Way back in 2001, at The Night of the Proms in Rotterdam, I was waiting for Meat Loaf. He was headlining, so we got to see Tony Martin of ABC, Adiemus, John “Music was my first love” Miles, surprise act K-otic and Chris de Burgh first. De Burgh started with that godawful song about dancing… Read more »
Yearly Archives: 2017
First Lines: Born to Run
It is taking me way too long to formulate some coherent thoughts on Bruce Springsteen’s auto-biography, Born to Run. And that is probably because I am still not sure what to make of it. Is it the definite, tell-all, hold-nothing-back account of Springsteen’s rise to Bossness? No. Is a fun read? In all its rambling,… Read more »
Seen Live: a balladeer
The 24th a balladeer gig I saw was in my brother’s living room. It was the smallest crowd I have been part of yet. Myself included, there were just fourteen people there. And yet, the concept of shutting up in such an intimate setting didn’t occur to some of them. A funny thing happened: I… Read more »
Paul O’Neill
Paul O’Neill, songwriter and producer for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Savatage, has died. And even through I have bitched a bit here and there about TSO swallowing up my first-ever favorite band, this blows. O’Neill helped make Savatage what they were (theatrical, symphonical, over-the-top-rock-opera-metal awesomeness), he co-wrote all music and wrote most of the words, and… Read more »
First Lines: Explaining Chtulhu to Grandma and Other Stories
Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories is a collection of short stories and flash fiction by Alex Shvartsman, editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects anthologies. It came to me as part of the UFO5 Kickstarter, and having read the titular story online already, I looked forward to diving in. Like the UFO series, Shvartman’s… Read more »