By now, hopefully you’ve managed to obtain your very own copy of the excellent new Don Dixon-produced Smithereens release 2011. I’ve been keeping uncharacteristically mum regarding my thoughts on the album, because I’m working on an interview to dig deep into the 2011 album via conversations with the band. But that won’t stop me from […]
Author: Matt Wardlaw
Bruce Hornsby – Bride of the Noisemakers
I had the extreme pleasure of speaking to Bruce Hornsby on Monday to talk about his new live album Bride of the Noisemakers (which debuts as an Amazon exclusive on May 2nd and will be available on June 7th in regular stores). This was my second interview with Bruce – we first got the chance […]
Contest: A Free MP3 and chance to win “Europe ’72” by The Grateful Dead
I had the great pleasure of speaking with longtime Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux this past week for an interview that will be online soon. How soon? As soon as my fingers can do the transcribing work! Lemieux is currently knee deep in the assembly work for the highly anticipated 72 CD release of Europe […]
Rhino Handmade prepares Chicago “Live in ’75” release
When I spent some time recently reminiscing about some great live Chicago video from the ’70s, I had no idea that my words might make it to the music gods with power to release cool stuff. Actually, it’s probably completely unrelated, but I’m very, very stoked about the latest announcement from Rhino Handmade about Chicago’s […]
Springsteen at Winterland
Every now and then, someone will leave a comment here that for one reason or another, fails to post in the comments of the actual post. A gent named “Mark” left a comment on my post of Bruce Springsteen’s classic Agora show, which as you can imagine remains as one of the most popular posts […]
A Smart Ass In Every Room: Cruising The Bay Area with Joel Selvin
As someone with a passion for both music and writing, I really look up to the legendary members of the old guard that really paved the way for what is being done in their respective fields today. On the radio side of things, I’m talking about guys like Rick Dees (now on Twitter @RickDees) and […]
Some good news for Crowded House fans…
As Record Store Day approaches, there are two items on my “must have” list amidst the many other items on the list of releases that fall into the “would like to have” category (I’m looking at you, Tom Petty vinyl reissues). One of those items is the Foo Fighters vinyl compilation that collects many of […]
Further Conversation: More Stuff From My Chat With Everest
I spoke with Everest bassist Elijah Thomson on Monday for the Riverfront Times. There was more stuff than I could use for the piece, so of course you get to enjoy the tasty leftovers here. I always have to give credit to my good friend Rob Evanoff (who at the time, was their publicist) for […]
Random Dees: Rick Dees and Blue Oyster Cult
I suppose I fell down a rabbit hole of sorts (which is the understatement to end all understatements) when I recently discovered that my childhood radio hero Rick Dees had joined Twitter and Facebook. I’ll save the gushing for a later point and simply share my latest Dees moment with you – some video from […]
Contest: Win “The Great Divide” by Tommy Shaw
Music fans have known Tommy Shaw previously both as a member of Styx and as a solo artist, but as a bluegrass player? That’s a new side of Tommy Shaw you might not be as familiar with. Shaw released The Great Divide, his debut bluegrass effort earlier this week (also to be released on vinyl […]