Stone Temple Pilots...

Gather round, children, it’s story time. (Well, okay, it’s really just more of a long-winded introduction, but bear with me here…) My brother is, by far, one of my favorite people on the planet. He’s a few years older than me, so he was a senior in high school when I was a freshman, and [&hellip

BottleRock Napa Valley...

I think Shakespeare might have been seeing into the future of BottleRock when he said “parting is such sweet sorrow.”  True story: on the last day of the inaugural festival in 2013, I remember thinking that I was like a kid at summer camp; I wanted to just keep coming back, but I knew that [&hellip

BottleRock Napa Valley...

After a smashingly successful day one, I couldn’t wait to see what BottleRock 2015 had in store for me on Day Two. I got a bit of a late start and arrived just in time for Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts.  This is one of the things I love most about the typical BRNV lineup: excellent [&hellip

BottleRock Napa Valley...

Ahhhh, BottleRock. It’s hands-down my favorite time of year. What could be better than waking up to the sounds of fantastic headliners sound-checking from my open bedroom window? (This year, specifically, it happened twice: once with Imagine Dragons, and again with No Doubt. Not bad. Not bad at all.) Anyway, besides the excellent wake-up call, [&hellip

An Evening with...

Tony Lucca will always have a special place in my heart…and my career. I say that because it was just about this time four years ago that I wrote my first review for Spinning Platters. I had met editor Gordon Elgart not long prior and discussed writing for him, but it was completely spur of [&hellip

Matt Nathanson &...

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit my folly: I was tardy to the Gavin DeGraw party. I mean really tardy. It’s not that I’d never heard of him or didn’t enjoy his music. It’s just that, for some reason, while my friends were all obsessing over him back in 2004 when he first came [&hellip

Gavin DeGraw with...

First things first, I’ll come clean right off the top: I was laaaaate to the game when it came to Gavin DeGraw. It’s not that he flew under my radar or I didn’t hear much about him; it’s much worse than all that. He was one of those artists who all my friends were obsessed [&hellip

Eric Hutchinson with...

You can’t believe a word Eric Hutchinson says. Don’t believe me? See for yourself: his new album even admits it’s all Pure Fiction. Tall tales or no, I wanted to hear just what Mr. Hutchinson’s been up to since I saw him last, so I rounded up a couple girlfriends last night and headed out [&hellip

Imagine Dragons, X...

Over the past three decades, I’ve called many a band my favorites, but of course over time, preferences change and so have I. For me, the ones that “stick” are those that tend to have qualities I can’t find elsewhere: a voice so unique I recognize it even a new song, a melody I can’t [&hellip