Author Archive for Sean Madden
Rocky for the Hold Steady
Listening to The Hold Steady’s fourth album “Stay Positive,” one cannot help but draw comparisons to rock predecessors like Bruce Springsteen & the E. Street Band. And while some critics find The Hold Steady’s unapologetically classic rock sound to be a blatant rip-off of music from a bygone era, this reviewer begs to differ.
Death Cab Reaches New Heights
“Narrow Stairs” is the sound of a band stretching out; the band does not necessarily depart from its classic sound, but rather furthers it by expanding its sonic palette.
Fear of the Phone—It Rings True
For my 18th birthday, my parents took me to see Jerry Seinfeld at Spreckels Theatre in San Diego. It was a solid stand-up routine, packed with great one-liners and funny observations, but one comment really stuck with me: “Sending someone an e-mail is the basest form of communication. It’s just one step removed from not [...]
Former Miles Davis Pianist Plays Smith’s Ivory Keys
Former pianist for Miles Davis and UC Irvine Chancellor’s professor of music Kei Akagi treated jazz fans Friday night to an evening of wonderful music. Akagi, along with colleagues Bobby Rodriguez and Darek Oles on trumpet and bass, respectively, brought down the house at Winifred Smith Hall.
There exists a select breed of musicians who are [...]
Monterey Festival Jazzes up Barclay
Jazz enthusiasts young and old flocked to the Irvine Barclay Theatre last Thursday night to watch some of the industry’s top performers show off their chops as a part of the Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour, one of the longest running and most successful jazz festivals since the music’s incarnation.
The ensemble, featuring Benny Green [...]
Communal Bowls: My Journey through UCI’s Porcelain Palaces
Last Thursday night, I left my apartment and embarked on a quest to find the finest public restroom at UC Irvine. I had just finished a very large plate of leftover spaghetti, and my stomach hurt badly enough that I probably should have sprawled out on the couch and watched ‘Seinfeld’ reruns for an hour [...]
Magic
‘Is there anybody alive out there?’ asks Bruce Springsteen in ‘Radio Nowhere,’ the adrenaline-fueled first single off his new album ‘Magic.’
In an age when mainstream radio is a sonic wasteland polluted by vapid, one-note songstresses and glammed-up emo bands, Springsteen has crafted an album oozing with the passion and urgency of great rock-and-roll that only [...]
