Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel: Hello Hooray, Eh?
I am of a certain age where there aren't many Alice Cooper tidbits which surprise me anymore. Oct. 30, 1978 was the day I became a fan. That's when...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel: In Praise Of Ronnie’s Bass
Recently a musician friend of mine texted me and asked, "When's the last time you listened to Start Me Up? Like, really listened to it?" He wanted me to...
Thunder Pie | Sky Above A Bus
“You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours.”
— Italo Calvino
By now, the sky over the...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Famous Firsts
Like our first kiss, we all seem to remember the first album we bought with our own money — certainly musicians and music people do. Mine was Zenyatta Mondatta...
Christine Jensen Goes Big On Her New Album Harbour
Juno-winning Canadian saxophonist and composer Christine Jensen is proud to announce her forthcoming jazz orchestra album Harbour, due out on June 28 via Nettwerk / Justin Time Records. The...
20 Quesions With Dean Harlem
Dean Harlem has been everywhere. And he's finally getting somewhere. From California to Texas to New England, the New Jersey native has — in true troubadour fashion — made...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Vive La Différence!
From Grade 7 through to high school graduation, I was a French-immersion kid. That means more than half my day was in French. I learned grammar and vocabulary, of...
Thunder Pie | Band Rides West
“As soon as you start talking about mystique, you have none.”
— Neil Young
In a parking lot somewhere in Texas, I popped the ash tray out of its socket. The...
Area Resident’s Record Store Day Picks
I must admit, I don't usually line up for Record Store Day. If there's something I really want, I'll let some of my shop-owning pals know. But I buy...
Back Stories | My 2012 Interview With Maynard James Keenan
Since multi-talented musical maverick Maynard James Keenan just celebrated his 60th birthday, it seemed like a good time to post the chat we had back when he was just...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Triumphant Triumvirates
You gotta really love a band to shell out for a triple-album. In December, 1976, Wings dropped their colossal three-record live set, Wings Over America. Just in time for...
Thunder Pie | Tranquilaria: Mental Health Mini-Essays
The High Cost of Wiping Out All the Dugout Smokers
Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, which is where I come from, no one gave a shit about your...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Not Just Abbey Road
Chances are, when you think of Paul McCartney in a recording studio, an image of him and The Beatles in Abbey Road comes to mind. It's true that the...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | You’ve Changed, Man
What songs come to mind when I say the names Bob Seger and Steve Miller? Old Time Rock & Roll and The Joker? Night Moves and Abracadabra? Against The...
Thunder Pie | Hiking With The Heartbeat Kid
Easter morning, me and Arle go on a hike. Once the kids get picked up for a few hours, we have this rare open stretch, so she says let’s...
