“Ninety percent of everything sucks.” At least that’s the conclusion that Taylor Grover and I arrived at after several hours of emptying cans on my front porch last summer. Both of us were in pretty good Old-Time bands then, and were secretly admitting that neither one of us really cared for most of the Old-Time …
If Nickel Creek set up in the woods, and played an entire set of music with no one around to hear it, would they still suck? Despite their virtuosic instrumental abilities, and world wide critical acclaim, I am inclined to think that they would. I’ll be one of the first in line to agree that …
An Alaskan Angle on American Music in the Last Frontier Read More »
The beginning of a band is an amazing thing to behold, and our fair crapitol city is a perfect microcosmic laboratory in which to observe the ongoing cycle of a band’s birth, life, and eventually, death. Unless you’re a world renown rock star with unlimited cash and access to the cream of the talent puddle, …
No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful. Kurt Vonnegut Musicianship is a superpower. If there is anything truly magical in this World, it is the human capacity and compulsion to make art, and of course …
A friend of mine in San Francisco made an observation about Alaskan Americana musicians the other day that kind of hit home. He said, “All the Alaskan Bluegrassers end up talking like they’re from Kentucky or somewhere.” Aside from the fact that a lot of Alaskan musicians have lived in or are from southern states, …
Nothing can make a stage performance more uncomfortable than your stinkin’ drunk heckler out in the crowd yelling “FREE BIRD!” I’ve always threatened to learn Free Bird and then play it for an hour and a half next time somebody does that. Another commonly used taunt (in Alaska anyway) is “Play somethin’ GOOD!” The best …
Hecklers beware, or we’ll play Free-Bird for an hour, loud. Read More »
