Let me introduce you to your new favorite “guilty pleasure” listening music – Late Music, the very welcome new release that hit stores and digital outlets today from Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken with Bell Sound. The Bell Sound project pairs Diken with collaborator Pete DiBella, and a list of special guests that will put a […]
Category: The 60s
Making A List: Top Ten Rock Songs in Two Minutes
Hey everybody! The Stereo Dictator is back with a list that is sure to stimulate some conversation: The Top Ten Songs of the 20th Century in Two Minutes! This post is inspired by a friend of mine who recently asked me to come up with the top ten rock and roll songs of the 20th […]
Favorite Beatles covers?
As you might have heard, remastered copies of the Beatles catalog are coming out today. I say this sarcastically knowing that some of you are swinging the proverbial cat around and around in the air, trying to miss the global coverage of this event, and you….just…CAN’T miss it! The Beatles have nabbed the front cover […]
Quick Hits: The Wrestler, The Yayhoos, Mix Tapes, & Lemonheads
Hey kids, I had a “moment” this past week. Occasionally, I’ll lend out music to friends, although if I have my ultra-anal thinking cap on, I’ll often just burn them a copy instead. In this case, I wasn’t thinking straight (not the first time that this has happened.) A couple of weeks later, my co-worker […]
Stereo Dictator Guide #1 – Webb Wilder
Hey hey rock fans, please enjoy the first of many posts designed to help you dig back into the vast musical archives of your favorite record store or website with direction, purpose and the sense that you spent your cash wisely. Stereo Dictator Guide #1 features a guy whose credo is: “Work hard, rock hard, […]
Happy 90th Birthday to Jane Scott
Legendary former Plain Dealer rock critic Jane Scott turns 90 years old today. For those of you that are outside of Cleveland, this link will give you some entertaining material to read about Jane. And for even more reading, check out this 2004 interview with Jane! How about this stat from Wikipedia: Scott retired in […]
Here’s a rock and roll tour for ya – Bob Dylan + John Mellencamp + Willie Nelson
Bob Dylan is once again revisiting his highly successful summer tour of minor league ballparks, which inspired similar tours featuring Def Leppard and Bryan Adams, and Counting Crows with Live and Collective Soul. Dylan grabs fellow veteran ballpark traveler Willie Nelson and adds John Mellencamp to the bill. Dylan was so-bad-that-I-walked-out awful a few years […]
The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies – Reflections from Cleveland
Wow, what a weekend. Guitar extravaganza closes out the Rock Hall inductions with, from left, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, Joe Perry, Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield. photo by Joshua Gunter / The Plain Dealer I seriously had every intention of merely “swiping” and linking to Brian’s overview of the event. And then, Friday […]
Founder of Crawdaddy! Magazine needs your help
After seeing quite a few blog items/news entries on the web about this, I wanted to chip in with a personal note of support for Paul Williams, founder of legendary music mag Crawdaddy!. A biking accident in 1995 left Williams with a brain injury and subsequent disabilities that have escalated to the point that his […]
The 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time
Thanks to all for your lyrical help in the previous post – the song that I was searching for was “Love Letter” by Bonnie Raitt. Nowhere close to John Parr, but I guess at least I found out from the experience that there is a video for “Naughty, Naughty.” Who knew? I woke up this […]