Music
November 19, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
Beverly Jean Santamaria, better known as Buffy Sainte-Marie, built a career on the false claim that she was a Cree Indian born in Canada. That marks a stark contrast to Robbie Robertson, born Jaime Royal Robertson on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario – same place as Jay Silverheels – on July 5, 1943. Robertson never traded on his heritage and built a career by putting American folklore to music.
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November 18, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Don McLean appeared in town to perform at the Dakota last night. His show constituted a late leg of his 50th anniversary celebration of American Pie — “I’ve been flogging it for two years,” he said. He celebrates both the song and the album. “It’s one album everything went right on,” he said. Backed by a hot five-piece band, he put on a phenomenal show. He was engaging, funny, and
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November 17, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Tom Rush came to town for two shows at the Dakota this week. On Wednesday night he filled a hole in the Dakota schedule. Last night Tom made his originally scheduled appearance before an appreciative audience. We attended both shows and found little overlap between the setlists. You had to be there both nights. Thursday’s show gave me everything I wanted and more. With owner Lowell Pickett in the house
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November 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
We walked in with the band when we went to see the Del McCoury Band perform the first of two shows at the Dakota last night. I reached out to shake hands with McCoury père and told him it was a privilege to see him perform. He smiled, as he did all night long. The band dresses in suits and ties indicative of the respect with which McCoury treats his
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November 7, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I bought tickets to each of the two shows John Oates played at the Dakota last night. He is moving on to play at the Lone Tree Arts Museum in Colorado and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix later this week. I snapped the photo at the right from my table during the first show. With tickets to both shows I had high expectations, but in the event he exceeded
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November 6, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
As mentioned previously, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has exposed Buffy Sainte-Marie as Beverly Jean Santamaria, born in 1941 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, with no indigenous ancestry whatsoever. This revelation, though some 60 years too late, should not distract from genuine folk artists of the era. Bob Dylan, for example, told the world the times were a-changin’, so senators and congressmen please heed the call. Your sons and daughters were beyond your
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October 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I turn to the oracular Bob Dylan writing in William Blake’s prophetic mode for commentary on the deposition of Speaker Kevin McCarthy by Matt Gaetz and a few Republican colleagues joined by every House Democrat: All and all can only fall With a crashing but meaningless blow No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden Well, we hear the sound coming from the Gaetz of Eden. There’s no avoiding
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September 17, 2023 — Scott Johnson
David Bromberg is a master of the blues and just about every other genre of popular American music. Tuesday he turns 78. To celebrate the occasion I want to revisit my comments after seeing him perform live over two nights in April 2022. When my friend Tom Edelstein invited me to see him perform at the Dakota back in 2019, I only vaguely remembered Bromberg as the blues virtuoso I
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September 15, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Marty Makary and Tracy Beth Høeg share the byline on the New York Post column “The real data behind the new COVID vaccines the White House is pushing.” Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Høeg is an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Both are physicians. Their column takes on the new Covid vaccine that the Biden administration is peddling like Steppenwolf’s “Pusher.”
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August 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I researched and wrote this for Van Morrison’s 75th birthday three years ago. I slightly downsized it to pay tribute to Van when he turned 77 last year. I’d like to turn it into an annual celebration as he turns 78 this week. Van is a brilliant, eccentric, enigmatic, essential singer/songwriter, performer, and multi-instrumental musician. He may not be for everyone. If you respond to his aesthetic, however, there is
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August 13, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Band’s Jaime Robbie Robertson died this past Wednesday at the age of 80. The Band’s Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm predeceased him. Only Garth Hudson survives, at age 85. Among the obituaries worth reading to situate Robertson and his work are those by Jim Farber for the New York Times, Chris Morris for Variety, and Benjamin Kerstein for Quillette. I want to pay my respects this morning.
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July 30, 2023 — Scott Johnson
After paying tribute to the career of Tony Bennett last week, a friend wrote to recall the effect Sarah Vaughan’s Live At Kelly’s and the John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman album had on him. I love Sarah Vaughan and I love Sarah Vaughan’s I Love Brazil, her second album on Norman Granz’s Pablo label. Granz founded Pablo a decade after he sold Verve, the label he had founded to popularize Ella Fitzgerald.
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July 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
You probably know about the controversy surrounding country singer Jason Aldean and his song “Try That In a Small Town.” I wrote about it here. Liberals attacked the song for being, among other things, “pro-lynching,” which of course is demented. But they succeeded in getting the song’s video banned by Country Music Television. Aldean, happily, is unapologetic. On Friday night he performed a concert in Cincinnati and addressed the attacks
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July 23, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Tony Bennett died on Friday at the age of 96. He was a year older than my dad, who died 31 years ago. He was a star longer than I’ve been alive. It seemed like he might live forever. Bennett was not only an effective proponent of the Great American Songbook in his art, he contributed to it himself. What a legacy he leaves. The New York Times posted Bruce
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July 20, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Today’s raging culture clash relates to a song by country superstar Jason Aldean called “Try That In a Small Town.” The song has been out since May, but for some reason it has recently attracted the attention of leftists. The context of the Left’s attack is that Aldean and his wife Brittany are “out” conservatives. Following attacks by liberals, Country Music TV banned the song’s video. Here it is: So
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July 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Country artist Luke Combs has returned Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” to the radio. It was an unforgettable hit of ginormous proportions in 1988 and Combs’s respectful cover follows Chapman’s original right down to the female sex of the narrator. Combs’s cover has reached No. 2 in the Billboard Hot 100. When Combs’s cover reached number 1 in country airplay, Billboard asked Chapman for a comment. She responded about as you
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July 17, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Sunday morning is Scott’s province for music notices, but that leaves the other six days of the week going begging, so why not join the fun. Last night I returned to the Hollywood Bowl for the first time since 1975 (when I saw Yes as a teen), taking in They Might Be Giants (I wore a Gentle Giant t-shirt just to confuse people), and then the headliner, Sparks. In other
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