I have my list. It’s not written down or recorded in any way. It floats freely in my head, taking on an losing names with the shifting tides of my memory and preferences. I presume most music fans have their own similar tallies. It’s those bands, performers, artists that I haven’t yet seen play live despite my strong desire to do so. There are loads of missed opportunities on the list (Sleater-Kinney, the White Stripes, and it seems Sonic Youth) and a handful that I’m actively plotting about (Arcade Fire). Last night, I didn’t necessarily cross a band fully of … Continue reading One for Friday: The National, “Start a War (Live at KEXP)”

I never got all that hung up on record labels during my college radio days. That may have been in part because our station was just small enough that some of the humbler labels–of the sort more likely to inspire enduring affection–chose to keep us off their servicing list, not having the financial wherewithal to cover everyone. It may have simply been because my tastes at the time still had enough mainstream swirled into them, lessening how often I dug deep into the sort of incredibly obscure stuff that might stir my interest in a band’s labelmates in the hope … Continue reading One for Friday: Lush, “Take”

When We Were Kings, Leon Gast’s definitive documentary on the fabled “Rumble in the Jungle” fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, started life as a concert film. As part of the associated festivities in Zaire, several funk and soul artists were there to stage a live show, which undoubtedly seemed like perfect fodder for a hit movie release back when Michael Wadleigh’s film of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair was still making the rounds to young, adoring and probably pretty stoned audiences. While there, Gast quickly figured out that the real story was happening over in the training … Continue reading One for Friday: James Brown, “Gonna Have a Funky Good Time”