Stop me if you've heard the story... By 8th grade, all I wanted was to be in a rock and roll band. Problem was, I was all thumbs on the guitar. But I had been singing for years, so after…

I confess to envying those people I've encountered in life who have known from the start who they were and what they would grow up to become. I have witnessed a good number of those single-minded folks enjoy an unwavering…

For several years, the band had the pleasure of playing "Cinco de Lebowski," the annual parade / costume ball / midnight movie hosted by McMenamins at Portland's venerable Bagdad Theater. It was a wild scene and a crazy-ass party. In…

This song has been hanging around quite a long time, not quite revealing what it wanted to be – rock or country. There's an anthemic '80s version in the archives, and a twang and tremolo version that nearly made it…

Here was a phrase we've all heard and used for years that was just waiting to be the title of a song. The verses for this one were all “ripped from the headlines” for a song that seems to be…

Sometimes, you write a song as an exercise in the craft instead of having your inspiration drop out of the sky. Truth be told, I sometimes find it a little easier to work within a set of creative constraints. I…

"Show Me What You Workin' With!" was the cool catch-phrase my late friend and musical mentor Stanley Dural, Jr. (aka Buckwheat Zydeco) was using onstage at what turned out to be the last time we would see each other and…

I can't begin to count the times in my life that I have stood by helplessly watching a friend’s downward spiral through alcohol, substance abuse and self-sabotage. Despite the many efforts I and others made to reach these people, it's…

Raise it up or burn it down – this is the choice each of us has to make In these polarized times. This song had its beginnings on August 12, 2017 when I walked into the living room and was…

Throughout their careers, Elvis, Jerry Lee and Little Richard were torn between singing the devil’s music and the gospel songs they were raised on. Sixty years later, I wondered if I might resolve that conflict with a song that could…