Browsing all articles in Music Profiles.
Cold War Kids
The setting sun ducks behind Big Sur’s giant redwoods chugging towards the waters off California’s Central Coast. The smell of untouched earth slow dances in the crisp canyon air. Without taint or judgment, the sounds of spirituality ring peacefully, calling the starved to feast on nature’s offerings. Painters and poets have long found creative fuel [...]
James Blunt
He sang about a girl that made him fucking high in an octave to prove it. But before James Blunt crooned, “You’re Beautiful,” he drove a tank for the British Army, and was the captain who led 30,000 troops into Kosovo. Among his duties in the Balkan Peninsula in 1999 was to seize the Priština [...]
JASON MRAZ
Ten years ago, Jason Mraz had a few t-shirts, some paper fedoras and a dream. He stuffed them into a worn backpack and travelled cross-country from his home in Virginia to California – a musical gypsy with a desire to share songs and expose his eyes fully to the world. His flawlessly accurate and controlled [...]
Dark Night of the Soul
A human being flipped inside out drips the nectar of impurity, and exposes imperfections like a tree stump. The rings do not count age; they tally scars. Rusty keys and curious wills unlock pain pushed into internal drawers, but the silent, invisible emotions that seep out are dangerous burdens for anyone else to carry. The [...]
BOB SCHNEIDER
It’s Monday night in Austin, Texas. Indescribable streaks of color tear the atmosphere as the big southern sun sets. The regular crowd shuffles down South Lamar Boulevard filing into a blank looking building with a large lighted guitar attached to the roof. Outside, a 12-foot high silver suit of armor stands stoutly in front of [...]
NIKKI YANOFSKY
At the tender age of 16, Montreal-born jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky is shaking up the genre by bringing youthful energy to the microphone and a musical gift that comes along once a generation. Octaves are limitless vocal hurdles that are elegantly ascended with spot on pitch and rich tone. Yanofsky’s sound is uniquely her own [...]
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
“You always were my favorite drug, even when we used to take drugs.” It’s simple English but what a profound statement, especially when you consider the source and put it in context. It’s a now sober sentiment to a soon-to-be ex-wife about a volatile relationship that included episodes of verbal and physical abuse, the demolition [...]
ALAN SILVESTRI
In 2007, Erin Clark and I were given the chance of a lifetime – to watch legendary composer Alan Silvestri score the blockbuster Beowulf at CBS Studios in Studio City… The following article first appeared in Artworks Magazine that winter. In October 2009, Silvestri also graced the stage at our inaugural Carmel Art & Film [...]
BRANDI CARLILE
“I’m home!” Brandi Carlile screams with a simultaneous sigh. Her first unsung words are met with uproarious applause erupting from the sold-out Seattle crowd. “It probably helps that I’m related to everyone out there,” the Northwest native jokes on stage. Whether with family, or faithful fans, the historic Paramount Theatre is packed with people who [...]
LISSIE
It would be easy to misconstrue Lissie. Slight and blonde, a pretty, guitar-playing slip-of-a-thing, you might easily take her for a sweet Midwestern girl, a freckled balladeer borne of milk and cookies and cornfields. More fool you. For all the flaxen hair and big blue eyes, this girl is smart and gutsy and tough, with [...]
