If you say something long enough, do people believe it? In other words, do tireless self-promoters succeed? Once upon a time I believed in Clive Davis.  When he got fired from CBS and wrote his autobiography, when he started Arista Records.  I thought Arista was the new Asylum, that albums could be bought on label […]

There’s a point in this movie where Annette Bening stumbles upon Joni Mitchell’s "Blue" in Mark Ruffalo’s record collection. This is something we’ve lost in the MP3 era.  Not only the ability to scan through a person’s record collection and make a judgment as to their taste and whether or not you’ll connect, but the […]

I was hiking in the mountains listening to the new Jamey Johnson album "The Guitar Song". It’s gonna take a good long time for me to unpack this sucker.  It’s a double album in an era when people only care about singles.  Then again, "The Guitar Song" ain’t like regular country music, you know, the […]

With a Little Help From His Friends I want you to read this because it’s inspirational. Yes, it’s movie hype.  And as much as Justin Timberlake is not the real Sean Parker in "The Social Network", David Kirkpatrick’s article doesn’t nail Sean either.  But reading this you want to jump off the couch and get […]