The Guitar Center’s 2009 Championship Drum Off’s moved this year to the Wiltern and that wasn’t the only moving on up they did. The contest with the $25,000 cash prize also featured a Tommy Lee headlined Bezerk spectacle, including performances by Max Weinberg (from both Bruce Springsteen and Conan O’Brien fame) playing in tandem with … More Guitar Center Fell In Love With A Drummer
In a land far, far away, called Great Britain a yearly war wages every winter. In this magical Narnian Isle, music is still a viable commodity taken very seriously. Their denizens actually record new holiday songs every season in the hopes of having the top Christmas single of the year. We cynics across the pond … More A Very Raging Christmas – Crap Music Is Over, If You Want It
Rock has a reputation for being a beer and whiskey kinda night. OK, maybe a rum and coke, then a shot of tequila, then eleventy beers kinda night. But somewhere along the way, I traded in my plastic tumbler for a wine glass. If I drink much at all, I strictly drink wine. It seems … More Sunset and Vines – Rock ‘n Roll Wine Uncorks At The Sunset Strip Music Festival
The host hazy and dusty race tracks are not the normal habitat of wolves. No, I picture wolves living in the misty mountain hops of vampire infested forests up in Northern America. But I wasn’t interested in spotting your average wolves. I was jonesing to see the kind of hard rock wolves who are native … More Wolfmother Serves Epicenter Festival A Cosmic Egg, Sunny Side Up
Les Paul passed on today. Most of the men (and chicks) I know wouldn’t be standing on a stage today if it weren’t for this man. A moment of silence for the man who helped us create so much music… From Gibson.com: New York, NY…August 13, 2009…Les Paul, acclaimed guitar player, entertainer and inventor, passed … More The Day The Music (Innovator) Died – Les Paul Dead at 94
Tuesday night was the first official The Voice Project fundraiser event. The Voice Project Foundation is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation. The foundation’s mission is to raise awareness and financial support for those using art to enact meaningful social change by using art for said change. Hunter Heaney and I conceived this organization back in … More The Voice Project debuts in Hollywood – Pass It On!
Space Oddities – Looking For Rock In All The Weird Places by Ali MacLean In this town, it’s easy to get jaded. Every club or party these days seems to need to top some pinnacle of bacchanale… a regular night with drinks and music just wont do. A warehouse rave is just ordinary. It has … More Space Oddities – Looking For Rock In All The Weird Places
The people at Worn Free Tees had the ingenious idea to license and recreate old soft worn in rock tees that have been seen on some of the greatest rock n roll stars of our time. Culling from the archive photos and closets of legends like Joey Ramone, John Lennon, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Kurt … More Worn Free T Shirts – A Little Bit Comfy, A Little Bit Rock N Roll
I’ve been hustling my little bunny tail all over Southern California recently. Lately, I’m in high demand to cover shows. But once you enter the realm of music journalism, the shows become work and it’s hard to detach from being the observer, rather than the music fan. Sometimes you just want to have a blast, … More Detroit Rocks This City – Von Bondies Shake Up The Strip
Dammit, I wish I still had my 1974 Chevy Monza. She was an old beater, white, with wood paneled interiors and an 8 track player. I only had 4 cassettes I picked up at a garage sale: Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, Foghat, Sweet and some musical (Chess?), but it was a bad-ass car. Not that … More Band Of Skulls – Rock’s New Backseat Lovers
ALI MacLEAN 