My grandmother was a second generation American. Her parents, my great-grandparents, emigrated from Russia about a century ago. They joined millions of other immigrants who sought a more promising life through the “golden door” that Emma Lazarus had romanticized just a few years before. Although...

Folks, What can I say, I’m busy. I used to put the new Burnside issue up at around 11:25 PST, and it would be all ready to go and shiny and new. Anymore, it’s difficult finding the time to work on this site. Not that the site needs me all that much…we’ve got so many great contributors...

There are a great many nuances to the making of a good record. A band must be able to capture their live energy in a studio setting, the songs must be top-notch and well-rehearsed in advance of stepping into the booth, and the members must be unified in their commitment to produce a quality product,...

Let’s cut to the chase – all Radiohead fans have already downloaded this album and have listened to it non-stop since it was made available in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007. And by now, there’s very little that can be said that will sway any of those...

How many times have you heard the old adage, life seems like a movie? The answer most likely is, a lot. Now how many musicians have attempted to describe their lives using the cinematic slant? This answer is more difficult. While a lot of musicians fancy themselves storytellers worthy of cinematic...

It seems that everyone in the music review stratosphere has been obsessed for some time, and still obsessed today, by the notion of whether or not The New Pornographers are a supergroup. Ultimately, I understand that super-groups are the next ‘big’ thing and that anyone who is anyone, musically...

I recently picked up E.L. Doctorow’s City of God in a Borders outlet, with nothing more to go on than a vague recognition of the author’s name and a series of accolades and titles in the otherwise-sparse biography. No synopsis, no foreword, no recommendations save the “3-for-2″...

I’m a self-proclaimed political junky, so I was especially excited about Rod Drehers Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives...

In music, there is always a price to progress. Every artist aspires to create fresh and exciting material but, in order to do so, that artist has to let something go so that something new can flower. And the sound may change, for good or for bad. Fans have seen a remarkably different album coming for...

Being a full-time musician is a rather risky venture and not everyone is able to pursue that dream for as far and long as they might like. Some bands, no matter how successful they might become, must continue to work their day jobs while practicing and playing shows at night and on weekends. There...