Southern California has this way of dulling the senses, especially during early July. A toxic mixture of apathy, gloom and Sublime cause most of us to forget that So-Cal music isn’t necessarily meant to be enjoyed with a Corona and a blunt. This is especially...
Maybe it’s because the island’s surface area is so small – making a high population density and so very easy to hear and be influenced by the same things – or maybe it’s because any given band’s music has to travel such a great...
It's hard to believe that 2008 is already half over. The longest day of the year (or the shortest, if you are reading this in the southern hemisphere) has come and gone, and it's pretty much guaranteed that Christmas decorations will start showing up in store...
This is part three of a three-part series on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. Part one can be found here and part two can be found here. It was now about 4:30 PM, and the heat had started taking its toll on the crowd. Everywhere I looked I saw kids seeking shade, whether it...
The verdict was out if Goldfinger would ever return. Over the last couple of years in particular, the band members’ business outside of the group saw a tremendous amount of expansion: drummer Darrin Pfieffer became a radio personality and president of a record...
This is part two of a three-part series on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. Part one can be found here and part three is coming soon. Well so far it was shaping up to be a pretty good day. It was only 1:30 in the afternoon and I had already seen three pretty awesome bands,...
This is part one of a three-part series on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. Part two can be found here and part three is coming soon. The punk rock purist in me really wanted to hate the Vans Warped Tour. Back in my youth, an all-day punk rock fest in San Francisco meant a...
Has it really been four years since The Faint released Wet From Birth? That sounds crazy, but when I really ponder that fact, it seems about right. What the hell took them so long? Have they been in the Peace Corps, spreading their electro-vibe to third-world countries...
This year’s Taste of Chicago, which kicked off last week with performances from soul greats Stevie Wonder and Chaka Kahn, has opened its doors for the next generation of soul and R&B performers. And the fact that Chicago is in the running for the 2016 summer...
Aimee Mann's @#%&!Smilers is arguably thoughtful, melodic songwriting, but also a puzzling mix of bland metaphors and stoned, lethargic production. At 14 songs, @#%&!Smilers but would have been better off without the tracks not mentioned here but is a...