ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on Beijing Blues: “Best Chinese blues I’ve ever heard. Who knew?” In honor of taking 13-year-old Jacob to see ZZ Top tonight — his first real concert (I’m not counting Taylor Swift), I present a one of my many interviews with Billy Gibbons. This is a shorter piece, done in 1996 […]
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington is another of the guitarists I have interviewed countless times for Guitar World. I remember the very first time well. I was brand new at the magazine and Skynyrd had a new album out — Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991, which was the official name of the band then. I met Gary, bassist […]
This is a sad story about musician Vance Gilbert, who was utterly charming when he played last year or the year before at a local outdoor concert. He was removed and then put back on a United flight for the other day for… reading a book about 1940s Polish aviation? He explains the situation himself […]
I was thrilled to have come across this two-year-old video on my hard drive. The quality could be better, but it’s a good version of “Sri Lankan Sunset,” the song I wrote in memory of Cresenta Fernando, who disappeared during the 2004 tsunami. The event at the Star Live, one of Beijing’s biggest and best […]
Songwriter Nick Ashford, half of the songwriting and performing duo Ashford and Simpson, has passed away of throat cancer. People of my generation will remember Ashford and Simpson for their hit “Solid as a Rock.” Around that time, probably my senior year in high school, I was on a plane from Pittsburgh to New […]
“Big In China reads like an epic adventure, with music at its heart and the unity of people as its goal. It is fascinating and inspiring to see Alan Paul’s cross-cultural, dual-language blues band, Woodie Alan, come to life. When they hit their stride the magic sucks you in and makes you want to shout like […]
Lou reed and Metallica have recorded an album together called Lulu. All available info is on their new site, loureedmetallica.com. This is some of the info on the site: “Lulu” was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wededkind’s plays “Earth Spirit” and “Pandora’s Box,” which tell a story of a young abused dancer’s life and […]