Let’s raise a toast to the inventor of karaoke, the late great Japanese engineer Shigeichi Negishi. He devised the first karaoke machine in 1967, the “Sparko Box.” This invention changed the soundtrack of our lives forever. Negishi’s death was announced this week, at the age of 100, which means a …
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Standing under a canopy of trees at the center of Uvalde’s town square, more than 40 mariachi musicians lifted their instruments and sang in unison one afternoon in June, their voices brawny and unwavering. The music, a swell of trumpets, violins, and guitar-like vihuelas, soared across the lush fountain park …
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Go-go music is the soundtrack of Washington, D.C. Despite a four-decade history and a few national hits like “Da Butt,” by Experience Unlimited (E.U.), and “Shake Your Thang,” by Salt-N-Pepa with E.U., the funk offshoot, often referred to as a cousin of hip-hop, is a proudly regional music — born …
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Led Zeppelin drum covers aren’t exactly a rare commodity. A quick YouTube search turns up a sea of results, from child prodigy Yoyoka Soma nailing “Good Times, Bad Times” to various tribute-band members replicating Bonham’s famous Song Remains the Same look, complete with headband, ‘stache, and translucent-orange Ludwig Vistalite kit. …
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If you’ve spent any amount of time in or around the worlds of indie rock or outside-the-box jazz in the past decade or so, chances are you’re familiar with the name Nabil Ayers. You might have come across his sturdy, hard-hitting drumming in Seattle bands like the Long Winters and …
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Like so many people of mixed heritages, Tierra Umi Wilson exists between worlds. The 23-year-old artist — who performs under her middle name, UMI, which means “ocean” in Japanese — was born in Seattle to a Black father and a Japanese mother, and has spent her life negotiating the cultural …
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When Mavis Staples thinks about her late friend Levon Helm, memories of her family flood into her mind. Decades ago, when Helm and Mavis’ sister Yvonne were regularly talking on the phone about a possible joint tour of Black colleges, Mavis would feel left out. “I’d butt in and say, …
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Leave it to a fiery soul legend to make a low-key TMI anthem. Before tell-all memoirs by Cybill Shepherd or Karrine Stefans, Betty Davis, who died in February at 77, put no less an eminence than Miles Davis on front street with her 1974 deep cut, “He Was a Big …
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In the spring of 2020, Def Leppard made plans to gather at Joe Elliott‘s house in Ireland to record a handful of tunes before starting rehearsals for their stadium tour with Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Joan Jett. They knew they wouldn’t have nearly enough time to finish an album, but …
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Bobby Pinckney went to bed one night last August as a management consultant and woke up the following morning as the man behind one of the hottest music apps in the world. Discz, a song recommendation tool which Pinckney started as a class project during his senior year at USC, …
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