Last night I went to see these guys, Dead Writers, at a goth-filled Camden pub with the apt name The Black Heart, on my way back from cricket at Lord’s. And I had a very good time.

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Hannah Hu and The Specials perform their spellbinding reggae-fied version of the Talking Heads song Listening Wind from their classic album Remain In Light.

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As Russia invades Ukraine, here’s a message for all the world, conveyed in the lockdown video shot at home by Sharon Van Etten and Josh Homme. (more…)

Mike Nesmith was the tall one with the long sideburns, the green bobble hat and the languid Texan drawl. And The Monkees were one of the first pop groups I loved. (more…)

RIP Robbie Shakespeare, king of the bass guitar and one half of the peerless reggae rhythm section Sly & Robbie. (more…)

Wes Anderson’s tenth feature film is “a love letter to journalism” told in a typically whimsical anthology of stories for the titular magazine. The director and his all-star cast of regulars and newcomers are on top form in this tour-de-force. (more…)

I only had the one encounter with Paddy Moloney, the late leader of The Chieftains. It was in Japan. (more…)

The word “legend” gets chucked about a lot but Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry really was one. Keith Richards once called him “the Salvador Dali of reggae.” (more…)

Nanci Griffith (6 July 1953-13 August 2021) (more…)