by Pico The first time I heard “Barbary Coast” was when I got halfway through the second side of a vinyl copy Weather Report’s Black Market I had just purchased, and I wasn’t terribly impressed with it then. In this rendering, it was a three minute one-chord bass riff decoratedRead More

Let’s circle back to a key moment from Larry Young, the John Coltrane of the jazz organ.

Back when I was a young man in my twenties, I had frequent cravings for testosterone-driven jams—just like any young man does. But while some of my buds got their fix through the likes of Van Halen, AC/DC or Metallica, I often turned to McCoy Tyner. McCoy Tyner? Absolutely, whyRead More

I’ve never been much of a movie watcher, and less of a fan of movie soundtracks. But back in 2000 I rented the then-new release Finding Forrester, a movie that featured Sean Connery. And while the movie itself was good, I couldn’t help but to notice what an outstanding andRead More

by Pico The other day I was digging Bill Withers’ gentle folk-soul masterwork from 1971, Just As I Am. A week later I still find myself occasionally warbling “Ain’t No Sunshine” when there’s no one else around save for my daughter and nearly sat down to write about it inRead More

Last weekend I helped my brother move across state. After we stuffed the 26 foot U-Haul and his Ford pickup, he handed me the keys to the Ford and just as we were about to embark he showed my his XM radio and before I can tell him I alreadyRead More

by Pico We were, of course, a little saddened that the historic season of Louisiana’s NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, came crashing to an ugly end last Sunday. With apologies to U2 and Green Day, the song most associated with this team remains “When The Saints Go Marching In”.Read More

They opened up the building and we streamed through the turnstiles, tickets and hats and signs in hand. We bought Dome Foam, personal pizzas, and peanuts. So much of that was similar to other days in this place, as the New Orleans Saints played their first home game of theRead More

While just about everyone else who critiques music have already trotted out their “Best of 2006” lists, I’m still going through many of these releases for the first time (I might work faster if I got paid better). One of last year’s servings that I finally gave a listen toRead More

We all know that Stevie Wonder is a great singer, but former Doobie Brothers star Michael McDonald simply outdoes him here.