Bios and stories about the artists we feature
If there is a lead singer in rock whose career arc is eerily similar to the pro football career of Brett Favre, it would have to be David Coverdale. English by birth he now holds dual US/English citizenship and resides in Reno, Nevada. Coverdale is remarkably well preserved for a 64 year old rock […]
The fateful day that Ray (the Human Jukebox, guitar player, vocalist) called to tell me that he was mustering out of the Air Force hit me like a ton of bricks. He said that he would be heading back to his old stomping grounds in southern Illinois in early May so his last band jobs […]
Not the end of the world. This FTV will be about a band coming to the end of its run. I am sorry, if the title sounds a little too ‘apocalyptic’ sounding, but in some ways, the end of a band is a bit jarring. I was dumped twice by the same girlfriend in […]
“No one wants to see a drunken bluesman anymore”. Pretty profound words from Deak Harp who was just that and as a result, he was considered a five time loser (as in ‘failed rehab five times’), messed up, unreliable, and black balled by just about all the blues clubs in New York and Chicago. “They […]
Kids, don’t try this at home. I am pretty sure that the tale I am about to relate would be considered an act of terrorism today but in the early 1970s, it could still be dismissed as ‘youthful hijinks’. It was still dumb, but by today’s standards, ‘dumb’ would not be a good enough excuse […]
When I was first learning the craft of rock and roll drumming, I absorbed as much as I could by playing along with records. I also made it a point to see as many live bands as I could. There were times when I would watch other drummers and think, “Yeah, I can do […]
Quick: Who was the first guitar player in The James Gang? If you said Joe Walsh, join me at the back of the class because we were both wrong. In fact, The James Gang wasn’t even Joe Walsh’s band – it was formed in 1966 by drummer Jim Fox. The band predated Walsh by a […]
Spoiler alert: I am a Mark Farner fan and like Homer Simpson professes in the Homerpalooza episode, I have a special spot in my heart for the, “Wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner” and his body of work with Grand Funk Railroad. I watched some interview clips with Farner recently where he mentioned the […]
John Lennon loved ELO. In 1974, he proclaimed that they were the “natural heirs to the Fab Four” which more or less fulfilled Jeff Lynne’s teenage fantasies generated as a Beatles fan during his formative years in Birmingham. America also loved ELO. England? Not so much. Sharon Osbourne? More on her later. Even Phil Lynne, […]
Although he was born in Iowa, Dick Wagner grew up in Saginaw, MI and became a Detroit music icon with his early bands The Bossmen and The Frost. These bands may not have enjoyed the national exposure of other Michigan bands (Grand Funk Railroad and Bob Seger for example), but Wagner himself is […]