.  .  Note: For "CONCERTS / RESOURCES / PLACES TO FIND LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCES and other selected events" see the final feature before the sign-off. ___ Welcome to this edition! You'll find several features, each with a big enough title to find your way around. But no Table of Contents this time. Just explore and enjoy!        Let's get started. ___ The Folk Music that Powered Change  Since the era of recorded music began with the first Edison wax cylinders, music has continued to shape its times and alter culture. Much of the world was never the same a ..read more

  .  The Most Slickly-Produced Extravaganza of the Season Sorry, OSCARS, EMMYS, GRAMMYS, Americana Music Awards. You didn’t win. But wait’ll you see what did. In American politics, there is always breathless worry over some game-changing revelation, or simply allegation, or anything regarded as a sociocultural bombshell, in the last weeks before an election. Almost always, it is later regarded as no-big-deal, but if it hits an emotional chord long enough for people to vote, it matters not how important or even how true or false it is. Forget the October Surprise. I just experien ..read more

  .  Yes, we HAVE often annually covered Halloween and its original Celtic roots, along with the Latin American Day of the Dead, and All Hallows Eve, and All Saints Day, and whatever other historical identities and cultural fixations pertain to harvest celebrations. After all, music and dance are integral parts of most of those things. But this year, we just didn't come across things like that you could attend. No, that doesn't mean they aren't out there, but we were not in the loop if they are. Yes, yes, shocking admission, given. we are expected to know all and tell all that isn't ..read more

  .  Sunday special edition, July 10 2022 Your editor has COVID, and is in quarantine.  But online, the show must go on (reduced to the bare necessities of information,  owing to being devoid of his usual energies). ___ CONTENTS... ●  A NEW "Prairie Home Companion," LIVE Sunday & on-demand for 48 hours; plus more news. ●  Note from quarantine, part one. ●  Remembering "Our Cowboy with a Camera," Jack Hummel ●  Note from quarantine, part two. ___ ☆■☆■☆■☆■☆■☆ A NEW, LIVE, PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION Whaaat? It's really back? A NEW edition ..read more

  .  We will ADD PHOTOS from the event. Check back over the weekend and beyond! Meantime, here's the story so you won't miss-out... ___ We love it most when we can bring you a multifaceted event with music, history, and a whole lot more. This one is genuinely one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime. So, YES, with the shocking price of gas, it IS more than worth the road trip, and it includes Irish and other 19th century era music. Don't just read the title and decide it's too specialized for you. Fifteen steam locomotives will gather for this one-of-a-kind four-day event, July 1 th ..read more

  .  .  Welcome! If you are newly arrived here after learning about us at the NAMM Show, we hope your first visit will lead to regular perusals of our content. Speaking of NAMM, we have a number of features in the works on innovations, instruments, people you should know, and much more from our time in Anaheim. You'll be seeing those items over the next few weeks. THIS EDITION begins with NEWS features then gets to a hugely updated EVENTS section, with festivals, concerts, club gigs, and more. So let's get started! ___   ___   ___ Photo - GRAMMY Award t ..read more

 .  Still immersed in the NAMM experience and preparing numerous feature stories and product profiles from that, we really had no intention of delving into politics on Primary Election Day. That is, until we saw all the stories about the shockingly low return rate of mail-in ballots and low voter turn-out at polling places. Suddenly it risks being a different story with a "Wha' happened?!" ending. Let's not let things be all about motivated niche groups who are not a representative majority, and how they may choose the candidates the rest of us will get stuck with in November... alon ..read more

  It's time to savor LIVE MUSIC again, and we tell you about lots of options! ___ What's happening on the music scene... Greetings from NAMM, the world's largest music instrument, gear, tech, and trade show! More than ever before, NAMM is very consumptive of time and resources, and we need to scramble to interviews, product demos, and more, to bring you our usual comprehensive NAMM coverage -- with reports on new gear, and everything from software to to things with strings. So the story is NOT that some key exhibitors are absent! The story is the energy and innovation visible everywhere ..read more

  .  Welcome to a VERY full edition! Here's a list of contents to guide you through The Guide... ■  Yes, COVID is still out there -- when a presenter tests positive... ■  If it's not over, NOW what? -- recommendation from an epidemiologist ■  IBMA Momentum, Industry & Distinguished Achievement Awards - nominations open now through June 3 ■  Instruments needed for prison guitar class; shakers, drums ■  Quickies from the Americana Music Association: Bonnie Raitt at #1 on the ARA Chart for the 1st time, and Old Crow Medicine Show debuts at #13; Blues ..read more

  .  WHAT a weekend to end April! Two FREE events  -- ☆ ArtNight Pasadena returns Friday ☆ The South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival is back Saturday ☆ Plus, we have a link for you to watch live performances from Stagecoach, all weekend ☆ and CONCERTS, club gigs, and more FESTIVALS, on into summer and autumn are within, awaiting you! The vast universe of LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCES and FESTIVALS is reawakening at lightning fast pace.  We kept going back into our previous edition and adding more and more to the EVENTS WRITEUPS. But that edition is so packed with NEWS FEATURES ..read more