A short note to Ronnie James Dio and his wife (and manager) Wendy: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dio, First, Ronnie, I heard you’ve been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. Let me wish you the best in this battle, and that you bounce back quickly so you can tour in support of that “Heaven and Hell” […]
The Grammys have gotten a lot more entertaining since Twitter exploded. That’s about all I have to say about Sunday night’s audaciously crass events – kind of a Cirque du Soleil for the Wal-Mart crowd. The evening was much more entertaining in 140-character bursts than on screen, even if it meant finding out that I […]
Eddie Argos [pictured last year at Spaceland], who as the frontman of U.K. quintet Art Brut put the rapier wit in rock, is getting ready to unveil the side project he has with his girlfriend Dyan Valdes, keyboardist in the L.A. quartet the Blood Arm. Its unruly name is Everybody Was in the French Resistance […]
I’m taking a holiday break for some badly needed R&R – rest for the blogger and re-evaluation of this little enterprise. Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season, and thanks to everybody who supported Buzz Bands in 2009. ||| Live: If you go to one show next week, I recommended the New Year’s […]
Here’s my twist on a best-of-the-Noughties list: It’s 3 a.m. on a recent chilly evening and I’m on my couch, away from my record collection and my iTunes, with a notepad in my lap. I’ve assigned myself to come up with 50 songs from 2000 to ’09 that I love – at least the ones […]
[File under: Things I have heard, seen or read:] Little Radio, R.I.P?: Reports of the demise of Little Radio have been exaggerated. The six-year-old Internet radio station, whose struggles have been bandied about on the Internet recently, remains up and running and webcasting curated playlists, although it suffered a setback earlier this year when it […]
I spent Saturday revisiting the Mixtape That Changed My Life, teetering between tears and the urge to fly into a stereo-smashing rage. The 110-minute cassette is titled “KPEN 1992,” and it was a gift from my friend and former colleague Mike Penner. Penner, the Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made headlines in 2007 when he […]
Colorado’s Monolith Festival is in trouble. Organizers of the three-year-old event, plagued the past two years by fractious Rocky Mountain weather, told fans in an e-mail “the future of the festival is very grim,” and that they have “been unable to secure any options” that dig the fest out of its financial hole. Included was […]
As Dangerbird Records co-founder Jeff Castelaz wends his way toward Los Angeles on his Pablove Across America bicycle trek, plans are in place for the big final bash – a benefit concert on Nov. 21 at the Avalon. This week, Band of Horses and Sea Wolf were added to a lineup that already included the […]
Your faithful correspondent is on a road trip this week and out of his blogger uniform. Expect some guest bloggers and, perhaps, lighter than usual posts.
