Jim Messina left, Richie Furay jumped ship for momentary success with J.D. Souther and Chris Hillman, and Messina and Furay’s replacements, Timothy B. Schmit and Paul Cotton, carried on with original members Rusty Young and George Grantham to a new label, never to have success until Timothy B. jumped ship too and a band that […]

U2 put out a single no one liked.  Radio rejected it, and so did casual listeners.  Only a small coterie of fans thought it was good.  What was the point? U2 had an impression that we still live in a monoculture, that everybody’s paying attention to the game.  I GET IT!  You want to do […]

Last night on "Celebrity Apprentice" Donald Trump said it was all about passion.  That he’d seen plenty of smart, educated, competent people, but what turned him on, what made people shine, was passion. On the freeway this morning, I heard Rod Stewart’s "Handbags &  Gladrags".  I flashed back to my dorm room at Middlebury, listening […]

The job of the deejay is to play that which the audience will embrace.  That doesn’t mean the deejay can’t test the listeners’ limits, just that you don’t play the record for yourself, but those who are tuning in.  That’s what a recommendation service does, turn you on to stuff it thinks you’re going to […]