**picture from Wikipedia and likely copyrighted December 12th, in the heart of the holiday season, is a day when we must all pause and celebrate the anniversary of the birth of one of the biggest musical giants of all time – The Chairman of the Board, Francis Albert Sinatra. Frank Sinatra would have been 100…
Like a lot of people I was devastated by the attacks in Paris on November 13th. Many bands, including U2, cancelled concerts and tours in the wake of the senseless violence. U2 was scheduled to do a live concert broadcast on HBO the same weekend that the terrorist attacks occurred. They ended up heading home,…
When I was coming up, Neil Young was quite a divisive figure in my rock and roll world. There were those of us who liked Neil and those who were as equally repelled by him. Generally the supporters of Neil Young were known as “males” while the haters on Neil were known as “females.” I…
Thanksgiving is only 2 days away and it has me here at BourbonAndVinyl thinking about all the things to be thankful for this year. Well, that and the wife is busily prepping the house for the impending Christmas holiday. Ergo, I have barricaded myself in my office with a tumbler of bourbon and a stack…
Shortly after I moved in with the Rock Chick, before I knew what was happening, Saturday became “clean the house” day. As a bachelor I had always taken a more casual approach to housework. Well, I probably took a more casual approach to all manner of hygiene, but as usual, I digress. During these Saturday…
I am not a religious person. I’m like Lloyd Bridges’ character in the movie “Cousins”, when he said, “God makes me nervous when you get him inside.” Maybe it is better summed up by Sting when he sang, “men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one.” I was raised a Catholic…
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit, I was late getting on the Cult’s bandwagon. Truth be told, my wife turned me onto the Cult. In the 80’s, which might be described as their “heyday” I was busy listening to music recorded in the 70’s. I didn’t have time for the Cult,…
“My name is Larry, my name is Larry…” Wild Man Fischer, “My Name is Larry” It’s early November and all the vodka has been put away for months. We’re deep into fall, or as I like to call it, the Bourbon Season. I always have this odd feeling that I’ve forgotten something as the calendar turns…
I’ve been a Rod Stewart fan for a long time. Jeff Beck wasn’t exaggerating when, on their second and last album together “Beck-ola” he described Rod’s position in the band as “vocals extordinaire”. Like everybody, I became a fan during his early years when he was on the Mercury label. His albums, beginning with “The…
Weddings. Call me an old sap, but I do so enjoy weddings. Of course, in my younger days, I was actually “in” 13 weddings. I was a best man three times, a groomsman in several others and I don’t know how many times I was an usher. I shouldn’t even count the times I was…