An anthem is defined as a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause. I think that someone’s personal anthem could be the song that really speaks to them. Or one that defines their outlook on life. Or maybe it’s a reminder of who they are – or who they want to be. I recorded my own version of this song with a friend in his studio a couple months ago. If you ever recorded before, you know...

I can remember very vividly getting a ride home from school with my friend’s mom when I was in junior high. We were listening to the local 70s, 80s and today (it was the 90s, remember) radio station. We were all happily rocking out to Jimmy Cliff’s I Can See Clearly Now. My friend’s mom was singing “I can see clearly now the rain is gone/I can see all icicles in my way” when it should have been...

  If you die you’re completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I’m not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I’ve got.         You may have heard that yesterday, April 5, 2011, marked the 17th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. I’m not going to recount Cobain’s death and I’m not going to write a biography –...

So I actually picked up some new-new music yesterday. Panic! At the Disco has released their third full-length studio album. I’ve been a Panic! fan since their debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005),  with their driving rhythms and witty, rapid-fire lyrics that left their listeners tongue tied. Needless to say, I was shocked when their second album, Pretty. Odd., was released in 2008. Talk about a completely different...

Plain Jane PVC Pipes First of all, I’d like to share this little video with you. A creative student at Loyla Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, California, known as Snubby J online, revealed an instrument his father helped him create. So what is this newfangled musical thing? A keyboard percussion instrument made out of PVC pipes. The tuning of the instruments started out as “a guess and check method, and then...

I was introduced to a  delightful Danish singer/songwriter named Tina Dico. So far I have only really become acquainted with one of her albums, Count to Ten, but that one album is pretty spectacular. If you really, really wanted to say “she kind of sounds like…” about her, you’d have to say maybe Jewel? But Tina Dico is far superior in all wakes: better vocalist, better songwriter, better guitarist, better...