Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo Swap Songs
Song swapping may be the best way for a couple of esteemed singer/songwriters to tour. Rather than one opening for the other, sitting on stage together and taking turns playing…
John Hiatt’s ‘Slow Turning’ 30 Years On
John Hiatt became eligible for Medicaid Monday, marking his 65th birthday at the first of two sold out shows at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Va. But there was…
Two Rascals Rock (with Carmine Appice)
One of the great underrated American bands of the 1960s is the Rascals, purveyors of a soulful brand of East Coast that provided a few hits that everybody knows and…
Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Who is America?’
Heavy prothetic makeup is the vehicle for Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest devilish comedy. Lest anyone imagine he is Ali G or Borat, he’s padded with all kinds of altering makeup …
UCB: Conjuring New Show Every Night
"Seinfeld" might have been a TV show about nothing, but shows by the Upright Citizens Brigade at Woolly Mammoth literally begin with nothing. The "Four Gorgeous Women!" as they kept…
Taylor Swift’s Big, Big Stadium Show
Despite the dizzying confluence of torches, fireworks, lights, immense video screens, dancing squads, light-up fan wristbands and three-story snakes — so many snakes — in Taylor Swift’s big Reputation stadium…
The Feelies at the 930 Club
The fast jangle and hypnotic rhythms of The Feelies is not just a warm throwback to 1980s when their first album ushered in a precise kind of frantic nerd rock,…
U2 Tells Its Story at CapitolOne Arena
It was only last year when U2 hit the stadium circuit for a kind of nostalgia immersion with the 30th anniversary of "The Joshua Tree." The give and take for…
Jimmie Dale Gilmore Joins Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore had known each other for years on the Americana circuit, but it wasn’t until they joined forces for a brief acoustic tour last year…
The Jayhawks Get Twangy
Talk about rainy day music. The last licks of Hurricane Michael were blowing rain into Virginia the soaking night of the Jayhawks’ return to The Birchmere. And it was the…