Even as a college student who loved jazz biographies but hadn’t quite grasped the mechanics of prose, I could tell that many of the books about John Coltrane left something to be desired. One sentence that sticks in my mind was intended, if I remember correctly, to explain his dental problems: “Coltrane loved hoagies!”
What the [...]

Patton Oswalt offered the only substantive bit of political comedy last night at the Black Cat: It's pointless to riff on George W. Bush and his remaining die-hard supporters, he said, because they have no more credibility than Creed fans. The crowd at the sold-out venue did not seem interested, thank the Lord, in consuming [...]

Though some have studied the finer points of the Washington Times, I mainly know it as the paper that's home to every bad comic strip in creation. (Fred Basset, Crock, and Funky Winkerbean–who still reads these? I imagine the Times is paying about a nickel to the syndicate.) The paper is also home to [...]

Manchester Orchestra, like many bands, uses a band name and titles that are completely opposed to reality and/or realism. For one thing, they're not from Manchester, be it in England or New Hampshire or any other place–they're from Atlanta. For another, while "Orchestra" implies a large and dense lineup, Manchester Orchestra took the name when [...]

At least one person took umbrage at my characterization of rock. This didn’t seem to need any unpacking, but perhaps I was wrong. So, I’m going to throw out some names just to be clear…
Chuck Berry (Solos? Check. Preening? Check.)
The Beatles (Solos? Check. Preening? Check.)
Led Zeppelin (Solos? Check. Preening? Check.)
U2 (Solos? Check. Preening? Check.)
Perhaps there’s [...]

The Leonard Slatkin era of the National Symphony Orchestra has ended and the Iván Fischer era will begin on November 1st, with three nights of an all-Beethoven program. On a whim, I caught one of the exiting conductor’s final performances, and have to say that I’m glad I saw him before he left. It’s been [...]

The “most played songs” function on my off-brand MP3 player doesn’t lie, and what I’m being told these days is that I really like Brad Paisley—his latest album, 5th Gear, has been getting worked pretty hard for the past two months. I’ve been at something of a loss to explain why. I don’t have [...]

Maybe I'm setting up a double-standard, but I don't care: When indie rockers go ethnic and Mediterranean (that means you, Beirut), my gut reaction tends to be skepticism. (I guess I'm slightly more tolerant of Gogol Bordello, because Eugene Hutz is actually, y'know, from another country.) So why am I willing to give hip-hop producer [...]

Springsteen is becoming the Patrick Ewing of rock. The Knicks legend had some great years, but I remember him just as much for all those years, way past his prime, when he played shitty basketball on rickety, worn-out legs. And so it is with the Boss. He released Lucky Town in March [...]

Sean Jones, a gifted trumpeter who's on his way up in the jazz world (I wrote about him when he played the Ellington Festival), has released a new disc called Kaleidoscope. As its name suggests, the music is pretty diverse, and even features several different lineups of musicians. But the title was apparently an afterthought: [...]