Classic Album Review: Outrageous Cherry | Out There In The Dark
This came out in 1999 – or at least that's when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Remember Time Bandits? That...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Big Ol’ Jet Airliner
It wasn't until the 1970s that THE symbol of ultra-success in the music biz was having your own plane. An aeronautical division was established within the U.S. Department of...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Getting Screwed
There's a lot of heartbreak in rock ’n’ roll. Few bands are democracies and fewer still are charitable. Popular music is rife with ego, pride, desperation and paranoia. Somewhere,...
Thunder Pie | Scroll of Jawns: Episode 5
jawn /jôn/ noun (chiefly in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area) used to refer to a thing, place, person, or event that one need not or cannot give a specific...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Do The Health Hustle
There were a few rites of passage if you were an elementary school kid in Ontario in the early 1980s. There was that wretch-inducing, cherry-flavoured fluoride rinse served in...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | It Was Jimmy Page All Along
I love tracking session musicians. Probably this started when I figured out as a teenager that Carol Kaye was the bass player on a ridiculous number of my favourite...
Back Stories | My 2012 Interview With Kris Kristofferson
Like millions of others, I was sad to read that Kris Kristofferson died over the weekend at the age of 88. Unlike millions of others, I was lucky enough...
Next Week in Music | Sept. 30 – Oct. 6 • The (Not Very)...
Yep, 32. Things are officially getting out of hand around here. And fall hasn't even peaked yet. But hey, enough about my meaningless problems. Let's talk about you: What...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Brian Jones Show & Tell
I am currently reading Paul Trynka’s excellent biography of Brian Jones, chosen because I realized I knew precious little about the man who formed and named the greatest rock...
Thunder Pie | Everything I Gave You Was Already Yours
“Perhaps it takes courage to raise children.”
— John Steinbeck
There were these days when I would pull the kids in my garden wagon. Down the street to the church preschool...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Listening To The Worst Album Covers
A decade ago I decided it would be cool to change my Facebook profile photo to a different "awful album cover" every single day for a year. Since then,...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Pre-MAPL Rock Albums You Need To Hear
It's unusual for Canadian rock stars to try to get by solely on sales and gigs in this country alone. Those who really want to go for it head...
Thunder Pie | The Walkin’ Talkin’ Shepherdstown Battlefield Blues
The soldier was tired but his heart was on fire. Racing up through the deep ravine at a double-quick, he’d had the sense that someone else was inside his...
20 Questions With Gary Van Miert / The Sensational Country Blues Wonders!
As someone wiser and more eloquent than I once said: Life is not a question, but it poses a lot of them. Especially if you are Gary Van Miert....
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Whole Lotta Lotto Love
This week's $80 million Lorro Max draw (apparently split between two winners in Ontario and Quebec) got me thinking about the fact that few people would enjoy a jackpot...
