Van Halen

It’s the smile that always sticks with me.

There was no shortage of smiles in the flamboyant and hedonistic hair band scene that sprung up in the wake of Van Halen’s titanic success. And most of them were the devilish smiles of libertine young men who were delighted to be getting away with something: namely, overindulging in the intoxicants and promiscuity that were frowned upon by the priggish adults of the Reagan era.

To whatever… See more →

I didn’t mention it in my recent analysis of my first year using Rdio, but one of the many reasons I’m reluctant to make a subscription service my exclusive musical gateway is the ephemerality of online content and services. For that same reason, my writing that has appeared recently in a few other places online has been reposted on this site, and I’ve decided to do the same with the various artist, album, and song… See more →

I was recently involved in a music exchange with a handful of friends, in which we each put together a compilation of songs, and everyone involved got a copy of all of the compilations. Aside from giving me a good excuse to put together a fun mix, it allowed me the ever-cherished opportunity to do some unsolicited philosophizing, and I thought both were worth sharing with a larger audience.

Here’s an excerpt of an e-mail… See more →