Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown. COURTESY. Before he was 22, guitar prodigy Tyler Bryant shared the stage with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. But it was a 63-year-old bluesman from Honey Grove, Texas, who inspired the musician when he was just a boy. Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown 9…

Metric, Courtesy. When Metric singer-keyboardist Emily Haines met legendary crooner and Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed a few years back, she was star-struck. But Reed was equally impressed with the Toronto alt-rock band’s body of work. Live 105’s Not So Silent Night  6 p.m., Friday, Saturday, Sept. 13-14 Oracle…

Snow Patrol, Courtesy. Snow Patrol is still best known in the U.S. for “Chasing Cars,” which played over a tearjerker moment on “Grey’s Anatomy” a half-decade ago. That’s why the Irish-Scottish band made a purposeful attempt to prove Gary Lightbody and co. can create more than the masterful ballad…

This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. American Idol is in it’s final season and Carrie Underwood is on tour, coming to Oakland in a couple of months. That got me thinking about the time I interviewed her while I wrote for the Oakland Tribune. The story is…

  This article originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. It’s understandable for Art Alexakis to want to plant permanent roots. As a youth, the Everclear frontman saw his dad walk out on him and his brother die of a drug overdose. He was then was kicked around among family…