“American Girl.”Some of my fondest memories as a kid was getting out of bed on Saturday late nights, sneaking into the family room and catching a music show called The Midnight Special. There, I could see the acts I heard on the radio, and maybe see a new artist or band. In 1978, I saw a performance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song was “American Girl,” and I went crazy. When I crawled back into bed at 1:30 am, I could not get the song out of my head.The following year, after…See More

"Thunder Road."That is the title of the first Bruce Springsteen song I ever heard. Back in the day, the Los Angeles airwaves were a live with the sound of artists that were not only creating the soundtracks of life, but inspiring legions of young musicians to get serious about their craft. Radio was all-transforming.I've written before about 94.7 KMET, aka "the mighty Met of southern California." On the immediate right on the radio dial was 95.5 KLOS. KLOS's format was a more rigid than KMET's,…See More

I used to have a recurring dream in which I am running down a dark alley at full speed, consumed with anger and intent on clubbing and head-butting the first thing that gets in my way. And coming from the opposite direction? Noel Gallagher, who pretty much has the same idea.The dream ends with what I can only describe as a "broken-bottle back-alley brawl" of major proportion.My very first taste of Oasis came sometime during the summer of '94 when my Aunt Ava stopped by my place for a few…See More