The songs one might consider placing under the broad rubric of “Halloween Rock” occupy a curious niche in rock music history. They do not es...

The website switched.com announced yesterday—October 28, 2008—that JVC, the final company producing standalone VCRs, has ceased manufacture...

1. The fact that rock ‘n’ roll is about a whole lot more than the music is rock culture’s equivalent of the elephant in the living room. 2. ...

Yesterday I came across Greg Kot’s compelling homage to Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, who died October 17 at age 72. (Pictured at left are t...

I may have missed it, but Bill Wyman’s website made no mention of his birthday yesterday—his 72nd. The former Rolling Stone didn’t acknowle...

I went ahead and posted nine more aphorisms today, so as to make the number I’ve posted on this blog at this point total an even 70. Several...

1. Concerts once were performed for the purpose of being recorded, but now concerts occur for the purpose of promoting a record. 2. There’s ...

I learned today that Neal Hefti, former big band trumpeter, arranger, and composer who worked with that era's illustrious band leaders s...

1. An old adage advises not to judge a book by its cover; it is therefore the height of folly to judge an album’s greatness by the album cov...

Glenn Gould scandalized the classical music community in the 1960s when he acknowledged that the recordings on his LPs were spliced together...

1. “The Top 500 Albums of All Time”—another name for the outcome of a questionnaire, a device derived from a nineteenth-century parlor game....

1. Marx revised Hegel by averring all great historic personages appear twice, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. When appl...