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I linked to a personally nostalgic story in the LA Times last week about the status of Marineland in sunny SoCal. The staff of the Marineland of the pacific Historical Society saw the post and sent me this link to their very cool website: The Marineland of the Pacific Historical …

I had a good time watching the Grammys last night – I will do a detailed recap later – but I had a weird feeling throughout the show that something was missing. I slept on it for about four hours before getting up at 4:30am to get my thoughts on …

I had an experience Friday night, the strangeness of which approached out-of-body: my 16 year-old son’s thrash metal band, Blood Omen, played its first gig at the Kent State Student Center. I had not previously heard them play in that they (thankfully) rehearse at another kid’s house. They brought about …

We have a welter of Grammy-related posts leading up to the biggest night of the year for the music industry. There is much to chew upon this year regarding the awards themselves and the television show around them on CBS: Grammys: Plenty of Mammys Grammy gossip from the New York …

Regardless of the “meaning” of the Grammys, or lack thereof, the show is interesting from a performance, sociological, and mass culture standpoint. I will be on The Weekend News on Radio 5 Live on the BBC today at about 3:55pm eastern talking previewing the Grammys. Check it out here if …

Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey, the companion CD package to the PBS film series, is nominated for Best Historical Album. The list winds on like the mighty Mississippi to include many of the greatest popular musicians and songwriters of the 20th century: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, B.B …

Ghazal’s profound The Rain is nominated for the Best Traditional World Music Album award. Profoundly oceanic, stunningly accomplished, subtle and moving, the new Ghazal live CD The Rain continues the duo’s groundbreaking fusion of the Indian and Persian musical traditions. Kayhan Kalhor on the droning Persian bowed string instrument the …

Eddy Clearwater and Los Straitjackets Rock ‘n’ Roll City is nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album, which is kind of funny because, like the title says, it’s rock ‘n’ roll. Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, 69, is a longtime Chicago electric bluesman and roots rocker with an affinity for wearing a …

Metallica is nominated for Best Metal Performance for the title track of St. Anger. Metallica – the most successful musical metallurgists of all time with over 90 million albums sold in a 20-year career – are back after an eventful six year absence from recording, still very angry, even naming …

Warren Zevon, who has never won a Grammy before, is nominated for Song of the Year (a writer’s award) and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Keep Me In Your Heart,” the devastatingly affecting song from his final album, The Wind, which is itself nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album, …