Redman at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Aug. 26, 2019. Getty Images. For the last few weeks I’ve written some pretty decent columns. Uncharacteristically good, in fact. Usually I just dig up a bunch of ’90s songs I like or…

Graham Wilkinson, courtesy: Dawnerin Wilkinson. If anything else is as American as mom and apple pie, it’s strumming your acoustic guitar in a pasture decked out in a cowboy hat and boots. “Cuts So Deep,” the new video and title track of the new album by Austin singer-songwriter Graham…

Clockwise from top left: Stage Moms, Jetty Bones, Elise Davis, Slothrust, Jaguar Jonze and Cane Hill. Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has…

The Yardbirds in 1966. Left to right: Jeff Beck, Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty, Jimmy Page and Keith Relf. Courtesy. Way, way back in the early ’00s, when I was at Diablo Valley College (that’s in the East Bay), I took a lot of random and unnecessary classes to keep…

Clockwise from top left: Kalie Shorr, Elhae, Alice Phoebe Lou, Unusual Demont, DijahSB and carobae. Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has time…

Mars rover Perseverance, courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. I’m losing my mind over here and it’s gonna be at least a month or two until I’m vaccinated. So it’s important to take time to focus on the positive: Mars. Humanity landed another robot on Mars. This one is an atomic-powered, car-sized Mars…

Clockwise from top left: Anya Marina, Joyce Wrice and Lucky Daye, Roosevelt, Youth Fountain, Chapel, Anchorsong and Sad Alex. Every week brings a plethora of new music to our ears. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles,…

Babymetal performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on Oct. 4, 2019. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF. Welcome to RIFF Rewind, the column that living legend LeVar Burton once read. LeVar Burton read something I wrote and I’m going to bring that up at every possible opportunity for the rest of my…

Taylor Swift: “Fearless.” Taylor Swift’s long-anticipated campaign to re-record and reissue her first six studio albums began tonight with the release of a new version of “Love Story,” now conspicuously named “Love Story (Taylor’s Version).” The version plays essentially identically to the original. Swift didn’t change the music or…

Clockwise from top left: Soft Glas, Arlo Parks, Michael Feuerstack, Night Beats, Juan Wauters and Q. Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has…