My favorite record store had a glass case that was filled with magic. In the days before a skilled Google search could kick up just about any music a heart and ear might desire, there was all sorts of material out there which enticed with its sheer elusiveness. Some of this was old stuff that was out of print and some of it was the flotsam and jetsam that bands released on b-sides and compilations. But the hidden gems that intrigued me the most were those albums that were clearly bootleg releases. Some of this was undoubtedly because of the … Continue reading One for Friday: The Replacements, “Within Your Reach” (live)

I saw the actor Michael Jeter in a movie the other day, and it just made me sad. It wasn’t because of the quality of the film or the performance–although the movie was certainly one that came to define what ludicrously-budgeted Hollywood junk looks like–but simply because it was a reminder that he was gone. Jeter died in 2003 at the age of fifty, no kid but still too young. Though he won both a Tony and an Emmy, his opportunities in movies were spottier, usually relegated to something a little odd over on the fringe of the plot. Jeter’s … Continue reading One for Friday: Michael Jeter, “Everything’s Coming Up Videos”

When I’d transitioned from the exploratory freedom of college radio to the stifling monotony of commercial radio in the mid-nineteen-nineties, I worked very hard to keep myself reasonably well-versed in music that was distinctly different from the jackhammer awfulness I was charged with lobbing out onto the airwaves. I used every resource at my limited disposal, leaning especially heavy on the monthly magazine that had recently been launched as a companion to CMJ, the trade journal of college radio. I’m fairly certain it was within the pages of one of those issues that I first read about Ben Lee. More … Continue reading One for Friday: Ben Lee, “How Can That Be?”

Lone Justice was supposed to be huge. Admittedly, there’s no shortage of bands that fall into that category from the era of burgeoning college radio influence from the mid-eighties to the early-nineties, but Lone Justice has long struck me as one of the more perplexing near-misses. They surely had the industry support with major figures like Tom Petty and Linda Ronstadt extolling their virtues and a major label plucking them from the L.A. club scene to make the band a showcase act on their roster. The press, too, lined up to celebrate the band, reserving special praise for the rich, … Continue reading One for Friday: Lone Justice, “Shelter”