Uncategorized | April 14, 2010
ROGER McGUINN: THE ROOTS OF A BYRD (AND A BOW FROM BRUCE)Almost thirty years ago, at a benefit called “A Night for the Vietnam Veteran”, Bruce Springsteen performed The Byrds’ “Ballad of Easy Rider”, a song written by Byrds founder Roger […]
Uncategorized | April 13, 2010
THE ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS: BESTSELLING AUTHORS ROCK FOR CHARITYSome of the world’s best-selling authors put down their pens andpick up their instruments in the name of big fun and bigger fund-raising. By Steve Houk Imagine a novel that had the […]
Uncategorized | March 17, 2010
SHANE HINES: A MUSICAL TRANCE TO RELISHA homegrown musician wins the biggest WAMMY and now stands on the brink of stardom with hooks and melodies that will put you, yes, in his “trance.” by Steve Houk […]
Living On Music | February 28, 2010
THE PALPABLE COOLNESS OF IMELDA MAYAnyone who works at a nursing home singing old songs with the elderly to make them happier, or rescues an injured crow who’s fallen out of a tree, has to […]
Uncategorized | February 12, 2010
JOHN MAYALL: THE HUMBLE PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ENGLISH BLUESA blues legend talks humbly about his influence on some of the world’s greatest musicians and where his own musical tastes came from. By Steve Houk If you ask music […]
Uncategorized | January 17, 2010
BOBBY “BLUE” BLAND: DOIN’ THE BLUES HIS WAYThe blues. Many say it began at the end of the 19th century within African-American communities as a mixture of spirituals, work songs, field hollers and chants. Since then, the blues […]
Uncategorized | December 17, 2009
MAKING MEMORIESWhen I look back on Christmases past, mainly those of my youth, I can’t help but burst into a big grin. I was an only child with two loving […]
Uncategorized | December 4, 2009
SHOW SOME RESPECTBelow in italics is the text of a letter I wrote today to the Times Herald Record, the local newspaper in Middletown NY, about the dismissal of my former co-worker Tracy […]
Uncategorized | November 3, 2009
MAE: MAKING MUSIC AND MAKING A DIFFERENCEFunny how things work out sometimes. Take the altruistically-inclined Virginia-based alternative rock band Mae, for instance. It was a confluence of major band events that sparked what has now […]
Uncategorized | September 25, 2009
A 21ST CENTURY RENAISSANCE…FOR RENAISSANCEThe “reunion tour.” The term can strike fear in the minds of true fans of bands whose best days are long since past. Sometimes, reunion tours work. The bands still […]