Green Day Remembers Amy Winehouse

Green Day (bottom) paid homage to the late Amy Winehouse (top), who died in late July.

It’s not everyday that Green Day plays an intimate show for 250 superfans. It’s not everyday that anyone would expect punk rock powerhouse Green Day to be associated with the late jazzy bluesy Amy Winehouse. Obviously it’s not everyday that Green Day does the expected. After a rockin’ set of unreleased material at Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa that left…

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5 Questions For The Tedeschi Trucks Band

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator

  Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi prove marriage and some great friends can put together an incredible album . Before the upcoming Boston show on August 17th at the Bank of America Pavilion, I asked Susan and Derek  a few questions and this is what they had to say about it: ZME: With the soon to be released “Revelator” album, you can hear the connection between…

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Robin Trower Wants To Take Rock & Roll Back

Robin Trower

My calm Tuesday morning erupted with the pleasure of speaking with one of the most under rated guitarists of our times, Robin Trower.  At age 66 he has been nominated for the 2011 British Blues Awards, and with that he chuckled “I am not even sure I’m a blues player” and that “I think of myself as a Rock & Roll guitar player really, with a lot of Blues in there, which Rock & Roll…

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On the Road with Ben Kitterman

Ben Kitterman

Ben Kitterman was enjoying a much needed break from the tour in Indiana when I had a chance to catch up with him. Just a few nights before he was 1,500 miles away playing in Biloxi, MS.; a place that holds fond memories for him. Biloxi is the city where he first coupled with the front man of Staind, Aaron Lewis by joining his current tour. Ben is…

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Soulsavers: ‘Broken’

Album name: Broken Artist name: Soulsavers Genre: A Confused Shrug Released: August 17 2009 Label: V2 ZME Rating: 9/10 Website: Myspace I clearly don’t know about you – and let’s face it, you probably prefer it that way – but I’m not a particularly splendid example of a human being. You can tell by the kind of accusations that have been slung in my poxy, four-eyed face. No one’s ever verbally accosted me for giving…

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John Mayall – The Academy, Dublin (21/7/09)

My one presiding memory of visiting my granddad when I was knee high to a shepherd’s pie is, of all things, screwing around with the old man’s stair lift. Utterly lost on me and my brother was the importance of the machine for allowing my granddad easy ascent – all we saw was a hilarious toy that distracted us from the boring grown-up talk that was going on around us. I’m fairly certain we broke…

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Ben Harper & Relentless7: ‘White Lies For Dark Times’

Album name: White Lies For Dark Times Artist name: Ben Harper & Relentless7 Genre: Rock Released: May 5th, 2009 Label: Virgin ZME Rating: 8/10 Website: http://relentless7.benharper.com/ Band names, eh? There’s rarely an in-between with them: they either sound exactly right, or absolutely ridiculous. Try saying any death metal band name with a straight face in polite company, and you’ll have an idea of what I mean with the latter. When your grandma asks you what…

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New Dan Auerbach video: ‘My Last Mistake’ (live @ Conan O’Brien)

The Black Key’s vocalist and axe man, Dan Auerbach, returned on national TV with a live rendition of his latest solo single, “My Last Mistake,” on the Late Night Show with Conan O’Brien. It’s really interesting to see Dan outside his usual, bluesy persona and find out there’s more to his musical repertoir than meets the eye. A lot more raw, a lot more rock. Off his latest solo LP, “Keep It Hid.” Note, the…

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A moment for Rick Wright

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Every once in a while, we are reminded that even music legends are humans, and even they have to obey the laws set by mother nature for us. Rick Wright, keyboardist, song writer and founding member of Pink Floyd died at 65, in 15 September. While it’s very natural that we regret and shall miss him, now is not the time to feel sorry and regret; now is not the…

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B. B. King gets another chart record

B. B. King is not the artist that sold the most albums in the world, he’s not the artist that attracted the biggest crowd at a concert, but he’s an artist that can release more passion and feeling in a single note than most guitarists can give in a lifetime. Perhaps the most respected blues player of all time, B. B. King is believed to be the third-greatest guitarist of “the 100 greatest guitarists of…

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