"There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment." ~Elvis Costello
These were the qualities that marked Adam Schlesinger’s songwriting. And, frankly, on a survey of what rank-and-file fans would say they prize most about rock ‘n’ roll, these would probably end up near the very bottom. Maybe, as attributes, they’d be even closer to antonyms for the crude rush most people associate with, if not love about, rock.
But that’s all right: Fountains of Wayne was not for everybody, despite the wide-open accessibility of the band’s earworms. For a select few of us with a special taste for the sweet-and-sour, FoW, with Schlesinger as one of its two co-architects, was something like the greatest rock band of the last quarter-century…
After recently announcing that he’ll be playing Riot Fest in September, 95-year-old William Shatner has unveiled an outrageous list of rider demands that puts classic-era Van Halen to shame.
Shatner’s ready to bring the metal to the three-day Chicago festival, as he has confirmed that he’ll be playing on Sunday, September 20th, with his metal backing band The *uckers.
Among his preposterous requests are having a boat renamed in his honor so he can captain a ship again; being invited to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at a Chicago Cubs game; having an intro video created by GWAR; and being transported around in a DeLorean instead of a golf cart.
But that’s not all. His backstage demands are pretty wild, too, including naming his dressing room “Shatner’s Shag Shack”; four feet of Polish sausage; a Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater autographed by John Stamos; eight pallets of Faygo (not to be shared with Insane Clown Posse); and an assortment of adoptable puppies…
Julieta Venegas brought her brilliant pop ballads – and some powerful political messages – to the Billboard Latin Women in Music 2026 special, which aired live on Thursday (April 23) on Telemundo.
Starting at her piano, the Tijuana-born star, with her hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing gold earrings, performed “La Línea,” a song originally in collaboration with Yahritza y Su Esencia that was released on April 9. The deeply emotional track captures the nostalgia and feelings of separation brought about by the border, also known as “la línea,” a colloquial term also referring to the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing…
The portrait of Lily Allen from the cover of her recent hit album West End Girl has gone on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
The painting, by Spanish artist Nieves Gonzalez and owned by Allen, was unveiled on Thursday and will be on show for the next year.
It shows the singer sitting on a stool wearing a polka dot puffer jacket and boots revealing a tattoo on her left leg.
Allen, who also begins her three-night run of gigs at the London Palladium theatre on Friday, said: “I’m so pleased to make this special painting available for everyone to see.”
“Didn’t know it was possible to fall even more in love with an album”
Pitchblack Playback offers dark room deep listening events in cities around the world.
Bucking the trend of low-quality audio consumed through cheap earbuds, they invite serious listeners to experience classic albums and pre-release premiers at ticked events in dedicated spaces on the best equipment possible.
Because unless you’re very lucky, we’re guessing you don’t own a massive cinema sound system. And if you do, we imagine your neighbours probably don’t like you much.
Why ever go to the cinema if you can just download or stream the film to watch at home? Why go to a pub if you can drink at home? Besides, how often do you really put aside the time to just listen without any distractions?
There’s something incredibly special about feeling the bass moving through your body, hearing the sound fill the space around you, and experiencing your favourite music in comfort, silently sharing the experience alongside other people. The combination of volume, the physicality of the low end and the darkness brings about a sort of meditative state.
Basically, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Are your events really held in complete darkness?
We’ve allowed ourselves a tiny bit of poetic license here (we love alliteration). We turn out all the house lights at our events to get the room as dark as possible, but fire safety regulations mean we have to keep fire exit lights on. So, at most of our events, you’ll also receive a Pitchblack Playback eye mask in case you want to completely immerse yourself.
What happens at your events?
You grab a drink if you want one (although a few of our venues do not have bars), take your seat, kick back and relax. Before we start, we ask everyone to turn their phones to silent, to keep their phones in their pockets at all times, and to refrain from talking, whispering or singing.
We turn the lights out, play the album loud, in full, in the dark. And that’s it. Food is available at some of our venues before and after the playback.
How do you play your music?
We play 16-bit or 24-bit uncompressed files. We NEVER play compressed lossy formats or streams (basically, we play the highest definition files we can find which give the most detailed and full sound). We use 24-bit files wherever possible at the highest available sample rate.
Aside from events where the album is available in a Dolby Atmos or 5.1 version (which we advertise as such), we ‘upmix’ stereo files to surround sound to make full use of the venue’s sound system and to create an immersive sound field. We love the effect that this creates as it means the music is coming from all around you rather than just from the front. It’s a different way to listen to music.
Every Moment Has A Song 