Whenever I hear a Queen song on the radio, which is just about every day, it brings me both joy and disgust; pleasure and pain. These emotions are especially strong whenever Keep Yourself Alive comes on. I hear Brian May’s muted riff kicking off the song and all I can think about is, “I could […]
Photo by: Glen LaFerman www.glenlaferman.com I started selling guitar picks recently on eBay. I bought a collection from a former guitar tech and I’ve been putting them up on the site for people to bid on. I was looking through some of the picks and found a lot of them belonged to the very same […]
When I first met Zakk Wylde around ’93 or ’94, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew he had been the guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne‘s band for about seven years at that point and from the images and videos I’d seen, he looked like a pretty imposing dude. Long, stringy, blond hair cascaded halfway […]
LES PAUL: BEHIND THE CURTAIN Les Paul was the greatest rock star of all time. Without him there would have been no rock stars at all. Can you imagine the world of electric guitars without the instrument that bore his name? Without that iconic invention, virtuosos such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Robin […]
I have interviewed Steve Vai probably 10 times over the course of the past 30 years or so. Each and every time he has been nothing less than engaged, bright, articulate and totally willing to immerse himself in the moment. That is, when he was sitting there with you his mind wasn’t somewhere else though […]
Writer’s Note: Those of you who have read the Behind the Curtain column before—and for those who haven’t, this is for you as well—know I write a story each month on some wonderful, engaging and colorful musician I’ve interviewed in the past. Each month, the editor will ask me, “What do you have coming up?” […]
Photo by: Glen LaFerman www.glenlaferman.com Though throwing my drink viciously in the face of Yngwie Malmsteen only required but a split second, I could see it all happening in slow motion. The gin and tonic seemed to hang there in the air between us like the globules of liquid you’d see floating around in a […]
This month’s Behind the Curtain finds journalist Steve Rosen recounting some extracurricular fun with Black Sabbath in the 1970s… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out of the gate, Black Sabbath was a species unto themselves. They were louder, darker and more vicious sounding than any other bands around. When they released their self-titled debut in February 1970, the Birmingham, England quartet […]
This month’s installment of rock writer Steve Rosen’s Behind the Curtain stories captures the essence of being in the “right place at the right time…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When the first announcement was made in early 1974 about Bad Company—the new band former Free singer Paul Rodgers was putting together with fellow bandmate and drummer Simon Kirke, […]
For this month’s Behind the Curtain, witer Steve Rosen recounts a special experience involving the late & great Joe Cocker… JOE COCKER: BEHIND THE CURTAIN 1972. I was one year out of high school. Having read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road—his wonderful tale about two friends searching for answers as they traveled across America by […]
