Why It Matters

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  • Why It Matters In Print

    I’ve done a poor job of submitting work this calendar year, mostly because I’m pretty damned happy and busy creating new content for all of you here at Why It Matters. But I really like Under the Gum Tree, a literary magazine bearing the subtitle “Telling Stories Without Shame.”  That’s an editorial principle I can…

  • On My Turntable: Bob Dylan – Tempest

    Bob Dylan’s new album, Tempest, is the thirty-fifth coming according to the music press.  The man is officially a national treasure as of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors (similar to a knighthood or Canada’s coveted “Golden Molson”).   Every new Dylan album for the last fifty years has been a media event, and yet everybody knows…

  • Fundraiser Through 10/13! (!!!!!)

    So this Saturday 10/13 is the big day.  The Keep On Stomping chapbooks are ready, the “Keep On Stomping Prints” are ready, the temporary seller’s permit arranged. Wimbot creator Cinder and I are setting up shop at Sacramento’s Rio Midtown Jam, a street festival at the corner of 17th and J streets from 4-8 pm,…

  • 99. Falcon Spirals to the Ground

    Carowinds was to Upstate South Carolina as Six Flags or Great America was to other parts of the country: a big, shiny amusement park full of roller coasters, arcades, and artists trying to draw you with a bobble head and a skateboard. No childhood destination was more desirable to a Boiling Springs kid.  Hal The…

  • From The Stacks: Phillip Cassadore Sings Apache Songs

    Phillip Cassadore was the real deal.  A distant relative of Cochise, Cassadore was an Apache medicine men and spiritual leader.  He dedicated his life to preserving and restoring Apache religion and traditions.

  • The (Kind Of) Complete Woodstock: Arlo Guthrie

    Everybody knows Arlo played Woodstock.  His stage patter is one of the highlights of Michael Wadleigh’s documentary (“The New York thru-way is closed, man!”).  What you might not know is that the version of “Coming Into Los Angeles” that appeared in the film and on the original soundtrack wasn’t Guthrie’s Woodstock performance.  Recording problems marred…

  • From the Stacks: Mefistofele Highlights

    Mefistofele is an 1867 opera from Italian composer Arrigo Boito based on Faust. Didn’t know I was so classy, did you?  Spoiler alert: I’m only here for the batshit crazy album cover.

  • On My Turntable: Kevin Seconds – Don’t Let Me Lose Ya

    I hesitate to drag the Kevin Seconds C.V. into this review.  There are bound to be punk fans who hear that name and immediately think of 7 Seconds, which isn’t a bad thing.  For over thirty years 7 Seconds has churned out quality hardcore. But Kevin Seconds on his own, that’s a whole other thing. …

  • Deep Cuts: Songs for the Seafood Lover in You

    I know what you’re thinking:  Can he put together a playlist of seafood-themed songs and not include The B-52’s or Barnes and Barnes? Flounder, please:

  • Why It Matters to WAZU

    Australian ex-pats Matt and Rizz set up shop in NYC a couple of years ago as WAZU, and the dark wave duo have quickly established themselves. Their new album, Robobo,  is a fascinating mix of instruments both electronic and analog, with songs touching on industrial, new wave, and some other surprising genres. If you have…