Spitball Army

Fred Child has posted his favorite classical CDs of the past year at the NPR website, but don’t expect a scroll filled with the latest, greatest recordings of Mozart, Beethoven or Bach. All right, there is a disc of Mozart and Beethoven violin concertos, but the majority of Child’s selections fill a niche where the boundaries between classically-trained virtuosity, international rhythms, jazz and pop music blur.

[Read more →]

Yep, I’ve gone back to shcool to learn how to spel!

But, really…My nephew Nicholas’ 8th grade class in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, is fundraising this weekend by gift-wrapping at their local Barnes & Noble store.

[Read more →]

“All I’ve got is precious time,” W. Axl Rose sings in the title song of Guns N’ Roses’ new album, and he must be well aware of how that line sounds now. Mr. Rose, 46, the only remaining original member of Guns N’ Roses, needed 17 years, more than $13 million (as of 2005) and a battalion of musicians, producers and advisers to deliver “Chinese Democracy,” the first album of new Guns N’ Roses songs since 1991.

[Read more →]

It is easy to see that this challenge smacks of the dieter’s challenge. “Maybe I’ll have just one extra slice/bite/drink…” Is it truly just a matter of will? How old will I be before I realize that I no longer need that deluxe DVD edition of The Lion King?

[Read more →]

There was so much vinyl – multiple copies of many titles, and what seemed like endless rows of classical music – that I was overwhelmed. The two guys working the store seemed overwhelmed, too, wedged in behind a small sales counter that was piled high with boxes of new vinyl arrivals.

[Read more →]

According to the documents, attorneys for the Big 4 music companies argue that if the government is willing to take steps to protect Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and AIG, who are only suffering because of their own risky investments and bad decision making, then it should do the same for other poorly run businesses.

[Read more →]

Shortly after announcing, on 1 November 2007, the closing of Laser’s Edge Compact Discs, I was invited into the studios of public radio station WBHM to discuss my thoughts on my business and the business of music. Program Director Michael Krall (who maintains a blog with criminal infrequency here) asked me the questions.

[Read more →]

To his way of thinking, Laser’s Edge reached a peak of sorts on Halloween, during an in-store performance with singer-songwriter Josh Ritter. Although artists ranging from Diana Krall to the Blind Boys of Alabama have played mini-concerts tucked into corners of Laser’s Edge (which has a total of 1,500 square feet), none of them had quite the poignant charm of Ritter’s late-night set.

[Read more →]