To the hardcore fan of 1950s blues, R&B, and soul, Etta James can be vexing. To anyone following the news lately, her calling out of Beyonce for singing “At Last”…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Last summer, I gave y’alls a Cephas & Wiggins Cold Shot that had no news peg, no current-events hook that made it relevant to that time, just a nice little…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Tin Machine was flat-out great, featuring fierce guitars, edgy lyrics and even edgier production. The world thought it stunk, and threw stuff at David Bowie and his noisy bandmates when…
Mojo Flucke
2 Min Read
“Incongruous” is the only way to describe this night. First of all, UNH is perhaps the whitest venue in the whitest state in the union. Furthermore, the Godfather of Funk…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Los Lobos‘ 1992 album Kiko is nothing short of fabulous. A tour de force of primitive rhythms, Latino percussion, gorgeous acoustic and muddy electric guitars, and melodic variance of epic…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Even in these crushing economic times, blues fans can count on three things: Death, taxes, and until they spend every last red cent they fish from the ashtrays and couch…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
In Red Sox lore, the facts state that 10,454 fans–a pathetic number–attended Ted Williams’ last game in 1960, when he grew his legend to Mount Rushmore proportions by slamming a…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Fellow Popdoser Ed Murray and I ducked down to Boston’s Paradise to check out the Von Bondies (above: rhythm guitarist Marcie Bolen’s set list that Ed stole for me, knowing…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Editor’s Note: This kicks off a new series where the Popdose staff reflects on memorable concerts they’ve witnessed. They’re not reviews, per se, but in places may exhibit review-like symptoms….
Mojo Flucke
2 Min Read
Joachim Cooder produced his dad Ry’s new retrospective double disc The UFO Has Landed; he got to make the ultimate mixtape by picking which cuts would represent the elder Cooder’s…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Gather round the fire, kids, let’s roast some chestnuts and let Uncle Mojo tell you a story: Back in 1990, he was a blithely ignorant intern at Billboard, so happy…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
In what better ways could musicians reject the status quo of Led Zeppelin, the musical bollocks of disco, and the pop pablum du jour like Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Nathaniel Mayer passed away last Saturday, from complications due to a stroke suffered back on April 13. The Detroit soul singer was a powerful voice on the scene during the…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Gather ’round the fire, kids–at least if you’re in upstate New York, which got slammed with 20 inches of snow in places, even though the calendar alleges it’s still October–and…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Meet Restaurant, or Restavrant, depending on how the person writing about this crazy Texas duo interprets the band’s logo. Equal parts Flat Duo Jets, Timbuk 3, Black Keys and Chickasaw…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
The Creation nailed a top 40 hit in the UK in 1966 in “Painter Man,” which featured the crazy guitar playing of Eddie Phillips, who used a violin bow on…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
The blues aren’t dead yet. But, compared to, say, 1971, they’ve got one foot and two thirds of the other in the grave. Let’s admit that. Blues fans haven’t heard…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
I’m not much of a modern blues guy; in fact a lot of my pals like to refer to me as a crusty-old, close-minded, purist curmudgeon. ‘Tis true, I’d much…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Seeing the nominees for this year’s Rock Hall class, I’m starting to feel like the writers who, year after year, banged on the “Get Art Monk into the Pro Football…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
The more I listen to 8-bit music, the cooler I think it is. Definitely lo-fi, awesomely retro, but caught in a techno-sociological riptide that prevented its popularity until now: No…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
A couple months back, I interviewed the Scissormen for Popdose. They’re a raunchy blues-rock duo in the vein of Black Diamond Heavies or Black Keys, except masterminded by an even…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Garage-rockin’ record-collector recidivists will call this one an easy layup, but most U.S. rock fans living outside that niche fraternity are (probably blissfully) unaware that the Dutch rock band Golden…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
I am a reformed audiophile. A hybrid type of sound geek, with one foot in the strange world of excellent sound and the whackos who populate it, and the other…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
I think I speak for all of Popdose, going through a painful migration to the latest version of WordPress, that we have had the freeeeeeekin’ blues this week. To my…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
I am an unabashed fan of Cephas & Wiggins, who bring a modern take on traditional folk blues. In interviews, they’re gentlemen, who love telling their stories and giving thoughtful…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
This feature’s been a little too Detroit Rock City-heavy. While ’tis true that the Motor City and the surrounding region was so incredibly loaded with fiercely competitive bands that collectors…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
The Scissormen play raucous blues along the lines of the Flat Duo Jets or the Black Keys, with guitar and drums. One half of the duo, Ted Drozdowski, is a…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Here’s the deal: Every once in a while one stumbles upon a group or whatever that just knocks you on your butt and you gotta broadcast your discovery to the…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
This is the first Cold Shot that features a whole album. We (that’s all my personalities combined) are pretty psyched about that. See, Buddy Guy’s a favorite of the Cold…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
Doooood, if you’ve been following this psychotic lo-fi series of posts all year, you’ve heard some hidden gems, some peculiar covers, some underground legends, and wacky side projects of people…