Scott Liss & the Sixty-Six, The Blackpool Letters

Scott Liss and crew are poster boys of risk here, mixing many expansive musical influences and scoring big on The Blackpool Letters. I admire the skill and patience spent culling sounds and sculpting flytrap arrangements on this cd. As Scott says, “Watching…

My bro, Adam Hirschman of the band Kosmic Daydream, sent me an email last week to tell me about this great new band that the Kosmic ones recently performed with at The Clash Bar in Clifton. The name of the band is Ninth Paradigm, and they’re a Prog-Rock instrumental band…

The Brighton Bar continues its winning streak for picking groups that are infamous and in some way historically vital to rock and roll as we know it. The May 8 show featured the heavy headlining sounds of Fifth Avenue Vampires.

“I really feel that as wonderful as the Internet is, there is nothing as great as live music,” says Tina Shafer, the New York-based singer/songwriter that has not only penned hits for some major artists, but helped found the influential New York Songwriters Circle. “The fact that we have live…

Since I’ve been spending a lot of time down here in South Jersey, but write about North Jersey bands, it’s only appropriate for me to slip in a South Jersey band every now and then. A couple of weekends ago, I stopped down at the Seaside Music Festival in Seaside…

Anyone associated with the entertainment industry on the East Coast will know who Gordon Brown is. Whether you’ve heard about him through his major accomplishments with bands such as Mr. Reality, Sam Hill and Highway 9, or you’ve spent an evening or two watching one of your favorite artists at…

Lorenza Ponce has hung with the Rolling Stones, toured with Bon Jovi, and mingled with presidents. But through it all, her true love is making her own music. “I will always make records,” she states. “It is my passion and I can’t imagine not doing it. Even if I stopped…

Dan Monda, drummer of the band HMS Revenge, recently emailed me saying that he would “really, really, really, really appreciate it” if I would check out his band. I did just that, like I always do when bands email me, and I loved it! I heard a really heavy Radiohead…

Laura Monzo, Maniac

The year 2009 wasn’t a very good one for Laura Monzo. Ask her and she’ll tell you all about it. From failing love and lost friends to the lack of inspiration to write music, she went through a stressful time. But somewhere through it all…

Richie Ranno is an unsung hero in the world of rock and roll. Known as the originator of the often copied New York/New Jersey KISS Convention, his musical legacy also includes being a member of some very influential ‘70s bands. His latest endeavor is the release of two CDs simultaneously;…