I didn’t get to see Prince at the DNA lounge here in San Francisco. I could have. I mean, if I wanted to spend $250 a ticket, that is… And yeah, I heard some tickets were made available on the day of the show for $100 each. But still, I couldn’t justify it. Maybe I’m more »

It’s like a treasure hunt trying to locate lost vinyl LPs made in very limited quantities in the early 1990s — you see, CDs were the king of music listening formats then. The other day I went into Amoeba Records looking for a few things and heard some music on their PA system that caught more »

Music for Hi-Fi Bugs is perhaps the ultimate audiophile purist recording made with one strategically placed microphone in live mono takes. The album anticipates the (a) desired, (b) emerging, or (c) inevitable ascension of mass-market high-fidelity audio playback devices in homes ready to rock the rafters in postwar 1950s America. I picked up a copy of this more »

The ad on eBay was typical enough — it featured a group of old records spread out on the floor.  But, I noticed some curious items in the pack of 11 picture disc records dating back to the 1940s that intrigued me: amidst the typical children’s fare of  pretty kitties and Jack Sprat fairy tale more »

Those of you who read my columns regularly know by now that when listening to music, I hate more than anything a warbly recording — be it caused by a tape machine with inconsistent motor speed issues or a vinyl record that has been pressed off-center. The latter is the biggest insult, I feel, to more »

By now, you’ve probably at least heard of Twitter’s new short-attention-span Vine video app, if you haven’t already downloaded it and started using it.  At first I was dubious, but after a friend showed it to me this weekend, I could see the appeal of basically having a mini-movie snapshot that captures a moment in more »

This week, I finally got around to listening to another curious looking soundtrack that I had picked up at a garage sale a month or so ago. And now I’m kicking myself for not listening to it earlier.  You Are What You Eat is the soundtrack to a quazi-counter-culture-flavored film produced in 1968 by Peter Yarrow more »

Lately I’ve been exploring a lot of old soul and funk records that I missed back in the day.  At Amoeba Records last week I came across a reissue of a song I’d heard of — and I’m sure I’d actually heard it at one point or another — and took a chance on the more »

I tell ya folks, I learn somethin’ new every day from my passion for music and the hobby of collecting records.  Case in point, a record I picked up at a garage sale by an artist I’d never heard of, simply due to the nifty early-’50s cover art: Sugar Blues by Clyde McCoy.  Turns out more »

I was a big fan of Mad Magazine growing up, and as any Mad fan can tell you, long after you’ve forgotten all the gags and parodies and satires, the one thing you never forget about the magazine’s classic era is its artists. Over the years I’ve noticed the artwork of one Mad alum in particular — more »