[...]

Last year, I posted 10 incredible live recordings for the Grammys. This year, ahead of the music awards, which are scheduled for Sunday, I thought it would be fun to do another music-focused post. The theme: my favorite Grateful Dead covers. Hope you enjoy them, too.  “Brokedown Palace,” covered by [...]

I know I’ve just missed the Grammy Awards, but I’m still going to use them as an opportunity to do a personal listicle: 10 of my favorite live recordings. Included are my top group, what I consider MTV’s single greatest contribution, and a nod to the recently deceased Don Wilson [...]

Recently, while learning the guitar chords to The Mamas & the Papas’ “Creeque Alley,” I listened to the group’s 1967 performance of the song on the Ed Sullivan Show. As the four harmonized, some of the lyrics stuck out because they reminded me of The Doors’ infamous appearance. Those lyrics, [...]

You’d say there’s nothing extraordinary about — nothing worth writing about — an old, dilapidated fraternity house, and I’d agree. Except in this case. Because it’s the one that inspired Harold Ramis in his contributions to the script of 1978’s “Animal House,” which ranks high in my (admittedly small) cinephilic [...]

Songbirds Guitar Museum — opened in 2017 in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee — has more than 1,700 fretted instruments in its collection, touted as the world’s largest private one specifically of rare and vintage guitars. The collection’s value: more than $200 million. I recently visited the museum’s main showroom ($15.95 at [...]