Email Author Robert Wilonsky

1995 Stories by Robert Wilonsky

• Beating meat

  published October 12, 1995

  It was early in January of 1995, and way too early in the morning, when Tenderloin lead singer Ernie Locke received the call. His head groggy with... More >>

• Out Here

  published October 12, 1995

  Looking back, forward Rollin' Blues The Hash Brown Band Browntone Records If rock and roll's stuck in low gear, if jazz... More >>

• Heart-shaped box

  published October 12, 1995

  Critics like to say the Velvet Underground is the second most influential band of the '60s behind the Beatles, which is fine enough if you believe... More >>

• Rock and rollercoaster

  published October 5, 1995

  "We're not looking for a shot at the big time. We just want to make great music." Funland singer-guitarist Peter Schmidt says he likes to... More >>

• Dance this Mess around

  published October 5, 1995

  The so-called punk revolution of the '70s has given way to the punk ad campaign of the '90s: Mohawks and green hair and tattoos are back (did they... More >>

• House of blues

  published October 5, 1995

  Matthew McQuater has lived in quiet obscurity for more than two decades in a modest, slightly run-down home in a modest, slightly run-down section... More >>

• Roadshows

  published September 28, 1995

  You're a poet and you know that Heather Nova is a woman of pedigree - claims the Velvet Underground and Neil Young as childhhood heroes,... More >>

• Through horn-rimmed glasses

  published September 21, 1995

  One year ago, Lisa Loeb became the first musician ever to land a song at the top of the pop charts without a record deal or a manager. She was a... More >>

• Hank, junior

  published September 21, 1995

  As a kid, Wayne Hancock moved around so often that now, at the age of 30, he can barely recall most of the places in which he lived. He knows for... More >>

• Swingin' the blues

  published September 7, 1995

  Big Al Dupree sits alone at a table at Back Country Bar-B-Q, happily finishing off a heaping plate of meat and vegetables. This Greenville Avenue... More >>

• Trio of one

  published August 24, 1995

  Ty Macklin stands in front of his Ensoniq Advanced Sampling Recorder, holding a computer disc that contains samples from six different songs from... More >>

• Reviews

  published August 24, 1995

  Dazed and unamused Spirit of '73 Various artists 550 Music/Epic Records The wonderful thing about post-modernism is the... More >>

• Off the record

  published July 27, 1995

  Throughout the last decade, James "Big Bucks" Burnett has celebrated the oddball (Tiny Tim), befriended the famous (Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy... More >>

• Junior or joke?

  published July 20, 1995

  Bob Wills Jr. cannot come to the phone. He is too sick to speak, his wife Elizabeth explains, the victim of a recent series of strokes that have... More >>

• Roadshows

  published July 13, 1995

  Good enough, Wells enough Twenty-three years after its release, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues stands as one of the turning... More >>

• Only the lonely

  published July 13, 1995

  Love songs are, of course, the heart--or, more accurately, the broken heart--of popular music. Whether they are autobiographical stories or thinly... More >>

• Fight the power

  published July 6, 1995

  At the end of a two-hour interview, during which he has amiably recounted a story of a life spent traveling the world only to end up becoming the... More >>

• Mekons, you Rhett

  published July 6, 1995

  When Old 97's frontman Rhett Miller calls from a Chicago recording studio, where the band is recording the follow-up to last year's Hitchhike to... More >>

• Quite a despair

  published June 22, 1995

  "I think I fucked up. Let me just play the groove for a minute." So says Neil Young at the beginning of "Downtown" before starting, then... More >>

• Reviews

  published June 15, 1995

  Return to roots Polkas for a Gloomy World Brave Combo Rounder Records Brave Combo has, for more than 16 years, been... More >>

• Roadshows

  published June 15, 1995

  Dirty, nasty, sweaty, sweet The great irony of Juliana Hatfield's career is that the more confident she grows--as a guitarist, a... More >>

• Star maker

  published June 8, 1995

  Four months after the Toadies began their careers as major-label artists, joining a roster that includes such superstars as Nine Inch Nails and... More >>

• Reviews

  published May 25, 1995

  Lost in the bayou Wish You Were Here Right Now Bobby Charles Stony Plain Records Robert Charles Guidry doesn't show up... More >>

• Plastic explosives

  published May 25, 1995

  An hour before Tripping Daisy is set to take the stage, the line wraps entirely around Trees, spilling into the alley behind the club. The show... More >>

• Roadshows

  published May 18, 1995

  Jam out the kicks From 1968 to 1971, Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith were men who defined and defiled rock and roll from the fringes,... More >>