Mike Bennett reviews the latest from Robyn Hitchcock, The Cosmic Rough Riders, Dwight Yoakum, Cheap Trick and The Dandy Warhols. Mike also presents capsule reviews of releases by Shutdown 66, Lynchpin, Flashcubes, Friends Like These, The Natural History, The Oranges, The Deal, Volta Do Mar, The George Usher Group and The Model Rockets. Mike also has another CD-R of The Month. Gary Glauber reviews the latest from Big Kid, Beth Thornley, The George Usher Group and The Heavenly States.

Michael Lynch reviews Various Artists: Gotham Garage. Kurt Sampsel reviews reissues by Fire and The Marmalade.

Bill Klutho contributes a review of the recently released Chicago box set and Steve Winwood's latest.

If you are a first time visitor, visit our About Us page. Please scroll down for this month's columns and interviews.

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Gary Pig Gold Believes Elvis Presley Died for Your Sins

by Gary Pig Gold

It’s that time again.

Yes, it truly has been twenty-six years since The King took that final plunge off his porcelain throne there in Memphis. And while that rockin’ image usually only piques the interest of a few misguided souls south of the Mason Dixon line at this terribly late stage in the game (some would have us believe), August 16th – not to mention the recent passing of the man’s first producer -- got me to thinking, probably for the first time ever,

Why Elvis?

I mean, Why should anybody, anywhere care anymore?

Well, in a word or 1008, here’s why. Ready?...

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Jane's Addiction, Zeppelin and Feeling 17 Again

by Kurt Hernon

I keep smelling graphite; graphite and electric heat; graphite, the heat of electricity, and the pleasant pungent odor of hot, hot asphalt; graphite, the heat of electricity, the caustic scent of hot pavement, and cooking grease - the fatty tangy fragrance of French fries, hot dogs, burgers, and deep-fried anything you can imagine. I smell mustard too. Not catsup or vinegar or melted cheese, just mustard. The mustard is on my shirt. Graphite, electricity, burning asphalt, cooking grease and the rank foods it drowned, mustard, and cheap shampoo - wafting to me on a summers breeze from the head of a young girl in front of me. She’s probably all of fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing soffe shorts (those inside-out cheerleading shorts that usually say something stupid across the ass) and it a pastel-blue terry cloth. She turns and it doesn’t take me even a blink of the eye to notice that there are no words on her ass - thank God. I’m nearly 37 years old. Maybe I’m 17 again. Who knows? I feel 17 today. I...

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Various Artists: Songs of the Pogo

by Mike Bennett

I have wanted very few CDs more than I have wanted Songs Of The Pogo. It's not because I expected that these 1956 recordings from cartoonist Walt Kelly with Norman Monath were some revolutionary piece of music that would knock me on my socks. But because it would just further feed my rampant Pogophilia.

It's hard to imagine a comic strip like Pogo having any success in this day in age. In fact, an attempt to revive the strip over a decade ago didn't work out too well. Pogo was both a product of its times and a reaction to them. Kelly had received a great deal of artistic training working in the animation sweatshop of Walt Disney. He...

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Further Observations From a Jangly Music Fan

by Eric Sorensen

Summer is a great season for live music here in the Washington, D.C. area. Local musicians are featured at a number of outdoor venues - at noon on weekdays and in the evenings just about every night of the week. In addition, the Kennedy Center has been sponsoring free concerts by nationally-known artists at 6 PM each night on its Millennium Stage. Some terrific small clubs are stalwarts on the local scene - the Birchmere, the 9:30 Club, the Black Cat and the State Theater come to mind. Add to this the concert schedule at the area’s large ticket venues (Wolf Trap, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Nissan Pavilion and the MCI Center), and my usual “so much music, so little time” dilemma becomes exacerbated. The past month featured an...

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So Much Music...too Little Time

by Kevin Mathews

…and the deluge continues apace. Instead of attempting to come up with something witty and interesting as a preface, let’s just dive into it shall we?

Pernell Disney Severn Way (Disney Whirl)
Dream pop enthusiasts will thrill to the way Pernell Disney weaves irresistibly pleasing soundscapes with atmospheric guitar effects, astute drum programming and strong melody lines. Highlights include the vigorous “Next,” the wistful “Midnight Detroit,” the compelling “Alone” and the moving “Another Angel Song.”..

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