Through a fortuitous set of circumstances, this morning I happened upon a 2007 BBC documentary called, Hotel California: From The Byrds To The Eagles. While the title was promising and the documentary well-made, it covered the SoCal folk scene I’ve never much cared for (Neil Young excepted), it seemed to talk around, rather than […]
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For Clarence White, 1969 began with the release of his first album as a member of The Byrds, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, and ended with the release of that album’s follow-up, Ballad Of Easy Rider. In between, the band played over 70 dates throughout the US, many of those gigs featuring multiple sets (early […]
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Let us travel back in time to Thanksgiving Day 1972 in Austin, Texas. The Grateful Dead were in town, having played for the twirlers and butterfly catchers at Municipal Auditorium the night before. They were scheduled to play Memorial Auditiorium in Dallas the following night, meaning they had a free day to bum smokes, eat […]
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While you may not have heard of them, Prescott Curlywolf was a beacon of real-deal rock ‘n’ roll righteousness in an era — roughly 1994-2003 — saturated with jam band bloat, overwrought emo caterwaul, calculated and pretentious Euro-pop (and their American derivatives), and all manner of disposable, fashion-first “alternative” music, which is to say, […]
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In July 1968, The Byrds played South Africa without Gram Parsons, who decided that shooting smack with Keith Richards was better than playing segregated Johannesburg, so he essentially fired himself. While GP’s political motives were as much expedient as heartfelt, to his credit he flew the coop on a tour that was by all […]
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