Do you know the song "Bitter Creek", off "Desperado"? "Desperado" was a failure upon release.  The album didn’t break the Top Forty, and neither did the single, any of them.  Those standards, "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track, they had no impact, the record was a stiff. Not that the label and the band didn’t […]

When Al Kooper was shopping on the King’s Road, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll’s version of "Season Of The Witch" was playing in all the shops. Al Kooper was kicked out of his own band.  Well, not exactly, it was like working for the man.  They froze him out, they forced him to quit.  And […]

Back when I was working at Hollywood Sporting Goods, on Hollywood Boulevard, the Tubes did an in-store at the Peaches down the street. Fee came in his platform heels, as Quay Lewd. They blew in from KMET, signed some albums, and then were gone. I didn’t see the band again until later that evening, at […]

We want records to touch us.  We not only want them to change our lives, but to make our lives work.  With a great record, our lives are complete.  Too bad there aren’t many great ones left. I find it tough listening to the oldies.  There’s no sense of surprise.  It’s like living in "Groundhog […]