There’s a moment on Pour a Little Sugar on It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971, a new box set, that pretty much captures everything wonderfully inane about one of pop’s most derided genres. Start with the beyond-silly name of the band, the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus, which …
Read More »Did Bob Dylan Officialize the Lighter Ritual at Concerts?
Call them the concert illuminati. You’re at a show in an arena or stadium, watching Bruce Springsteen, Chris Stapleton, Coldplay, Madonna, or Weezer, when suddenly the darkness is dotted with dozens, hundreds, then thousands points of light — all from cellphones. The origin story of this concert ritual is a …
Read More »Melanie, 'Brand New Key' Folk Singer Who Played Woodstock, Dead at 76
Melanie, the chart-topping folk singer of “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” who performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969, died on Tuesday. She was 76. Billy James, the singer’s rep, confirmed her death to Rolling Stone, but did not provide a cause of death. “We …
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