Head injury inspires new melodic Mastodon album
Rolling Stone Magazine, October 2008
Scribblings, musings and assorted published wisdom
American Regal
Their southern gothic mystique helped make Kings of Leon multi-platinum rock gods overseas. What will it take for the boozin’ and brawlin’ Followill boys to conquer their native land?
Thanks to that video, D’Angelo was poised for superstardom, and the R&B renaissance he led was about to change the world. Instead, he fell into a spiral of substance abuse and arrests–and virtually disappeared. Eight years later, his friends and colleagues reveal where he’s been and what it’s going to take to bring him back.
How do racists, anti-Semites and all-purpose hate-mongers view the possibility of America’s first black president? Not necessarily the way you think they would.


Dozens of rockers, rappers and pop stars have been hitting the campaign trail this year, singing, dancing, speaking, smiling and waving for their favorite presidential candidates. But is anyone paying attention?
Rock stars invite him onstage but he can’t sing. He’s been to more than 5,000 live shows in 11 years but he may have nowhere to live.
The enigmatic Beatle Bob as featured in Guided by Voices’ “My Kind of Soldier” video

With Radiohead, Madonna and Nine Inch Nails leading the charge against major labels, one month in 2007 may be remembered as birthing a revolution that shook the industry to its core. But have they truly created a brave new world?
How a thin, sweet, keening, reedy, strained, samey, nasally, high-pitched yelp became the voice of a new generation.
The Ties That Bind
With an epic third album and a new “disguise,” the well-dressed men of Interpol are making a bid for superstardom. Just don’t expect them to hang out together.