Everyone's a Critic
"There are two types of folk music: quiet folk music and loud folk music. I play both." In his incarnation this past Saturday at AcousticMusicSanDiego in Normal Heights, Dave Alvin was the quiet Dave, backed …
Looking like a young Peter Sellers, the diminutive Craig Finn led the Hold Steady onto the Belly Up stage for their fourth local concert in two years. Opening with a chorus of hammers and anvils …
Minneapolis-based indie folkster Luke Redfield's debut speaks of wanderings both spiritual and geographical. The collection of transcendental travel songs tells the story of a modern seeker probing for truth within and abroad and ultimately finding …
"This 'stereo' recording," states the back cover of Barrence Whitfield's comeback album, "is suitable for playback on today's hi-fidelity systems without adverse effect to the stylus." Good thing most of us aren't (I hope) stupid …
Yefim Bronfman's performance of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 with the San Diego Symphony at Copley Hall was a joy to patrons disappointed by the illness that kept him away from Concerto No. …
Peter Wolf started in the music industry playing with bluesmen Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. He was also an influential freeform disc jockey but got famous as the lead singer for the J. Geils …
If pop-rock is the accusation, L.A.-based Lemon Sun is guilty of rock, a.k.a. serious dance-hall chops. Promptly sifting through the crowd to clamber onstage after a fierce swamp-rock outpouring from Leopold and His Fiction, the …
"We're going to space," Primitive Noyes' guitarist says. "Will you come to space with us?" The bassist puts a bow to her strings, coaxing ethereal groans and harmonics through a delay pedal. The layered sound …
The release of Emotion & Commotion confirms Jeff Beck's legacy as one of rock's finest instrumentalists. The eclectic collection includes original instrumentals from Beck and keyboardist Jason Rebello, classic-rock and R&B covers, orchestral pieces, and …
Norah Jones has had difficulty over the years finding the appropriate San Diego venue to showcase her music; she's performed everywhere from Cane's to Coors, where she drew a scant 6400 fans in a venue …
The mighty Tris McCall. Straight out of Jersey (City). Track one clarifies (as in butter) the narrator's inability to portray himself in life as he feels with the ultimate college radio station (which eventually lost …
The Casbah was the epicenter of seismic activity as Archons, Abrupt, Bison B.C., and Black Cobra conspired to collapse the Midtown venue. The night's most cataclysmic activity, however, came from Oakland’s trio of doom High …
Golson is the composer of at least eight jazz classics that are played every night by jazz musicians all over the world. At age 81, he looks and plays like someone 20 years his junior. …
Modfather Paul Weller's influences since the Jam, the Style Council, and his solo output have been eclectic in taste but consistent in quality -- from the Who to the Modern Jazz Quartet to Steve Winwood. …
The opening performance of Verdi's La Traviata at the San Diego Opera started with a hiccup but ended on several high notes. The show was delayed due to the last-minute substitution of conductor Karen Keltner …
"When the café doors exploded, I reacted to...reacted to you," sings Ted Leo in his nasal-core croon over James Canty's distorted guitar strum before the drums, a loping bass line, and Leo's triple guitar strum …