michaelazerrad.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Sly Stone actually had the sensitivity and artistry to assimilate the spirit of the late '60s and express it as music. But that might also have been his undoing: when you're that deeply tapped into the zeitgeist, you're also at its mercy.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Brian Wilson was one of those virtuosic artists who miraculously alchemized great art out of personal pain. One of the best aspects of his legacy is the affirmation that human beings have the ability — or at least the will — to transcend suffering.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I did one of those Substack things about the legendary bluesman Skip James and why he was so glad.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Brian Wilson, 1965: “Those in their early 20s turn to a more discreet type of rock & roll. They lose some of the rebelliousness of youth. But the beat has become so ingrained in their lives that they’ll never forsake it altogether. At least, that’s what we believe." And then we got _Pet Sounds_.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Listen to Brian Wilson's "One for the Boys" from his 1988 self-titled solo album. The guy made some very exquisite music.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Sly Stone has passed. What a brilliant songwriter, musician and bandleader. And a problematic human. But, beyond all those things, a cultural visionary. That was all a very heavy burden to bear. Rest in peace, maestro.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

I actually saw the band Metz play a Brooklyn DIY venue called Shea Stadium. I count this as one of the high points of my life.

submitted 15 days ago • 2 comments

Last night, saw one of the best Meredith Monk concerts I've ever seen — and I've seen many since 1982. One big reason: an enthusiastic crowd. Sometimes we forget that shows are a two-way street and performers vibe off the audience. So, at shows: give a little, get a lot.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

RIYL Nick Drake, John Fahey: Sleepy Doug Shaw. Last night at the excellent Union Pool in Williamsburg, Shaw played beautiful songs and spellbinding fingerpicked open-tuned acoustic guitar with a little tasteful electronic wizardry. If you ever get a chance to see him play, do it.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

I did a Substack about a couple of incredible sets by the Miles Davis Quintet in 1967. michaelazerrad.substack.com/p/a-state-of...

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

I am watching Bob Dylan's 2003 movie _Masked and Anonymous_ on Bob Dylan's birthday. I only mention this because I feel I deserve a medal for it.

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

I did a Substack about goofball postmodern pioneer Dickie Goodman, the auteur behind the 1975 #4 hit "Mr. Jaws."

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

One writes stupid things when one is young. Early in my career, reviewing a Joey Ramone memorial show, I wrote, "Joey looked like how we felt." Which wasn't just mean but missed the point: he sounded like we wished we felt. And that's why he was great. Happy birthday, Joey.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

I did a Substack about the great English singer and songwriter Noël Coward, the man who wrote "Mad Dogs and Englishman," and his triumphant comeback shows at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. michaelazerrad.substack.com/p/noel-does-...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

“Punk isn’t a hairstyle; it’s getting your friends together to make useful stories outside approved systems." — John Cameron Mitchell, _the New York Times_, May 11, 2025

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

I did a Substack on the really weird Devo song "Be Stiff" — and how and why five artists on Stiff Records covered it in 1978.

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

In _Dean Martin: King of Cool_, Martin's fan club president says Martin cherished being a skillful golfer because "It wasn’t made up... In show business, _everything's_ made up." Ace golfer Kenny G said the same. I bet other celebs take up hobbies just to maintain contact with objective reality.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

The best kind of whiplash: stepping out of the wonderful Buke and Gase show last night and right into an impromptu post-concert dance party by Charli XCX fans on the streets of downtown Brooklyn.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

I never met Jill Sobule but she was good friends with several of my friends; I know she was much loved. And then there was That Song, which was a very liberating big deal for many people. If there's any consolation to this tragedy, it's that she leaves behind a beautiful legacy.

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

Lou Reed released "Good Evening, Mr. Waldheim" 36 years ago. When was the last time you heard a Major Rock Figure release a protest song that names names and, well, takes no prisoners?

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

I resurrected a piece I did ca. 2008 for the late, great and short-lived music site Paper Thin Walls. It's Mission of Burma guitarist Roger C. Miller going song-by-song on their classic 1981 _Signals, Calls and Marches_ EP.

submitted 56 days ago • 2 comments

Was honored to do a "Desk Notes" for the great music site @thelineofbestfit.com. What's on my desk? Check the best rock novel ever written, vintage grunge talk, Urban Dance Squad memorabilia, what that pile of Glenn Branca CDs is all about, and... the literary value of pistachios.

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

The Who's Roger Daltrey fired Zak Starkey because the drums were so loud he couldn't "hear the key"? Bollocks #1: he was singing in key. Bollocks #2: if drums were too loud he should've told the monitor mixer earlier. No, he just came in 2 bars early and took it out on the drummer. #FreeZakStarkey

submitted 62 days ago • 3 comments

I did a Substack about Prokofiev's classic "symphonic tale for children," _Peter and the Wolf_ and... Soviet-era politics and geopolitics.

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

I've started an eclectic Understack. So far, posts on: @DirtyProjectors.net, @Tim_Hecker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, @frankzappa.bsky.social, _Einstein on the Beach_ and yes, Nirvana. Coming up: Devo, Noel Coward, Skip James, Prokofiev, and more.

submitted 65 days ago • 0 comments

"For those too young to remember MTV Unplugged or zines or mixtapes, this book is a roadmap to the 1990s: the rage, the disaffection, the way music could crack open a kid’s worldview. For those who were there, it’s a chance to relive it all with the benefit of hindsight — and heartbreak."

submitted 66 days ago • 2 comments

Here's a @Substack about the fascinating way that a fragment of a hit song from 1851 (not a typo) found its way into @DirtyProjectors.net's exquisite new song cycle album _Song of the Earth_.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Just stumbled across ca. 1977 Dutch punks Ivy Green while researching 19th-century songwriter Henry Russell (long story). Pretty cool! They’ve got the young, loud & snotty thing down pat — like a bunch of Cockney yobbos — but the occasional Beatles influence makes them a very raw proto-Oasis.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

RIP Dave Allen (Gang of Four, Shriekback), one of post-punk's greatest bass players, and later one of the smartest people in the music industry. "Every act is a political act—the way we live shows our politics; what we drive, where we shop, how we spend our work and leisure times."

submitted 73 days ago • 1 comment