I wrote an article for Please Kill Me on three notable (for different reasons) records made by professional wrestlers. You can read the article here.
features
“Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life In Music”
Producer Ted Templeman, who has worked with dozens of artists – including Captain Beefheart, Van Morrison, the Doobie Brothers, and Van Halen – has finally written an autobiography. As you might guess, it’s wide-ranging and very interesting. I reviewed it for PopMatters; you can read the review here.
Lhasa de Sela Matters
Lhasa de Sela was a brilliant singer/songwriter who gained many fans during her short career. I had the pleasure of interviewing Fred Goodman about his beautiful new biography of her. You can read the interview here.
The Changer and the Changed: Women’s Music
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website on the “women’s music” scene of the ’70s and ’80s. You can read it here.
Fakewood Mac
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website on one of the oddest stories from pop music history – the fake Fleetwood Mac. You can read it here.
The Underappreciated Dave Berry
I wrote an article for the Please Kill Me website about the underappreciated ’60s singer Dave Berry. You can read it here.
Procol Harum….in Canada: The Making of “Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra”
(originally appeared in Shindig! issue #77)
Ask a Canadian to describe the city of Edmonton, Alberta, and the two words you are likely to hear are “cold” and “boring”. Edmonton is the northernmost large city in North America, sitting on roughly the same latitude as Moscow – and, as your correspondent discovered while living there, Edmonton can indeed be cold. Very cold. Like “outdoor temperature of -35C and windchill” cold.
However, despite its nickname of “Deadmonton”, Edmonton is not boring. Its winters are long and dark, but many of its residents grew up in small Prairie towns where, if you were bored, you made your own fun. So when Edmontonians get an idea, instead of thinking of reasons why it won’t work, they figure out how to make it happen. That adventurous attitude of “hey, this could be fun” led to the ’72 album Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra – a significant milestone in Procol Harum’s career, and a huge influence on the city where it was recorded.
By the late ‘60s, the potential for crossovers between classical music and rock music had already been demonstrated by Continue reading
