Music - southflorida.com

Glenn Frey changes the tempo

By Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The Eagles mainstay is back with a solo album of standards. And nowadays, even his old hits speak differently.

The grin on Glenn Frey's face was clearly a satisfied one, but there was something else there too, something tugging at the corners of his mouth — it was a trickster smile of a man hatching a plot or enjoying the subversive tang of a still-private punch line.

Phillip Phillips steps onto 'American Idol' treadmill

By Randall Roberts — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:54:00 EDT

Slash's unfinished business

By Steve Appleford, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Guns N' Roses' former guitarist talks Rock Hall of Fame induction, his new solo album, 'Apocalyptic Love,' and chances of a GNR reunion (none).

There are things that Slash just doesn't want to talk about. And the timing was definitely not right a few weeks ago as the guitarist was preparing for a trip to Cleveland for his induction with Guns N' Roses into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Review: 'Don Giovanni' feels right at home in Disney Hall

By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's new production of the Mozart opera is an extraordinary achievement, freshly illuminated and site-specific.

Los Angeles Opera can stop worrying right now.

Kid Rock's 'Chillin' the Most' cruise floats fans' boat

By Gerrick D. Kennedy, Los Angeles Times — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:00:00 EDT

Music-centric excursions are popular with performers and fans — and profitable for promoters.

MIAMI — The Carnival Destiny cruise ship hasn't even left port, and half the ship's guests are already wasted.

Goldenvoice ready to roar in Orange County

By Scott Gold, Todd Martens and Mike Anton, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

But a planned festival in Great Park won't be a Coachella replica — no booze?

INDIO, Calif. — In one corner stands a music promoter that made its mark in L.A.'s punk scene, throwing gritty events at warehouses and velodromes, giving voice to songs like "Beat Me Senseless" and "I Kill Children" before birthing an annual desert bacchanal that might be the world's most successful music festival.

Roger Waters brings 'The Wall' to the Coliseum with a new focus

By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Roger Waters says 'The Wall' was more about him in 1980 when Pink Floyd played it at the Sports Arena. In 2012 at the Coliseum, it's more about everyone.

When Pink Floyd first took its concept album "The Wall" to the concert stage more than three decades ago, even lead singer and chief songwriter Roger Waters couldn't imagine a day when rock music might get any bigger.

Doug Dillard dies at 75; banjo player, member of the Dillards band

By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Doug Dillard played with his brothers in the bluegrass group, performed as a solo artist and collaborated with numerous other country, bluegrass, rock and pop musicians.

Bluegrass banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs answered a knock at the door of his Nashville home in 1953 to find an eager-looking banjo enthusiast on the porch asking Scruggs to put a set of his special tuner keys on the young man's instrument.

Adam Lambert braces for whirlwind with 'Trespassing,' Queen tour

By Mikael Wood, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

With his sophomore album 'Trespassing' just landing and a summer tour with Queen in the works, Adam Lambert basks in his 'somewhat' normal life.

Adam Lambert is arguably the last major star to come out of the "American Idol" franchise. Though the spectacle-prone singer finished second in 2009 behind the bland pop-rock softie Kris Allen, he attained a near-Kelly Clarkson level of renown thanks to his arresting presence on the show, and for coming out as a gay man weeks after the eighth-season finale.

Critic's Notebook: With Spotify and its ilk, there's no 'my' in music anymore

By Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:16:00 EDT

Streaming and download services offer a whole new way to keep and share one's recording collection. But why is it so hard to toss all those LPs, 45s, CDs and MP3s?

I am sitting on a couch facing two turntables, a DJ mixer, a dual-drive CD player/recorder, a cassette deck and a wireless two-terrabyte hard drive half full of music — all in one way or another plugged into my sound system. The various components live in service of the thousands of LPs and 45s on shelves spread throughout my home, which I love, and the 3,000 CDs stored in containers in a closet that I'm reasonably ambivalent about but haven't figured out what to do with. They're near a tub full of tapes that I once tried to throw away but retrieved from the dumpster a few hours later and the MP3s on the hard drive, which I used to access way more than I do now and have no emotional attachment to whatsoever.