Tag Archives: Leonard Cohen

Music Journalism A-Z – Alan Light

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Alan Light

I chose Alan Light as the letter L music journalist because the last several PBS fund drive music specials have featured him as “the” music commentator during the pledge breaks. This prompted me to research who is Alan Light? I’m happy to share I was knocked out to discover his competent depth of contribution to our American music legacy.

Alan Light got his start as a fact checker at Rolling Stone. He soon became Senior Editor.  He next became founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe.  He went on from there to become editor-in-chief of Spin Magazine. He has been a contributor for The New Yorker, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Mother Jones, and the Oxford American.

Radio and Television Credentials

Alan Light once had a spot as music reviewer on radio station WFUV-FM, He presently serves as music correspondent on the NPR show Weekend America.

Alan Light is the director of programming for the public television series “Live From the Artists Den.”

Books

Alan Light is quite prolific. He has (co)written five books to date.

The Holy or the Broken

  1. Tupac Amaru Shakur: 1971-1996 (with Quincy Jones), 1998
  2. “Vibe” History of Hip Hop, 1999
  3. The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys, 2006
  4. My Cross To Bear (by Gregg Allman, with Alan Light), 2012
  5. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”, 2012

My Cross to Bear

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Record Store Day Black Friday – Shopping Etc.

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I have bought records since 1962 when I was 10. My first record purchase was a 45 r.pm. single, “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. I bought that single at the record department at the 5&10 downtown Norwalk, Ct. The H.L. Green 5&10 record department was a mixture of 45 r.p.m. and vinyl records.

I have built a large music collection since then…

Roll ahead now 50 years to Record Store Day, Black Friday 2012. My son and I headed out together as we love to support the record stores and Record Store Day. Today’s shopping excursion consisted of two participating stores.

1) Exile on Main Street, 267 E. Main Street, Branford, Ct.

The pickings were slim there. I picked up the 7″ split single, “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley on the Legacy label.

I also bought The Lumineers, Winter EP, a 10″ vinyl recording. We love The Lumineers since we saw them in concert this past April :)

Lumineers BF Front

2) Redscroll Records, 24 North Colony Street, Wallingford, Ct.

The Record Store Day choice here was only slightly better. That was probably because the store opened at 6 a.m. and we arrived at Noon…. But I did manage to buy three Record Store Day items.

a) “Hotel Yorba” by The White Stripes on 7″ Red Vinyl

b) The Shins, “No Way Down/Fall of 82 (Swift Sessions) – 7″ Vinyl

c) John Mayer, The Complete 2012 Performances Collection -12″ Vinyl

I miss Cutler’s in New Haven. No store we visited today came close to offering a dedicated wall to Record Store Day as Cutler’s did…sigh.

But I admit my son and I did have fun together. We had the Redscroll Jester take our picture at the back entrance to the store. Thanks for joining me today Matt. It was a blast!

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Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Like many others music fans I have anticipated the new Leonard Cohen recording, Old Ideas. I caught his television spot this past Sunday during CBS Sunday Morning and it’s message really stayed with me.

Leonard Cohen is a renowned Canadian singer-songwriter, novelist, poet, and painter. I feel guilty I haven’t allocated enough time to listen to and appreciate his art. I know his classic standard-bearer songs such as  ”Suzanne” and “Bird on the Wire”, but I truly don’t know the artist and his muse better than I should.

Granted there is so much music in this garden music and only so much time to listen appreciably to great music. I am trying to correct that mistake by starting with his latest effort, Old Ideas and working backwards in time.  Wikipedia does an effective job of letting us shuttle through a musicians discography in chronological reverse order.

Wish me well as I try yet again to become better acquainted with one of the great artists of our time :)

 

 

 

 

 

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