Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. I heard Lionel Richie was talking about redoing “We Are the World.” Awesome, I immediately thought. The COVID has officially dried up the world’s supply of creativity (as I, ironically, desperately searched for a topic two hours before deadline). As you know, there are too many…

Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. Nope … I don’t want you to nominate me to list my 10 most influential brands of granola in 10 days while nominating someone else each day to do same, thereby dragging them into my own personal hell. I’ve come to hate the coronalists. This COVID-19…

Little Richard poses for a portrait in circa 1957. Photo: Michael Ochs. Little Richard will forever be responsible for my daughter’s name. The same could be partially said for Charles Schulz, Lucille Ball’s parents and the person who named my grandmother’s cousin—who, not coincidentally—was terribly nice to me when…

For nearly a century and a half, scholars and fans have puzzled over a mysterious line in Richard Wagner’s 1882 opera, “Parsifal.” During the first act, a wise knight named Gurnemanz describes the Grail castle to the fool Parsifal: “You see son, here time becomes space.” There’s a Quora…

Insert Foot Vs. The Freak follicles I was on a roll, writing this column, liking what I came up, and then … POOF. Gone. Kind of like life before a certain virus decided to kick down everyone’s front door and remind us Mother Nature, and coronavirus, is still boss.…

Destroy Boys, Courtesy: Kai Mosley. Editor’s note: Destroy Boys were supposed to support Against Me! this spring, but the tour was postponed due to coronavirus. Instead, the Bay Area band released a new single, “Honey I’m Home,” on Friday. The band has described it as being about the feeling of being trapped.…

Insert Foot and the COVID-EO. If I understand this right, live shots from a laptop pointed at your face is the new selfie, thanks to the Covid. That’s what I call it, and that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s not intended to be disrespectful. It’s just that…

Insert Foot and the hope for more great music. Last week I wrote about the Covid-19 pandemic creating opportunities for musicians to reconnect and remember why they became musicians in the first place. Remember? It’s so drummers and Billy Joel can attract women. No, I won’t get over it.…

As far as we know, Tony Hicks is only having one kind of baby as he passes time at home during the COVID-19 quarantine. Some good really can come from this coronavirus mess. In the middle of boring COVID-19 isolation, I just spent more than an hour with 10…

Editor’s note: Publicist Ken Weinstein shared this message with his friends last week, and has granted permission for RIFF to share it publicly. Adam Schlesinger passed away last week of complications from COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus. He was 52.   I can’t believe I’m sitting here again thinking…