Flying under my radar was a fantastic documentary, Rock ‘n’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen playing on Showtime. Gruen, as Alice Cooper explains, “was part of the entire rock scene…as much as any band.” Certainly that shows; his body of work is basically a history of rock ‘n’ roll. He photographed (and hung out with) Zeppelin, the Stones, Ike and Tina, Aerosmith among many others, as well as becoming the photographer-in-residence for John and Yoko.
Midnight on any Saturday, 1979, Coconut Grove, Miami: Teenagers queued up to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, something they’ve done so many times that they know it by heart, including the two videos (before MTV) that kick off the stoned-out evening: Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Lights and the J Geils Band’s Love Stinks. That was my introduction to frontman Peter Wolf. Not long after, as a student at Boston University, Woofa Goofa and I...
"Ellington At The White House 1969"
Edward Allan Faine
“The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club”
by Peter Hook
"Leonard Cohen, 'Hallelujah,' and our 2021 Holiday Mashup"
In the late 70s, punk rock music began to evolve into the post-punk and new wave movements that dominated until the early 90s. During this time, prolific photographer and filmmaker Michael Grecco was in the thick of things, documenting the club scene in places like Boston and New York, and getting shots on-and backstage with bands such as The Cramps, Dead Kennedys, Talking Heads, Human Sexual Response, Elvis Costello, Joan Jett, the Ramones, and many others...
We recently asked James Cook, author of Memory Songs, and the former bass guitarist in The Flamingoes, if he had any favorite music biographies, memoirs, or music books, and anything he'd like to recommend. Here’s what James had to say.
THAT NIGHT AT MASSEY HALL...
It seems 2018 was an especially hard year on musicians, beginning the the tragic death of The Cranberries' Dolores O'Riorden on January 15th, to losing jazz legend Nancy Wilson just two weeks ago. Here'w the roll call for 2018...
