Umphrey’s McGee Key Club, West Hollywood, California 10.21.04 Umphrey’s McGee play what they want for as long as they want, and a live setting is a great showcase for their free-flowing musical jams that have more in common with progressive rock than the Grateful Dead. The sold-out show at the …

Directed by Alireza Raisian Screenplay by Kambuzia Partovi Story by Abbas Kiarostami A photographer, Mahmoud, is driving along a rural road, slowing down to take occasional pictures. He gets out of the car and we see that his wife has been riding alongside him in the passenger seat. This slow …

The opening track, “My Concern,” starts off with Micah Schnabel’s guttural voice blasting out of the speakers, getting your attention right away. Even if you can’t always make out the lyrics through his muddled vocals, the emotion that infuses them is crystal clear. He sings with a passion like he …

“The Killer,” Jerry Lee Lewis was a member of Sun Studios’ Million Dollar Quartet. He gained notoriety as the first wild man of rock ‘n’ roll, but the wild man inevitably overwhelmed the rock ‘n’ roll, which would have relegated him to a musical footnote were it not for his …

Piemonte and Valle D’Aosta (Sept. 27-Oct. 7, 1954) Liguria: Baiardo and Imperia (Oct. 9 & 10, 1954) Liguria: Polyphony of Ceriana (Oct. 12, 1954) Alan Lomax, music historian, archivist, genius, began to record folk songs of different cultures throughout America and the Caribbean with his father, John Avery Lomax, in …

This DVD+CD is from an hour-long broadcast on Dutch television of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. It’s an amazing, electrifying performance that is so intense you almost forget that they aren’t live in front of you. The DVD starts off with the backing band, known as The Rhythm Kings, …

I fell in love with Madeleine Peyroux right from the opening track of Careless Love, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End Of Love,” and I remained under her spell throughout the entire album. I would suffer through many late nights in smoke-filled clubs just to allow …

With the recent release of Ray in theaters, people are being properly reminded of what a talented artist he is, and they are going out and buying “Best of” compilations and the movie’s soundtrack. While those albums reflect on Ray’s past work, I would recommend the latest addition to his …

Directed by Claude Miller Written by Julien Boivent & Claude Miller Based on The Seagull by Anton Chekov La Petite Lili is an adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull. Originally a play about the struggles of playwrights and actors, it has been updated by changing the playwrights to filmmakers. I have …

After taking off 12 years, the Stray Cats are back with the outstanding Rumble in Brixton, a rockin’ two-CD set recorded on July 17th, 2004 at the Brixton Academy in London. They rocked that town and many others during their recent European tour that celebrated their 25th anniversary. This first …