Between the dully expository and the cringingly clever, there is a vast heartland of brilliant poetry that is at once lucid and elusive. — Poetry, at its best, exists in a vast landscape between two extremes. At one end is a banal literalism that is hopelessly expository, where magic is nullified and dimensionality flattened. At the other extreme resides all that is clever for clever’s sake, where a desperate narcissism steams in cringingly self-aware…

And does anyone know anything about it anyway? — What IS genre? And how do we know punk, blues, jazz—or any other genre—when we hear it? Even as I ask the question, I hear the ol’ Supreme Court pornography chestnut echoin’ down the halls … “I know it when I see it.” —United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart…

A GenX take on what we’ve gained and lost in the digital transition, as embodied in the loss of “the record store” and its famously cranky and knowledgeable employees. — As straddlers of the digital divide, myself and my fellow GenXers know — in a way no other generation can — what we have gained and lost in the analog-to-digital transition. Truthfully, there have been gains. It’s much easier to listen to Robert Pete Williams and Shostakovich than it used…

A challenge to rock and roll’s cult of the young. — Whenever there is ageism, the aged are victims. But when it comes to rock and roll, the aged are not alone. Fans suffer as well, from being denied the wisdom and craft that “mature” artists accrue. Rock and roll’s pervasive cult of the young does two things acutely wrong: It…

Why real drums—and real drummers—still matter. — One could make this a very short post if one wanted to. Simply ask a simple question: If real drums and drummers don’t matter anymore, why are we so desperately using technology to try and imitate them? People are spending lunatic amounts of hours and money trying to manipulate technology…

Rock’s signature instrument looks backward to go forward and a new generation of women take up the axe. — Despite the ghastly progress corporate capitalism has made toward the beating heart of rock n’ roll’s circulatory system, the music remains healthy and as connected as ever to all that has made it great since its inception. Rock and roll is fundamentally populist. This is its superpower. It comes from…

On the trail of rock and roll’s most elusive format — If I would have thought about it more thoroughly, I’d never have done it. Starting a power trio is a lunatic idea. Band of Gypsys, is, of course, the gold standard. Incontrovertible evidence of all that a power trio can be. And so one tries. One starts a power…

The brilliant and elusive Shine-Eyed Mister Zen passed away on May 31, 2022. — It’s been years and years and years since I’ve talked to or been on a bill with Kelly Joe Phelps. But back in the day, we often ended up on shows together. It seemed to make a certain amount of sense. There just weren’t that many young guys around trying…

Punk Rock is a genre that’s always been associated with youth. When claimed by the young, it’s an act of defiance. This is our music, you old bastards. Nobody needs you anymore. When older folks consign punk to the young, it’s generally an act of dismissal. Sure thing, rebel kids…