Articles

When it comes artists, true artists regardless of media, there's a sort of compulsion that leads them to create. It's not about money or fame or anything other than the love the making their art that makes them continue... art for art's sake. There's a lot of musicians that fall into that category of artist, but the mainstream hasn't always been receptive of their work in the past.

Music can be a difficult addiction based on the "intensity." I might be able to effectively fund my album habit... CDs are relatively cheap... but collecting everything by a band can get pricey (and don't even get me started on collective musical instruments and recording gear). Live bootlegs, out of print rarities and other items can tap a collectors resources rather quickly. And then if you want to really become a collector, you move into music memorabilia, which can really get out of hand if you're talking about some of the biggest names in rock and roll history.

Preface: I write based on inspiration and today this is what I was inspired to write. I know I've talked about these topics before, so hopefully this isn't too much of a rehash and if it is, I hope it is at least a little entertaining. I thought going a little more in depth about some of these ideas (read: take another crack at ranting about it), would be interesting... Enjoy.

I've been sort of resisting discussing the Dead Weather since I first heard about them... why? Well because of my own bias really. I mean it's a new "supergroup" where you have on drums Jack White from the White Stripes/Racontuers... I'm big fans of both... combined Jack Lawrence, bassist from the Raconteurs/Greenhornes, guitarist Dead Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age... another favorite band of mine... and Alison Mosshart of the Kills, a band I wrote about for the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll, way back in the day.

As someone who spends way too much of my day immersed in music, thinking in depth about the music industry itself seemed to come as a natural extension. I can't say it's always an enjoyably tangent to dwell on, as usually I end up thoroughly frustrated by all the greed, unethical practices and general lack of artistic vision that are a big part of the music industry, but overall it's pretty productive and has led to some interesting insights.

Well it's that's time again... everyone's favorite Irish political band is back with a new album... hard to believe it's been 5 years. I've been a fan of U2 for a long time now... a really long time and although I'll agree that some of their works are not quite as consistent as some of the others, I always find something artistic and valuable on every album, far beyond just the regular singles. This means of course, that I decided to check out the first single "Get On Your Boots" from the band's upcoming album No Line On the Horizon.

For the uninitiated, or even those who play a different instrument, the world of the electric guitar can be massively confusing and intimidating. Just take a quick browse through the Guitar Center website (www.guitarcenter.com). You'll find what might even appear to be a ridiculous number of different guitar from all sorts of makers, many of which would appear almost identical except to the most discerning eye.

This is part 4 of a 4 part piece I am writing, inspired by a pair of Smashing Pumpkins concerts and a DVD documentary. As you may or may not know, I am a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, I always appreciate their work. I feel the need to preface this piece by saying that as it will give you an insight into the context of my commentary.

It's been rough times here in the midwestern USA. Recent storms have caused ridiculous flooding, but I'm sure it's only a taste of what it's like down in Texas and the south. Hurricane Ike has hit pretty hard it seem and l though good preparation and the hard work of a lot of brave people has hopefully kept casualties to a minimum, it's still a difficult situation. I'm sure everyone is doing everything they can to help those effected by recent storms either by physically doing what they can, or just by keeping them in their thoughts.

You may not realize it if you haven't been following the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll for that long, but it's almost been two years since I started writing these rock and roll features.