I just posted a blog Wednesday after months without one. And isn’t it just like me that on that very day news broke of the death of two artists I revere. I suddenly felt the need to post three blogs in one day...

I wouldn’t say I was ever especially close to Mike Meyer, but I certainly respected his approach to coaching and teaching. It was always clear he demanded that these young people give their best and wouldn’t accept less. May we all have someone like that in our lives. It makes us better every day...

The Kentucky Derby always puts me in the mood for the Rolling Stones. If you know, you know. It's all about one line in the second verse of the ninth of 10 songs on the 1971 classic "Sticky Fingers." A rather dark song, "Dead Flowers" is told from the perspective of a down-and-out junky (Is there any other kind?) addressing a well-to-do subject. It's an unrequited love situation...

While reading a book about the Wu-Tang Clan Monday evening, I was pondering what old-school hip-hop rabbit hole I’d be descending later – perhaps Eric B. & Rakim or maybe Big Daddy Kane – when I jumped on Twitter to learn that Gordon Lightfoot had died...

First the caveat I always give this time of year: I am not Irish. But Irish culture, Irish history — and especially Irish music and beverages — intrigue me. And so, on this day of all days, I am Irish rather than the mix of English, Dutch and whatever else flows through my arteries...

How do you try to encompass the music career of a guitarist like Jeff Beck? The music legend died Tuesday at age 78, and ever since I heard of it, I’ve been listening, trying to figure out what really typifies Beck as a musician...

In honor of Thanksgiving and of actually being able to “take a load off” today, here’s one of the best songs from the very best Thanksgiving movie. Enjoy your holiday, and before the day is out, do yourself a favor and watch “The Last Waltz.”...

What happens when you’ve listen to a song dozens of times — if not hundreds? You start to notice things you didn’t hear the first 10 or 11 times you heard it. This is definitely the case for Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” a song that’s been bouncing around in my head since I first heard it as a teenager — about 25 years after it was first released...

I love jazz, but I rarely write about it. I feel like such an amateur when it comes to the genre. And when there aren't lyrics (I rarely listen to vocal jazz) it's harder to find something to talk about. At least for a guy for whom words are my primary vocation...

There's something about milestones that, for as remarkable as they are, are a bit depressing. As the years add up, we all start to realize our own mortality. And so the fact that The Rolling Stones officially performed under that name 60 years ago today is bittersweet. ...

We all have songs that are frozen in time for us. They take us back to a particular time and place in our lives. Perhaps you always remember that you were a kid in junior high school when Petula Clark was going "Downtown." Or maybe Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony were doing "The Hustle" when you turned 21. Or did Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" define the summer before your senior year?...

Iggy Pop turns 75 today, and I'm shocked about that fact. No, I'm not shocked that James Newell Osterberg Jr. was born 75 years ago today in Muskegon, Mich. That part adds up. I mean, the first Stooges record was released 53 years ago in 1969, and doing the math, 22 years old seems like the perfect age to have written a song called "I Wanna Be Your Dog."...

As my vinyl collection continues to grow, it happens in a variety of ways. Occasionally it involves a pristine, vintage copy of some classic record. Other times it's a brand new release -- perhaps even pressed in something fancier than simple black vinyl. (Seriously, my orange and black version of Spoon's latest record is awesome.) Other times it's a repressing of some classic album, but repressed on (gasp!) "180-gram audiophile quality vinyl."...

Was scrolling twitter Friday night when I can across the shocking news that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away unexpectedly at age 50. What awful news. Excellent drummer, super fun guy. I can't claim to be a huge Foo Fighters fan, but I appreciate what they've meant to rock music for the last 25 or so years. They're among the last of dying breed. Hawkins' talent and attitude have been a huge part of that...

Been a while since I posted here. Sorry, everybody. Ric Ocasek, principal songwriter and co-lead singer of the Cars was born 78 years ago today. This wouldn't be all that remarkable if not for the fact that Ocasek was 34 years old when his band's self-titled debut album was released in June 1978. Now, this 41-year-old doesn't look at 34 as all that old, but it is in rock 'n' roll years...

To quote a movie I've seen a few too many times, women are "beautiful, majestic, mysterious, mesmerizing creatures. Smart, empathetic, far superior to men in every way." I often wonder what they see in us. And yet, 14 years, 11 months and and 21 days ago today, I managed to get my very own beautiful, majestic, mysterious, mesmerizing creature to agree to marry me...

I can name that tune in three notes. Well three drum beats, to be exact. The most iconic intro in the history of rock music is actually four beats from Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine. But you know it after three. If you haven't figured it out, I am speaking of the Ronettes' 1963 smash "Be My Baby."...

It's Thanksgiving, and I can't go home. This isn't exactly a new realization. My parents haven't lived in that old house on Fall Street for more than a decade now. And Grandma and Grandpa's house back that long lane in Pike Township? I don't know if it's even there anymore. I know they aren't...

Not much to explain here, just that I woke up with this song in my head. Was a strong enough urge that I had to keep my daughter at bay in her normal demands to listen to Taylor Swift or Zendaya every morning on the way to school. Now, Warren Zevon might be a little dark for your six-year-old, but what can you do? But sometimes I really need to hear "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" or "Accidentally Like a Martyr" or "Carmelita" or ... or ... or .....

When you have literally thousands of songs (or is it tens of thousands of songs?) floating around in your head, you're bound to rediscover songs you haven't thought about in years. So it was Monday night that The Moody Blues' hit "Your Wildest Dreams" popped into my head and hasn't really left yet...