Bonus Tracks: The Official Blog of Spotlight On

Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images Admittedly very late to the game, my introduction to Death Cab for Cutie (DCFC) was their 2015 single “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive”. Its driving rhythm, and the breakdown about two-thirds of the w…

Hour two of Power of Yet with Nikki Gates switches gears from the RnB sides in hour one to cover 30 years of Backpack Rap. Playlist:  Ease Back, Ultramagnetic MCs, Critical Beatdown Banana Clipper, Run the Jewels feat Big Boi, Run the Jewel…

Neo-soul Birmingham singer-songwriter Ella More is a rising star in the realm of UK’s music scene. With a velvet voice that brings flickers of vibrato with jazzy curls, she seamlessly blends confidence, effortless ease, and vulnerability. …

Check out Radio Free 23, a new experimental podcast. A "fictional" freeform pirate radio station hosted by an international cast of characters, unleashing whatever sounds inspire them. No predetermined playlists, just modern freeform radio. Broadca…

Donny McCaslin, Village Vanguard, New York, NY, January 22, 2016, Late Show Donny McCaslin and his band were, of course, the musical collaborators with David Bowie on his final album, ★. This show took place less than two weeks after Bowie's 2016 p…

Twenty five minutes into the 2022 documentary Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) Noel Gallagher, late of Oasis, says, “There’s a great quote from someone…’Vinyl is like the poor man’s art collection.’&r…

Lou Donaldson Quartet, Early Show at the Jazz Standard, New York, NY, January 19, 2012 Lou Donaldson is one of the most-sampled artists of all time and supposedly the holder of that title for the Blue Note Records catalog. His "Ode to Billy Joe", f…

Jorma Kaukonen & Blue Country Heart, Seabury Center, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, January 18, 2003, with opener Tony Trischka. Early Show.  Blue Country Heart project was a band and album name that Spotlight On alum Jorma Kaukonen w…

Rolling Stones, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, January 16, 2003 This show was #39 of The Licks Tour, an international run that ultimately tallied 117 performances. This night was also a 'dress rehearsal' for a live HBO broadcast two nights la…

If you've watched old black-and-white sci-fi and horror movies, you've probably heard a theremin, even if you didn't know what to call it at the time. To meet the surging demand for film scores in the 1930s, recently immigrated European classical m…