OK, so maybe eulogy is a bit melodramatic, but my Sunday afternoon visit to the Atlanta Book Exchange, which is closing its doors on July 5, was incredibly sad. I imagined the 10 or so patrons that were navigating the overstuffed stacks of  classic literature, poetry and reference books were speaking in hushed tones as if at a funeral. It was funereal, alright, but it was a funeral with half-priced books. (Until its stock is depleted, the store has slashed its prices in order to move more product). I admit that I felt a little like a highway bandit when I paid $12 for two relatively new tomes…

In the last edition of Musical Musings, I wrote about the nostalgic smorgasbord that is music programming during Summerfest. The neighborhood transformed into a weekend-long party, with Marcy's Playground and the lead singer from Collective Soul as the hosts. (I have to admit, it was pretty cool when the Playground launched into "Sex and Candy;" the same sentiments don't apply to the stripped-down, acoustic version of "Shine" I heard Saturday night.) The next free music festival worth noting will require a bit more transportation, but the aural payoff is much, much more substantial than …

I've been sitting in front of my keyboard for the last hour trying to remember when I first heard "Sex and Candy." It's been a few years, to say the least, since I became acquainted with the signature Marcy Playground rocker, but the song has lived on thanks to radio stations that program Hot '90s Weekends seemingly every other day. Yes, Marcy Playground's one hit is still around, and on June 5, I'll be unable to avoid the tune and all the nostalgia that comes with it; as one of the headlining acts for this year's Summerfest, the band will literally be performing in my backyard. Even though "…

Now that the summer break for university performing arts programs has begun, the number of outlets in the city presenting national, touring jazz artists has greatly diminished. There's still great jazz to be had in Atlanta during the summer months, if you want to search around in clubs. The semi-monthly appearance of Joe Gransden's big band at Café 290 is a bucket-list item every Atlanta jazz fan must cross off at least once. Churchill Grounds and assorted restaurants will also be full with concerts and dinner-time performances throughout the summer.  But for those who don't care to explore …

As with seemingly everything nowadays, it all ends with "Don't Stop Believing." Of course, Journey isn't the only band with signature tunes on the Songs For Kids Foundation's list of 500 Greatest Feel Good Songs of All Time. "… Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears comes in at 466, and Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" finishes at 394. There's also the first movement to Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, which is placed pretty high at 28. In between, "The Lemon Song" by Led Zeppelin, "Yeah!" by Usher and "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure all make their case for being feel good songs (what's feel good…

In a little less than two weeks, record store owners around the Metro area will throw open their doors a few hours early and welcome hordes of music lovers with beer, live performances and lots of records.  Criminal Records, Wax 'n' Facts, Decatur CD and Wuxtry Records are all participating in the fourth annual Record Store Day on April 16. The national holiday — well, it should be a national holiday — shines a light on the decreasing number of independent music sellers in a world where the Barnes & Noble, the slowly decomposing Borders, and other assorted big-box stores and online retailers …

Even with CBS trying its hardest to keep me glued to the TV by broadcasting a full slate of college basketball madness (Go 'Cuse!), I still made it outside this weekend to take the dog for a lengthy walk and generally bask in the warm temperatures. It is, after all, the first day of spring; it seemed like everyone — and every dog — in Virginia-Highland was out this weekend celebrating the new season. Sure, it's nice to finally be able to wear shorts, but I'm most excited about the musical possibilities that come with the change in weather. That's right, festivals are just around the corner. …

Officials at the Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs pleasantly surprised me this week when they let me peek at the lineup for the 34th Atlanta Jazz Festival. The free Piedmont Park event isn't until May, but as a jazz lover, I was anxious to see what summer had in store for me. Frankly, I've been a bit disappointed at the acts coming to Atlanta for the last few festivals, but this year will most certainly be different. The artists arriving Memorial Day weekend form an all-star list of jazz musicians. Violinist Regina Carter, pianist Gerald Clayton and vibraphonist Warren Wolf are brining …

I can't believe I've been writing this column for more than a month, and I've yet to make more than a passing mention of Blind Willie's, the blues club nestled between Osteria and Limerick Junction on N. Highland. (The club has a huge sign out front, complete with a guitar playing gator, making the place hard to miss). My lack of writing about the virtues and amazing musicians who swing through Blind Willie's is criminal, and I apologize. The fact is that Blind Willie's is one of the best bars in Virginia Highland in which to hear live music every night of the week. It's a blues bar, and …

Atlanta is full of jazz this February. Maybe this is due to a convergence between Black History Month and this historically African American art form, or perhaps it's just a random coincidence that a slew of great performances are slated for this month; either way, I'm all set to reap the benefits of having a number of worldclass artists in the neighborhood and throughout the metro area.  Many of Atlanta's college performance venues have brought or will bring major names in the world of jazz to the city. Trumpeter Jon Faddis stopped by the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech Saturday …

Finally. It’s the morning of the main event, and as a music lover, I couldn't be more excited. While I'll probably watch at least a bit of the train wreck that will be the Black Eyed Peas performance during the Super Bowl halftime show — Fergie has been telling the media that the performance will be "a party in the middle of the game" — I'm talking about a more classical Super Bowl celebration. That's right: it's Bach Bowl time! Timothy Albrecht, a professor in Emory's music department, has been putting on game-day Bach fests for around 20 years. In the early days, he was joined by members of…

I love craft beer almost to a fault. Workers at Hop City, Ale Yeah! in Decatur and the Green's on Ponce all enjoy a significant portion of my paychecks. When I venture out in Virginia Highland — usually to Taco Mac or The Bookhouse Pub — I always try to find new and exciting beer. The spicy, dark beers that enter the stores once cold weather sets in are by far my favorite, so this weekend's Atlanta Winter Beer Festival at the Masquerade has my attention. Newcomer Wild Heaven Craft Beers will be featured along with the Georgia Big 3 of Red Brick, SweetWater and Terrapin. Keeping with the local…

Barroom cover bands are awesome. The younger, musical-elitist version of myself would scoff at such an opinion, but for anyone who can sing along with Cheap Trick’s "Surrender" or “Baba O’Riley” by the Who as a live band churns out a faithful rendering, these groups are a roaring good time. And in the case of the live karaoke party fueled by the band Metalsome, when amateur performers are "leading" a live group instead of singing along to a backing track, karaoke stops sounding like a drunken indulgence and starts becoming a performance. The base of this thrice-weekly (Monday, Friday and …

Call me a skeptic. I didn't think Atlanta's own Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, SnOMG — whatever you want to call it — would ever happen. It was all overblown worrying, I thought to myself last Saturday as Atlantans flooded area grocery stores to stock up for what they believed would be a few days spent iced-in or powered-out or both.  But the amateur and professional weathermen were spot on, and Otto the Dog, who apparently loves nothing more than eating ice chunks, rejoiced. My wife and I, along with most of the city, ended up working from home for three days. We spent the majority of our time…

When I moved to North Druid Hills more than three years ago from Syracuse, New York  — a town with a meager college music scene and municipal venues that only attracted a few big-spender touring acts each month — music journalism was on my mind. I wanted to hit the ground running, using my newly enhanced graduate-level writing skills to report about the music I loved (in Facebook-esque, catch-all terms: jazz, bluegrass, folk, classical, rock) while being exposed to new ideas and sounds. North Druid Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods were flush with engaging concerts by local and national…