if pissing people off is actually the better...

Now that we’re into a new year, and most people have already made and/or broken their resolutions, I wanted to address a l’il issue that bugs me.   For those who know me, this isn’t the following: 1.  People who put butter on their bagels.  Wrong for SO many reasons. 2. ...

Lately, as we march deeper into the nastiness of recession, I’ve seen those whom I consider good people become less than honorable.  The fear of many things -mostly financial- has whittled away their sense of idealism, decency, and simple tact.  And this ultimate loss of idealism, in...

Bruce sang that there were “57 channels and nothing on.”  Back then, he wasn’t far off.  But the good folks at Comcast have found a way to trump that by nearly ten-fold.  Then, when the despair reached its zenith, on popped “Spectacle.”  Debuting on the...

In an odd way, I think he did the right thing.  In the world of music, massaging the ego is usually lesson one. There is an eminent Russian conductor encamped at a private home in Brookline, and he is fuming. In an extremely rare public flare-up in the outwardly genteel world of major...

Criticism, in its best and worst form lives on.  The late, great Dorothy Parker wrote some of the finest, including: “This not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force”  (The Algonquin Wits, 1968) “Katharine Hepburn delivered a striking...

Once a month I go out and buy some music.  You know: in the store, CD in hand, and actually purchase items.  While it’s a longer discussion, I really do like having a physical product and an interaction with a real person when I buy music.  Call me crazy… Anyway, here’s...

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So the docs have given me permission (after nearly 4 weeks!) to go back to the gym. Whatever was supposed to heal in my shoulder has done so, and I’m headed up the road to test it all out. Soreness awaits me, no doubt. And no, I’m not gonna over do it. And yes, I’m going...