FISH BUBBLES

It's only the second time in 25 years my home was chosen for commercial filming. I think I chase a lot of location people away because of my concern for an 1894 Queen Anne Victorian; they know they have to fix what they break, and that's expensive in a...

KROQ, known in the 80s for new wave, actually played quite a bit of classic rock. On the music key while under Program Director Rick Carrol’s reign, appeared — once per hour — “any Beatles, any Zeppelin, any Stones, any Who.” This meant that we could have our choice...

Here was a black guy named Tony, who ventured in to a vastly white radio station to hand me an unheard single that would become a hit by the end of the week. I played “Wild Thing,” as my Catch of the day that Monday. I also played it an unheard of second day in a row....

Tom Morello is great because his guitar phrasing is it’s own language. You want an instrument to transcend itself. Many of the best bands do not sound like individual instruments. It goes beyond guitar, bass and drums. When you hear Rage, Nirvana, Tears for...

People think of Cobain as a genius, but most  can't  spell out why. He has a thing he does with his drop-D chords: the power guitars would typically leave one note out. Kurt in his melodies would sing the missing note. Punk rock was not as sophisticated. Nirvana was...

Music has a history of being manufactural. 50s crooners, the Monkees, boy bands. In the eighties, it was gimmick songs. Women had not broken through the rock barrier, and Chrissy Hynde could not do it all herself. I asked Josie Cotton — she of the manufactured Johnny...

Maybe you’ve seen gold or platinum sales awards. Typically they are given to band members, producers, and label executives. For a while, the recipients were people who helped promote the albums. I’ve been asked what happened to most of my gold records. Honestly, I...