FEATURES

Radio DJs: Once upon a time, listeners looked to radio personalities to educate them—music newscasters of sorts. We got off course, but we’re headed back, at last

Three-Minute Songs: Whether from Tin Pan Alley, the Brill Building or 1650 Broadway, New York writers cranked out hit after hit for years, and we’d bet you heard at least one of them today

DEPARTMENTS

Letter from the airwaves: Major market drive-time DJs aren’t a dime a dozen. Ken Dashow shares his passion for good music and good radio

Kickin’ in Your Stall: “Will shred for food.” Carl Gustafson compares homeless panhandlers to guitar manhandlers

Influences: Guitarists Billy Gibbons and Snowy White’s favorite albums are British and American, respectively. Same tuning, different strokes

Pet Sounds: Size matters. Ali Green’s seen some big bands lately, and she really, really likes them

On The Record: South Memphis String Band comes from a long line of pickers, and it shows. Allison Moorer Crows, Debbie Davies is Holdin’ Court, Moreland and Arbuckle Flood and Neil Sedaka makes The Music of My Life…er…his life

Re.Issues: The band that didn’t need a name: the Band, and the amazing music that’s again on vinyl. The Godfather of Soul and the Chairman of the Board make reappearances, and two polar-opposite rebels: Waylon Jennings and Alice Cooper. Now, there’s a bill!

Get A Grip: John Lennon’s spirit lives on, at least for one night. Steve Walbridge dreams on

What’d I Say: Some bands perform from the heart, some from the gut, but these guys never—ever—phone it in

Also Appearing: Jimmy Page, Jack White and the Edge get together in the documentary It Might Get Loud—yah think? Tin Pan Alley man Neil Diamond wows them at nearby Madison Square Garden, plus his biography. Maceo Parker turns heads at Lincoln Center and the Rolling Stones on paper, CD and DVD

Collecting: Album Oriented Rock albums. Long songs and Album Oriented Rock radio stations—a marriage made in heaven, and they’re for sale