Alvino Rey and his talking steel-guitar puppet

Steel guitar wiz Alvino Rey and orchestra doing St. Louis Blues, complete with a talking guitar puppet (!). Definitely freaky.

Lynyrd Skynyrd--"Country Boy" (live at Winterland 1975)

Metallica live in Moscow, 1991

Metallica on the "Monsters of Rock" tour 1991--Metallica, Black Crowes, Pantera, AC/DC all came from Europe to Moscow in the wake of the coup that (eventually) led to the USSR's collapse. It was an intense experience--free concert, half a million people, Soviet helicopters buzzing overhead, tens of thousands of soldiers. (All that and my homemade SF Bay Guardian press pass still got me backstage.)

Cheeseburgers

Richard Davies with Flaming Lips (1995)

Already In Black (Richard Davies w/ Flaming Lips

Goodbye, Download Music

CNET Download Music, a site I've been closely associated with for the last several years, is disappearing. On March 11, 2009, all pages will redirect to Last.fm. The good news, though, is that Last.fm is an even better site.

Johnny Paycheck, Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets

This from 1980--a ragged, rowdy time after "Shove It" and before the shooting.

Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, "Disney Time"

That's a guitar sound that'll put hair on your chest.

Procal Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" 1967

Spencer Davis Group, "I'm A Man"

Charlie Winston, "Like a Hobo"

Discover Charlie Winston!

Last.fm playlist