Is Paramore The Future of the Music Business?

With a successful CD and sold-out national tour, Paramore is the band of the moment. Their only area show attracted minivans brimming with teenaged girls and their wary chaperones, all prepared to stand in line for hours in subfreezing weather for the best seats. 
Most everyone went home happy, as the band played a solid [...]

Local Rhythms – Try Some Promotion

I’d like you to try an experiment.  Locate a teenager.  Son, daughter, nephew or the kid who shovels your driveway, it doesn’t really matter – as long as they’re a music fan.  Look for kids who tend to wear lots of t-shirts with names you don’t recognize.

Or an iPod – that’s another good clue.
Ask them [...]

Roomful of Blues – The Band and the Brand

The story of Roomful of Blues and the New England blues scene are inextricably intertwined. The venerable Rhode Island band brings its unique style of swinging, dance-friendly R&B to the Ascutney Mountain Resort on November 30.

Countless players came through their ranks on the way to other bands. Duke Robillard, [...]

Local Rhythms – Reasons to be Thankful

OK, it’s time to thank the people who’ve made my life as a music lover enjoyable over the past year.

First of all, thanks to Ray Massuco, for keeping the flame alive in Bellows Falls. He promoted his first Roots on the River festival in June. The weather cooperated [...]

Local Rhythms – Bad Government

I try to stay away from politics in this space.  But a recent announcement compels me to go once again into the breach.
It’s no secret that big media interests like the RIAA and the MPAA pay handsomely for elected representatives to do their bidding.  Judging by the results, they’re getting a bargain. 
Since the mid-90’s, Congress [...]

Bill Wightman – For the Love of the Gig

In the summer of 1992, Bill Wightman and his friend Rink Mann hatched the idea for “Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon.”  They were hoping to re-create the atmosphere of the great New York jazz clubs during the heyday of bebop, when performers like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald reigned supreme.
Rink was in a [...]

JOSA Returns December 9

The 16th annual Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series commences December 9, and runs every other week through April 6 (except for a 3-week break after Christmas).
The shows are held at Bistro Nouveau at Eastman.  The restaurant’s award-winning appetizers, entrees, drinks and desserts will be available for all performances, which begin at 4.
This season’s lineup [...]

Local Rhythms – Eagles Do A Good Deed

The Eagles’ long-awaited collection of 20 new songs is the best thing they’ve ever done.

But I’m not talking about the music.
My readers know that I blame them for transforming the live music experience into a Veblenian spectacle of excess, forcing fans to choose concerts like vacations – once or twice a [...]

Jonathan Edwards’ “Sunshine” Mind

Three words succinctly sum up Jonathan Edwards’ sunny disposition. 
“It’s all good.”
He’s excited about his upcoming Claremont Opera House show.  Edwards performs Saturday, November 10 with his long-time side man, bassist Stuart Schulman.  He also plans to sit in with opening act Northern Lights.   
“We share the same manager; I’m on their new album. We enjoy [...]

Local Rhythms – Listening to Marc Cohn

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that most current music wasn’t worth owning.  That’s not to say it’s not worth listening to, but most of it’s disposable when all is said and done.
I have a handful of artists, though, who are automatics – I’ll buy anything they put out, sight unseen.  It’s a short [...]