Musical rebellion American style too often amounts to little more than bawdy lyrics, guitar noise, body piercings, tattoos, ambiguous sexual identity, and ultimately meaningless tussles between artists and the recording industry. Madonna manipulates images of women, and risks upsetting those who already had written her off. Pearl Jam takes on…

Grady Champion is nothing if not an opportunist, in the best sense of the word. When the limelight is nearby, he’s not too shy to step right in and reap the rewards. For evidence check out the April issue of National Geographic magazine. The venerable publication’s feature on the blues…

in a straight world

Eliades Ochoa y el Cuarteto Patria Sublime Illusion (Higher Octave Music) It isn’t hard to find a silver lining in Buena Vista Social Club, the enchantingly sensual collaboration between Ry Cooder and some of Cuba’s legendary-but-almost-forgotten musicians that became an unexpected worldwide smash. But one of the sweetest aftershocks is…