Tag: Vol. 31 No. 36

Jerry Herman traces his infatuation with the Broadway musical back to 1946 and Annie Get Your Gun: after seeing the show as a kid, he plunked out “They Say It’s Wonderful” on the piano by ear. A master tunesmith in the Irving Berlin tradition, the 68-year-old Herman has been retro from the start: his Hello, […]

In the 1950s experimental composer Christian Wolff was part of the New York scene that included John Cage, Earle Brown, and Morton Feldman. Cage in fact provided Wolff with his only formal instruction in composition, and Feldman was to become his lifelong friend; both men’s influence can be heard in his work to this day. […]

In some ways it’s a pity that Melora Creager and her troupe of corseted cellists have been saddled with the “goth” tag, since there’s hardly a more direct way to ensure disparagement by the cultural gatekeepers. But it doesn’t seem to bother her much, and it shouldn’t: she’s got nothing to prove and a sweetly […]

As the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have been the hottest producers in hip-hop, pop, and R & B for several years now: Jay-Z, Mystikal, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, No Doubt, and Britney Spears are among the dozens of artists that have hired the Virginia Beach duo to craft them a […]

Maybe they hope some mojo still clings to this name, which once belonged to bands that eventually became the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground. Maybe some does. Last year this large group led by Bobby Hecksher (a Brian Jonestown Massacre veteran who played guitar on Beck’s Stereopathetic Soulmanure) released its first LP, Rise and […]