Bios and stories about the artists we feature
In August of 1964, the kids who worked as volunteer crossing guards for the Marquette Area Public Schools were rewarded with a trip to the Upper Peninsula State Fair in Escanaba. We were told to wear our iconic Safety Patrol belts to gain free entry to the fair, but it seemed unnecessary as we […]
A while back, we covered how the ups and downs of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (FTV: 1974 – 12-25-19) led to the normalization of huge venue concerts. These mega-events were quite common up until the COVID-19 pandemic pulled the rug out from under the music industry. At that time, I promised to take […]
Thanks to our old friend Barry Seymour for sending along the cool clip posted in the top piece. Nice to have friends to call up when one gets stir crazy and want to make music . . .
Some musicians wear hats and I never gave it much thought until I saw Dwight Yoakum in the movie Sling Blade (1996). As a disciple of the Bakersfield Sound, I always assumed Yoakum’s ever present cowboy hat was symbolic of his country music roots. Despite the ample locks of hair that streamed from under his […]
Surely you have seen pictures of Jeff Lynne. As the leader of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), there was a period of time when his face adorned publications as varied as Rolling Stone, Melody Maker, Time, Newsweek, and even People. With his curly halo of dark hair, neatly trimmed beard, trademark aviator shades, and […]
We last visited drummer Kenney Jones in the fall of 2018 (FTV: Kenney Jones 9-12-18) when Classic Rock Magazine talked with him about his book Let The Good Times Roll – My Life in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who (Kenney Jones, 2018 – St.Martin’s Press). It had just come out that month so […]
My first introduction to Keith Moon and The Who came from the 45 rpm I had added to my drum practice records. I would put on a stack of 45s (and later, albums) and retreat to the basement. After playing through as many songs as would fit on the spindle, my mom would flip […]
It was on one of those TV shows that tried to be ‘really hip’ back in the 1970s, yet some how still seemed like a typical TV musical variety show, just aimed at a younger audience. This show would do little vignettes of comedy between popular music acts of the day. The guest host was […]
It is late 1967. Bob Dylan is holed up in Woodstock, NY recovering from a serious motorcycle accident that had prematurely ended the tour he had been on using Levon and The Hawks as his backing band. Actually, the second half of the tour had been just with The Hawks as Levon Helm had gotten […]
Mark Lavon Helm (1940 – 2012) was an Arkansas country boy raised in the cotton picking culture that surrounded his boyhood home of Turkey Scratch. As soon as school let out for the summer, the back breaking work of cotton farming consumed his summers. When I learned that Helm started his farming career as a […]