San Francisco Chronicle
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, December 1972
NOTE: Nobody was ever more fun to hang out with than Don Van Vliet. We took a number of dinners over the years, including one ...
Sopwith Camel: New Orleans House, Berkeley
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, May 1973
KEEPING ALIVE the best San Francisco acid-rock tradition, Sopwith Camel can't be pinned down into an easy category. A Camel performance is likely to begin ...
Crosby and Nash: The Crosby-Nash Whale and Fieldworkers Benefit
Report and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, December 1974
AT THE END of the Bob Dylan tour earlier this year, Asylum Records president David Geffen threw a party at the swank Beverly Wilshire Hotel ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Ratings: Injured, Brilliant
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, April 1975
NOTE: The interview had to wait until we watched the latest episode of the PBS series, The Ascent of Man. I asked Harry about the ...
Band, The: And The Band Played On... The Band's Last Waltz
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, November 1976
IT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY the single biggest collection of rock stars ever to perform on one stage: 17 musicians played Bob Dylan's ‘I Shall Be Released’, ...
Flamin' Groovies, The: The Flamin' Groovies Come Home
Report and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, October 1978
AFTER EIGHT YEARS of silence in the band's hometown, the Flamin' Groovies suddenly made two San Francisco performances in less than a month. "I'm stopping ...
Frank Zappa: The '60s Mother Still Breaks Social, Musical Convention
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1984
STOP THE presses! Frank Zappa, that mother of a curmudgeon, has been spotted actually smiling! Get out the red ink – he even chuckled once ...
Jefferson Airplane, Tubes, The: Groupies: They're Still Grabbin' for the Stars
Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, September 1984
Sweet Spencer,So many feelings I have experienced with you that you have become a part of me. The other day, from out of a heavy, ...
David Lee Roth - Hyperactive, Irrepressible, Self-Satisfied
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1985
DAVID LEE ROTH bounds up the wide, concrete steps from the forest that is his back yard toward his mansion. This, his visitor says, reminds ...
Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith: Ex-Monkee Puts Parts Together
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, March 1985
On TV, Michael Nesmith says he'll be 'the big cheese, the honcho, the stud duck' ...
John Lennon: A Strangely defanged portrait of John Lennon
Book Review by John Mendelsohn, San Francisco Chronicle, June 1985
ACCORDING TO LABOR Department projections, John Lennon biographers will outnumber Elvis Presley impersonators by mid-October. ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: The 'Twist' and Turns of a Rock Pioneer
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, December 1985
HANK BALLARD wrote and recorded ‘The Twist’, but it was Chubby Checker who had the big hit record. With the early R&B group, the Royals, ...
James Brown: He's So Good, He Says
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1986
JAMES BROWN is a litany of hit songs and personal titles. He's the Godfather of Soul, the King of Soul, the Living Legend of Soul, ...
David Byrne, Talking Heads: Talking Heads' Byrne Chats Up His Movie
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, October 1986
THE LAST TIME we saw David Byrne on the big screen, he was herky-jerking his way through a Talking Heads concert, doing his chaotic, turkey-necked, ...
Huey Lewis and the News: Huey Lewis: It's Hip To Be Nice
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1987
BOB BROWN was a young, successful stock trader from New York who got transferred to San Francisco, settled in peaceful Mill Valley, happened onto a ...
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 1987
Ronnie Lane: Wolfgang's, San Francisco ...
Donovan: The Graying of Mellow Yellow
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, July 1987
Donovan admits he feels a little creepy at his ritzy hotel gig ...
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, September 1987
YOKO ONO looks impenetrable behind her trademark wraparound sunglasses, a sober demeanor and a never-ending haze of cigarette smoke. ...
Doors, The: Jim Morrison: Last Meeting With a Fallen Star
Memoir by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1991
NEAR THE END of his 27-year life, was Jim Morrison – as depicted in Oliver Stone's new movie, The Doors – a fat, abusive, alcoholic, ...
Byrds, The, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: The Father of Country Rock
Retrospective by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1991
GRAM PARSONS wasn't exactly bursting with credentials when he came up for consideration as a member of the Byrds in the early spring of 1968. ...
A Last Farewell To Bill Graham
Obituary by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, November 1991
BILL GRAHAM was a movie of a man. His 60-year-long life, which came to an end in a helicopter crash in Sonoma County the night ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, March 1994
ONE FIGURE straddles the two polar events of the '60' – Woodstock and theVietnam War -- Country Joe McDonald. In fact, such emblematicproportions have obscured ...
Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia: Private Funeral For Garcia
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, August 1995
MEMBERS OF THE Grateful Dead and the widow of Jerry Garcia spent yesterday making plans for a funeral, while tributes continued to roll in and ...
Jonathan Richman: Jonathan Vaporizes
Report and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, December 1995
BAY AREA cult favorite Jonathan Richman is close to signing a recording deal with Vapor Records, the new label run by Neil Young and his ...
Tom Waits Benefits Friend, Audience
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 1996
IT TOOK A friend in trouble to get Tom Waits back on stage. ...
Interview by Susan Whitall, San Francisco Chronicle, May 1996
AS FORMER LEAD singer and songwriter of the Replacements, Paul Westerberg labors under particularly burdensome expectations. His second solo album, Eventually, released last month on ...
Pete Townshend, Who, The: Pete Townshend
Interview by Ira Robbins, San Francisco Chronicle, 1997
"Roger [Daltrey] speaks a lot about the magic that happens when the three of us get together to play," says Pete Townshend, who spent two ...
Harry Belafonte Follows New Rhythm
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, September 1997
Singer makes his first CD in nine years ...
Joni Mitchell's Dull Twist On Standards
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2000
Nobody sings Joni Mitchell like Joni Mitchell. ...
Jesse Winchester: Taking Another Shot
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, January 2001
Eclectic singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester cuts his first new album in 11 years ...
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 2001
COUNTRY MUSIC is over. There are lots of rock singers wearing cowboy hats these days, but genuine country music is all but dead and gone. ...
Shuggie Otis: The Resurrection of Shuggie Otis
Retrospective and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 2001
INSPIRATION INFORMATION disappeared shortly after its 1974 release, and the world soon forgot about Shuggie Otis, the promising young rock musician who made the record. ...
Beatles, The, George Harrison: George Harrison: Harrison in the Haight
Retrospective by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, December 2001
IT WOULD BE a stretch to say that George Harrison ever left his heart in San Francisco. ...
Tom Waits: Barroom Bard's Next Round
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, October 2004
TOM WAITS SIPS coffee at the Formica counter of the Chinese takeout and doughnut shop, looking out on the intersection of Mission and 24th streets. ...
Retrospective by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, December 2004
NOTE: I’ve never done a more personal piece of journalism. Ralph was a distant figure on my horizon, but his presence surrounded me; from reading ...
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, July 2005
LEGEND HAS it that when Marty Balin went looking for a singer to fill out the lineup of the Jefferson Airplane, he told people he ...
Martha Wainwright: Martha's Extending The Musical Family
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, October 2005
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT has a pedigree that could be daunting. She's the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle Sisters), sister of ...
Mose Allison: Mose And His Muse
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, October 2005
MOSE ALLISON can be summed up in two words – Mose Allison. ...
Moody Blues, The: The Moody Blues: Never Reaching The End
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, November 2005
THE MOODY Blues are a rock'n'roll band. That statement may come as a shock to fans who grew up with the lushly orchestrated psychedelic pop ...
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 2006
SAL VALENTINO WAS washed up. "No one called in a long time," he says. "No one knew where I was."There were even reports of his ...
Persuasions, The: The Persuasions: Perpetual Harmony
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2006
"THE PERSUASIONS! Aren't you that old do-wop group?" ...
Fairport Convention: Fairport Still On Course At 40
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, June 2006
FAIRPORT CONVENTION kicked the British folk revival into high gear in 1969 when they released Liege and Lief, their first album with Sandy Denny as ...
Salif Keita: Rockin' With Soul Of Africa
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2006
SALIF KEITA grins when he says: "I love rock'n'roll." It may seem like an unlikely sentiment since Keita's last two albums, this year's M'Bemba (Ancestor) ...
Gary Numan: Numan Finds His Way
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2006
"IN AMERICA I'm still the classic one hit wonder," Gary Numan says philosophically, via phone from his home outside of London. ...
P. F. Sloan: PF Sloan: Rising from 'Destruction'
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, September 2006
"PF SLOAN was born sometime between midnight and dawn on an inspired evening in 1964," PF Sloan says, from his small Los Angeles apartment. That ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: Pet Peeves
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, November 2006
THE PET SHOP Boys – singer/lyricist Neil Tennant and keyboard player/composer Chris Lowe – are renowned for their intelligent songwriting. ...
Evan Dando, Lemonheads, The: Evan Dando: Consistently Inconsistent
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, San Francisco Chronicle, November 2006
LEMONHEADS CO-FOUNDER Evan Dando puts his pioneering alternative rock band back together like clockwork every decade. ...
Allen Toussaint: Toussaint Explores Life Outside Big Easy
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2007
ALLEN TOUSSAINT never left New Orleans. He spent virtually his entire distinguished career playing piano, singing, writing songs and making records with other people in ...
Summer of Love: 40 Years Later
Retrospective by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2007
1967: The stuff that myths are made of ...
Grateful Dead: For The Unrepentant Patriarch Of LSD, Long, Strange Trip Winds Back To Bay Area
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, July 2007
THE SMALL, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue jeans barely rates a second glance from the other Starbucks patrons in downtown San Rafael, although ...
Celine Dion: HP Pavilion, San Jose
Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 2009
CELINE DION makes faces when she sings. She crinkles up her nose. She arches her eyebrows. She winks and darts quick little smiles after she ...
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, March 2009
AS LONG AS people speak of country music, the music of Merle Haggard will live. As his career nears the half-century mark, Haggard's imprint is ...
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 2010
Eccentric Van Dyke Parks finally reaches S.F. ...
Rock of Ages Musical Exhumes '80s Power Ballads
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 2011
THERE HAVE BEEN few musical sins committed in the name of rock 'n' roll as egregious as the power ballad. Not really rock and not ...
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