Email Author Rob O'Connor

2000 Stories by Rob O'Connor

• Hot Buttered Soulman

  published November 2, 2000

  It's all too typical that a man who should be revered for co-writing “Soul Man,” “Hold On! I'm Comin',” or “When Something Is Wrong wi... More >>

• Fame and Misfortune

  published October 19, 2000

  There are many fine lines that all artists and would-be contenders must walk. There's clever and stupid. There's sincere and sentimental. There's... More >>

• Bryter Now

  published October 5, 2000

  People never forget where they were when Kennedy was shot. Or John Lennon. Or the first time they saw the Beatles or the Ramones or Nirvana -- on... More >>

• The Imperfect Beast

  published September 28, 2000

  Don Henley's massive 1989 hit “The End of the Innocence” was a complex piece of songcraft that reminds me of the kind of portraiture that Pa... More >>

• Unamerican Music

  published September 21, 2000

  It's no longer news to hear the British are coming. It should, however, give pause to American acts to learn that once again those dastardly... More >>

• Declaration of Independence

  published September 14, 2000

  Ani DiFranco exists on an entirely other level. She may walk and talk like a regular human being, but she's different. She does things most of us... More >>

• Local Notions

  published September 7, 2000

  As a lapsed Catholic and devout agnostic, I have a deep-seated aversion to anything resembling ritual. If I notice a pattern emerging, I try to... More >>

• Sumner Vacation

  published August 31, 2000

  I entered the music business when it was much more of a cottage industry and now it is a corporate industry. There are advantages to corporate... More >>

• Strength in Numbers

  published August 10, 2000

  I've always liked the Doobie Brothers. Not for their music but for the simple fact that they were one of those bands that at their peak had too... More >>

• Youthful Discretions

  published August 3, 2000

  Years ago the combination of Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam would've been a sure-fire misprint. Even when Sonic Youth were inching their way toward the... More >>

• Doing It Again

  published July 20, 2000

  They like the gray area. Like a pitcher who paints the corners of the plate with a late-breaking curve ball, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen... More >>

• Glam Slam

  published July 13, 2000

  Rikki Rockett knows he's in a band that has become the Rodney Dangerfield of rock. Poison gets no respect. Although the much-maligned “hair-meta... More >>

• Indigo Nowhere

  published July 6, 2000

  It's easy to imagine the Moody Blues establishing residency at a retirement village in Boca Raton. Their orchestral leanings -- more Mantovani... More >>

• Soft-Rock Bottom

  published June 29, 2000

  America on the Fourth of July. Can't get much more perfect than that, huh? In an age where synergy has become synonymous with success, where... More >>

• Mod-Rock Cons

  published June 8, 2000

  By recent definition "modern rock" is practically an oxymoron. With pretty teen groups and scantily clad Lolitas clogging the airwaves and charts,... More >>

• Unstill Waters

  published June 1, 2000

  The band used to get quite the kick out of the fact that clueless promoters and hot-shot record-industry folk would ask, "By the way, which one's... More >>