Category Archives: Random Topics
Another Obsession On My List
I bought Shoot Out The Lights in 1983. I’d read rave reviews for the album in three different magazines and decided it was time to check out this Richard & Linda Thompson. When I got home, put the record on the turntable and started … Continue reading
It Was The Last Week In August
It was the last week in August, 1941. Scholars and song collectors Alan Lomax, from the Library of Congress, and John Work, from Fisk University in Nashville, TN, were travelling through Mississippi on a project to trace the origins of the Blues in the … Continue reading
Music Stores & T-Shirts
The guy sitting diagonally across the table from me at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom was wearing a t-shirt with a drawing of a guitar on it. When he sat back in his chair, I could see that the guitar … Continue reading
On This Day In Music History: ??
OK, readers, here’s another quiz for you. What drummer played his first gig with his new, already-pretty-popular rock & roll band at Hulme Hall, in Port Sunlight, Birkenhead, England on this day, August 18, a Saturday, in 1962? Bonus question: can … Continue reading
On This Day In Music History: Dylan Goes Electric At Newport!!!
When Bob Dylan awoke on Sunday, July 25, 1965, he was on top of the world of Folk music. In the three years and four months since his first album was released, he had risen to living legend/voice of his … Continue reading
John & Alan Lomax Meet Huddie Ledbetter, Part 2
In July of 1933, when John and Alan Lomax left Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, LA, Huddie Lebetter stayed behind. He would be continuing his 6 – 10 year prison sentence for “assault with intent to murder” that he had begun serving … Continue reading
Old Friends
Getting together with an old friend is a wonderful thing. It is amazing how, in this age of instant communication, the complexities and congestion of life can cause years to go by between visits or even a phone conversation between … Continue reading
One Guitar, Fingerpicked
To sit in a room and listen to a good player fingerpick an acoustic guitar is a most enjoyable experience. When there are another 9,000 or so other people in that room with you and the person fingerpicking the one acoustic guitar is … Continue reading
Once & Again: Dave Rawlings Machine
Last summer, on Sunday, August 2, 2009, to be precise, Dave Rawlings Machine kicked off the day’s music at George Wein’s Folk Festival 50 in Newport, RI, with “Diamond Joe.” It was 11:30 in the morning under the tent that covered the … Continue reading
A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All
On June 1, 1967, I was in eighth grade at St. Michael’s Parochial School in Exeter, NH. I might have been thinking about graduation, but more than likely most of my thoughts were more about Alice, a girl in my … Continue reading
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