Death is a big part of Cheri Knight’s life. A former member of the Blood Oranges, an acclaimed but obscure roots band that dropped off the branch a few years back, she is finally getting noticed thanks to The Northeast Kingdom, an album on Steve Earle’s E-Squared label certain to…

Ani DiFranco emerged from Buffalo, New York, at the decade’s dawn and differentiated herself from other young artists with guitars and something to say with her financial acumen. She founded her own label, Righteous Babe Records, and unlike the owners of most other start-ups, she ran hers with a savvy…

Jimmy Hoffa seems like a more plausible candidate for a comeback than Vanilla Ice. The once and former Robert Van Winkle briefly ruled the world in 1990 with “Ice Ice Baby,” the most successful rap single of all time to that point. But the vicious backlash that struck him shortly…

Puff Daddy & the Family’s No Way Out is as stunningly slack a piece of work as has ever been issued by a major rap act. Puff Daddy, born Sean Combs, has one of the weakest verbal flows of all time: He mouths wan rhymes in a pinched, charisma-free monotone…

Most ’90s celebrities understand that baring their souls comes with the territory. Your average personality mag is brimming with profiles of famous people who disclose their deepest, darkest secrets as casually as they cash their royalty checks–and the few who don’t are viewed with suspicion. Eddie Vedder’s reluctance to share…