Summer of "Huh?"  Late Sixties Reappear in Bizarre Flashbacks
In a strange confluence of space and time, 1969 (and thereabouts) found its way into several recent news items: George Winston covers The Doors. Yes artist Roger Dean designs houses. Bowie hits Wall Street. The Hendrix family feuds. Joan Osborne fronts The Dead. Jagger, The Doors & Bowie find themselves on a "Worst Artists" list. What's happening, man?  More...

Virtual Musicians, Real Fight
The tiny Opera Company of Brooklyn couldn't afford a full complement of musicians for this summer's production of "The Magic Flute," so it turned to a virtual orchestra. And ended up buying a lot of trouble.  More...

Two Guitar Legends Reflect on Originality, Independence
Sometimes the media surprises us, with great but publicly unheralded artists showing up in unexpected places. Recently the Wall Street Journal caught up with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, and the New York Times Magazine profiled electric guitar pioneer Les Paul.  More...


Performances on Fringe... and Beyond
Maybe it's the heat. This summer's new musical productions include live camels; a signed revival of "Big River"; stories about Stalin, Madame Mao, actor Robert Blake, and former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, a gay Gilbert & Sullivan operetta; and Pterodactyls. And did we mention "Poseidon! The Upside Down Musical"?  More...

Water you Listenin' To?
All the world's a watery stage. At least it is in Berlin and South Florida. Germans seeking wellness can now "bathe in light and music" in the Liquidrom's "aquatic stage," while visitors to the Florida Keys have been moshing at the Underwater Music Festival.  More...

Stars of the Silver Screen
In most performance situations, the challenge is getting people to turn off all their electronics. In one New York club they're practically required for admission, and in some concert halls they're practically handing them out at the door.  More...

Operas Balance Baths, Bees
Opera productions are probably the most complex of all theatrical productions -- even without fussy extras (the bees living atop Paris' Opera House) and delicate sets (the 3rd -century archaeological site that serves as backdrop to Rome's outdoor Opera performances).  More...

Seattle Opera's Renovated Home
Not far from Seattle's rockin' Experience Music Project museum, opera-loving Seattle-ites are now experiencing their music in a hall improved by a major renovation project, and designed to be more "democratic."  More...


Songs on the Brain
What causes songs to get stuck in our heads? Which songs are the stickiest? New research sheds light on these "earworms." Also, what does it feel like to have synesthesia, a rare condition in which some of our five senses get intermixed? We hear from someone who literally "sees" music.  More...

Getting Walls to Talk... and Passengers to Shut Up
A new "magic crystal" can make windows whisper, church pews sermonize... and hog manure smell sweeter. Another new technology might be able to get that cell phone user to lower his voice.  More...

Musical Detective Work
CSI - New Orleans: Was that really Bix Beiderbecke on "Baby Won't you Please Come Home?" Without a Trace: And where did you hide the Nine Inch Nails? One new computer technology helps ID musicians by their sonic fingerprints, while another can listen to songs and categorize their genre and emotional content.  More...

All Mashed Up
Hard drive full of music -- and nothing to do but LISTEN to it? More people are going interactive, mashing together different songs to create original collages of sound. Even business magazine Forbes has caught wind of this trend.  More...


Mosh vs. Mullah
More than war is rocking the Arab and Muslim worlds right now. Junoon is trying to find a comfortable place as Pakistan's biggest rock band, Arabs of many nations have just voted in their version of American Idol, and five kids from Baghdad are hoping their boy band will conquer Iraq.  More...

Black President: Celebrating Fela
The late Fela Kuti was more than a music legend -- he was larger than life. His controversial life is the subject of a multimedia group exhibition at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art, which is exposing new American audiences to the groundbreaking Nigerian.  More...

Radio Silence
Novelist Walter Kirn used to navigate his summer road trips by the changing landscape of his car radio, a "modern Walt Whitman." But now, he complains, the voices and the music all sound alike, everywhere he goes. Is America droning?  More...


Wind-Powered Music
Atlanta is now the home to a new entry in the Guinness Book of World Records -- the world's largest tuned wind chimes. Meanwhile, a new book sings the praises of wind-powered harps, among other airy topics.  More...

Hedy Lamarr, Inventor
People are as likely to believe that screen siren Hedy Lamarr invented spread-spectrum wireless technology as they are to believe that screen stalwart Ronald Reagan would someday be President. Turns out, both are true!  More...

More (Compact) Music for Pod People
Keep digging the music, but stop digging through albums. WIRED magazine reports the birth of a jukebox that holds 17,000 tunes, and the possibility that Apple's tiny iPod may soon get a slight adjustment that could make it the DJ's party instrument of choice.  More...


Roger Daltrey Announces Discovery of "Antidote to American Idol"
Summer band camp was never like this. In June, around 80 black-clad boomers each traded $6,500 for a bunk in New York's Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp. For this group, crooning beats canoeing, and their campfire chats are with the likes of Daltrey, Levon Helm, and Marky Ramone.  More...

Norwegian Wood... and Wind and Waves
For people who really want to strum in the sun: Acoustic Guitar magazine has announced an Inaugural "Acoustic Guitar Cruise," to take place in the Western Caribbean from Nov. 1 - 8, 2003. That same week, the Eastern Caribbean will be swaying with a Jazz Cruise.  More...

Computers Power Learning
In a world awash in Idols and Internet, two new programs stand out. Drexel University has backed its Drexel Idols show with a music industry degree curriculum -- and its own student-run label. Meanwhile, Berklee College of Music is using the web for its new extension programs.  More...


Authors Count Heartaches in New "List Book"
Every musical genre has untouchable traditions and stubborn purists, but perhaps Country lovers are the most emotional. That didn't deter two authors from suggesting a "rethinking" of the canon of great country songs. Their book of "Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles" is sure to have some folks dusting off their shotguns. More...

Blind Photographer Shoots Sound
In The Who's rock opera "Tommy," the blind, deaf-mute played pinball by sense of smell. In Lithuania, a blind photographer uses sound and a "sixth sense" to guide his art.  More...

Pomp & Circumstance
As summer nears its end, we congratulate everyone who has marched in a graduation this season. We'll spare you another repetition of "Pomp & Circumstance" and pose this question instead: Why is that Elgar composition the standard for graduation music?  More...